NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #20/NN_1992_20.iso/spool/misc/activism/progress/6539

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From: [e-mail] (Rich Winkel)
Subject: Guatemala Human Rights UPDATE#36 9/7/92
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/** reg.guatemala: 88.0 **/
** Topic: Human Rights UPDATE#36 9/7/92 **
** Written  6:29 pm  Sep 11, 1992 by ghrc in cdp:reg.guatemala **



                  GHRC/USA Human Rights Update
                      PEACENET Version #36
                        September 7, 1992

CASE UPDATES

VICE PRESIDENT SAYS COATUNCO WILL NOT BE RESURVEYED  Vice
President Gustavo Espina Salguero said it is not possible to
remeasure the Coatunco finca (estate or ranch), as the villagers
of Cajola, Coatepeque, in Quetzaltenango have asked, because the
finca is "private property." Campesinos (farmers or peasants) in
Cajola had occupied the estate until a few months ago, when they
were violently evicted.  The Guatemalan government gave the
estate, known until recently as Pampas de Horizante, to the
campesinos in 1910, but in recent years the owner of the
neighboring Coatunco finca has systematically encroached upon and
seized the land from the peasants.  Espina Salguero also said
that the finca Pampas de Horizante no longer exists, so allowing
the campesinos to return there is impossible.  (See Human Rights
Update #15, 1992.)  The campesinos have asked national and
international organizations for food and medicine and said that
if the Guatemalan government does not meet with their
representatives this week, they will take stronger measures to
draw attention to their plight.

ARMY WILL CONTINUE TO BOMB CPRS  Vice President Gustavo Espina
Salguero said the government will continue its attacks against
the rebels in zones inhabited by communities of population in
resistance (CPRs).  Annoyed by a humanitarian commission's
criticism of the bombings (see Human Rights Update #17, 1992),
Espina remarked that foreigners "believe they are experts in the
reality of our nation after being in the country for two or three
days."


EXTRAJUDICIAL EXECUTIONS

CATARINO CHANCHAVAC LARIOS (21) was beaten to death on August 26
in San Pablo, San Pedro Jocopilas, in El Quiche.  Before he was
murdered, Chanchavac Larios had received death threats from the
leaders of the Santabel II and San Pablo civil defense patrols
(PACs), supposedly voluntary paramilitary groups controlled by
the Army. The Council of Ethnic Communities Runujel Junam, a
human rights group that educates campesinos about their
constitutional right not to join the PACs, has requested an
investigation into the murder; the punishment of those
responsible; an immediate end to the oppression of the citizens
of San Pedro Jacopilas (who also refuse to join the PACs); and a
guarantee that Chanchavac Lorenzo's family will be safe.

The bodies of INOCENTE LARA SAGASTUME (38) and an UNIDENTIFIED
MALE were found on August 29 in Cante, San Luis, in El Peten.
Both victims had apparently been tortured and shot several times.


UNIDENTIFIED BODIES

The body of ONE UNIDENTIFIED MALE was found on August 29 on the
highway between Santa Ana and Poptun, in El Peten.  The victim
had apparently been tortured and shot.

The body of ONE UNIDENTIFIED MALE, with bullet wounds and signs
of torture, was found on August 29 in Sacpuy, San Andres, in El
Peten.


OTHER INFORMATION

CAMPESINOS REQUEST DISARMAMENT OF 800 TROOPS  Hundreds of
campesinos demonstrated in protest of the PACs of Guineales, in
Santa Catarina Ixtahuacan in Solola. On August 26 the Guineales
PACs fired on and almost killed several citizens of the town.
The demonstrators said that if the Army does not disarm the 800
PAC members, they will mobilize forty thousand people and disarm
the PACs themselves.  The citizens of Santa Catarina Ixtahuacan,
mostly farmers in Guineales, are constantly afraid and cannot
attend to their farming because of the PACs' threats, attacks,
and human rights abuses. (See Human Rights Update #17, 1992.)
     On September 1 municipal officials of Santa Catarina met
with the Minister of Defense, J. Domingo Garcia, and formally
asked him to abolish the Guineales PACs.  Domingo Garcia
responded with repeated threats in an August 18 letter to Santa
Catarina mayor, Sebastian Guarchaj Izep.  The oppression of the
citizens will probably intensify.

PASTORAL LETTER CRITICIZES GOVERNMENT  In a press conference in
the  Archbishop's palace, the bishops of Guatemala released a
pastoral letter entitled "Five Hundred Years of Sowing the Word
in Guatemala." In one of the letter's twenty-four points the
bishops stated that "the high rate of unemployment and
underemployment, the shortage of housing, crime, public and
private corruption, and impunity reflect an oppressive and
desperate national situation."  The bishops also expressed
concern about the size of the military, noting its "detrimental
effect on the budget of a country that is becoming poorer and
poorer.  The government has chosen oppression and not the
elimination of injustice, which is the cause the conflict in
Guatemala," the bishops said.  They especially emphasized the
problems of the indigenous in Guatemala.

EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT SAYS POVERTY OBSTRUCTS PEACE  In Strasbourg,
France, members of the European Parliament, reporting on their
recent visit to Mexico and Central America, said there can be
peace in Guatemala only when campesinos are offered some relief
from poverty and displaced persons are given land.  The members
of parliament also denounced the oppression of street children,
which they named as their main concern.

FIVE THOUSAND REFUGEES PLAN ORGANIZED RETURN  The Permanent
Commissioners for Guatemalan Refugees in Mexico announced on
September 1 that, at the end of this year, about five thousand
Guatemalans living in camps in the Mexican states of Chiapas,
Campeche, and Quintana Roo plan to repatriate. The decision to
repatriate was made by thirty-three refugee delegates at an
August 28-30 meeting in Mexico City. The refugees are aware that
Guatemala is in the midst of a war and that conditions do not
favor their return.  But, according to their legal advisor,
Alfonso Bauer Paiz, they believe they are needed in Guatemala to
struggle peacefully with other members of their society for a
democratic system and a lasting peace.  The refugees plan to live
in the Ixcan, in El Quiche, and in Nenton, Huehuetenango when
they return.
     Bauer Paiz reported that the refugees would ask national and
international solidarity organizations to accompany the first
contingent of refugees returning to Guatemala.  The details of
the return will be communicated to the United Nations High
Commission on Refugees, which has overseen housing and other
arrangements for the refugees in Mexico.
     According to Bauer Paiz, refugee delegates will meet with
Mexican government officials on September 7-8 to discuss the
overall situation of the approximately 40,000 Guatemalan refugees
still in Mexico.  Most of these refugees fled the violence of the
thirty-year internal armed conflict between government forces and
the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity (URNG) guerrillas.

GAM REMEMBERS THE MARTYRS OF 1989  In the fourth International
Festival of Solidarity for Life and Peace, the Mutual Support
Group for the Families of the Disappeared (GAM) commemorated the
University of San Carlos students who were killed and disappeared
in August 1989.  Among those disappeared was activist MARIA
RUMUALDA CAMEY, whose family was forced into exile.  GAM members
reiterated the need for a national commission to investigate the
thousands of disappeared.

PEASANT UNITY COMMITTEE REPORTS ON UNITED NATIONS PROPOSAL  In a
conference entitled "Indigenous Rights in Mexico and Central
America" the delegate of the Peasant Unity Committee, Maria del
Rosario Toj, reported that the United Nations is considering a
proposal to allow indigenous people to participate directly in
the Minority Working Group, currently limited to UN experts.  The
proposal has drawn negative reactions from some governments that,
like Guatemala, do not accept the presence of indigenous people
in talks concerning land ownership, political participation, and
cultural and religious freedom.

PARENTS OF FORMER GUERRILLA PRESENT WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS TO ARMY
Family members of MARIA SIMON MISA, a suspected guerrilla who was
disappeared, presented the Army with a writ of habeas corpus.
Juan Simon Misa, the woman's brother, and Hipolito Simon, her
uncle, are extremely worried. The General Command of the URNG
stated in a press release that the Army is engaged in a
defamation campaign against the guerrillas, using torture and
threats to force POWs to sign declarations prepared by the Army
Intelligence Unit.  The government's statements regarding Simon
Misa's future have contradicted the Army's declarations.  Vice
President Gustavo Espina Salguero said Simon Misa is free to
reintegrate herself into society and live where she pleases, but
Army spokesman Captain Julio Alberto Yon Rivera said that Simon
Misa will "remain in a military barracks until a decision is made
about what part of the country to return her."

CODEHUCA SUPPORTS MENCHU'S CANDIDACY FOR NOBEL PEACE PRIZE
General Coordinator of the Commission for the Defense of Human
Rights in Central America (CODEHUCA), Silvia Porras Jiminez, said
on August 26 that awarding Rigoberta Menchu Tum the Nobel Peace
Prize would benefit peace and human rights throughout Central
America.  According to Porras Jiminez, awarding Menchu the prize
would let the world know the social and economic marginalization,
the tyranny, and the murder that 6.5 million Central American
Indians have suffered over the past five hundred years.
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For more information about the symposium Confronting the Heart of
Darkness: An International Symposium on Torture in Guatemala to
be held November 13 (eve)-November 15 (5:00PM) at the Catholic
University, Washington D.C. call  GHRC/USA at [phone] or
fax [phone].  Registration: $25.00.
** End of text from cdp:reg.guatemala **