NetNews Usenet Archive 1993 #1/NN_1993_1.iso/spool/misc/activism/progress/9860

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Subject: Guatemala Human Rights Update Dec 28, 1992
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/** reg.guatemala: 135.0 **/
** Topic: human rights UPDATE#52 **
** Written 10:23 am  Jan  8, 1993 by ghrc in cdp:reg.guatemala **
                  GHRC/USA Human Rights Update*
                      PEACENET Version #52
                        December 28, 1992


CASE UPDATES

ARMY HINDERS INSPECTION OF RAZED COMMUNITIES  Paula Carmelita Ros
Domingo, a member of the Communities of Population in Resistance
(CPRs), reported that the Guatemalan army did not cooperate with
an effort to verify the late November razing of three Communities
of Population in Resistance in the Ixc n, El Quich.  According
to the report, on December 15 Captain Medina of the Guatemalan
army refused to transport members of a delegation from the Human
Rights Procurator's Office, international journalists, and
representatives of a multiparty commission (led by Monsignor
Alvaro Ramazzini) from the airport to the communities, alleging
that he could not guarantee the safety of the group.  The actions
of the soldiers, who reportedly left the towns in ashes (see
Peacenet Update #49), therefore could not be confirmed.

SOLUTION FOUND FOR CAMPESINOS OF CAJOL~  Five-hundred campesinos
(farmers or peasants) from Cajol , who were forcibly evicted in
July from the Pampas de Horizante finca (plantation or ranch),
will be relocated to a finca in Retalhuleu (see Peacenet Update
#51).  The finca is thirty-eight kilometers from the departmental
capital, near kilometer 210 of the road to Champerico port.  As
he announced the solution to the Cajolan campesinos' land
problem, Carlos Enrique Ortega, the president of the Institute of
Agrarian Reform (INTA), said Guatemala President Jorge Serrano
El!as had told him that the Guatemalan government "would not
accept any type of pressure to obtain fincas for other campesino
groups."

OTHER HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS

JOURNALIST SERIOUSLY INJURED IN ATTACK  On December 18,
journalist and University of San Carlos professor ALFREDO TORRES
was shot by three members of the Presidential Military Guard.
The incident occurred on 16th Avenue and 8th Street in Zone 6 of
Guatemala City, near the treasury police headquarters.  Torres
was seriously injured and was taken to Herrera Llerandi Hospital
for surgery.
     Torres' attackers, identified as Oscar Salvatierra, Jorge
Ad n Ixot, and Edgar Rolando Gonz lez, were arrested at the site
of the crime by treasury policemen, who turned them in to the
authorities.  Torres' relatives reported that individuals who
were apparently members of the government security forces came to
their house on a motorcycle with no license plates and asked
Torres' wife not to report the shooting.

OTHER INFORMATION

MENCH~'S NOBEL PRIZE TO STAY IN MEXICO CITY  On December 18,
before thousands of spectators and Mexican President Carlos
Salinas, Nobel Peace Prize winner Rigoberta Mench# Tum
"temporarily" deposited her medal and diploma at the Templo Mayor
de Tenochitl n museum in Mexico City, where she has decided to
keep them until peace and security prevail in Guatemala.
Mench# said that the absence of the Guatemalan government at the
Nobel Peace Prize award ceremony was proof of the government's
intransigence and lack of understanding.  President Salinas told
Rigoberta, "We feel honored by your decision to temporarily leave
the symbols of the Nobel Prize on our soil.  In Mexico, we love
you; in Mexico, we respect you; in Mexico, we admire you."
     The day after the ceremony, Mench# returned to Guatemala on
a Mexican military Presidential Guard plane.  Before the hundreds
of people present in Kaminal Juy# park, Zone 7 of Guatemala City,
Rigoberta said, "People with hunger are people without peace."
She also said that land ownership should be democratic and that
forced military recruitment and civil defense patrols should be
abolished.  She called for a just society where health and
education would be possible for all people and said this society
should be constructed through national unity.
     Mench# also reported that the armed forces have continued to
accuse her relatives in El Quich of being guerrillas, but that
in spite of the hostilities, it was necessary to continue working
for human rights.
     In a December 22 press conference, Mench# expressed her fear
of a possible military offensive against civilian groups, in
light of the obvious harassment of popular leaders and human
rights activists.

URNG WILLING TO SIGN UNIVERSAL HUMAN RIGHTS ACCORD  On December
21 in Mexico City, Commandant Pablo Monsanto, of the Guatemalan
National Revolutionary Unity (URNG), said his organization was
willing to sign the universal human rights accord immediately,
with international verification.  He said that if the Serrano
administration really has the power and the political will, it
can also sign the accord at the negotiating table.  The URNG
noted that the demilitarization of the country, the strengthening
of civilian society, and an economic transformation are
necessary.  The URNG spokesman also said that "no one in today's
world accepts a militarized society, and the only opportunity to
emphasize the productive powers is for the military to relinquish
the real power so that civilians can govern."

