/* Written 9:26 PM Dec 22, 1991 by cerisea in igc:reg.guatemala */ /* ---------- "Cerigua Weekly Briefs" ---------- */ WEEKLY BRIEFS DECEMBER 8 - 14, 1991 International Solidarity for Family of Myrna Mack Ambassadors from the United States, France and Canada and the diplomatic representative from the European Community have all paid visits to relatives of anthropologist Myrna Mack since her murder. The family told US ambassador Thomas Stroock that ever since Noel de Jesus Beteta was arrested as a suspect in the murder, their home has been under surveillance. Efforts to seek an explanation from the Interior Minister about the surveillance were without result until National Police Director Carlos Samayoa announced over radio Patrullaje Informativo that there was a court order for protection for the Mack family whether they accepted it or not. The judge in the case against Beteta recused himself after the victim's sister Helen Mack accused him of bias. Since then Mack has charged that Supreme Court Chief Edmundo Vasquez is delaying her sister's case, citing his failure to appoint a replacement judge. As Bishop Seeks Christmas Truce, War Intensifies Peace conciliator Bishop Quezada has announced efforts to arrange a truce by Christmas and a new meeting between the government and insurgents by early January. While Bishop Quezada works toward a truce, President Serrano had told top military leader that the signing of a peace agreement at this time was not a possibility. Instead, he said, he said, the war will escalate. Radio El Independiente reported the military chiefs interpreted Serrano's remarks to mean an end to any "new efforts for negotiating peace," which traditionally pose "serious risks to relations between Serrano and one wing of the military." The report also said that the president was unable to explain to the army the removal of Defense Minister Luis Mendoza and Head of the Army Chiefs of Staff Edgar Godoy. On December 8 the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity (URNG) reported causing four government casualties and the loss of one woman combatant killed in fighting near Escuintla not far from Guatemala City. More fighting continued the following day in the capital area when guerrillas attacked a company of paratroopers causing ten casualties. Also that day, police reported that 200 URNG guerrillas seized the town of Santa Elena Barillas and painted buildings with slogans such as "End the Impunity" and "Dialogue is Struggle, Not Surrender." Residents told reporters they were not afraid because the rebels came in peace, however, they were scared when the army came to engage the insurgents in combat. Local radio reported a guerrilla ambush of an army convoy along the Pacific highway in San Marcos on December 11 that left 15 government troops wounded and ten killed, among them an army captain. A second rebel ambush hours later near Pajapita, San Marcos resulted in an undetermined number of government casualties. The URNG has been broadcasting paid announcements over Guatemala Flash calling for government accountability and an end to violation of human rights and the abolition of civil defense patrols. The radio station announced December 14 it had received bomb threats for airing the rebel messages. Survivor of Aguacate Massacre Murdered Baldomero Callejas Tovar, a survivor of the 1988 El Aguacate massacre, was shot to death by unknown assailants, according to TV Notisiete December 12. Reports say the victim ignored warnings that armed men were looking for him and was shot outside his home in the presence of his wife and children. Twenty-one persons including several members of the Callejas' extended family died in the massacre near San Andres Iztapa, Chimaltenango in November 1988. Another survivor, Jose Alfredo Callejas, is among nine Guatemalans suing former defense minister Hector Gramajo for murder and torture of family members during his term. Jose Alfredo Callejas filed suit on behalf of his father Alberto Callejas y Callejas who was kidnapped and disappeared in June 1989 after refusing to collaborate with Gramajo in the subsequent cover-up of the Aguacate killing. Gramajo instructed Alberto Callejas to say the guerrillas were responsable for the massacre. Callejas, however, told international human rights organizations the army had committed the crime. Health Update: 38,000 Guatemalan Children Die Every Year Guatemala is the third poorest country in Latin America and ranks first in Central America for malnutrition, according to TV Notisiete. 38,000 children die annually due to malnourishment and disease. The number of reported cholera cases in Latin America has reached 345,000 with 2,400 cases of the disease and 43 deaths confirmed in Guatemala through November. Guatemala Flash reported an alarming concentration of cholera in Escuintla province where thousands of workers migrate from the highlands to work in coastal harvests. Officials say there are 227 cases of the disease in the department of Escuintla alone. British Parliament Censures Guatemalan Government The British Parliament in an "Early Day Motion" has censured the Serrano government for its apparent lack of concern for some 5,000 street children in Guatemala City, according to a press release from Casa Alianza children's center. The resolution reads: "this House (of Parliament) is appalled at the mistreatment and murder of street children in Guatemala and calls on President Serrano and the Guatemalan government to urgently deal with this problem and in particular to support the work of Casa Alianza." Another British children's rights advocate Richard Warnes said the motion has tremendous parliamentary backing and "will send a clear signal to the Guatemalan government that it must stop the killing of defenseless street children." Parliamentary Human Rights Group Chairman Lord Avebury said "if President Serrano really wants to put an end to the violence he should start with this ugly phenomenon." Casa Alianza Coordinator Receives Human Rights Award The Reebok Human Rights Award Board of Advisors has recognized Guatemalan Carlos Toledo for his work with street