/* Written  9:45 PM  Oct 23, 1990 by cerisea in igc:reg.guatemala */
/* ---------- "Cerigua Briefs" ---------- */
        CERIGUA Weekly Briefs, October 15 - 21, 1990

Army Briefs Participants Before Meeting with URNG

The Guatemalan army high command held a meeting on Friday
afternoon with the representatives of 23 grassroots and labor
organizations who will meet with the Guatemalan National
Revolutionary Unity (URNG) leadership next week in Mexico.  A
leader from the Mutual Support Group for Relatives of the
Disappeared (GAM) interviewed by the radio news program
"Patrullaje Informativo" said that the implicit message given
by the army was that if the representatives express too much
agreement with the insurgency during the talks, this will
suggest a "marriage" between the two groups and the popular
movement will suffer reprisals.  In an interview with El
Gr fico after the meeting, a GAM leader commented "we are
very clear that in order to reach true peace in our country,
the government and the army must sit down at the negotiating
table with the commanders of the Guatemalan National
Revolutionary Unity."

Groups which will be represented at the meeting with the URNG
leadership on October 23-25 include GAM, the United Labor and
Popular Action (UASP), Association of University Students
(AEU), Committee for Campesino Unity (CUC), Council of Ethnic
Communities (CERJ), National Council of Widows of Guatemala
(CONAVIGUA), National Council of the Displaced (CONDEG),
Permanent Commissions of Refugees in Mexico (CPR), and
various labor unions and federations.

A second meeting will follow on October 26-28 with
representatives from small and medium-sized businesses,
cooperatives, professional organizations and the
administration of the University of San Carlos.

Unsafe for Campesinos to Return to Their Village

An effort by the Assistant Special Attorney for Human Rights
to assist five campesinos returning to their homes failed
following a confrontation with the local chief of the
paramilitary Civil Defense Patrols, according to television
reports in Guatemala Monday.  The campesinos requested
assistance from the Human Rights Office, fearing for their
safety after they accused village civil patrol chiefs,
military commissioners and assistant mayors of kidnapping
unionist Sebastian Velasquez on October 7.  The villagers had
left their homes in Chumina, Quiche and sought refuge in the
headquarters of the Council of Ethnic Communities (CERJ).

Assistant Human Rights Attorney Cesar Alvarez, together with
two U.S. journalists and a Guatemalan television cameraman,
accompanied the campesinos to their village where they met
with the civil patrol chief.  After a heated discussion,
Alvarez decided it was not safe for the villagers to stay,
and the group left.  One of the villagers said that they have
been threatened and labeled as guerrillas for refusing to
participate in the civil patrols.

Amnesty International Monitors Pre-Election Violence

Amnesty International (AI) has made a call for presidential
candidates in Guatemala to define their position on human
rights violations in their country.  In an open letter
directed to the candidates released on Tuesday, the watchdog
group expressed its concern over the alarmingincrease in
torture, disappearances and extra-judicial executions in
Guatemala.

A three-member delegation from Amnesty International visited
Guatemala this week to observe the human rights situation
during the pre-election period and investigate specific cases
of violations that have been reported to the organization.
The delegates expressed special concern for a series of
abuses committed against street children by police officers
in the capital city.  They also emphasized the importance of
protecting human rights activists who work to defend the
rights of others when they and their families are the targets
of threats, attacks and disappearances.  Special reference
was made to leaders of GAM (Mutual Support Group of Relatives
of the Disappeared) and CERJ (Council of Ethnic Communities).

Of most concern, according to the delegation, is that those
who commit human rights violations go unpunished.  AI
delegate Francisco Ottonelli from Uruguay said that it is
essential to strengthen government institutions whose purpose
is to defend human rights, and to fight for a truly
independent judicial system because without it "anything can
happen."

Further Charges Against U.S. Citizen Stoltzfus

The Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity (URNG) released
new information this week in the case of U.S. citizen Elam
Stoltzfus.  In early September the insurgency charged
Stoltzfus, who had lived in Guatemala for 19 years, of
collaborating with the army.  On September l, rebel units
took over his property in western Peten and found weapons,
military communications equipment and written information
related to army operations.  They destroyed the buildings,
aircraft and landing strip on his property and ordered
Stoltzfus and his family to leave the country.  The U.S.
citizen claims to be a missionary whose only goal was to
assist the people living in western Peten.

In the latest report on Tuesday the URNG charges Stoltzfus
with turning over to the army two campesinos whom he accused
of being guerrillas, and who were then detained and tortured
on his property. The insurgents report that Stoltzfus later
transported the campesinos to the Sayaxche military base in
his private plane.  One of the men suffered severe head
injuries as a result of the torture and the other is being
held in a prison in Santa Elena, Peten, according to the
guerrillas.

