/* Written  9:40 PM  Nov 26, 1990 by cerisea in igc:reg.guatemala */
/* ---------- "Cerigua Briefs" ---------- */
         CERIGUA WEEKLY BRIEFS, November 18-24, 1990

United Nations and Guatemala

At the United Nations General Assembly in New York, several
items related to Guatemala were generated this week.  The
United Nations as a whole is divided into several bodies
including the Secretariat, General Assembly, Security
Council, Economic and Social Council, Trusteeship Council,
and International Court of Justice, in addition to numerous
agencies like UNESCO and the World Health Organization.  Each
of these principal bodies has jurisdiction over several
commissions, and it is the Economic and Social Commission
(ECOSOC) which oversees the United Nations Commission on
Human Rights.

Guatemala has attempted repeatedly to obtain a seat on the
Economic and Social Commission and was denied it again on
Friday night last week.  The ECOSOC has 54 members chosen by
the General Assembly for three-year terms.  Of the seven
countries vying this week for the four available posts
designated for Latin America, Guatemala received the fewest
votes.

On Thursday the General Assembly drafted a resolution on
Threats to Peace in Central America and in it recognized the
series of dialogues which have taken place between the armed
opposition and different representative groups of Guatemalan
society.  Mexico spoke for the "Group of Three" energy-strong
Latin American countries: Mexico, Colombia and Venezuela,
calling for the completion of the third phase of dialogue,
between the insurgents and the government and army.  Italy
spoke for the European Community in expressing concern over
violations of human rights in Guatemala and stressing the
importance of continuing the dialogue.

When at the end of the week the United Nations turned its
attention to Item 12, which treats countries where grave and
systematic violations of human rights are committed, United
States Ambassador Thomas Pickering was one of the first to
speak and directed his statements to Guatemala.  Pickering
said that although the U.S. government recognizes that the
Guatemalan government is not carrying out a policy of abuses
of human rights, it rarely takes vigorous action to arrest
violators of these rights and bring them to justice.

It may be recalled that Pickering himself was the United
States ambassador to El Salvador before being moved to the
United Nations.  The U.S. ambassador's criticism made radio
headlines in Guatemala on Saturday November 24.

Both Presidential Candidates to Meet with Guerrillas

The president of the Guatemalan Commission for National
Reconciliation, Monsignor Rodolfo Quezada, formally proposed
Wednesday night a meeting among the two presidential
candidates slated for the second round of elections,
President Vinicio Cerezo and the URNG leadership.  The bishop
said the meeting would serve to provide a basis for talks to
take place during the next government.  This was in reference
to a meeting between the government, army and URNG--one which
has received much support from various sectors, but continues
to find stiff resistance within the army. On Friday Jorge
Serrano (Movement for United Action-MAS) and Jorge Carpio
(National Centrist Union Party-UCN) both agreed to the
meeting.

Monsignor Quezada met this week with representatives of
groups who have previously held meetings with the URNG, as
well as the members of the diplomatic corp and
representatives of the United Nations and U.N. High
Commission on Refugees.  Following the meeting many of those
who had been present also voiced support for a continued
dialogue between the URNG and Guatemalan government.

Ninety-two union organizations took out a paid statement in
Prensa Libre on Wednesday titled "A Declaration to the People
of Guatemala." In it the signers, which include many banking,
campesino, electrical and public works unions, endorse the
peace process and further steps toward what is being called
National Consensus, a forum in which every sector of
Guatemala is represented and allowed to evaluate the causes
of the country's problems. The three themes deemed essential
by the signers are agrarian reform, demilitarization of the
country and human rights.

Two days earlier, on Monday at a ceremony to mark the 100th
anniversary of the Defense Chiefs of Staff, the army repeated
that it will not dialogue with any armed group.

In Other Labor News

A new pension law was approved in Guatemala several months
ago but was not signed into law and published in the official
daily until Thursday following strong efforts by members of
Guatemalan union federations to pressure Congress to move on
the matter.  The approval of the law was opposed by private
enterprise and the association of company unions, known as
solidaristas.

On Tuesday Prensa Libre reported that the Congress had been
occupied by unionists who hung banners and called for the
publication of the law.  The protesters were reportedly from
the Union of Syndicated Guatemalan Workers (UNSITRAGUA), the
Federated Union of Banking and Insurance Workers (FESEBS),
the Guatemalan Confederation of Labor Unity (CUSG) and the
Federation of Guatemalan Workers (CGTG). El Grafico reported
that although the protesters were present at the Congress,
the decision was made not to occupy it after talking to
Congressional president Dardon and other legislators.  Cerezo
ordered the publication of the law in the official government
daily following this meeting.  Decree 57-90 went into effect
on Friday according to radio reports on Thursday.

