/* Written 4:43 PM Mar 17, 1992 by cerisea in igc:reg.guatemala */ /* ---------- "Cerigua Weekly Briefs" ---------- */ WEEKLY BRIEFS, MARCH 8 - 14, 1992 Guatemalan Women Salute International Women's Day Guatemalan indigenous women commemorated 500 years of their struggle on the 135th anniversary of a strike by women in a New York factory March 8, 1857. The National Council of Guatemalan Widows (CONAVIGUA) paid homage to women who have given their lives to better the lives of other women: Mama Maquin (1968), Maria Mejia (1990), Maria Teresa Anavisca (1991), and hundreds more. CONAVIGUA called for an end to violation of indigenous women's rights to decent wages, health, education and development. The Committee for Campesino Unity (CUC) is commemorating the historic role of the indigenous woman in her struggle over five centuries to defend her Mayan culture and to pass it on to future generations. The National Movement of 500 Years of Indigenous, Popular and Black Resistance is honoring all Guatemalan women--Mayans, ladinas and blacks--calling for an end to domination of women and to environmental destruction. Three thousand women across the country demonstrated against discrimination and called for an end to the civil war. Landless Thousands Move to Shantytowns Around the Capital Six thousand homeless families have moved on to lands in and around the Guatemala City metropolitan area. They came carrying sticks, plastic and wood to improvise housing on the lands, which are owned by the State, city and private landowners. Press reports indicate they number 35,000. The largest in-migration occurred in the area known as Villalobos to the south of the capital, where 4,000 families have moved in. Statistics from the Office of the Human Rights Ombudsman indicate that some five million Guatemalans, almost half the population, are homeless. One leader of a squatter settlement addressed Congress on the homeless issue saying that it was wishful thinking to wait on the National Housing Bank (BANVI) to help them. Some have waited fifteen years for a response to their application. They will never ever get an answer, the settlement representative said. A government official who requested anonymity said BANVI does not have the resources to provide housing for the poor. Presidential aide Manuel Conde said a housing shortage is no reason to invade lands. Government spokesperson Gonzalo Asturias reassured private property owners that their rights will be respected. The Interior Ministry has instructed the police to do whatever is necessary to evict the squatters. The National Council of the Displaced (CONDEG) spoke outagainst government threats to evict the homeless families, demanding a solution to the housing problem. One participant in the land takeover said that before the authorities throw them off the land, "they should tell the landlords to stop charging so much rent." Army Version of Journalist's Death Proven False The widow of Mexican journalist Ramon de la Mora said he was kidnapped, tortured and murdered in Guatemala, according to press reports March 14. The Guatemalan army has insisted De la Mora was a "mercenary" who joined Guatemalan guerrilla forces and died in combat. Widow Consuelo Aguilar said her husband's body showed signs of torture but not a single bullet wound. His face was disfigured by blows he received. Identification was made by physical characteristics including a surgery scar. The body was exhumed this week by request of the family. On March 10 Defense Minister Jose Garcia Samayoa repeated army assertions that De la Mora died in combat between guerrilla and army forces. Government spokesmen denied reports that De la Mora was captured by the army days before his death, and said he died in a guerrilla uniform with a rifle in his hands. The Mexican National Autonomous University of Chiapas, where De la Mora was employed, confirmed that he went to Guatemala in early February to attend a seminar on radio journalism. The family said that before receiving news of his death, they were informed that he had been captured and was being tortured. Mexican President to Visit Area of Border Incursion Mexican president Carlos Salinas will visit the state of Tabasco where Guatemalan army forces crossed the border and kidnapped a Mexican citizen last year, according to a report in the Mexican daily El Financiero. According to eye witnesses and Amnesty International documentation, Guatemalan Kaibil special forces captured Joaquin Lopez on June 3, 1991. He has not been seen since. The Tabascan Human Rights Commission said area residents want to meet with Salinas to discuss insecurity that exists over the impunity of the Guatemalan forces. Townspeople Demand Resignation of Corrupt Officials The mayor of Nahuala, Solola resigned this week following a demonstration by townspeople who demanded an accounting of spent public funds. Just two weeks ago, the mayor of Santa Clara La Laguna in Solola resigned for the same reasons. In Chimaltenango, residents of Zaragoza occupied the municipal building to demand that the Serrano government and SupremeElectoral Court name a new mayor to replace the one nearly lynched for corruption. Residents said they would appoint the new mayor if the government did not. Similar problems continued in San Miguel Pochuta and San Andres Itzapa, both in the Chimaltenango province. In San Andres Itzapa, residents took over the town hall in protest against poor local management. When the governor of Chimaltenango tried to calm angry protestors demanding the resignation of local authorities, residents took the governor hostage. In Pochuta, one hundred people called for the dismissal of the mayor for misuse of government funds designated for the community. Protestors occupied city hall and took hostages. During the occupation armed men fired on the building trying to intimidate protestors inside. In a separate incident, police tried to remove the protestors but other angry supporters outside the building prevented them from doing so. In El Mezquital on the outskirts of Guatemala City, residents protested the inaction of the National Emergency Committee (CONE) in resolving a water shortage. Neighbors built barricades and blocked passage of a CONE water truck and took the driver and his assistant hostage. When the driver radioed for help, the CONE legal advisor who came to his assistance was also taken hostage. Human Rights Ombudsman Ramiro de Leon said