/* Written 9:15 PM Sep 9, 1991 by cerisea in igc:reg.guatemala */ /* ---------- "Cerigua Weekly Briefs" ---------- */ WEEKLY BRIEFS, SEPTEMBER 1 - 7, 1991 Businesses Lose Millions in Energy Rationing On September 1, officials implemented an electricity rationing plan which the daily El Grafico charged was "chaos." Industry and trade sectors are losing ll.5 million quetzales ($2.2 million) for each hour electricity is turned off, reported Federico Linares, president of the Bank of Guatemala. Officials say rationing is necessary because of a water shortage in the Chixoy hydroelectric dam which furnishes 95% of the country's power. The Chamber of Agriculture, a private office representing large agribusiness interests, denounced the electricity shutdowns and the 47% electrical rate hike. With the harvest season at hand, Chamber Vice President Roberto Luna said, "we can't pay for something we don't use, especially when it causes millions in losses." Carlos Vielman, President of the Chamber of Industry, said factories left idle during electricity outages will file suit for damages. The private sector will suffer losses totalling 24 million quetzales ($5 million) a day, he said, and called on the government to declare a a state of emergency, according to the daily El Grafico. Electrical workers said there are other installations capable of generating 140 megawatts, or enough to solve the crisis, when operating at full capacity. STINDE, the electrical workers' union, says rationing and rate hikes are paving the way to privatization of the energy sector. Minister of Energy and Mines, Carlos Hurtarte, said that the 47% rate hike is to pay debts owed by the National Electrical Institute (INDE) and is unrelated to rationing measures. The shutdowns will continue indefinitely as long as there is no rain to fill the reservoirs at Chixoy dam, he said. INDE president Renato Fernandez was fired and replaced by Electrical Enterprise president Alfonso Rodriguez Anker, TV Notisiete reported on September 6. STINDE said Rodriguez was in favor of privatization of the energy sector and had promoted the rate hike. Rodriguez has announced construction plans for a hydroelectric plant between Guatemalan and Mexico on the Usumacinta River. Losses Reported in Agriculture Minister of Agriculture Adolfo Boppel reported a decrease in the production of staple grains due to the lack of rain. Annual corn production in the southwestern provinces normally at 20-30 million quintals (1 quintal equals 100 lbs.) will drop 20-30%. Rice production in the Ixcan area of Quiche has also suffered losses, reported radio broadcast Guatemala Flash. Last year rainfall in Zacapa and Alta Verapaz occurred 80 and 260 days respectively. This year it has rained only 10 and 60 days respectively in these departments, according to Patrullaje Informativo. In the department of Chiquimula, almost 80% of the corn, rice, and bean harvest was lost after two months of drought. The daily El Grafico reported that Guatemala will be forced to import corn and beans from outside the region. Officials have already announced the need to import tortillas. Cerigua Weekly Briefs: September 1 - 7, 1991 Page 3 Venezuela Grants Loan to Guatemala Venezuela will loan Guatemala up to $45 million to pay debts owed to the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, according to president of the Bank of Guatemala, Federico Linares. The bridge loan, he said, will facilitate extension of credit from other international financial agencies, according to radio broadcast Guatemala Flash. Human Rights Violations Reports Human rights violations recorded in the Guatemalan press during the months of July and August came to a total of 177 cases - 56 persons were killed, 47 bodies were found in public places, and 23 were murdered in four different massacres. The youngest victim was a one-year-old girl. The press reported 13 persons kidnapped, four of whom were minors. Three kidnapping attempts were registered along with five cases of persons who were kidnapped and later freed. Also, 11 persons received death threats and 19 were wounded in murder attempts. Women Demand Water for Neighborhood Dozens of women and children took control over a major water pump used by National Housing Bank (BANVI) employees and the Italian embassy, reported the El Grafico September 2. Three days before, housewives in the Nimajuyu neighborhood of Guatemala City occupied the BANVI office taking three hostages including the manager and secretary. 30,000 people in twenty-two buildings are without water, said Liseth Vallejo, president of the neighborhood Emergency Committee. Patrullaje Informativo reported that 800 children in Nimajuyu are sick from diarrhea and lung and skin infections resulting from the water crisis. The women said the Italian Tamburini construction company had exhausted the water supply in the construction of new buildings leaving Nimajuyu without drinking water for 75 days. Vallejo said the women are taking action because they are the ones most affected. They occupied the BANVI office because the issue had been presented to bank presidents for three years with no response. Neighborhoods in eastern Guatemala City have requested that BANVI and INDE authorities work together in guaranteeing drinking water for that area, reported radio broadcast Guatemala Flash. Residents of the Primero de Julio neigborhood also protested in front of BANVI offices saying they had been without drinking water for six months. Another Journalist Leaves Guatemala Gladys Calderon, Guatemalan correspondent for Inter Press Service, left for Costa Rica after receiving numerous threats, according to TV newscast Notisiete. Inter Press Service (IPS), a news agency headquartered in Rome, Italy, closed its Guatemalan office temporarily after receiving phone threats, reported El Grafico August 31. Cerigua Weekly Briefs: September 1 - 7, 1991 Page 4 Calderon is a founder of the Foreign Press Club in Guatemala and currently serves as president. Calderon's husband, a university