/* Written 9:53 PM Jul 6, 1992 by cerisea in igc:reg.guatemala */ /* ---------- "Cerigua Weekly Briefs" ---------- */ WEEKLY BRIEFS JUNE 28 - JULY 4, 1992 President Responds to URNG In the speech he gave June 30 in honor of the 121st anniversary of the Armed Forces, President Jorge Serrano offered a new plan for restructuring the country's stalled peace talks. Observers are calling it his most serious move yet. Serrano proposes the negotiations become ongoing rather than on-again off-again, as they have been. He says, however, the armed forces will not be reduced and is calling for a United Nations plan to demobilize the rebels. The talks have been held up over human rights. On this subject, the President says the controversial Civil Self- Defense Patrols (PAC) will not be dismantled until after a peace accord is signed. He repeated his call for the rebels to incorporate into a political party. Serrano's remarks come in response to a May 15 URNG proposal to revive negotiations. Commander Monsanto on Talks Rebel leader Pablo Monsanto said July 3 that once agreement is reached over human rights, negotiators can find ways to address the rest of the peace agenda. There has been some question about how to proceed since President Serrano asked for the removal of UN observer Francesc Vendrell from the talks. Monsanto says the URNG is now seeking a more active role for UN Secretary General Butros Ghali, according to the German news agency Deupra. The guerrilla commander also emphatically denied any responsibility for the series of recent bombings in Guatemala City or the murders of three military officers (see story below). CACIF Refuses Dialogue with URNG Following a recent statement on the peace process by the Council of Agricultural, Commercial, Industrial and Financial Associations (CACIF), the four commanders of the URNG invited council members to dialogue. Despite calls to reconsider, CACIF refused the meeting saying it's the government that represents the interests of the nation in the talks. The URNG says the Guatemalan economic elite are responsible for the country's present situation because their interests are so close to those of top military officials. While CACIF maintains it is the government which represents the popular interest, and not the insurgents, the URNG command believes civilians must also participate actively in resolving the war, especially the country's indigenous people, whose importance even the economically powerful cannot afford to ignore. Last week, eighty organizations asked the National Reconciliation Commission to support their active participation in the peace process and to arrange a meeting between them and the URNG. The government says they can meet with anyone as long as it is outside the formal process. Columnist Soto on Serrano and Talks News critic Carlos Soto of El Grafico had stinging criticism for the government this week. He accused President Serrano of deliberately misconstruing statements by rebel leaders. Serrano insists the rebels disarm because they "have no reason to be in this country," and "their time has long since past" when in fact the commanders are clear about what must be achieved before the URNG demobilizes, Soto writes. How many officers and soldiers have died since the vice president of this administration spoke the words "the guerrillas make me laugh," he asks. The president gains nothing with this demagoguery; he only poisons an already tense atmosphere. With the stakes so high, he ought to behave as a statesman, not a politician. Soto goes on to say that, instead of challenging the rebels to stop fighting and work to resolve Guatemala's underdevelopment, Serrano should look to his own appointees. The guerrillas are not the ones who have paralyzed national production, Soto continues, rather it is corrupt and demagogic politicians, together with unscrupulous and unpatriotic businessmen. Rigoberta Menchu's Testimony is the Story of Her People Nobel Peace Prize candidate Rigoberta Menchu says the story she narrates is the story of her people, a story which is no different from her own, and one which indigenous people cannot tell themselves. The Mexican daily El Dia notes that Menchu's fight for Guatemalan indigenous rights has become the fight for all indigenous peoples throughout America. She is the first Mayan woman ever to achieve such stature, having worked since 1982 before the United Nation Human Rights Commission to end discrimination against minorities. She is also a member of the International Indian Treaty Council and the United Representation of Guatemalan Opposition (RUOG), a group of exiled dissidents. RUOG reports that following the Nobel Commission's initial selection process for candidates nominated, the Mayan leader is still in the running. Menchu says her nomination strengthens the legal struggle of indigenous people internationally: "We are for working for laws that recognize universal rights of indigenous peoples to be actors in the destiny of America," she says. Menchu will visit Guatemala July 11. Indigenous People Increase Organizing In an interview with CERIGUA, one Maya-Quiche human rights activist said indigenous peoples throughout Guatemala are "organizing like wildfire," even in parts of the highly militarized Ixil Triangle. Together the peace process and the 500th anniversary of the 1492 European invasion have generated