/* Written 11:20 PM  Jul 31, 1990 by gsleicher in igc:reg.guatemala */
/* ---------- "Cerigua Briefs" ---------- */
CERIGUA WEEKLY BRIEFS:  July 23 - 29, 1990


Guatemalan Legislator Assassinated

Guatemalan Congressman Otto Ruano, together with his
bodyguard, were assassinated on Wednesday, July 25 in
eastern Guatemala as the two were driving along the highway
that leads to El Salvador.

Ruano, of the National Centrist Union (UCN), and Roberto
Espinoza, were shot and killed at 9:00 a.m. in Jutiapa
province.  On Sunday, the UCN announced that it would
conduct its own investigation of the crime because it has no
faith in the police, who have failed to resolve a single
political crime in the country, according to UCN Congressman
Carlos Perez.  He said the murder was certainly political,
and not isolated, "as the official media has irresponsibly
put it."

In the days following the assassination, many legislators
expressed fear that this could be the first of many
instances of electoral violence.  Political violence has
increased dramatically since early June, following talks
between the URNG and Guatemalan political parties in El
Escorial, Spain.  (Statistics on violence during June were
reported in the last edition of Weekly Briefs.)

This week, in the Friday edition of Prensa Libre, the
Assistant Special Attorney for Human Rights, Cesar Alvarez
Guadamuz, called the level of violence in the country
"alarming."  Alvarez said that the Special Attorney's Office
for Human Rights registered 80 extra-judicial executions
between June 29 and July 26.  The Office was created in 1987
specifically to keep track of human rights abuses in
Guatemala.

The statements by the assistant attorney came just three
days after the release of a report by the Records Division
of the Special Attorney's Office, covering the first six
months of 1990.  The report stated that the army is most
often cited as responsible in the reports of abuse presented
to his office.  The police rank third in those most often
cited.  The human rights attorney's office received 67
complaints against the army during the period, including
cases of violence against persons, abuse of power and
illegal detention.  Forty-six reports were registered
against the National Police for abuse of power, threats,
torture, murder and corruption.

Attack on GAM Leader's Family

Members of Nineth de Garcia's family were the target of an
attack which came after threats were made against their
lives, according to El Grafico and radio reports on July 24.
Garcia is the president of the Mutual Support Group for
Relatives of the Disappeared (GAM).

Early Sunday morning, Garcia's mother, sister and newborn
niece were in the home they share in Zone 15, in
southeastern Guatemala City, when an anonymous caller
telephoned, threatening Garcia's sister, Claudia de Arriaza.
Shortly thereafter, shots were fired at the house from a
passing vehicle.

Mrs. Montenegro, Garcia's mother, said that neither she nor
her daughter has anything to do with Nineth's activities on
behalf of the disappeared, a statement which was verified by
Garcia.

On Monday, the day after the attack, Garcia met with the
Minister of the Interior to demand that the safety of her
family be guaranteed.  Radio reports on Guatemala Flash
quoted Interior Minister General Carlos Morales as saying
that protection had been provided to Garcia's family, and
that the incident was apparently a matter of "family
problems in the area nearby, and so will soon be solved."

On Friday, July 27 a resolution was introduced in the U.S.
House Subcommittee on Western Hemispheric Affairs
(H.CON.RES.355).  In its fifth point, the document "calls
upon the government of Guatemala to take measures to protect
those particularly at risk, including human rights monitors
such as the Mutual Support Group (GAM)..."

CORRECTION:  Last week's issue of the Briefs stated that
this resolution had passed the subcommittee on July 17.  In
fact, a subcommittee meeting on Guatemala was held on that
date, and the resolution was introduced on July 27.

Another Union Leader Killed

Another member of the Confederation of Labor Unity (CUSG)
was murdered this week in eastern Guatemala.  Oscar
Portillo, of the Jalapa province Public Works Union was shot
and killed by a group of men in the neighboring province of
Jutiapa on July 19.