URD SAYS VICTIMIZATION OF GUATEMALAN PEOPLE CONTINUES  In a press
release the Revolutionary Democratic Union (URD), a recently
formed party, noted that the Guatemalan people continue to suffer
from a lack of respect for their physical safety, the repression
of free thought, the misuse of State funds, and constant human
rights violations.  The URD stated that a series of public
scandals have characterized the government of Jorge Serrano
El!as, from abuses of power by public officials to threats to
leaders of associations that defend human rights and the freedom
of the press.

UASP PUBLICLY CHALLENGES MINISTER OF DEFENSE  The Union of Labor
and Popular Action (UASP) publicly accused Defense Minister Jose
Domingo Garc!a Samayoa of damaging the reputations of union and
popular organizations.  UASP director Byron Morales stated that
Garc!a Samayoa had insisted on linking various individuals,
leaders, and organizations to the guerrillas, trying to create a
justification for eliminating activists, dismantling popular
organizations and democratic initiatives, and silencing voices of
protest.

MAYA MAJAWIL Q'IJ COMMITTEE ASKS FOR END TO REPRESSION  On
December 10, International Human Rights Day, members of
indigenous communities, senior citizens organizations, Mayan
priests, and other organizations published a paid ad, which
stated that "only with a joint effort can we end the long night
of hunger, the death, and the discrimination against the Mayan
people and their culture."  The organizations called on all the
indigenous of Guatemala to construct their own institution to
defend and promote indigenous peoples' human rights.  In the ad
the groups stated, "Our battle is against discrimination,
oppression, marginalization, ignorance, hunger, injustice, and
repression."  The groups also called on all sectors of Guatemalan
society to join in the effort to achieve a peace based on social
justice.

RETURNING REFUGEES REQUEST INTERNATIONAL OBSERVERS AND GUARANTEES
Alejandro Funes G"mez, the representative of the Permanent
Commissions of Refugees, stated that he is trusting international
human rights organizations to protect the rights of refugees
returning to Guatemala.  Funes G"mez said that the four thousand
refugees scheduled to return on January 13 are concerned that the
Guatemalan government might revoke the possibility of the
refugees' returning to their homes in the Ixc n and Nent"n.  The
government is now proposing that the refugees settle in remote
areas in the mountains and the jungle, where they will not be
able to count on protection and safety, instead of in their
original communities, which are well populated and equipped with
medical facilities.  The refugee spokesman referred to the
agreement signed on October 8, which guarantees a safe home,
freedom of movement and association, and rights to the property
they abandoned.
     On behalf of two hundred families who took refuge in
Trinitaria, Mexico, Pedro Castro Luz asked the Guatemalan
government for better living conditions for the returning
refugees, especially in terms of health and education.  Castro
Luz said, "We are willing to go back as long as the return is
during the day, not at not and in the mountains, as the
government wants.  If we go back," he added, "we need sufficient
guarantees of our physical safety."

RUOG SAYS REPRESSION IN GUATEMALA WILL INCREASE  On arrival in
Guatemala, accompanying Rigoberta Menchu T#m, members of the
United Representation of Guatemalan Opposition (RUOG) said that
the human rights situation has not changed and that no
significant advances have been made in democratization.  In
respect to the peace negotiations, Dr. Rolando Castillo Montalvo
said that overcoming the stalemate would not be easy.  Castillo
Montalvo also said, "The intention to increase the intimidation
and repression is well known."  RUOG criticized the fact that in
Guatemala, it has become customary to accuse human rights groups
of being affiliated with the URNG.  According to RUOG member
Frank La Rue, "the right to organize is not respected and neither
is the right to free expression."

BOMBS EXPLODE IN APG OFFICE AND CITY HALL  On the night of
December 21 a high-power bomb exploded in the headquarters of the
Association of Guatemalan Journalists (APG), causing serious
damage to the building and leaving the security guard's wife, Ana
Mar!a Rodr!guez, was traumatized.  Another bomb exploded on the
same night in the city hall of Guatemala City, destroying the
first floor and alarming the workers who were still in the
building.


The Guatemala Human Rights Commission/USA monitors the human
rights situation in Guatemala and provides information to various
constituencies in the United States and to a limited extent
abroad.  Information in the Guatemala Human Rights Update is
compiled from a variety of international sources including: the
Comisi"n de Derechos Humanos de Guatemala/Mexico (Guatemalan
Human Rights Commission/Mexico), Americas Watch, Amnesty
International and Inforpress.  Information is also gathered from
reports and alerts from groups in Guatemala including: the
Archbishop's Human Rights Office, the Council of Ethnic
Communities Runujel Junam (CERJ), labor unions, the University
Students Association (AEU), the Conference of Religious of
Guatemala (CONFREGUA) and the Mutual Support Group of Relatives
of the Disappeared (GAM).

* Every two weeks, two PEACENET Updates are combined to form the
Guatemala Human Rights Update, which is mailed first class to
hundreds of organizations and individuals.  That publication
includes all the information in the PEACENET versions -- with
infrequent addenda and corrections -- and a list of suggested
actions.  To subscribe to the Guatemala Human Rights Update send
$30 (yearly subscription) to GHRC/USA at: 3321 12th Street NE,
Washington DC, 20017.  Or call [phone] or fax (202) 526-
4611 for more information.

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