/* Written 8:21 PM Oct 23, 1991 by cerisea in igc:reg.guatemala */ /* ---------- "Cerigua Weekly Briefs" ---------- */ CERIGUA WEEKLY BRIEFS, OCTOBER 13 - 19, 1991 Civilians Tell UN Expert of Army Attack When United Nations human rights expert Christian Tomuschat arrived in Caba, Quiche on October 10, he was warned to leave immediately for his own safety. Residents of Caba, who live in hiding to resist military control, said their village had just been machine-gunned by army helicopters. President Serrano said the helicopters and an A-37 bomber plane did not fire at civilians but at guerrillas who attacked helicopters delivering supplies to troops operating near the village. The government spokesman said the president hoped the human rights expert would give a fair report to the United Nations and asked for understanding from the international community. The Communities of Population in Resistance (CPR) in the Sierras and Ixcan refuted the official explanation and said the attack was directed at unarmed peasants awaiting the UN expert's visit. The army has used the same pretext--that of guerrillas firing on supply transports--to justify hundreds of attacks on the communities living in resistance over the past decade, residents charge. Tomuschat and Acting Human Rights Ombudsman Cesar Alvarez who accompanied him protested the action to Guatemalan officials, according to the United Representation of the Guatemalan Opposition (RUOG). In a statement dated October 10, Tomuschat and Alvarez called the machine-gunning of the unarmed civilians unacceptable. They emphatically recommended measures to avoid armed actions that endanger the lives of CPR residents. Press reports suggest that the removal of General Marco Antonio Vargas as commander of the Air Force, announced on October 15, is related to the incident. Contendors Vie for Presidency of Central American Parliament Guatemala's main political parties were busy this week trying to bolster their candidates' chances to head the Central American Parliament. The Esquipulas II Accords, which establish the Parliament, state that the elected chief of the parliament shall be Guatemalan. The two vice presidents are to be chosen from among the representatives from Honduras and El Salvador, the only other Central American countries which have held their elections (each country can elect 20 representatives). Candidates from Serrano's Solidarity Action Movement (MAS) party, the National Centrist Union (UCN) party, and the Christian Democrat (DC) party have campaigned in El Salvador and Honduras. DC candidate Vinicio Cerezo holds a seat as a former president, and has promoted the Parliament as his pet project. At a meeting with Honduran representatives on October 17 Cerezo made the surprising announcement that he was withdrawing his candidacy and would support UCN candidate Danilo Roca. Roca is best known for his involvement in coup attempts during 1988 and 1989 when Cerezo was president. Cerezo's withdrawal is likely the result of a deal made between the Christian Democrats and the UCN. Cerezo's image has been damaged this week by a public confrontation with Attorney General Acisclo Valladares, who accuses Cerezo of complicity in the murder of Guatemalan anthropologist Myrna Mack. MAS candidate Guillermo Gonzalez is Serrano's personal secretary and is also married to the president's niece. Critics say he lacks leadership and political experience, and worry he will be "subject to his uncle's whims and reprimands," according to a Prensa Libre column by Jose Luis Chea. Radio Guatemala Flash said on October 19 that the race is essentially between the UCN and MAS candidates. National Advancement Party (PAN) candidate Augusto Vela is considered a weak possibility. The Parliament will be formally established and its president elected in Guatemala on October 28. Representatives from Nicaragua and Costa Rica, where elections are still pending, will attend the meeting. Also expected are the Honduran, El Salvadoran and Panamanian presidents and Belize's prime minister. Refugees Urge Reopening of Negotiations After living in Mexico for more than a decade, refugees say they are organizing their return to Guatemala. The Permanent Commissions (CCPP) representing the refugees say the decision does not come as a result of government actions to create favorable conditions for their return. Rather, refugees are responding to difficult living conditions marked by unsuccessful harvests, drought and lack of jobs, made worse by the decision of the United Nations High Commission on Refugees (ACNUR) and the Mexican Commission on Aid to Refugees (COMAR) to cut off assistance for 1992. In a statement this week the Permanent Commissions repeated an offer to renew negotiations with the Guatemalan government. The CCPPs say talks with the government Special Commission to Aid Repatriates (CEAR) broke down after a June meeting where Vice President Espina refused to discuss the agenda agreed upon and suggested that members of the Commissions were subversives. Furthermore, the government has demanded a "de-politicization" of the process to keep the CCPPs from talking to the press, contacting Congressional representatives or participating in grassroots activities. The funding and land offered by the government are inadequate, the CCPPs charge, and what measures will be taken to guarantee the refugees' physical safety are still unclear. If their proposal to renew negotiations is rejected, the CCPPs say they will take other actions to facilitate the return to their homeland. On October 18 religious and solidarity organizations, primarily from Mexico, sent an open letter to Guatemalan officials, urging them to renew negotiations with the CCPPs. The organizations asked that "both Guatemalan and Mexican governmental entities abstain from negotiating the refugees' future without participation from the Permanent Commissions which represent them." Next Round of Peace Talks to Begin October 21 Even just days before the next round of negotiations between the Guatemalan government, army and the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity (URNG) was set to begin, the date and location of the meeting remained unconfirmed. The head of the government delegation, Manuel Conde, speculated that the meeting would be postponed since members of the National Reconciliation Commission were outside of the country. On