/* Written 8:42 AM Nov 15, 1991 by cerisea in igc:reg.guatemala */ /* ---------- "Cerigua Weekly Briefs" ---------- */ WEEKLY BRIEFS NOVEMBER 3 - 9, 1991 Nelson Mandela to Speak at Bishop Quezada's Award Presentation South African leader Nelson Mandela and former U.S. president Jimmy Carter will be among those to attend a ceremony December 8 honoring Bishop Rodolfo Quezada Toruno with the Oscar Romero award for his work for peace in Guatemala. President Dominique Menil of the Carter-Menil Foundation announced that African National Congress president Mandela will be the guest speaker and Jimmy Carter will deliver an address on human rights at the event. It will be hosted by the Rothko Chapel of Houston, Texas. Besides Quezada, fourteen other Latin Americas will be honored for their human rights work. They include Sebastian Perebal Suy of the Mutual Support Group for the Relatives of the Disappeared (GAM), Ramiro de Leon and Cesar Alvarez Guadamuz from the Office of the Human Rights Ombudsman, and the National Council of Widows of Guatemala (CONAVIGUA). United Nations: Guatemalan Peace Talks Fragile Further steps are necessary to reach a peace agreement between the government and the guerrillas, according to United Nations observer Francesc Vendrell. Negotiators have expressed willingness to continue with the talks and have asked Vendrell and mediator Rodolfo Quezada to find a way to break the impasse reached after three rounds of talks focusing on human rights in Guatemala. The talks are in a "delicate" phase said Vendrell. After intensive back-and-forth discussions with negotiators, Quezada said he together with Vendrell and other UN advisers will develop a proposal to present to the two parties. The mediator said another round of talks may take place before the end of the year. Rebel Commander Pablo Monsanto said the URNG will continue to seek a political solution to acute national problems and the armed conflict, through negotiations. Monsanto said in a November 6 interview in Prensa Libre: "the army hasn't stopped actions against us. They're making ready. They've stepped up forced recruitment. They've increased the defense budget. They're training new recruits and acquiring new weapons." When asked about Serrano's independence vis-a-vis the military, the rebel leader said "the army has Serrano practically backed into a corner. Power is in the hands of the military. Without a doubt it's the army high command making the decisions." URNG Refutes Charges of Intransigency President Jorge Serrano has blamed the rebels for stagnation in talks with the government on human rights. He says insurgent proposals for discussion are intransigent and unconstitutional. He said no further talks are possible until there is more agreement on the human rights issue. In a November 5 communique, the rebel command responded that what the government really objects to is the URNG's insistance on immediate steps to end impunity and guarantee respect for human rights as provided for in the Guatemalan Constitution. "Our proposals, arguments, and premises go against powerful interests who oppose any change toward a State of Law," the communique said. Serrano said that no one was going to make him go beyond the legal limits of the Constitution. The guerrillas reminded him that in El Escorial, Spain last year, he signed an agreement recognizing the need for both institutional and legal reform. Status of Captured Guerrilla Condition for Talks The Army High Command has not responded to URNG requests to acknowledge the capture of Veronica Ortiz Hernandez, a 22-year- old rebel soldier wounded in combat in October near Volcan de Agua, Sacatepequez. The insurgents have requested her safety be guaranteed. Serrano has disavowed knowledge of the incident, although chief government peace negotiator Manuel Conde mentioned that URNG Commander Gaspar Ilom had raised the issue during the October peace talks in Mexico. Conde said over radio Guatemala Flash that the woman could have been lost in the mountains or rescued by members of her own group. Bishop Quezada said that the government must investigate the case because the URNG has made it a condition for continuing the dialogue, according to a report on radio Patrullaje Informativo. Dominican Nuns Attacked Seven armed and hooded men attacked several nuns in a raid on a Dominican convent in downtown Guatemala City on November 5. The women said police refused to assist them due to a power outage in the area saying, "we can't because there's no light." Another reportedly said, "Sweetie, have faith that God is with you." When one woman told an assailant to take what he wanted but leave them unharmed, he replied "it's you we're interested in." Minister of Interior Fernando Hurtado called the incident a foiled kidnapping attempt. He denied that security forces were responsible. Police spokesman Carlos Wer said the men were not trying to kidnap the women, but rather intended to rob them. But Metropolitan Archbishop Prospero Penados expressed doubt that it was a robbery attempt given that the men took nothing of value after a thorough searching of the convent. The prelate recalled that the Dominican order has already had to abandon its work in Quiche because of violence. The order formerly had a school for indigenous youth but left the area following the murder of hundreds of religious workers, priests and catechists. UN Representative to Discuss Return of Refugees to Guatemala Alfonso Bauer Paiz, legal