high expectations for the future of the indigenous majority. There are 22 ethnic groups in Guatemala and an equal number of languages. Those organizing include people from the most remote and repressed regions, as well as intellectuals, academics, priests and members of Congress. Although many opinions exist among participants, discussion is underway on such issues as expropriated native lands, equal political power, autonomy, language and religion. Elders and priests are organizing in councils to provide traditional indigenous leadership as an alternative to political figureheads. These leaders seek to preserve the Mayan concept of human relationship to the earth and universe. The Mayan calendar, the meaning of which has long been held secret, will be studied, along with indigenous languages and marimba. Working groups are vigorously preparing for a role in negotiations between the insurgency and the government. Leaders want to be active players in the solution to the war and are waiting for responses from negotiators on talks with both sides over the rights and identity of indigenous peoples. Under some international scrutiny, the government has responded to the indigenous and grass roots movements in new ways. Press accounts of indigenous events are published days late or not at all. Political harassment of leaders is legalized, as in the case of Amilcar Mendez, now entangled in a case fabricated by a military commissioner. Evictions of people reclaiming lands are carried out under judicial order and in the presence of witnesses from the official human rights office. In all cases, the government justifies its actions with charges that those concerned have broken the law and provoked the ensuing response. Tax Changes Begin July 1 In implementing new tax laws, President Serrano is going back on his promise, that 1992 was to be the year of social investment, according to former health minister Miguel Montepeque. Labor and grass roots organizations say the new valued added tax (IVA) raises all prices, thus reducing purchasing power and further deteriorating the standard of living. Most workers earn between $30 to $60 a month. The 7% IVA is applied to basic consumer goods and services,including out-of-town bus tickets, meat, vegetables, eggs, bread, fruits, grains and medicines purchased in supermarkets. Outdoor market products are supposed to be exempt. However, shoppers in local markets say prices have jumped more than 7%. One produce vendor says he was forced to pass the increase along to consumers because food wholesalers taxed his purchases. The vendor explained that produce that normally costs him 5 cents rose to 7 cents and is sold to consumers for 10 cents. Housewives buying up products prior to July 1 say prices actually rose five days before the scheduled introduction of the IVA. Women told *TV Notisiete that the price of a weekly supermarket basket jumped from $18 to $26. The cost of a pound of beans or sugar went up 5 to 6 cents, which the women called exorbitant. Congressman Eduardo Rottman of President Serrano's Solidarity Action Movement (MAS) Party says economic indicators show the government has raised the standard of living substantially, although some sectors fail to recognize it. New Cholera Outbreak Health Minister Eusebio del Cid has told Congress that 180 patients have died in a new outbreak of cholera that has infected over 1,300 persons. Del Cid says cholera has once again spread to all provinces because districts have stopped chlorinating water and people are not taking preventive measures. Government epidemiologists fear the country's unsanitary conditions could produce a rate of infection as high as 1,000 persons daily. Congressional Health Committee chair Mario de la Cruz says Del Cid is concealing statistics on the actual number of cholera cases. A hospital director in Guatemala City says his hospital alone had treated 1,700 patients for the disease since August 1991 and the majority can be traced to the bus terminal market area. The Quetzaltenango hospital reports three deaths and 55 persons in critical condition. Health workers say regional rivers are contaminated with the disease and they are not prepared for assisting patients. The hospital lacks sufficient beds. Some beds are occupied by two patients. In Chiquimula, the hardest hit province, officials have reported 1,200 cases with over 50 deaths in recent days. They attribute the infection to both the eating of contaminated fish and to water sources. Another Army Official Killed in June The third army officer to die in two months was killed June 29. Armed men shot Air Force Colonel Rolando Luis Giron Escobar in Guatemala City as he was getting into his vehicle. Colonel Giron was chief of prisons under de facto president General Mejia Victores (1983-1985) and civil aeronauticsdirector under Vinicio Cerezo (1985-1980). On June 20, weapons chief Lt. Colonel Juan Jose Furlan Rodriguez was killed. Former National Police Chief Mario Paiz Bolanos attributed Giron's killing to common crime and discarded the possibility that he was killed by insurgents, saying the rebels have been totally defeated. In May an army officer was murdered, prompting one retired general to call for President Serrano's resignation. ***************** 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. 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