The Union of State Electrical Workers (STINDE) issued an SOS
on Friday over layoffs at the Central American Paper Factory
in the southern province of Escuintla.  Twenty-five workers
were laid off on November 20.  The union says these layoffs
are being conducted in concert with the division of the
Ministry of Labor that is charged with overseeing
worker/management relations.

The Guatemalan Confederation of Labor Unity (CUSG) this week
restated its support for Jorge Carpio in the second round of
elections in January.  It accused Jorge Serrano's party
Movement for United Action (MAS) of including members of the
ultra-right.

Indigenous Activist Receives U.S. Human Rights Award

Amilcar Mendez, president of the Guatemalan Council of Ethnic
Communities Runujel Junam (CERJ), was awarded the Robert F.
Kennedy Human Rights Award at Georgetown University this
week.

Senator Ted Kennedy spoke at the ceremony and compared Mendez
with his brother Robert, saying he has chosen the same path
of sacrifice and human dignity.  Five members of the CERJ
have been murdered in the last two years for their opposition
to forced rural patrols which take villagers away from their
work and obligate them to inform on each other.  The patrols
are illegal according to the Guatemalan constitution, "but
since when does the Guatemalan army respect the
Constitution?" Kennedy asked.

CERJ leaders are subject to continual threats against their
lives, which Mendez said have increased since the
announcement that he would receive the human rights award.
Radio Reports on Saturday noted that Mendez is becoming quite
well-known outside Guatemala, but that within his country he
remains practically unknown.

The most recent CERJ victim was Sebastian Mejia Vasquez,
kidnapped on October 6 and found dead last weekend.  A number
of his relatives began to receive death threats after his
disappearance, forcing them to leave their homes in Chumina,
Quiche, and seek refuge in the main offices of the Mutual
Support Group for Relatives of the Disappeared (GAM).  Prensa
Libre reported on Sunday November 18 that his relatives were
able to return to their homes only after the Guatemalan Human
Rights Ombudsman Ramiro de Leon obtained assurances from the
local civil patrols that they would not harm them.  The
Guatemalan Human Rights Commission reports that the family
members were supposed to have returned on November 16, but
when members of GAM attempted to schedule meetings with the
local civil patrol chief they were told it must be done 3
days in advance.

Protest over Murder in Sacatepequez

Several hundred campesinos from the Guatemalan highlands
working on the south coast gathered on Tuesday morning in the
center of town in Santa Maria de Jesus, Sacatepequez,
awaiting the arrival of the remains of 18-year-old Damian
Orion Cuca.  Orion was found dead, apparently as a result of
having been beaten and burned with muriatic acid.  Several
men, armed and dressed as soldiers but wearing tennis shoes,
kidnapped Orion together with his 22-year old brother
Cristobal on Wednesday November 14.  They were taken from the
plantation El Nacimiento while working in the squash fields.
The plantation is 7 kilometers east of Santa Maria. This was
reported in Prensa Libre Wednesday.

Father Giron Becomes a Member of Congress

Father Andres Giron, parish priest and leader of the
campesino Pro-Land movement, won a seat in Congress in the
November 11 elections for the Christian Democratic Party. The
new members of Congress begin their duties on January 14.
Father Giron has said he will not give up his parish in Nueva
Concepcion in the southern coastal province of Escuintla,
because there he can attend to campesinos in the area.  He
denied that he is joining the Congress for the salary
indicating it is paltry compared to what he earned as a
priest.  Rather, he said that in the Congress he would be the
only representative to legislate in favor of the poor,
according to a report Thursday over Patrullaje Informativo.

Father Giron said that he is awaiting word on his appeal to
Pope John Paul II on whether he will be permitted by the
Church to participate in political activities.  He made it
clear that he intends to continue his efforts for agrarian
reform in Guatemala.

Shell Granted Oil Exploration Rights

A contract signed Wednesday by the Guatemalan Minister of
Mines and Energy grants Shell Oil Company rights for
petroleum exploration activities on nearly 750,000 acres of
previously unexplored land in Puerto Barrios, Izabal province
in eastern Guatemala.  The contract grants Shell the rights
for a period of twenty-five years.

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aid off on November 20.  The union says these layoffs
are being conducted in concert with the div