/* Written 12:25 PM Jan 20, 1992 by cerisea in igc:reg.guatemala */ /* ---------- "Cerigua Weekly Briefs" ---------- */ CERIGUA WEEKLY BRIEFS JANUARY 5 - 11, 1992 New Book on Guatemalan Women: Granddaughters of Ixmucane The testimonies of 28 Guatemalan women are the theme of a new book Granddaughters of Ixmucane by Emily Ayala-Smith. The book contains personal narratives by indigenous women, Christians, unionists, professionals and guerrilla fighters. Says Ayala- Smith: "the primary reality common to these women is the immense suffering they have experienced. But they also share a common hope that the suffering will be overcome through work, organization and participation, though it will take time to establish justice and respect for human rights in Guatemala." During the presentation of the book in Vancouver, British Columbia by the international women's organization Nuestra Voz (Our Voice), children brought flowers to the stage with the names of nine Guatemalan women to whom the book is dedicated - Beatriz Barrios Marroquin, Mama Maquin, Victoria de la Roca, Yolanda Urizar de Aguilar, Rogelia Cruz, Nora Paiz, Alaide Foppa, Juana Tum de Menchu and Rosario Godoy de Cuevas. The book takes it name from the grandmother of heroes in the sacred Quiche book The Pop Vuj. Reforestation Projects Risked As Workers Are Fired Nearly 80 forest workers occupied the offices of the Guatemalan national forests and wildlife administration, DIGEBOS, in protest over recent firings. The government claims there are insufficient funds to pay the workers. DIGEBOS workers from 32 forest districts have demanded the minister of agriculture rehire 400 employees fired at the end of last year. Workers say the most serious problem created with the firings has been at several tree nurseries where 40,000 plantings destined for national reforestation proyects are tended. DIGEBOS director Victor Garcia says an agreement has been made with plantation owners where owners will keep their own nurseries since DIGEBOS is unable to continue its reforestation programs. Greenpeace Reports Toxics Are Dumped in Guatemala According to the daily Siglo Veintiuno, Guatemalan officials have been approached ten times over the last four years to accept imported hazardous wastes. At least one proposal went through, the paper said. According to a document titled "A Summary of Toxic Waste Deals in Central America" dated December 1991, the international environmental organization Greenpeace said six of the proposals made to the government came from the US, two from Europe, one from Japan, and one was of unknown origin. The materials includes industrial chemicals, paper processing waste, plastics and lead, nuclear wastes, ash from trash incinerators, asbestos products and sewage. Greenpeace said the offers propose using toxic wastes for "social-economic development" in Guatemala including the generation of electricity, fertilizer and methane gas processing,...highway construction and brake and rail manufacturing." Greepeace concluded that although officials endorsed two dumping proposals, broad news coverage and public opposition kept other offers from being accepted. Nevertheless, one deal did result in the dumping of hazardous wastes. In 1986 the Law for the Protection and Improvement of the Environment, Decree 68-86, was established with articles 6 and 7 directly addressing the import of toxic wastes. The Greenpeace report indicated that the law makes an exception for wastes imported for "scientific, technological or commercial use." Faced with the increase in dumping proposals, the Congressional Environmental Committee proposed to eliminate the exceptions. This change has now been ratified by Congress and is pending presidential approval. Andres Giron: Guatemala Is Occupied By Its Own Army When asked if the Guatemalan army could be reduced if it were necessary for peace efforts, Defense Minister Jose Garcia Samayoa responded "No way. It would be unthinkable...[The army] is largely defensive, with sufficient weapons to defend what is our duty to defend as set out in the Constitution." The armed forces maintain 50,000 soldiers stationed throughout 32 military zones in an effort to stop the guerrilla advance, according to Major Gustavo Diaz, a defense intelligence analyst. Congressman Father Andres Giron holds, however, that the army opposes arms reduction in Guatemala because it is an army of occupation. Giron, chairman of the Congressional Human Rights Commission, said the army's role should be to ensure national independence and sovereignty. Instead, Father Giron said, officials seek to maintain military hegemony over civilians through occupation of the country. As long as people continue to live with intimidation, as long as there is no social justice, talking about peace accords is and will continue to be a farse, he said. "Only with fewer people armed will we have peace and respect for human rights," said Giron. Shortly following his bold remarks, Giron received a threatening phone message: "Your days are numbered, little priest. Get out of Guatemala." Giron says he's not going anywhere. Guatemalan Ambassador to Mexico: Rebels Do Have a Social Base The URNG has managed to keep up the fight for three decades because it has a social and popular base, said Alejandro Maldonaldo, Guatemalan ambassador to Mexico. "It's evident that in the 60s the idea was born that power could be won with arms," said Maldonado. The URNG "has a social and popular base and this base cannot be fought with state repression and terrorism. This was one of the greatest mistakes committed." Eighty-seven Percent of Guatemalans Live in Utter Poverty 87% of Guatemalans live in extreme poverty, according to a United Nations report that says that 6.5 million of the nation's nine million people go to bed hungry. The report was excerpted in the Mexican daily El Financiero. During 1990, one-third of the population grew poorer, while in 1991, this figure rose to nearly three-quarters. The number of poor who were able to eat, but unable to pay for basic necessities increased from 13% of the population to 41% Furthermore, the percentage of the population living relatively well