NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #16/NN_1992_16.iso/spool/misc/activism/progress/5447

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Subject: Guatemala: Cerigua Briefs JULY 19 - 25, 1992
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Date: 30 Jul 92 00:54:27 GMT
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/** reg.guatemala: 158.0 **/
** Topic: Cerigua Weekly Briefs **
** Written  6:18 pm  Jul 28, 1992 by cerisea in cdp:reg.guatemala **
WEEKLY BRIEFS, JULY 19 - 25, 1992
Police Quash Land Protest

Guatemalan television this week recorded an incident in which
police brutally repressed a demonstration by campesinos who
were protesting the appropriation of the "Pampas del
Horizonte" plantation.  The protesters say Mariano Arevalo,
who is the brother of former president Juan Jose Arevalo
(1945-50), and who owns property adjoining the plantation, is
encroaching on their land.  The campesinos marched to the
National Palace to give the president a formal complaint on
the illegal taking of their land.

As several people entered the palace to deliver the document,
riot police attacked the crowd with clubs and tear gas
leaving some 50 persons wounded. One person is missing.  TV
Notisiete broadcast the attack live and showed police
spraying tear gas and clubbing children and elderly persons.

Archbishop Prospero Penados condemned the authorities for
their irrational use of violence and violation of the
protesters' constitutional right to organize and demonstrate.
Penados said Guatemalans were experiencing "the most
repressive era in our history."

Following the incident, Vice President Gustavo Espina did
meet with the campesinos.  He agreed to have the National
Institute for Agrarian Transformation survey the boundaries
between Arevalo's Coatunco plantation and Pampas del
Horizonte.  The campesinos say that since legal boundaries
were defined in 1950, Arevalo has gradually appropriated the
Pampas, to which they hold legal title.  In June, after a two
month occupation of the Pampas, Arevalo ordered police to
evict the families and burn their makeshift dwellings, which
they did.

Four Students Arrested

Teenage students held a demonstration in Guatemala City July
23 to demand the release of four students arrested the
previous day during other student protests.  Riot police
arrested the four while more students protested this week's
violent eviction of campesinos from the Plaza Mayor.  Press
reports say students from two city schools burned tires,
stopped traffic, damaged city buses and threw rocks at riot
police during the protest on July 22.

Reluctant Strike Agreement

Union leaders have signed an agreement with the government
that ends the public employee strike over wage increases.
Edgar Batres of the National Federation of State Employees
Union (FENASTEG) announced the reluctant acceptance of a
salary increase of approximately 20% plus other benefits suchas a higher vacation bonus.  The strike is over, Batres said,
but the battle continues, because we really had no choice but
to accept.  The 160,000 strikers had continued their work
stoppages into this week, and had lowered their initial
demand for an 83% increase to 60%, but government negotiators
would not bargain any further.

Panel To Negotiate Refugee Return

The Permanent Commissions that represent Guatemalan refugees
in Mexico, together with the Serrano government have agreed
to form a joint committee to come up with the specifics for
the refugees' organized and collective return.  In an
interview in the Mexican daily La Jornada July 23, refugee
counsel Alfonso Bauer Paiz said the government and refugees
decided to form the committee at a meeting in Guatemala July
13-14.  Bauer Paiz said the committee will have two working
groups, one based in Mexico City and one in Guatemala.  UN
High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR) representatives in Mexico
and the Guatemalan Human Rights Commission will form the
working group in Mexico City; and in Guatemala City the
Catholic Church, the Guatemalan human rights ombudsman
office, and UNHCR representatives will work together.

Bauer Paiz said the committee will ease the negotiating
process.  The two working groups will submit a rough draft on
the refugees' return by August 25, and the government and
Permanent Commissions will analyze the draft at a meeting set
for September 7-8 in Guatemala.  Bauer Paiz said the
September meeting could be "decisive" for the refugees'
return.  The accord is to include the refugees' six demands
and guarantees for follow-up and verification of the final
agreement.

The refugees' advisor added that in fact the return is
already taking place.  If the government tries to hinder it,
he says, the refugees will return nevertheless, and will
fight for their rights inside the country together with other
sectors of the society.  According to the La Jornada report,
the Permanent Commissions estimate that 5,000 refugees will
return this year in a single contingent.

Interior Minister To Step Down

Interior Minister Fernando Hurtado officially resigned on
July 23, effective the last day of this month.  Hurtado had
spoken publicly of his impending resignation for some weeks,
but only the day before said he would continue at his post.
Notisiete TV quoted unofficial reports saying his resignation
was timed to avoid a congressional inquiry into his role in
recent police actions.  Hurtado announced his resignation
after meeting with members of the congressional committees
that oversee human rights and the interior ministry.
Criticism of Hurtado rose sharply this week after security
forces violently evicted protesting campesinos from Guatemala
City's Plaza Mayor.  In reference to news coverage of police
actions against demonstrators, Hurtado charged the press with
creating a "destabilizing" atmosphere that favors trade
unions.  Hurtado said freedom of expression is used
excessively, adding that the law gives authorities discretion
over where to draw the line.  Notisiete called the interior
minister's attitude "outrageous."  Hurtado complained that
police are criticized no matter what they do, saying
"citizens are not merely indifferent toward police officers--
they don't like them or respect them."

