/* Written 9:34 PM Jun 23, 1992 by cerisea in igc:reg.guatemala */ /* ---------- "Cerigua Weekly Briefs" ---------- */ WEEKLY BRIEFS JUNE 14 - 20, 1992 Guatemalan Unions Support US Boycott The Guatemalan Workers Central (CGTG) has welcomed a request from US labor activists to their government to cancel benefits enjoyed by Guatemalan maquiladoras in trade with the United States. CGTG hopes the US Trade Office will heed reports of massive human rights violations in the Guatemalan clothing assembly plants and approve the petition. CGTG leader Rigoberto Duenas says international companies have converted the clothing assembly plants into centers of human exploitation. The economic move against the plants is necessary, Duenas says, because Guatemalan authorities have not addressed the issue. The petitioners are also calling for a boycott of maquila products. Presidential spokesman Fernando Muniz concedes violations occur in the maquiladoras, but says these present no reason for a clothing boycott. One industrialist has called on unions to rally against the international interference, citing the maquiladoras as one of the most successful long- term outside investment projects. Guatemalan officials express concern over the influence US labor unions may have over members of Congress in an election year, with its increased protectionism. The Guatemalan Labor Ministry has contacted US labor activists to discuss worksite violations, according to a report over radio Guatemala Flash. Vice Minister Carlos Contreras says he is aware that unionists are concerned over the mistreatment of women workers in the foreign-owned clothing assembly plants. Contreras hopes the US unionists will call off the economic measures if the situation is resolved. US to Reduce Imports from Guatemalan Maquilas The US Trade Office has announced imports of Guatemalan- assembled clothing must be reduced because they are hurting the US textile industry, according to a report from the Guatemalan Ministry of Economy. Last year Guatemala exported to the United States almost 10 million pieces of clothing (pants and shirts), made of both cotton and synthetic fabrics. Kennedy Foundation Says Violations Continue A delegation from the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Foundation has called on President Serrano to improve the human rights situation in his country. The Foundation says the government should give assistance to the communities in resistance (CPR) and protect Amilcar Mendez, leader of the Council of Ethnic Communities Runujel Junam (CERJ). Director Kerry Kennedy Cuomo says indigenous groups suffer the worstviolations. Yet even in the most repressive societies, he says, it is impossible to stifle the cry for human dignity. Kennedy says the Civil Self-Defense Patrols (PAC) frequently violate human rights and the army should openly take responsibility for PAC abuses. Taking part in the delegations were representatives from Costa Rica, Hungary and South Africa. President Serrano responded that the patrols are a counterinsurgency tool and will not be dissolved until a peace accord is signed. The president suggested the RFK Foundation talk to the URNG. Population Without Health Services The Secretary General of Economic Planning (SEGEPLAN) reports that 46 of every 100 Guatemalans have no access to health services: the Ministry of Health attends to only 25% of the population, the Social Security Institute serves 15% and private health workers treat 14% Campesinos Continue Occupation of Quetzaltenango Plantation Four hundred riot troops of the National Police forcibly evicted 500 families from a plantation in Quetzaltenango they had occupied for more than a month, but they returned to the property the same day. "Over a thousand of us are prepared to die before we will of our own will leave these lands. They rightfully belong to us," say leaders of the 500 families occupying the plantation "Pampas del Horizonte" in Coatepeque, Quetzaltenango since May 11. Brother of former president Juan Jose Arevalo, Mariano Arevalo Bermejo, is owner of the neighboring Coatunco plantation and says he owns the Pampas del Horizonte as well. Arevalo ordered the squatters' crops and dwellings burned but they rebuilt makeshift housing. The squatters say they can document ownership and plan to take the case to international court. The Guatemalan Human Rights Commission says boundaries were drawn in 1950 between Arevalo's Coatunco plantation and Pampas del Horizonte. Since then Coatunco has appropriated the 3,500 acres of Pampas, which had been granted to the community of Cajola by the government in 1910. House Subcommittee Approves Conditions for Economic Aid On June 15, the United States House Subcommittee on Foreign Operations approved human rights conditions for aid to Guatemala for the fiscal year beginning October 1993. No amounts were discussed and the conditions must be approved by the full House Appropriations Committee. Because it is an election year, further action on foreign aid will be on holduntil after January 1993. Likely to be among the conditions for economic aid are resolution of the Myrna Mack and Michael Devine murders and the kidnapping and torture of Dianna Ortiz. The United States has granted permission for the US ambassador to Guatemala to testify in the Ortiz case. Supreme Court Legalizes Intervention In a decision handed down last week, the United States Supreme Court said the existence of an extradition treaty does not preclude US authorities from capturing suspects abroad and bringing them to the United States for trial. Guatemalan officials say the decision is interventionist and seeks to fight crime with crime. They say it violates national sovereignty and legalizes