October 18, however, Mediator Bishop Rodolfo Quezada confirmed that the next round of talks will be held in Mexico City on October 21-24. Bishop Quezada emphasized that a ceasefire is not yet on the horizon since conditions to improve the political, social and economic situation in Guatemala must be agreed upon first. Discussion on the human rights issue will continue in the fifth round of talks since no agreement was reached at the last meeting in mid- September. Also on October 18, President Serrano announced that he would exchange points of view with United Nations representative Francesc Vendrell before the next round begins. Vendrell has attended all of the negotiations since April as an official observer. Threats Follow Mendez to Washington When Amilcar Mendez spoke to human rights groups in Washington, D.C. on October 17, fliers calling him a subversive were anonymously left on a table. Mendez is president of the Runujel Junam Council of Ethnic Communities (CERJ) and is currently living in exile in the United States because of increased death threats. The two-page flier included false information and appeared to be a literal translation from Spanish into English. U.S. activists said the flier's two photographs of a meeting between Mendez and President Serrano are the same photographs Serrano presented when he was recently in Washington. Mendez said he met with Serrano on June 4 but there were no photographers present. Two officials from the Guatemalan embassy who attended the October 17 meeting said they had nothing to do with the flier. Conclusions from 500 Years Resistance Gathering "Unity" was an important focus of the Second Continental Gathering of the 500 Years of Indigenous and Popular Resistance campaign which ended in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala on October 12. Differences of opinion between participants were evident and caused tension at times during the week- long conference. A task force on unity emphasized the need continue to "unify indigenous, grassroots, and other sectors involved in the campaign, on the basis of recognition of and respect for diversity as an indispensable element in contributing to economic, social and political transformations in the society." The coordinating committee identified the following obstacles to moving the campaign forward: a) different opinions on how to conduct the campaign, b) efforts by some governments to repress and distort campaign activities, c) lack of sufficient funds, d) campaign literature not written or translated into indigenous languanges, and e) the coordinating committee has been overloaded with tasks without enough help to accomplish them. Names Released in Helicopter Scandal The Attorney General's Office released a list of eleven persons implicated in the illegal purchase of five Sikorsky helicopters from the Jordanian Munther Bilbeisi in 1988. The list, announced over Guatemala Flash on October 18, included former president Vinicio Cerezo, his brother Milton Cerezo, and three army generals. General Hector Gramajo, General Roberto Mata Galvez and General Marco Antonio Vargas, who was just dismissed as Air Force chief, were mentioned. However, the current head of the Army Chiefs of Staff, General Edgar Godoy, was left off the list although he has been linked to the scandal. Others on the list are Jose Francisco Valdez, Mauricio Coronado Lara, Ismael Delvesti, Luis Chals, Sandra Giovana Duran, and Jesus Alberto Coppo. Radio Patrullaje Informativo said on October 17 that the Attorney General's charges against Cerezo and officials serving during his government will be the basis of an investigation, but as yet the evidence is unsubstantial. The helicopters were reportedly purchased for $5 million, although their real value was only $2.5 million. The illegal purchase has been linked to the Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI). Army Criticized in Mexican Newspaper Journalist Manuel Torres Calderon gave the Guatemalan army a harsh review in the Mexican daily Excelsior on October 17. All army officers have been tarnished by the bloody policies of recent decades, according to an unidentified human rights activist quoted by Torres. This has created an impenetrable alliance among the officers which prevents any acts of conscience and removes any fear of international criticism. Torres asserts that for many Guatemalans, there is little difference between army officers labeled as "hard-line" and "pragmatic." All officers agree that the army stability is not negotiable and that "demilitarization" is a relative term. The Excelsior journalist links army officers to the flourishing drug traffic in Guatemala, where a system of impunity and special privileges gives them free reign. In Peten, Quiche and Izabal provinces, many generals and colonels own large tracts of land where they have built private landing strips, Torres reports. He suggests that these are among the clandestine landing strips used for re- fueling airplanes with drug cargos. Officers acquired the land through the army's own brand of agrarian reform carried out between 1963 and 1980, Torres says, when indigenous peasants were evicted from their lands which were then distributed among army officers. Truth or Deception? Electricity rationing ended on October 9 after over a month of blackouts causing numerous problems for citizens, workers, and businesses. "Thank God the rains have returned to normal!" Serrano exclaimed at a press conference. The government, however, still has a lot of explaining to do, quipped Carlos Rafael Soto in his El Grafico column on October 11. The predominant impression in Guatemala, according to Soto, is that authorities played a gigantic and unpleasant trick on the entire population. Meteorolgists reported the end of the rainy season a month ago, Soto said. He added that the government increased electricity rates before privatizing production so the new "owners" of electricity will not have to confront this problem. In Case You're Wondering... What ever happened to the "social pact" promoted by Serrano as a forum to resolve the country's economic problems? A meeting to reactivate discussion between representatives from private enterprise and labor unions was scheduled for October 15, according to Labor Minister Mario Solorzano. Television Notisiete reported that evening that no one from either sector showed up.