During Hurtado's tenure as interior minister, the Hunapu
joint police-army force assumed responsibility for public
safety, a task normally assigned to the National Police.
Military Mobile Police, Treasury Police and National Police
officers all participate in the Hunapu force.  UN human
rights expert Christian Tomuschat has criticized this policy
for failing to maintain a clear separation between the police
and army.

Hurtado was named Interior Minister in May 1991, after
serving as government human rights ombudsman.  Since then,
the Serrano government has referred to the appointment of a
civilian to the post as evidence of improvement in the human
rights climate.  The government has not announced Hurtado's
replacement.

Latin Leftists Vote Support For URNG

At the Third Sao Paulo Forum in Managua, Nicaragua, 61
leftist political parties and movements from all over Latin
America unanimously elected the Guatemalan National
Revolutionary Unity (URNG) to the Forum's steering committee.
This working group includes the Brazilian Workers Party,
Sandinista Front (FSLN), Uruguayan Front, Peruvian United
Left, Free Bolivia Movement, Haitian Lavallas Movement,
Mexican Democratic Revolution Party, Cuban Communist Party
and Salvador's Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front
(FMLN).

In addition, Rolando Moran of the URNG, Sandinista leader
Daniel Ortega and Francisco Jovel of the FMLN signed an
accord July 21 to join forces to bring stability and
democracy to the Central American region.  Leaders called for
an end to human rights violations in Guatemala and the
impunity of government security forces as well as full
participation for civilians in the Guatemalan peace process.

The Central American leftist leadership expressed full
support for the Guatemalan rebel peace proposal "Just and
Democratic Peace for Guatemala: Content of the Negotiations."
The accord backs the Salvadoran people's efforts to ensurefulfillment of the FMLN's peace accord with the government.
That agreement includes a reduction in the army, land
guarantees, loans and housing for ex-combatants.  Leaders
likewise voted support for the Sandinistas and the Nicaraguan
people who reject the imposition by the United States of an
economic model contrary to the interests of their nation.

Serrano Goes to Ibero-American Summit

Jorge Serrano joined other presidents from Latin America,
Spain and Portugal in the second Ibero-American Summit, held
July 23-25 in Madrid. Serrano said Latin American countries
are in the process of consolidating democracy, adding that
some are faring better than others but none have achieved
perfect democracy.  Alluding to recent events in Peru,
Venezuela and Columbia that kept presidents from those
countries from attending the summit, Serrano said crises
threatening democracy will likely continue to arise but may
be overcome.  He emphasized that Latin American countries
must meet numerous challenges in scientific and cultural
development if they do not want to leave decisions about
their future to others.

Serrano said those in government, just as the prophets in the
Old Testament, must provide the people with a "vision" for
the future.  In order to build this vision he proposed a
meeting of scientists, educators, and others "who are on the
fringes of the day-to-day political responsibilities of our
GATT negotiations, tariff problems, taxation worries, and
budget deficits."  He said these persons can bring a
cultural, historical perspective and generate new ideas on
the future of Latin America.  He suggested the meeting be
held in Guatemala during 1993 before the next Ibero-American
Summit.

Chilean Carabineros Training Police in Guatemala

Chilean security advisers, noted for human rights abuses in
their own country, began a two-year training program this
week with the Guatemalan National Police.  The Carabineros
are first meeting with officials to go over how Guatemalan
security forces currently function. The Carabineros will then
make recommendations for reorganizing them.  Outgoing
Interior Minister Fernando Hurtado, who signed the agreement
with the Chileans earlier this month, called the Carabineros
"friends of the people."

Pablo Monsanto:  False Expectations Do Not Bring Peace

URNG Commander Pablo Monsanto this week criticized what he
called President Serrano's propagandistic pronouncements
about signing a peace treaty in the near future.  Monsanto
said Serrano's efforts to create false expectations are not
conducive to peace and the only thing that can accelerate theprocess is for the government to accept the participation of
civilians. The guerrilla leader told the Mexican daily El Dia
that although the process should not be viewed as continuing
indefinitely, neither can a fixed schedule be imposed.  He
said the URNG will have a new proposal at the next round of
talks, August 3-7.

Forest Cut in Protected Area

According to Prensa Libre, two thousand mahogany and cedar
trees have been cut in the protected Mayan Biosphere.  The
area is considered the second most important rainforest on
the American continent, the report says.  Environmentalists
say far greater numbers of trees, perhaps 120,000, have
probably been cut. They estimate that for each tree known to
have been logged, clandestine logging destroys 60 others.
According to one local journalist, the director of the
National Council of Protected Areas has been accused of
smuggling precious woods out of the Peten into Mexico.

Cholera Update

Since January 9,325 cases of cholera have been reported in
Guatemala, according to Health Minister Eusebio del Cid.  The
epidemic continues to spread and will worsen with the onset
of the rainy season, he added.  In a matter of a few days,
ten persons died and 150 new cases were diagnosed in one town
in the province of Progreso.
*****************

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** End of text from cdp:reg.guatemala **