kidnapping in any country where the United States decides someone is a criminal or drug trafficker. Officials say they will respect extradition agreements but will permit no foreign agents to arrest suspected criminals on national territory. One Guatemalan congressman says the act deals a "severe blow to international law and negates all international extradition treaties." President Serrano called the law "a legal outrage" and lodged a formal protest with the US government. "The United States wouldn't like it if we sent a squad to carry out arrests on its territory," he said. El Grafico columnist Carlos Rafael Soto said Guatemala will be particularly affected by the decision because it is an international bridge for cocaine trafficking. The new order is that United States hegemony will be the deciding factor in Guatemalan matters, Soto said. The army declined to comment. CACIF Responds to URNG Proposal To Proceed With Talks The Council of Agricultural, Commercial, Industrial and Financial Associations (CACIF) says Guatemalan rebels lack standing to negotiate indigenous issues, constitutional reforms, socioeconomic matters, land tenure and resettlement. CACIF says what is necessary is that the URNG cease economic sabotage, lay down its arms and form a party. The organization denies changes to the Constitution are necessary. CACIF says the most important point is the integration of the URNG into society as a political party. From this position, it may appropriately propose what must be done. CACIF has presented a 32 page document in response to the URNG's proposal to unblock the peace talks. Commander Moran Responds to Proposal to Disarm President Serrano echoed CACIF's call (see previous article)on June 19. He called for the rebels to disarm, form a party, legalize and fight "with ideas and not bullets." In an interview in Costa Rica, URNG Commander of the Guerrilla Army of the Poor (EGP) Rolando Moran called the president's proposal "absurd." The Mexican daily Uno Mas Uno reports the veteran guerrilla leader said the statements by Serrano are but another in a long string of army and government ultimata over three decades. "We are not going to lay down our arms simply because they offer us guarantees," said Moran. "We have not waged war for degrees of power or paper positions, but for the foundations of...democracy with freedom and social justice." As long as these foundations are not in place, the URNG will not lay down its arms, Moran said. The rebel commander says the government is blocking the talks and trying to exclude United Nations participation. UN representative Francesc Vendrell was removed as observer at the government's request. Moran warns that Serrano's next move will be to remove peace mediator Bishop Rodolfo Quezada. He says Serrano's statement shows he is bowing to pressure from the army, recalling there are 23 military bases in Guatemala's 22 provinces, each base home to four to six battalions. "The country is saturated with soldiers," he said. "There are areas repeatedly bombed in an effort to intimidate the people." Children Remember Disappeared Fathers Over one thousand children marched to the National Palace on Fathers Day to demand that President Serrano fulfill his promise to investigate the disappearances of their fathers. Women and children called on peace negotiators to end the war that has left so many orphans. Organizer Rosalina Tuyuc of the National Council of Widows (CONAVIGUA) said the demonstration is a reminder of the many violent deaths at the hands of the army and the Civil Self-Defense Patrols (PAC). Marchers demanded an end to forced recruitment and the abolishment of the PAC. Guatemalan Multi-Millionaire Murdered A sniper shot and killed millionaire Edgar Galvez as he stepped out of a helicopter at one of his plantations in Alta Verapaz. Galvez, 43, was founder of the Imperial Bank of Guatemala and Central American representative to Chase Manhattan Bank. He owned some forty businesses and was worth an estimated $600 million. The Miami Herald reports Galvez laundered drug money and was in fact a drug kingpin. Galvez was rumored to have made a fortune in construction after the Guatemalan earthquake of 1976, but he denied this. Reports say he did not belong to any banking or construction organizations as would be usual for businessman of his stature. Guatemalan officials sayGalvez' murderer was a professional assassin and his death probably attributable to turf disputes among cartels vying for the US drug market. Maneuvers in the Capital Early on June 19 the army conducted maneuvers along major streets and viaducts in the capital. Troops mobilized throughout the city, posting contingents at the El Incienso, Belice and Las Vacas bridges and along the east and west routes out of town. According to radio El Independiente, Army Public Relations spokesman Julio Yon Rivera said the maneuvers were to counter any danger which might arise, but he did not specify. "Everybody keep calm, nothing's going to happen," Rivera said. In response to a call by retired Colonel Luis Sosa Avila for the resignation of President Jorge Serrano, Vice President Gustavo Espina said the president has rock-solid backing from the government. Presidential spokesman Fernando Muniz said Sosa fancies himself as Roman emperor Nero. He said the government ought to keep an eye on him so he doesn't burn Guatemala down. ***************** 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. Elsewhere, contact: CERIGUA Apartado Postal 74206 CP 09080 Delegacion Itzapalapa Mexico, D.F. Telephone: 5102320 - FAX 5109061 - Telex (17) 64525 Also please send us your comments and suggestions to the Seattle address or by email to cerisea on PeaceNet.