/* Written 8:31 PM Jun 25, 1991 by cerisea in igc:reg.guatemala */ /* ---------- "Cerigua Briefs June 16 - 22" ---------- */ CERIGUA WEEKLY BRIEFS, JUNE 16 - 22, 1991 Second Round of Talks Ends Without Agreements The second round of talks between the Guatemalan government and the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity (URNG) ended on Saturday without reaching any agreements. Nothing about the content of the discussions on democracy was reported. Both sides contended that the complexity of this topic made it impossible to reach an agreement. The issue of democracy will be taken up again at the next round of talks scheduled for sometime during the first two weeks of July. Luis Bekker of the URNG political-diplomatic team said there must be consensus on this issue before moving on to the rest of the agenda. He added that active participation by popular organizations is essential for establishing democracy. Monday morning's opening round of statements were optimistic. Presidential Chief Aide Manuel Conde said he was sure there were more points of agreement than differences between the government and the URNG. However, the difficulty of reaching agreements on the first topic, democratization, soon became clear. A small group of three delegates from the government and three from the URNG began meeting on Wednesday to draft a proposal to present to the full delegations. By Thursday Monsignor Rodolfo Quezada said it was uncertain if any agreements would be reached in this week's meeting. The press conference was held on Friday afternoon as scheduled, although nothing substantial was said. The head of the government delegation, Manuel Conde, said the issues had been discussed seriously and frankly. Monsignor Rodolfo Quezada assured that even though agreements hadn't been reached, the peace process was not in danger. Victims of Repression and Impunity Want to be Heard Two unexpected guests arrived at the meeting in Cuernavaca, Mexico, on Monday to deliver a message to the negotiating teams. Rosalina Tuyuc of the National Council of Guatemalan Widows (CONAVIGUA) and Maria Teresa Gutierrez of the Permanent Commissions (CCPP) of refugees in Mexico brought a statement from the "victims of repression and impunity." They said peace is not possible as long as murders, torture and disappearances continue without fear of punishment, the whereabouts of disappeared and murdered loved ones are not clarified, the army continues to bomb communities living in resistance, a safe, voluntary and collective return of refugees is not guaranteed, and threats and harassment of labor and grassroots organizations continue. The Mutual Support Group for Relatives of the Disappeared (GAM), National Council of the Displaced in Guatemala (CONDEG), Communities of Population in Resistance (CPR), Runujel Junam Council of Ethnic Communities (CERJ), and the Ixcan Emergency Committee signed the statement in addition to CONAVIGUA and CCPP. The groups asked that their voices be heard and considered in the peace talks. Talk of Peace Amidst Violence The irony of peace talks occurring while the Guatemalan people are living in terror was noted in another letter sent to the negotiating delegations this week. Numerous groups including those listed above and religious, labor, student and teacher organizations signed the letter. Political violence has increased to alarming levels during the few months of the new government, the groups declared. The letter concluded, it is absolutely necessary that the escalating violence be addressed in the negotiations and terminated. Otherwise, the negotiations will lack any credibility and peace will remain out of reach. The government needs to allow a higher level of international monitoring in view of its inability to fulfill its promise to decrease human rights violations, according to the United Representation of the Guatemalan Opposition (RUOG). The organization proposed to the delegations that this would be a concrete demonstration of the government's determination to see that the human rights situation improves. Widows and Children March on Father's Day Father's Day celebrations brought a painful reminder of the violence in Guatemala. On the same day peace talks began in Cuernavaca, Mexico, hundreds of children marched in the capital city in memory of their absent fathers. Many children have witnessed their fathers being captured and murdered before their eyes, a leader of the National Council of Widows of Guatemala (CONAVIGUA) said. At the march on Monday organized by CONAVIGUA some children carried signs with their fathers' names and the dates they disappeared. The women said they alone must provide the moral, physical and economic support their children need, but are hindered by constant threats and harassment by the army and civil patrols. The widows' organization, composed primarily of indigenous peasant women, demanded that they be allowed to care for their children and organize freely. The women also asked for an end to forced military recruitment of their sons and that civil patrols and army agents be removed from their communities. Officers of the Mountain Denounce Peace Talks The self-proclaimed "Officers of the Mountain" issued a press release for the second time this year stating they will not allow the peace talks to progress. They said they are fighting on two military fronts: one against terrorist subversives and one against miltary traitors. They claim that peace cannot exist as long as a single subversive is alive: "We will fight to the death and we will not rest until the insurgency and the traitors are eliminated." The officers criticize corruption among high ranking military officials who have never once faced the guerrillas on the battlefield: "We are on the battlefield suffering and rationing food with the troops while the high command lives in luxury and allows officers to drink it up at the [negotiations] with the subversives themselves." The Officers of the Mountain first made themselves known under ex-president Vinicio Cerezo when they participated in two coup attempts in 1988 and 1989. Defense Minister Luis Mendoza denies the existence of the dissident military group and claims it is a group of civilian politicians who want to damage the reputation of the army. President Jorge Serrano refers to them as cowards who refuse to identify themselves. U.S. Congress Asked to Suspend Trade Privileges to Guatemala U.S. labor organizations filed a petition with the U.S. government to cut off special trade privileges for Guatemalan exports to the United States. The petition is based on abductions, torture, and killings of trade unionists in Guatemala and Guatemalan labor code provisions that violate workers rights. The petition was filed under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), a U.S. trade program which allows developing countries to export products to the United States without paying the usual tariffs or duties. Primary exports such as coffee, sugar and bananas could be severely affected, as well as non-traditional exports. According to Stephen Coats of the U.S./Guatemala