Woman Detained One Week Without Charges

The Friday edition of Prensa Libre carried a report of a
woman detained by agents of the Department of Criminal
Investigations (DIC), part of the National Police, on July
12.  No charges were filed against her.  Aurelina Rodas was
held for one week in a detention center in Mixco, just east
of Guatemala City.  During her detention she was severely
beaten.  She was released after paying a two hundred dollar
fine and being told she would be killed if she made a report
of the incident.  Rodas said that her husband is also
receiving death threats and that she hoped they would be
able to find protection from "these criminals, who with the
backing provided by their jobs, abuse their authority."

CUC Denounces Campaign of Violence

The Committee for Campesino Unity (CUC) issued a statement
this week accusing the government and army of Guatemala of
carrying out a campaign of abuses against members and
leaders of popular organizations, and using so-called
electoral violence as a pretext.  The CUC noted the recent
attacks on activists working with the Mutual Support Group
for Relatives of the Disappeared (GAM), the Council of
Ethnic Communities (CERJ) and the National Council of Widows
(CONAVIGUA), as well as union leaders.

Explosion at Rios Montt HQ

In the last two weeks, two incidents of violence were
reported against organizations associated with Efrain Rios
Montt, the evangelical leader who took power in a coup
d'etat in 1982 and is now running for president.

On Thursday, July 26, a bomb exploded at the headquarters of
the Guatemalan Republican Front, Rios Montt's party.  The
explosion caused heavy damage to the premises and the
adjoining building, but no one was injured.

Two weeks ago, an explosion at the headquarters of the
Church of the Word, of which Rios Montt is an elder,
occurred without causing injury despite the presence of more
than a hundred persons taking part in services.

Army Says HR Organizations are a Facade

Military Spokesman Carlos Duran, apparently responding to
reporters' questions about recent condemnations by different
human rights groups in Guatemala, said that these
institutions are actually "facades for stronger
institutions" such as communism.  "Russia," the chief of the
Army Department of Information said, "is interested in
creating instability in Guatemala in order to pursue its
Marxist-Leninist penetration."  His statements appeared in
the Wednesday edition of Prensa Libre.

In reference to the recent decision by the Permanent
People's Tribunal to hear the case of Guatemala at its next
plenary session in September, Coronel Duran said, "What
country in the world doesn't violate human rights?"

In statements made two days earlier, Duran referred to the
refugee camps in Mexico, home to at least 40,000 Guatemalans
forced to flee their country during fierce counterinsurgency
campaigns in the early 1980s, as "sanctuaries of
subversion."

URNG May Renew Attacks on Infrastructure

Rebel forces have announced that if the current wave of
terror and repression is not halted immediately, they will
be forced to end the suspension of attacks against the
country's economic infrastructure, which has been in place
for two and a half months.

The Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity (URNG) announced
the suspension of this type of military activity on June 8,
the date the El Escorial agreements signed between the
guerrillas and Guatemalan political parties went into
effect.

Since that time, there has been a surge in political
violence.  The Guatemalan press reported a four hundred
percent increase in June over the same month last year,
including 198 killings and 20 disappearances.

In a press release Saturday, the rebels said the temporary
halt was "interpreted as weakness by those who do not
support the peace process."  The response to this perceived
weakness, the statement continues, has been an increase in
violence directed against indigenous, human rights and labor
organizations, to which the URNG "cannot remain
indifferent."

The violence is "creating a climate favorable to those who
wish to return to the past," in reference to those who
support a military solution to the armed conflict in
Guatemala and oppose a political solution.  The press
release points out that the major achievement of the
Escorial Accords was the agreement by the political parties
on the necessity of changes in the country's constitution
with regard to the role of the army, the economic structure
and recognition of the right of both the indigenous
population and women to participate in the political life of
the country.

Government Begins Large Scale Layoffs

The government has laid off 240 State employees as part of
an International Monetary Fund imposed program titled "the
500 day plan," it was reported Sunday.

In the first week of July, the Finance Ministry workers
denounced the government's plan to lay off 35,000 public
workers, in compliance with recommendations made by
international institutions.

Of the 240 laid off this week, 166 were Finance Ministry
workers and 82 were employed at the Foreign Relations
Ministry, according to a government press secretary.

*****************

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