advisor for the Permanent Commissions (CCPP) of Guatemalan refugees, said refugees reopened dialogue with Guatemalan authorities on October 12 to discuss the CCPP's six conditions for a collective and organized return home. Refugees demand the right to return to their earlier lands or places of their own choosing, the right to free organization and movement, international accompaniment and verification during the return process and the demilitarization of their communities. The government unilaterally suspended the dialogue last June and accused the refugees of being subversives. United Nations representative Sadako Ogata will speak with President Jorge Serrano and members of the government peace negotiating team about the return of more than 45,000 Guatemalan refugees living in Mexico, according to the United Nations High Commission on Refugees (ACNUR). After meeting with refugees in camps in the Mexican states of Quintana Roo, Campeche and Chiapas, Ogata will go to Guatemala to meet with officials November 12-14. ACNUR representative in Guatemala Roberto Rodriguez said the repatriation process could extend over two and half years and that some 10,000 may return early next year. Military Commissioned Agents Quit Civilian agents working for the military in the Chiche area of Quiche province have resigned over army methods of forced recruiting. "For some time now they have forced us to recruit youths in parks and highways, but in these last months, they've made us take them from our communities," they said. After explaining the reasons for the resignation, the agents said the commander of the reserves in the Quiche accused them of being guerrillas. The agents turned in their credentials and sent a copy of the resignation to the Supreme Court and the Office of the Human Rights Ombudsman. US Station to Look Into Suspicious Kidnapping of Mexican Campesino A report in the Mexican daily El Financiero says an unnamed U.S. television network is preparing a report on government inaction in the case of a Mexican campesino disappeared last June when Guatemalan kaibil soldiers crossed into Mexican territory. The report says Joaquin Lopez was disappeared when Guatemalan troops, under the command of Captains Luis Galvez Llama and Mario Lopez Hernandez entered the Mexican state of Tabasco. Officials from the International Police Organization, Interpol, in Mexico are currently investigating the origin of seven persons whose murders took place in Guatemala but whose bodies were found on Mexican soil. Interpol is also investigating the murders of unidentified persons whose bodies were found in the Rio Usumacinta. Nevertheless, the kidnapping, in Mexico, of the Mexican citizen by Guatemalan soldiers is not under investigation despite appeals to Mexican president Carlos Salinas from the victim's family and the Tabascan Human Rights Commission. Legal Experts Say Police Destroyed Evidence in Myrna Mack Case Evidence has been hidden or destroyed to protect those responsible for the murder of anthropologist Myrna Mack, according to a study by the Association of American Jurists (AAJ) that appeared in the Guatemalan newspaper Siglo XXI. The report says the investigation was conducted with negligence and disinterest. The hearing Myrna Mack's case has still not ruled whether the obstruction of the investigation was intentional. Twelve days after the September 11, 1990 murder of the respected researcher, two police investigators identified the murder suspect as Sargent Noel Beteta from the Security Division of ex- president Vinicio Cerezo's Presidential Military Guard. This information was then covered up for almost a year, at which point police sent an altered report to the court. the document omitted mention of Beteta and pertinent testimony by eye witnesses. Cerezo has been summoned to appear in court for questioning on possible new evidence around the Mack case, according to TV Notisiete. Abuse of Street Kids Goes Unpunished Eight police charged with abuse of street children remain free despite warrants issued for their arrest, according to the homeless children's shelter Covenant House, known in Latin America as Casa Alianza. Director Bruce Harris said that at least sixteen street kids have been murdered in the last eighteen months, in a radio report over Guatemala Flash. Interior Minister Fernando Hurtado said on Patruallaje Informativo that police abuse of street children is minimal and that some exaggerate these cases and ignore the crimes committed by these supposed victims. Domestic Violence Must Be Punished President of the Commission on Women, Edna de Ruano, said that Congress must take action to punish men responsible for violence in the home. 40% of domestic incidents result in a woman's death, according to Guatemala Flash. The new bill to be debated in Congress punishment for parents for violent acts against their children. War Update Guerrilla forces caused 132 army casualties in fighting and ambushes throughout provinces of Quiche, San Marcos, Peten, Escuintla and Sacatepequez during the month of October, according to the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity (URNG). Army equipment including a grenade launcher was captured by rebels in the confrontations. Rebel forces blocked highways on sixteen occasions and occupied twelve plantations and towns to carry out propaganda activities. One helicopter gunship was damaged and two others hit by rebel fire while another military vehicle was destroyed. END