Elections in Climate of Violence

Since the electoral campaign officially began in June, 13
Guatemalan politicians have been assassinated.  Two of the
victims were added to the list on Monday.  Carlos Ramirez was
a Social Democratic party leader in the province of Santa
Rosa.  Humberto Gonzalez owned two radio stations, Radio
Nuevo Mundo and Radio Sensacion, and was a leader of the
Revolutionary Democratic Unity (URD), a left-of-center
political group which has sought status as a legal party for
years and from which the United Front of the Revolution (FUR)
originated. Gonzalez' father was a noted leader in the
democratic Arbenz government and was murdered in 1970.

Oil Refinery Inaugurated on Ecological Reserve

An oil refinery located on a protected ecological reserve in
the Peten province was inaugurated on Sunday, the 14th, by
President Cerezo. The mini-refinery, owned by Basic Resources
Inc., will begin processing 2,000 barrels of petroleum a day,
with a future goal of 10,000 a day.

Several Guatemalan Congressional representatives and the
National Environmental Commission have protested the
construction of the refinery because of potential damage to
the surrounding forest and the numerous Mayan archaeological
ruins in this area.  The reserve, protected by the University
of San Carlos (USAC), is located near the Mexican border in
the region of El Naranjo.

Double Honor for CERJ Leader Amilcar Mendez

President of the Council of Ethnic Communities (CERJ) Amilcar
Mendez will receive the Carter-Menil Foundation's annual
award for his work in defense of human rights.  The award
will be presented on December 10 at the Carter Center for
Democracy in Atlanta, Georgia.  The distinguished award was
given to Nineth de Garcia of the Mutual Support Group for
Relatives of the Disappeared (GAM) in 1986.

Last week it was announced that Mendez will also receive the
Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Award in recognition of his
efforts as a human rights activist.  That ceremony will take
place in Washington on November 20.

Mendez is the coordinator of the Guatemalan indigenous
council CERJ which exposes human rights abuses against the
country's majority Indian population and lobbies against
forced participation in rural military patrols.  The
organization's members are frequently victims of murder and
disappearance.

Another Counter-Observance of Anniversary of Conquest

At an observance last weekend thousands of indigenous
Guatemalans marched to the traditional site of Iximche, the
seat of the ancient kingdom of the Cakchiquel people, to
express their rejection of the celebrations of 498 years
since the Spanish conquest, observed throughout Latin America
as "Day of the Race" or "the meeting of two worlds" on
October 12.

People of Mam, Chuj, Quiche, Cakchiquel, Ixil, Kanjobal,
Uspanteco, Tzutuhil and other ethnicities were present at
Iximche in the district of Tecpan, Chimaltenango province.
The event was organized by the newly formed Mayan
Celebrations Committee, "majagual q'ij" or "new dawn".

Rosalinda Tuyuc of the women's organization CONAVIGUA, the
Guatemalan Council of Widows, who spoke before the crowd,
compared celebrating the anniversary of the "Spanish
invasion" with "celebrating the anniversary of the massacre
of your own family."

Commentary on Meeting of C.A. Security Commission

A commission composed of Central American chancellors and
chiefs of the armed forces charged with continuing
discussions on security matters was formed as a result of the
Central American Esquipulas Accords in 1987.  This commission
meets periodically to discuss issues such as troop reductions
and foreign bases.  It met again this week, prompting a
statement by the Central American Commission for Human
Rights, CODEHUCA, in Prensa Libre on October 15.

The Commission pointed out the rapid growth in the Central
American armies, which in 1979 had a combined total of under
45,000 troops and by 1988, over 175,000. (This figure
includes the armies of Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and
Nicaragua).  These increases have signified a heavy burden
for the citizens of these nations who have been saddled with
budget tightening measures in the areas of health education
and development.  Levels of poverty have grown to such an
extent that maintaining the armies at their present level is
deemed by CODEHUCA to be criminal, constituting a threat to
human rights.

Noting that no mention was made of human rights at the last
meeting of the Security Commission in San Jose earlier this
year, CODEHUCA accused the Central American armies of
continuing to operate on the basis of the doctrine of
national security. Under their interpretation of the
doctrine, "not only are insurgent armies considered the
enemy, so are all participants in popular organizations whose
demands are uncomfortable for the state," the statement
reads.

CODEHUCA demanded a redefinition of the role of the armed
forces. It questions the legitimacy of article 1 in the
Security Commission accords, in which protection of "internal
order" is considered part of the defensive function of the
armed forces. The organization urged a comprehensive
inventory of the Central American armies and their arsenals,
taking into account paramilitary organizations such as the
Civil Defense Patrols in Guatemala. The aim of this
accounting would be to uncover the true structure of the
armed forces, "and take the necessary measures to dismantle
those structures whose repressive ends violate human rights."

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

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