Guatemala is on the brink of social explosion over the failure to resolve even the most basic needs of the impoverished population. A climate of insecurity coupled with the constant stream of unpunished crimes could turn into a crisis like the one in Venezuela where the public is demanding the government's ouster, De Leon said. Army Officers Arrested for Robbing Bank Three high-ranking officers are among those arrested for a recent bank robbery. Other suspects escaped. Defense Minister Jose Garcia Samayoa said military involvement cannot be verified until the escapees are caught. Of those arrested, Garcia said some were linked to the Military Mobile Police (PMA) and the National Police. Army spokesman Captain Julio Yon Rivera denied that any ranking officer was involved in the robbery and said such statements were "pure speculation and guesswork." Attorney General Acisclo Valladares said nine persons are being held including two married couples. When asked if high-placed military officials were involved, Valladares said the authorities are after both the little fish and the big fish. Reports indicate that four suspects including a member of the military were alerted by premature public statements and mayhave fled to the United States. Human Rights Ombudsman Ramiro de Leon said the public has lost confidence in the army and police, and he blamed the institutions for having created a climate of insecurity. De Leon said the security forces should "clean up their image" if they want to regain credibility. Protests in Berlin Against Violence in Guatemala Protestors in Germany denounced Guatemala's participation in the International Tourism Fair in Berlin saying those who visit Guatemala "will spend their vacations in graveyards." They said tourism is a main source of income in Guatemala but it does not reach those who need it. The demonstrators said the money stays in the hands of the State which, behind a democratic facade, is waging a war against the Guatemalan people. German Catholic Church Working for Human Rights in Guatemala The German Catholic Church chose human rights in Guatemala as the theme for this year's fast. Present for the opening ceremony were Rosalina Tuyuc, president of the National Council of Guatemalan Widows (CONAVIGUA) and United Nations Human Rights advisor Christian Tomuschat. Advocates sold ten thousand bracelets woven by Guatemalan widows. The bracelets bear the name of "Nahaman," the homeless child murdered in March 1990 by security forces. More Secret Cemeteries Found The bodies of five men kidnapped in 1982 were exhumed from a clandestine grave in Chicaman, Quiche. Family members said armed men kidnapped their relatives ten years ago on October 8 when General Efrain Rios Montt was in power. Area residents say there are other secret tombs where other persons were killed and buried by the army during the last decade. Protest Over 500 Years of Conquest Celebration Thousands of Central American indigenous, Japanese, Buddhist and North American people marched across the El Salvador- Guatemala border protesting the 500th anniversary of the 1492 conquest of America. The march, called the "Pilgrimage for Peace and Life," began in Panama on December 20. Participants plan to arrive in Washington, D.C. on October 12, when the 500 years of the "discovery" of America will be celebrated. Participant Josefina Ixcaquic announced that indigenous peoples will begin an economic boycott in Latin America on October 12. Participant George Baldwin said the pilgrimage is being madein the name of victims of domination, indigenous and black persons, landless campesinos, exploited workers, street children, the tortured and murdered. The pilgrimage supports agreements reached in the second continental meeting of the 500 Years of Indigenous, Black and Popular Resistance campaign held last October in Quezaltenango, Guatemala. Guerrillas Blow Up GUATEL Tower Insurgents blew up the Guatemalan Telephone Company's (GUATEL) Peten tower, the largest in the country, on March 11. The URNG claimed responsibility for destroying the tower which it says provided direct services to the armed forces. The GUATEL tower, which was located on Cerro Canchacan, was put out of service, leaving some 500,000 people in twelve communities cut off from the rest of the country. Repair damages are estimated at US $500,000. Myrna Mack's Sister Speaks Out Against Court Court officials are reluctant to try former army sergeant Noel Beteta in the murder of anthropologist Myrna Mack because of his links to security forces, according to the victim's sister Helen Mack. Mack says civilians are afraid to touch the case because of threats and intimidation of judges and prosecutors since Beteta's arrest last December. In February a civilian judge ruled that Beteta should be tried in a military court because he was in the army at the time of the murder. Attorney General Acisclo Valladares says that Beteta has since been discharged from the military and must be tried as a civilian. A month later, the judge is still saying the case should go to military courts because other military personnel are implicated in the murder. The Mack family is pressing authorities to keep the trial in civilian hands saying that a military court would be much too lenient with Beteta. Myrna Mack was stabbed 27 times outside her office in Guatemala City September 11, 1990. She was conducting research on populations displaced by government anti- guerrilla campaigns when she was killed. A report by the New York-based Lawyers Committee for Human Rights (LCHR) says that Myrna's research "broke the code of silence that reigned in Guatemala, making her a target of the military...she paid for her actions with her life." According to Inter Press Service, the LCHR report documents the delays and cover-ups in the case. It accuses the police of tampering with evidence: "While the complete report stated unequivocally that Mack was murdered in retaliation for her writings on refugees and the displaced, and even named a suspect, Noel de Jesus Beteta Alvarez, the report submitted to the court insisted that she was killed during a robberyattempt and omitted all reference to Beteta." ***************** In the U.S. and Canada subscribe to Weekly Briefs by sending check or money order to: ANI PO Box 28481 Seattle, WA 98118 Subscription fees in the U.S. and Canada: $18 for 6 months, $36 for one year. 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