Labor Education Project, if the privileges are denied, the Guatemalan business sector will feel the impact more directly than a cutoff of U.S. economic aid, now under discussion in Congress. Obliging Guatemalan exporters to pay tariffs and duties would cause market prices to rise making the products more expensive and less competitive. The U.S. administration may announce the acceptance or rejection of the petition for hearings as early as next month. If accepted for examination in Congress, a decision whether or not to suspend GSP duty-free benefits would be handed down next year. Petitions have been filed against Guatemala for labor rights violations four times in the past. Each time a hearing was denied. Similar petitions have resulted in the suspension of trade privileges to the Chilean dictatorship of General Pinochet and the Paraguayan regime of General Stroessner because of those governments' violations of labor rights. Clandestine Cemeteries Denounced Leaders of the Mutual Support Group for the Relatives of the Disappeared (GAM) denounced the existence of eight clandestine cemeteries near the village of Tunaja, Zacualpa, Quiche, where at least fifty bodies are buried. The daily El Grafico reported that police arrested civil patroller Santos Coj Rodriguez who kidnapped and murdered fifty indigenous people whose bodies are buried in the cemeteries. GAM member Mario Polanco demanded that the Attorney General's office formally charge the civil patroller for the murders before releasing him. Polanco said that families in Tunaja live in fear of the civil patrols because they arrest and kidnap GAM members, accusing them of being guerrillas. National Day Against Disappearances A demonstration commemorating the National Day Against Forced Disappearances, June 21, drew 15,000 people despite rainy weather. Labor and popular groups demanded that the government bring an end to the impunity with which human rights are violated. The National Federation of State Workers' Unions (FENASTEG) said the demonstration was proof of the unified struggle among state employees unions, indigenous groups and other sectors. The march began at the Human Rights Plaza and passed by the former office of the National Workers Confederation (CNT). Exactly eleven years ago security forces captured 27 labor leaders who were meeting inside the CNT building. They were never seen again, nor were 19 other labor leaders kidnapped two months later. In the last twenty-five years an estimated 40,000 Guatemalans have been disappeared, making Guatamalan the Latin American country with the highest number of disappearances. Army Activity in Populated Areas of Quiche and Huehuetenango The Guatemalan army had carried out bombing raids on populated areas in the Quiche department prior to the peace talks and continued them after the of the talks on June 17. On June 10, two armored helicopters and an A37B bomber plane fired rockets into the populated areas and fields near Cantabal, Quiche. On June 13 and 14, armored helicopters and A37B planes indiscriminately machine-gunned the cultivated areas of Cuarto Pueblo and Los Angeles. The insurgency reported that eight high-powered bombs were dropped and sixteen 105 millimeter shells were fired. On June 15, Cantabal was bombed again by an armored helicopter and its A37B escort plane which left from the military base Playa Grande. Eight rockets were launched and the peasant families of the area came under machine gun fire. On June 18, aircraft leaving from the military barracks at San Gaspar, Chajul, launched five 105 millimeter shells on the homes and fields of a town in San Juan Cotzal. During the month of June in Huehuetenango, army troops have been mobilized on the highways, in towns and hamlets where they intimidate pedestrians and travellers in vehicles. They often help themselves to residents' belongings and domestic animals. The URNG has called on President Jorge Serrano and the military high command to stop the attacks on the civilian population, referring to these acts as part of a systematic ongoing policy of terror and violation of human rights. Mexico Takes Measures to Protect Border Inhabitants Mexican president Carlos Salinas Gortari ordered his defense minister to step up security along the Mexican border with Guatemala. Air and land patrols have been dispatched to ensure the safety of the citizens living in the area where Guatemalan soldiers kidnapped and tortured Mexicans while searching for Guatemalan rebels. Guatemalan military spokesperson Colonel Homero Garcia said that the armed forces have become the target of an international smear campaign, stating that URNG reports about the illegal invasion of Mexican territory are unfounded. He claimed it was possible that the peasant who was reportedly injured did not even exist. Myrna Mack Case Guatemalan Attorney General Acisclo Valladares announced this week that Myrna Mack's murder was a political crime but offered no information on possible suspects. The anthropologist was stabbed to death in September of 1990. Luz Mendez Comments on Role of Guatemalan Women in the Revolution Guatemalan women have played a prominent role in the fight for their rights, which has led many to their deaths, said Guatemalan URNG representative Luz Mendez. Mendez, member of the URNG political- diplomatic team, is participating in the peace talks with the Guatemalan government to put an end to the 30 year old civil war. Mendez said that in the struggle, it is primarily women who experience firsthand the harsh political, social, and economic conditions, because they are the ones who must makesure their children have food to eat. The evolution of Guatemalan women in the revolutionary process dates back to the forties when the people's struggle to change these conditions began. She continued that in the sixties, the symbol of the Guatemalan woman devoted to a cause was Rogelia Cruz. Rogelia was famous for her physical beauty and became Miss Guatemala. She gave up the pampered life of a beauty queen to get involved in political work. Her fate was like that of many others -- her mutilated body was found after she was kidnapped. Mendez also recalled the role of peasant woman Maria del Carmen Anavisca who was killed by the military at the Olga Maria ranch. Recognition was also given to Rigoberta Menchu and Rosalina Tuyuc, who today continue at the forefront demanding justice for their disappeared relatives. The struggle of women has been ever present within the student, labor, and peasant movements to such an extent that many women have taken up arms. The fight against the discrimination women suffer in Latin America, not excepting Guatemala, has become a revolutionary task especially among the indigenous people, Mendez added. ***************** In the U.S. and Canada subscribe to Weekly Briefs by sending check or money order to: ANI PO Box 28481 Seattle, WA 98118 Subscription fees in the U.S. and Canada: $18 for 6 months, $36 for one year. Elsewhere, contact: CERIGUA Apartado Postal 74206 CP 09080 Delegacion Itzapalapa Mexico, D.F. 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