/* Written 11:16 PM  Jul  9, 1990 by gsleicher in igc:reg.guatemala */
/* ---------- "Cerigua Briefs" ---------- */
CERIGUA WEEKLY BRIEFS, July 2 - 8, 1990


Peace Process Continues, Amid Divided Opinions

The Guatemalan Commission for National Reconciliation (CNR)
has received unanimous congratulations during this year,
both inside Guatemala and worldwide, in recognition of its
objectivity and efficiency in carrying out what had been
deemed an impossible task:  bringing peace to Guatemala.
This is not to say that peace has been achieved, but steps
which are indisputably without precedent were taken both in
Oslo, Norway in March and in El Escorial, Spain in May.  CNR
President Monsignor Rodolfo Quezada has not wasted any time
in setting up the next two meetings to take place between
the insurgent Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity (URNG)
and other citizen sectors.  A meeting with private
enterprise representatives is set for the end of July and
another with organized labor will be held in August.

The Association of University Students (AEU), the largest
student organization in Guatemala, reported that a student
seminar at the University of San Carlos gave "unlimited
support" for the peace process.  The students believe the
current dialogue "seeks a way out of the country's
problems."  At least ten AEU members were murdered or
disappeared during the last year.

A guest column in the daily El Grafico said that "Guatemala
can still be saved if the army's role is changed and demands
are made that it respect and comply with the basic accord in
search of peace through political means" signed by the CNR
and the URNG in Oslo.

Jose Pinzon, chairman of the Federation of Guatemalan
Workers (CGTG), announced that the leaders of the nation's
labor organizations have met twice with Monsignor Quezada
and CNR members, with the purpose of determining logistical
aspects of the meeting in August.  Pinzon said that the
labor leaders and CNR are preparing "a broad analysis of the
political, economic and social situation of the country."
Their conclusions will be taken to the meeting with the
URNG.

Efforts have not been so successful in arranging a meeting
between the URNG and the private business sector, as
represented by the Council of Agricultural, Commercial,
Industrial and Financial Associations (CACIF).  Although
Monsignor Quezada sent his proposal to CACIF in early June,
the Council has not been able to reach a consensus.
According to Chamber of Industry President Victor Suarez,
the industrial sector is convinced of the need to dialogue.
The agroexport sector, on the other hand, has so far
resisted participating in the talks, indicated Monsignor
Quezada.

In an Army Day celebration speech, Defense Minister Juan
Bolanos said he is not willing for the government to hold
talks with the rebels until they lay down their arms.
However, this violates the Oslo Accord which specifies the
unconditional nature of the meetings to be held.

Meanwhile, Quezada affirmed that the government-insurgency
meeting, which is the final phase of the Oslo Accord, is a
matter of national urgency and must be held this year.

Cerezo:  Refugees Can Stay in Mexico

President Vinicio Cerezo will meet with Mexican President
Carlos Salinas next week in Mexico.  Among the topics to be
discussed will be the situation of the Guatemalan refugees
living in that country, which total more than 40,000.

Last week Cerezo said that the refugees "could stay in
Mexico if they wanted to," disregarding the many requests
the refugees have made to the government for assurance of
their safety and the legal ownership of their lands upon
their return to Guatemala.

The refugees' Permanent Commission delegates declared that
the Guatemalan Special Commission to Aid Repatriates (CEAR)
told them the CEAR could not give them information regarding
the status of the war and conditions for their safety, nor
could they assure them of the ownership of lands they were
forced to leave.  Both CEAR and the National Land Institute
claim these affairs are not within their jurisdiction.

As for accusations that refugee camps are infiltrated by
guerrillas, delegates said the Mexican Refugees Aid
Commission (COMAR) is witness to the falsehood of these
comments made by Guatemalan officials.

The Guatemalan Christian Association called on Cerezo to
heed the refugees' "just demands for a collective, organized
return" to Guatemala.

Experts Sent to Evaluate Oqueli Investigation

A team of experts sent by the Socialist International (IS)
to evaluate the investigation by Guatemalan authorities of
the January murder of Social Democrats Hector Oqueli and
Gilda Flores arrived in Guatemala last week.

Spokespersons from the Guatemalan Social Democratic Party
(PSD) announced that the experts designated by the IS are
Professors Tom Farer and Robert Goldman, both of the
American University Law School in Washington, D.C.
Professor Farer has also been a member of the Organization
of American States Human Rights Commission.

The IS, the PSD and both national and international human
rights organizations have all expressed doubts regarding the
results of the official investigation of the crime.
Contrary to the official explanation, it has been widely
attributed to Guatemalan and Salvadoran paramilitary agents.

