/* Written 8:14 PM Dec 3, 1991 by cerisea in igc:reg.guatemala */ /* ---------- "Cerigua Weekly Briefs" ---------- */ Weekly Briefs, November 24 - 30, 1991 No Answer to Alarming Rate of Violence The Guatemalan Archdiocese Office has reported 1,067 violations of the right to life, freedom and physical integrity so far this year. The report released on November 22 indicated 550 extrajudicial executions, 197 murders, 80 attacks, 143 disappearances, 91 cases of threats or persecution, and 6 cases of torture. Monsignor Edwin Garcia told television newscast Notisiete that the number of violations is alarming and demonstrates that impunity persists in Guatemala. No solution has been offered to the denouncements of violence, Monsignor Garcia said, therefore the Catholic Church continues to believe that it is necessary to struggle for true democracy in Guatemala so that all crimes will be investigated. President Serrano and Vice President Espina were annoyed by news of the report, according to Radio Patrullaje Informativo. They said that they will ask the Archdiocese Office to explain how they obtain the denouncements and whether they investigate them. Espina said that anyone can go to the Archdiocese human rights office and say that a family member has disappeared. The statistics are based on denouncements, Espina charged, not on proven facts. This kind of report only damages the country's international image, the two officials concluded. Serrano said the government has already demonstrated its willingness and intentions to invesgitate denouncements of human rights abuses. Army Captain Confesses to Crime Attorney General Acisclo Valladares revealed that Army Captain Anibal Giron, commander of the Pacific naval base, admitted responsibility in the murder of the eleven truck drivers and customs agents in August. The news reported first by the Mexican Notimex news agency on November 25 caused considerable controversy. Valladares had made the statement to the Mutual Support Group for Relatives of the Disappeared (GAM), but when the news became public, he initially denied it. He then confirmed that he had told GAM that President Serrano asked to testify in the case against Giron because he was aware of the base commander's confession to the crime. Giron was absolved of the charges in September based on lack of evidence. He has now been removed from his post, so he can be newly prosecuted without the benefit of immunity enjoyed by base commanders. Negotiations Hanging By a Thread President Serrano accused the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity (URNG) of threatening to withdraw from the negotiating table and added that the government would never do that. His comment over Notisiete television was denied by the conciliator for the talks, Bishop Rodolfo Quezada. The insurgency has not indicated such a position, Quezada emphasized in a Prensa Libre report. Quezada said on November 28 that it is still possible that the next round of talks will be held during the first half of December. Head government delegate Manuel Conde said over Radio Guatemala Flash that the lack of results in the negotiations is due to the URNG's intransigent position. He characterized the talks as "hanging by a thread." Regarding one of the points of conflict on the issue of human rights, Conde said the government is in favor of the United Nations' verification of human rights, but not until negotiations have concluded. URNG representative Hector Nuila was asked to respond to the government's recent comments when he was interviewed for the Mexican daily Financiero November 29. Nuila emphasized that "the URNG is faithful to the people's demands and is therefore firm in its decision to not make concessions on the issue of human rights." He continued "the armed forces carry out violations systematically and clandestinely, as well as openly and massively as in the case of bombings of civilian, non-combatant populations and forced military recruitment. An end to impunity would take away the army's power, Nuila added, and that is why it is opposed to genuinely addressing the problem of human rights. Concerning the timing of implementation and verification of human rights measures, Nuila said that violations resulting from the repressive counterinsurgency program must be dealt with immediately. "There is no reason the Guatemalan people should continue to be victim to this State policy." Labor Disputes on the Rise On Monday, November 25, press reports said the majority of the 360 municipal offices in the country, except in the capital city, were paralyzed or semi-paralyzed by work stoppages. The National Federation of State Workers Unions (FENASTEG) said the strike would continue until the workers' demand for a monthly wage increase of 100 quetzales ($20.00) was met. The municipality of Mazatenango, Suchitipequez, began legal proceedings against the 300 workers on strike. In the Quetzaltenango province an agreement was reached after only 48 hours. Over 1,000 striking workers won the wage increase to begin in January. In other provinces it was not clear to what extent the strike was carried out. Workers at the National Hospital in Coatepeque,Quetzaltenango, announced work stoppages to begin on November 27. Workers are demanding that the top hospital administrators be fired for corruption. Anti-riot police squads and 150 army troops were sent to break a strike in banana plantations in the Izabal province, according to press reports on November 30. The Panorama and Mopa plantations were occupied by workers demanding wage increases and the rehiring of fired workers. Workers on the Paraiso and Trinitaria plantations blocked roads to pressure owners to address their demands. Labor leader Francisco Alfaro said the Minister of Labor, not security forces, should resolve the strike. Over a million fieldworkers are getting ready for a strike on the southern coast, a leader of the Labor and Popular Action Unity (UASP) announced on November 27. Workers who migrate to the southern coast for the coffee and sugar cane harvests suffer poverty and poor living conditions, according to UASP leader, Armando Sanchez. He announced that a thousand workers on the Montanes plantation in Gomera, Escuintla, stopped work on November 18, 19 and 20 and won a daily wage increase of one quetzal. Vice Minister of Labor Carlos Tercero acknowledged this week that fieldworkers on the southern coast receive as little as six quetzales (about $1.20) daily. The vice minister said half of all rural workers receive less than the daily minimum wage of ten quetzales ($2.00). Congress Approves 1992 Budget After days of intense lobbying, the Guatemalan Congress approved the 1992 budget for 6,463,267,370 quetzales (over a billion dollars) at 2:30 a.m. on November 29. Had the budget not been approved, Serrano would have been given a blank check for spending until the next