children, conducted at great risk to his own life. Toledo received $25,000 in a ceremony honoring him and three other defenders of human rights Boston on December 10, International Human Rights Day. Trained as a philosophy professor, Toledo's work with homeless kids first involves encouraging the children to accept shelter, food and clothing. He must also help them stop sniffing glue and obtain a basic education. Second, he must protect them from their enemies - the Guatemalan National Police and Treasury Police, private security guards and armed civilians - who treat the street children as nuisances to be "cleaned up" by brutal beatings and torture. This has resulted in 12 deaths in the last year and a half. Toledo himself has been beaten and terrorized but comments: "It is a real gesture of solidarity to be able to risk my own personal safety as the children do - but I know that I have more guarantees than they do as their lives are at risk on a daily basis." Toledo was chosen for the award by members of the Reebok Human Rights Award Board of Advisors which includes among others: Jimmy Carter, Kerry Kennedy Cuomo, Executive Director of the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center for Human Rights, and rock stars Peter Gabriel and Sting. Central American Presidents Discuss Regional Disarmament Presidents of the Central American nations began the 11th Regional Summit December 13 in Tegucigalpa, Honduras to discuss reducing military budgets as a way out of the social crises afflicting the isthmus. Talks on regional disarmament have moved slowly since they began in July of this year. In an area where coup d'etats are a tradition, army pressure has prevailed over efforts by executive branches to reduce military personnel and firepower. Diplomats say the military issue is a central one. Heads of state must face the task of reducing military budgets to meet the needs of more than 13 million impoverished Central Americans who have no access to basic health services or education, according to the Mexican daily Excelsior. During the military "boom" of the 1980s, armed forces in the region grew from 48,000 members in 1977 to 207,000 in 1985. Central American regional military expenditures came to $600 million in 1985, without counting foreign military aid from the United States and the Soviet Union. For the period 1979 to 1990, that figure could total as much as $5 billion. Today government sources indicate that defense expenses for Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador reached $313.6 million in 1991 while total health expenses did not come to $300 million. Of the 27- 30 million people in Central America, 154,000 are military personnel, not counting paramilitary forces. In the Central American Security Treaty under discussion since July, participants agreed to fix ceilings on weaponry and military personnel in 1992. The agreement however depends on results of peace efforts in Guatemala and El Salvador. Road Workers End Strike Over 5,000 highway workers in the province of San Marcos began work stoppages December 10 bringing the number of strikers to 25,000 since the nationwide road workers' strike began on December 6. Workers demanded a 100% increase in wages. Most highway personnel do not earn the minimum wage of 348 quetzales per month ($70). Laborers returned to work December 12 and on December 14 Guatemala Flash reported that union leaders signed an agreement with the Ministry of Communications that provided for reinstatement of fired workers with the exception of one engineer whose case is pending. Among other demands agreed to was the implementation of the Law of Compensation for Service Time which guarantees accumulated benefits to workers who leave their job voluntarily as well as benefits for those who are laid off. The salary increase is to be addressed as part of the national Social Pact. Jade Masks Discovered in Retalhuleu Guatemalan archeologists have discovered four Mayan jade ceremonial masks at the Abaj Takalik site on the Buenos Aires plantation in the district of El Asintal, Retalhuleu. The masks were found inside an enormous container closed with a lid in the shape of a female breast. Two smaller containers were also discovered with a number of jade breastplates inside. Abaj Takalik is considered to be older than the Peten site of Tikal which dates to 900 A.D. Union workers from the Institute of Anthropology and History denounced that Minister of Culture Roberto Ogarrio forcibly entered the area where restoration of the items was underway and carried the precious findings off in a box while claiming to be acting on presidential order. The unionists said the pieces had not been classified, registered or inventoried and were quite fragile and subject to breakage. In a press conference with Ogarrio and the team of arcueologists, the latter explained that there was an agreement with the Banco Industrial to keep the valuable findings until the Abaj Takalik Museum was built. The Culture Minister became angry and tried to end the press conference by ordering the sound cut off, according Guatemala Flash. Congress Says Refugees Cannot Be Relocated to the Peten The Congressional Commission on the Environment declared its opposition to the relocation of refugees in Peten province, according to a report over radio Patrullaje Informativo. Congressman Arturo Amiel said that in twelve years the whole Maya Reserve would be destroyed if refugess were resettled in that area, although both Congress and Peten mayors supported the decision. Sergio Mollinedo, president of the Commission to Aid Repatriation (CEAR) announced that some 600 Guatemalan families totaling 3,000 refugees who now live in Mexico will return to the Peten where they are the legitimate owners of the Cooperatives of Usumacinta, La Pasion and La Machaca, reported TV Notisiete. The Guatemalan office of the United Nations High Commission on Refugees (ACNUR) stated that four offices in Huehuetenango, San Marcos, Quiche and Peten will be opened to assist the refugees' return home. ********************** Subscribe to the 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.