NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #30/NN_1992_30.iso/spool/misc/activism/progress/9336

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From: [e-mail] (Rich Winkel)
Subject: Guatemala Human Rights update 12/7/92
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/** reg.guatemala: 123.0 **/
** Topic: Human Rights UPDATE#49\12\7\92 **
** Written 10:19 am  Dec 12, 1992 by ghrc in cdp:reg.guatemala **
                     Peacenet Update #49
                         December 7

CASE UPDATES

Government Denies Army Involvement in Myrna Mack's Murder
The Minister of Defense and the Guatemalan government denied
Human Right Procurator Ramiro de Leon Carpio's assertion that
government security forces were responsible for the 1990 murder
of Guatemalan anthropologist Myrna Mack Chang (see Peacenet
Update #48).  Arturo Alvarado, the secretary of the Ministry for
Foreign Affairs, said the Procurator was referring to an incident
that took place under a previous government.  Defense Minister
Domingo Garcia Samayoa said the army was not involved in the case
of Myrna Mack, and that when the Procurator referred to "security
forces," he was no doubt talking about the National Police.
"Certainly," General Garcia said, "a member of the army is
connected to the crime, but he did it privately, not as a member
of the armed institution."

Maritza Urrutia Asks for Protection for her Family  In a letter
to Human Rights Procurator Ramiro de Leon Carpio, Maritza
Urrutia, who was abducted by the army and later released (see
Peacenet Update #30), requested protection for her family, since
her abductors clearly stated that they would take action against
her relatives.

DEATH THREATS

PAC Commanders Threaten Campesinos  The Mutual Support Group for
the Relatives of the Disappeared (GAM) reported that in
Pajuliboy, Chichicastenango, El Quiche, civil defense patrol
(PAC) commander Manuel Equilay Suy has continued to threaten
fourteen campesinos (farmers or peasants) who are opposed to
joining the PACs.  According to GAM, Equilay Suy has accused the
fourteen men of being guerrillas and threatened to drown them in
the river.  GAM also reported that its members continue to be
intimidated by unidentified individuals who are watching the GAM
headquarters from motorcycles and from cars with tinted windows.

OTHER HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS

Army Attacks Two Towns in the Ixcan, El Quiche  In late November
approximately 450 soldiers from the military barracks in Cuarto
Pueblo began a large military operation against Cuarto Pueblo and
Los Angeles in the north of the Ixcan, where several Communities
of Population in Resistance (CPRs) were living.  On November 28,
soldiers approached Cuarto Pueblo in three columns, attempting to
take the citizens by surprise.  On November 29 the army openly
attacked Cuarto Pueblo.  The inhabitants, however, had realized
the danger they were in and abandoned the town, leaving most
their belongings in their houses.  When soldiers did not find any
of Cuarto Pueblo's six-hundred inhabitants in the town, they set
fire to homes, schools, and the chapel and killed and ate the
residents' animals.  They also stole valuable objects they found
in some of the houses.  When the army left Cuarto Pueblo on
November 30, the town was in ashes.  On December 1 soldiers
arrived in the town of Los Angeles, which residents had also fled
only moments before.  The soldiers burned the houses and
buildings that had remained standing after the July 27, 1992
bombing.  On December 2, the army headed toward Monaco.
     The leaders of the Ixcan CPRs categorically denied the
assertions of army spokesman Captain Yon Rivera, who said that
the army had destroyed five guerrilla camps, where several bales
of marijuana were found.  "Not five guerrilla camps, but three
Communities of Population in Resistance [were destroyed]," he
said, "and what they found were agricultural crops, like beans,
corn, and vegetables."  The leaders of the Ixcan CPRs believe the
army will continue to attack their communities, where Guatemalan
refugees now living in Mexico are scheduled to return in January.

Two Injured in Eviction Protest  Families in La Isla colony in
Zone 13 of Guatemala City were threatened by armed men while they
were protesting an eviction order issued by Judge Carmen
Ellgutter Figueroa (see Peacenet Update #48).  Two inhabitants of
La Isla were injured during the protest, one seriously enough to
require treatment at Roosevelt Hospital.