decreased from 37% to 15% Byron Morales of United Labor and Popular Action (UASP) described the situation as "a powder keg," ready to explode. Despite these grim statistics, presidential spokesman Gonzalo Asturias said after a cabinet meeting at Serrano's Santo Tomas retreat that 1992 will be the year Guatemalans see the benefits of government economic policies. Cabinet members concluded that Serrano's policies were successful in meeting government economic goals and stabilizing the economy. Monetary reserves increased from US $18 million to over US $534 million, levels not seen for a decade. Gonzalo Asturias said that with austerity and honesty, the government reduced last year's budget deficit and will eliminate it completely in 1992. The textile industry grew more than in other Latin American countries and most Asian countries, he said. (See related story below on the Guatemalan textile and apparel industry.) Tourism also grew and plans are underway for new hotels and expanded airline service to include airlines from Ecuador, Venezuela, Mexico and the US. Why the Boom in the Guatemalan Textile and Apparel Industry? Clothing is second only to coffee as the leading Guatemalan export to the US, writes Stephen Coats for the magazine Multinational Monitor. Over the last six years, apparel exports have grown from $l million to nearly $100 million. Because of cheap, repressed labor, the number of foreign-owned assembly plants, called maquiladoras, have increased from five to over 200 in the past five years. Eighty percent of the 40,000 workers in this industry are women. Coats cites the case of one of the largest clothing plants for Phillip Van Heusen dress shirts, where "union leaders, all of whom are women, say the base pay is about $2 a day and experienced workers earn $3 a day, in an economy where $5 to $6 a day is needed to achieve a minimal standard of living." Said one unionist: "we organized because of all the mistreatment...We weren't treated as people...We are single mothers, the most exploited [group] in the maquila." Government union-busting have been successful in quashing organizing efforts, promising foreign investors low wages and a docile workforce. Union supporters at Phillip Van Heusen reported that a personnel manager had threatened workers, saying "everyone involved in the union is going to die," "if you join the union you will be killed," and, "the union is part of the guerrilla movement." Stephen Coats, director of the US/Guatemala Labor Education Project, writes that "if there were truth in labeling, many of the Guatemalan labels would say: "Assembled by women paid $2 a day and denied their basic rights." Amnesty Calls for Protection of Street Child Amnesty International has made an international call to protect the life of Francisco Tziac, 16, witness to the beating murder of homeless child Nahaman Carmona two years ago. On different occasions Francisco has been picked up by security forces, beaten and threatened. Police told him that "not just us, but many policemen have your name, and we don't want to see you around here or any place in Zone 1, and if we see you, we'll kill you." Several policemen were tried for Nahaman's murder and sentenced. Their sentences have since been overturned and they are awaiting re-trial. Carlos Rafael Soto: It's Not Peace Yet The signing of a preliminary accord in El Salvador has been received with universal enthusiasm. Yet this euphoria must not obscure the fact that peace is still in the distance, writes El Grafico columnist Carlos Rafael Soto. From now until the ceasefire begins in February, many things can happen to obstruct this first definitive step to final peace. Neither should this agreement be an excuse for other countries, especially Guatemala, to make hasty or opportunistic judgments about what gave rise to what is called, with excessive optimism, a "peace accord," he says. Soto criticized superficial remarks made following the signing which claimed the URNG should now "lay down its weapons and incorporate itself into the democratic process." He says the Salvadoran agreement happened for three reasons: the United States was tired of financing a war effort which had cost the public $4 billion; there has been pressuring for peace from oil- rich Mexico and Venezuela; the government conceded to purging the "most extreme elements" of the security forces, to the creation of a civilian police force, and to redistribution of unused lands. The Salvadoran war is ending, says Soto, because the United States needs that money to solve its own problems and because it seeks to develop the hemisphere. Additionally, some of the main causes of the war are being eliminated, if only in theory, such as the clear social injustice in earlier refusals to distribute unused land while there is unemployment, malnutrition, poverty and lack of opportunity. And government repression and impunity will come to an end. Soto says that Guatemala should thus take due note as to how and why the Salvadoran conflict is being brought to an end. To do so means ignoring such statements like those made by Vice-President Gustavo Espina. Espina claimed that rebel groups had become flexible at the negotiating table because "the disappearance of the Soviet Union has meant that insurgent groups find themselves without financing for their operations." Soto challenges the veracity of Espina's remarks in saying that not even the most hardline US politicians claim the USSR financed the FMLN. He goes on to say that, since the 60s when the USSR adopted a policy of peaceful coexistence, the Communist Party ceased financial and military support for the Central American insurgency. The columnist criticizes Vice-President Espina for his insistence on analyzing today's internal wars within an ideological context no longer in existence. Espina's attitude, says Soto, only hinders understanding and distracts attention from the causes of the war. The final resolution of internal conflicts should not be seen as the victory of one ideology over another, but as the fruit of a common effort to arrive at understandings. ********************** 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.