professor, was disappeared in 1982. Costa Rica's Foreign Press Club (APEX) and the Association of Ecuadoran Journalists condemned the attacks against freedom of the press in Guatemala. In a meeting with Human Rights Ombudsman Ramiro de Leon, U.S. Ambassador Thomas Stroock condemned the intimidation against journalists which led to the closing of the foreign news offices. URNG Responds to Government Charges The URNG General Command refuted Serrano's charges that rebels had placed a bomb in the downtown press building on August 19 where Notimex, Reuter's news service, and Inter Press Service recently closed their offices. In a communique released August 31 rebels stated "the government, the army, and the people know that the means used in the unsuccessful attempt belong to those who create terror and confusion and seek to silence the press that reports human rights violations in Guatemala." Cerigua Weekly Briefs: September 1 - 7, 1991 Page 5 BCCI Involved in Coffee Smuggling The Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI) is involved in smuggling Guatemalan coffee to the United States according to District Attorney Edgar Luna of the Guatemalan Attorney General's office. Investigators found that smugglers avoided paying $30 million in export duties in different operations. Guatemalan lawyers sent to Miami found that $7 million in export taxes went unpaid in the first shipment to the U.S. and bribes were paid to pass Guatemalan coffee off as Salvadoran. Arms merchant Munther Bilbeisi is implicated in the BCCI-Guatemala smuggling operations. Bilbeisi served as middleman for the sale of Jordanian helicopters to the Guatemalan army. The Attorney General's office expects to prosecute officials of the former Cerezo government when more proof is available, reported the daily Prensa Libre. Investigation of Clandestine Cemeteries to Resume Leaders of the Mutual Support Group for the Relatives of the Disappeared (GAM) say experts will continue with investigations into clandestine graves. GAM spokesperson Miguel Morales said the organization has documented more than 125 graves. Twenty-six skeletons were discovered around the town of Chontala in the Quiche province before exhumations were stopped because ofthreats against experts and relatives assisting the search. Displaced Demonstrate Against Forced Recruitment Hundreds of members of the National Council of Displaced Persons (CONDEG) demonstrated in front of Congress against forced military recruitment on the organization's second anniversary September 2. CONDEG demanded indemnization for damages caused by the army since 1980, and an end to the Civil Defense Patrols (PAC), model villages, and development poles. Protesters condemned the impunity of human rights violators and called on President Serrano to guarantee constitutional rights such as freedom of expression and unrestricted movement. Sexual Harassment on Campus Women at the University of San Carlos (USAC) School of Medical Sciences denounced acts of sexual harassment by four professors. The University Women's Rights Association (ACAURDEM) and the Association of Medical Students (AEM) called for an investigation into harassment, intimidation, and the removal from university files of documented complaints of sexual abuse against campus women. ACAURDEM president, Doctor Gladys Amanda Bailey Vargas, was fired from her job at the School of Medical Sciences and has been threatened with a lawsuit by Doctor Hector Garcia Santana who is among those charged with abuse. Garcia Santana is also implicated in the removal of the file of complaints lodged by women for sexual harassment. USAC authorities referred the cases to an outside court, however, the women are demanding they be addressed within the university's jurisdiction. They called on authorities to Cerigua Weekly Briefs: September 1 - 7, 1991 Page 6 respect the Guatemalan constitution which protects the moral integrity of women. Their first and foremost demand is "an end to sexual abuse within the patriarchal system imposed on women." Almost 600 Cases of Cholera Reported Figures from three of Guatemala's twenty-two provinces indicate that the cholera epidemic is spreading. Local health officials confirmed 215 cases of cholera with two deaths in the province of San Marcos. Suchitepequez health officials report 377 cases with one death, according to Guatemala Flash. The epidemic is spreading throughout the Pacific coast, according to the daily Prensa Libre. Cerigua Weekly Briefs: September 1 - 7, 1991 Page 7 Street Children Need International Support When Amnesty International published its July report on violations of human rights of street children, international response was immediate, says Bruce Harris, director of Covenant House, known as Casa Alianza in Latin America. International pressure, he said, was decisive in the prosecution of four police responsible for killing 13-year old Nahaman Carmona in March 1990. Before Nahaman's death, Harris was unaware of the murder of children in Guatemala. Now Covenant House has 36 cases filed against 30 police for 16 cases of murder, torture, and abuse against street kids. The shelter is currently fighting a court order to close a legal assistance office for kids. "When we fed the children, we were the good guys," said Bruce Harris. "When we started to ask why they were hungry, or why they were being killed, we're communists." Harris fears the street children issue will "go out of style." A U.S. magazine refused to publish an article on mstreet kids in Guatemala because it had already done a story on that subject two years ago, Harris was informed. It did not matter that it was about kids in Brazil. "If international attention diminishes, we're dead," said Harris. **************** Subscribe to Weekly Briefs by sending check or money order to ANI, P.O. Box 28481, Seattle, WA 98118. Subscription fees: $18 for 6 months, $36 for one year. Also please send us your comments, suggestions and any changes of address to the same post office box listed above. Thanks.