Union Members Harassed  The secretary of conflicts of the
Portuaria Quetzal Company's labor union, Juan Jose Morales
Moscoso, reported that during the past four weeks union members
have been harassed, intimidated, and kept under surveillance by
unidentified individuals.  They added that two unidentified
individuals attended a union meeting and took notes on who spoke.

Later other subjects in a car sought out the representative of
the union to intimidate him.  Union members believe these
intimidation tactics are a response to their opposition to a
barge construction project that would threaten the health of
people who live in the port and have a negative effect on the
environment.  The US company ENRON is in charge of the project.

OTHER INFORMATION

Military Service Law Reviewed  The proposal for a new military
service law now being discussed in Guatemalan Congress has
provided an opportunity for a series of commentaries, opinions,
and criticism on the part of journalists and other groups.  A
columnist in the Guatemalan daily El Grafico noted, "The proposed
military service law has been rejected by the National
University, which characterizes it as unconstitutional.  Several
popular organizations have said the law is discriminatory.
Nevertheless, no one has gone to the heart of the matter, which
is the immorality of obligating a human being to serve in the
military to sustain a state of affairs and a system of government
whose activities are totally contrary to the interests and rights
of that same human being."
Reconcialtion Commission Explained  In an article published in
Prensa Libre, Monseigneur Quezado Toruno, the mediator of the
peace talks between the Guatemalan government and the Guatemalan
National Revolutionary Unity (URNG) stated that "the Guatemalan
people have the right to know the advances and the obstacles of a
process in which they have placed their hope."  The mediator said
that the government and the URNG have agreed to the formation of
a specific commission which will record in detail the principal
human rights violations occurring from the beginning of the armed
conflict up to the time a final peace accord is signed.
     "A complete consensus about the committee's composition has
not been reached," said Toruno, "but it would be made up of the
Human Rights Procurator, who would preside over the committee,
and other members designated by the mediator of the common
accord, in consultation with both parties."  The members would be
chosen from a pool of candidates proposed by different sectors.
Toruno said the commission would not be involved in determining
any judicial penalties.
     The mediator stated that the fundamental divergence between
the parties is rooted in the time-frame of the commission's work.

 The government said the commission could be formed immediately
but its installation and work should begin after the signing of
the final peace accord.  The URNG demands that the commission
begin its work after the signing of the human rights accord,
arguing that its immediate implementation is necessary in order
for human rights violations to stop.

Journalists ask for an end to the Intimidation  More than two
hundred journalists will commemorate the Day of the Journalist
with a nonviolent march that will end in the Plaza Mayor of
Guatemala City.  The journalists submitted a list of petitions to
the President of the Republic, asking for an end to the wave
repression against journalists and the daily intimidations they
are subject to.  They also asked for an end to government
censorship and requested that the government allow them to work
in peace and tranquility.

Norway Concerned About Human Rights Situation in Guatemala
Speaking before the United Nations, Ambassador Haakon B. Hjlede,
the Special Human Rights Advisor of the Permanent Mission of
Norway, stated his desire that the Guatemalan government and the
URNG reach a prompt peace agreement.  He recognized, however,
that "the situation of human rights in Guatemala continues to be
a cause for serious concern.  Therefore," he said, "it is of the
utmost importance that the government of Guatemala make use of
all the means at its disposal to ensure that its declared
intention of protecting human rights becomes a reality."

AI Says PACs Responsible for Serious Violations  In a document to
the International Secretariat, Amnesty International (AI) stated
that the indigenous people of America continue to be deprived of
their civil, political, economic, social, and cultural rights.
In regards to Guatemala, AI reported that the PACs are
responsible for serious violations and said that "those
responsible for the violations appear to enjoy complete
impunity."
     AI recommended that the governments of the continent
guarantee that the rights of the indigenous are respected and
asked that judicial procedures involving indigenous people be
conducted in their mother tongue.  With respect to the struggle
for land and natural resources, the humanitarian organization
asked that governments adopt the principle of Agreement 169 on
Indigenous Peoples and Tribes.** End of text from cdp:reg.guatemala **