Guatemalan Minister of Internal Security, General Carlos
Morales, and the PSD broke off communication this week
because of Morales' statements that Oqueli had been set up
and murdered by people who were his friends in Guatemala.

The Salvadoran ambassador to Guatemala, Rafael Zaldivar,
however, declared he was pleased with Morales' statement,
and claimed the Guatemalan government had clearly based its
judgment on adequate proof.

Nevertheless, Professors Farer and Goldman stated that they
have found nothing conclusive.  In fact, they added, the
only two reports they have been allowed to examine are
contradictory on several points.

Although Farer and Goldman conferred with President Cerezo,
General Morales, Special Human Rights Attorney de Leon and
other officials, they stated that their job has been very
difficult.

Morales Denies Political Violence Continues

Internal Security Minister Morales stated that political
violence in Guatemala is a thing of the past, and attributed
the massive human rights violations during the month of June
to gangs of burglars led by "Central American foreigners."

Although Morales claims that Guatemala has grown out of its
past political violence, the human rights violations count
in June came to 267, the highest in four years of Christian
Democratic government under Cerezo.  These violations of the
right to life included 198 extrajudicial executions:  73
people were murdered during attacks and 125 bodies were
found in public places, many showing signs of torture.

Also last month, labor leaders denounced threats against
their lives, in which anonymous persons made reference to
the numerous bodies found daily in and around the capital
city.

On July 2, in the village of Racana in the western province
of Totonicapan, a member of the Runujel Junam Council of
Ethnic Communities, Pedro Tiu, was dragged out of his home
by ten armed men.  Tiu's family, who witnessed the
kidnapping, submitted a series of habeas corpus writs at
possible places of detention, but to no avail.

Army Crimes Against Highlands Population Reported

Criminal conduct by the Guatemalan army was reported this
week by the Committee for Campesino Unity (CUC) and other
local highlands villager organizations.

Nine soldiers were arrested and imprisoned in Santiago
Atitlan, in the western province of Solola, for the murder
of Gregorio Tsituj on June 21.  Shortly after, they were
released on the orders of a colonel from the Solola military
base, who arrived at the Santiago town jail with 700
soldiers to pick up the nine prisoners.

In a second case reported by the CUC, two youths were
murdered by three civil patrollers in the western province
of Huehuetenango.  On June 28 patrollers captured Remigio
Morales and Rafael Sanchez, 18 and 15 years old, and accused
them of being guerrillas.  Paramilitary agent Alberto
Sanchez, a civil patrol chief, ordered their immediate
execution.  Three civil patrollers executed them with
machetes, hacking their bodies to pieces.

In the village of Chupol, in the northwestern province of
Quiche, members of the Guatemalan army kidnapped a group of
people at the public market.  Nothing has been heard of them
since.  Residents of the area denounced this action, as well
as threats made by a local base commander to purge the civil
defense patrols because he considers them to be infiltrated
by guerrillas.

The Chupol villagers' committee reported that the commander
of the local military base called a meeting with military
commissioners and civil patrol chiefs, warning them that the
patrols have been infiltrated.  The villagers pointed out
that by saying this, the lives of many who carry out patrol
duty have been placed in jeopardy and are at the mercy of
army commanders.

Guatemala Blacklisted by World Bank

Government spokeswoman Claudia Arenas and Bank of Guatemala
authorities admitted that Guatemala has been placed on the
World Bank's "black list" because it fell behind on its
payments of interest on the foreign debt.

In order to be taken off the black list, the Guatemalan
Congress authorized the Bank of Guatemala to ask for a loan
of $368 million to pay off the debts.

In addition to interest owed to the World Bank, Guatemala
must pay off interest on loans from the Interamerican
Development Bank (BID), renegotiate debts with private US
banks and pay the Mexican and Venezuelan fuel debt as well.

Supreme Electoral Tribunal Speaks on Rios Montt Controversy

One of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) magistrates,
Marie Guerra, stated that the majority of the TSE
magistrates will resign if they are put under pressure to
violate the nation's Constitution.

Guerra's statement referred to the running controversy on
whether or not General Efrain Rios Montt can assume the
presidency of Guatemala, and correspondingly, whether he can
be registered as a candidate.  The Guatemalan Constitution
states that no head of state who came to power through or as
a result of a coup d'etat can be elected president.

This applies to Rios Montt, who came to power through the
1982 coup and ruled the country "by whiplashes and firing
squads at daybreak," as one radio news program put it.

In spite of official denials, several sources revealed that
a faction of the army which supports Rios Montt approached
President Cerezo to persuade him to smooth the way for the
ex-dictator's registration as a presidential candidate.

* * * * * * * * * *

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