legislative session in January. Legislators did not, however, approve the tax reform package promoted by the Serrano government. Without the measures to reform tax structures, the budget deficit will be an estimated 1,200 million quetzales (240 million dollars). Government sources said the president will take time to analyze the budget version approved and may veto it. The Serrano government has pressured heavily for the tax reform measures designed according to World Bank recommendations. Finance Minister Richard Aitkenhead and Vice President Espina warned legislators that they will be responsible for a drastic drop in government investment if they fail to pass the necessary measures. Serrano said the municpal governments will be the ones to suffer and "mayors should be aware of that," reported Prensa Libre. Nineteen mayors in the Solola province told the daily El Grafico last week that they were indeed informed and furthermore instructed to send telegrams to their legislators to pressurethem to approve the budget. On November 27 Serrano presented mayos with one-sixth of the debt accumulated when former President Cerezo failed to turn funds over during three trimesters in 1990. Later the same day the mayors demonstrated in front of the Congressional building to demand approval of the tax reform measures and budget. In other measures passed, legislators reduced the discretionary fund available to Serrano from 50 to 38 million quetzales. For the first time the president will be held acccountable to public spending due to the passage of a measure requiring that he inform Congress when funds are transferred from one category to another. Murder Suspect May Be in U.S. Attorney General Acisclo Valladares announced on November 29 that the former security agent accused of murdering anthropologist Myrna Mack may have fled to the United States. Noel de Jesus Beteta, who was employed by the Presidential Military Guard at the time of the murder, had reportedly applied for a visa to travel to the United States but it was denied. The attorney general said it appears that when he learned he was identified as a murder suspect, he entered the United States by other means and is possibly living in Los Angeles. Authorities have been unable to locate Betata since he was accused of the murder. The closed door judicial inquiry into the September 1990 murder of Myrna Mack continued this week. Following former President Vinicio Cerezo's testimony last week, former Interior Minister Carlos Morales testified on November 25 and former National Police Chief Julio Caballeros on November 26. None of the statements can be made public at this time. Chief Prosecutor Jose Lopez of the Attorney General's office said, however, that the three testimonies contradict each other on various points. He said his office will ask the court to conduct a joint inquiry with all three officials present to confront the inconsistencies. Helen Mack, the victim's sister, said attempts to cover up the murder are evident, but she trusts that judicial authorities will not allow themselves to be manipulated. The Prensa Libre November 27 report continued that the victim's family believes Mack may have been murdered because she was concluding her second study of the rural population displaced by violence. Political analyst Carlos Soto said in El Grafico Novemer 28 that if the court wishes to get to the bottom of the murder, it should subpoenae the army general who was in charge of the Presidential Military Guard where Beteta was empoloyed at the time of the murder. The army general is Edgar Godoy, who has since been promoted to head of the Army Chiefs of Staff. Los Angeles--Second Largest City of Guatemalans More Guatemalans lie in Los Angeles, California than in Quetzaltenango, Escuintla or San Marcos, reported Radio broadcast Patrullaje Informativo. That makes Los Angeles second only to the capital city in total population of Guatemalans. The report said that Guatemalans living in various parts of the United States send an estimated million dollars a day to their families in Guatemala. According to Hugo Maul of the Center for National Economic Investigation (CIEN) the influx of dollars is a stabilizing factor for the Guatemalan economy. The phenomenon accounts for one of the primary sources of foreign currency in Guatemala, concluded Maul. Earthquake Victims Abandoned San Miguel Pochuta, the community hardest hit by the September 18 earthquake, has been abandoned by officials responsible for reconstruction, according to the daily El Grafico November 26. Local residents and authorities in the district located in the Chimaltenango province say they have been left without resources to rebuild their homes and community. The National Emergency Committee (CONE) has withdrawn its assistance and left the task of reconstruction with local authorities who lack the necessary resources. More Clandestine Cemeteries Found The Mutual Support Group for Relatives of the Disappeared (GAM) announced on November 30 that two clandestine cemeteries were found in the Quiche province. One is in Tunaja, Zacualpa with the remains of 34 persons and the other is in Chugexaa, Chichicastenango with the remains of 26. GAM member Thomas Chumil predicted that the remains will be exhumed and identified in early January. The remains of five persons were exhumed in Concepcion, Solola on November 22 and 23. Family members identified five young men who were murdered by the army on July 28, 1981, according to the Sectors Created by Repression and Impunity. Exhumations in the area will continue, the umbrella group reported, to find the remains of other victims buried there. Child Trafficking Continues A clandestine center where young children are cared for while awaiting adoption was dismantled in zone seven of Guatemala City on November 24. The two persons arrested said the three children found in the center were stolen from their parents and were destined to be sold for adoption to foreigners. Prensa Libre identified lawyer Raquel Fortuny Arana as the head of the operation. Radio Guatemala Flash reported thattwo lawyers, one female and one male, were implicated but warrants for their arrest had not been issued. Startling Statistics from UNICEF The quality of life in Guatemala ranks among the worst in Latin America with a poverty rate of 76%, reports UNICEF. Ten percent of the population earns almost half of the total income while 42.6% is unemployed, according to UNICEF's representative in Guatemala Thierry Delrue. In a report on women and children, UNICEF indicates that 76% of children under five years of age are malnourished, half of those acutely. The infant mortality rate is one of the highest in Latin America--102 of every 1,000 children. In addition the UNICEF report says that thousands of children suffer physical and psychological trauma from the country's civil war. *****************