NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #31/NN_1992_31.iso/spool/misc/activism/progress/9605

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Subject: Guatemala: Cerigua Briefs Dec 6-19
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/** reg.guatemala: 139.0 **/
** Topic: Cerigua Weekly Briefs **
** Written  8:53 pm  Dec 22, 1992 by cerisea in cdp:reg.guatemala **

WEEKLY BRIEFS, DECEMBER 6 - 19, 1992

Peace Prize Awarded in Norway

Guatemalan indigenous leader Rigoberta Menchu received the
Nobel Peace medallion and certificate in a ceremony in Oslo,
Norway on December 10.  She called on government and
insurgent leaders to negotiate in good faith to end
Guatemala's civil war.  She said citizens must play an active
role in the talks if strong national unity is to become a
reality.  Menchu said human rights are at the core of the
crisis in her country and constitute the most urgent problem
to resolve.  She said authentic democracy will not exist in
Guatemala until refugees and displaced persons "living in
exile in their own country" are able to return to their lands
and communities.

The Norwegian newspaper Arbeiderbladet reported December 11
that security measures to protect the Nobel prize winner were
doubled in response to the presence of members of Guatemala's
security forces at the ceremony.  The newspaper cited
anonymous sources who said there were security agents among
Guatemala's official delegation.

The Norwegian newspaper also reported that informal meetings
were held December 9-10 to try to unblock the peace talks.
Mediator Bishop Quezada, unidentified government
representatives, URNG Commander Rolando Moran and Norway's
Foreign Relations Secretary Jan Egeland participated in the
meetings, according to the report.  Egeland was quoted as
saying talks could resume soon, and that the Norwegian
government has invited negotiators to hold meetings in Oslo.

Among the guests present at the ceremony were Bishop Rodolfo
Quezada, mediator for Guatemala's peace negotiations; Alfonso
Fuentes, president of the University of San Carlos; Bishop
Samuel Ruiz of San Cristobal de las Casas, Mexico; Commander
Rolando Moran of the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity
(URNG); and leaders of Guatemala's grassroots, trade union
and student organizations and non-governmental organizations.


Army Protests Actions at Celebrations in Guatemala

While the Nobel prize medallion was being awarded December 10
in Norway, Guatemalans were celebrating at home.  Hundreds of
indigenous people gathered at the Kaminal Juyu archaeological
site in Guatemala City.  The gathering commemorated not only
the Nobel award, but beginning of the International Year of
Indigenous Peoples and International Human Rights Day.  The
group Unity of Popular and Labor Action (UASP) called an
afternoon march through the capital and other marches tookplace elsewhere in the country.

The next day the army announced it would pursue legal action
against planners of the Guatemala City march.  A press office
statement said the march "was manipulated politically by
destabilizing groups" looking for confrontation with the
military.  It cited graffiti painted on the National Palace
and a police building.  The graffiti criticized human rights
abuses and was directed at the army.  The army also reported
that individuals wearing masks were seen painting messages on
military vehicles.  Colonel Francisco Gordillo, governor of
the province of Guatemala, said Romeo Monterrosa, a UASP
leader, would be prosecuted for the actions.

Medallion To Be Kept In Mexico

Rigoberta Menchu placed her award medallion in a Mexico City
museum in a ceremony December 18.  The museum is sited at the
ruins of an Aztec temple discovered in the center of Mexico
City.  Menchu said the medallion will stay in Mexico as a
"vigil for peace" until there is peace and reconciliation in
Guatemala.  Menchu, a Guatemalan human rights activist who
has lived in exile for more than a decade, called Mexico her
"second country."

The President of Mexico, Carlos Salinas, said the people of
Mexico are honored to have the medallion in their country.
He said Menchu's dreams and struggle represent hope for all
of humanity.  In contrast to statements by Guatemalan
officials, the Mexican president said Menchu has "never
betrayed her people."  Menchu is known for her work in
defense of human rights and especially the rights of the
indigenous peoples of the Americas.  Officials of the
Guatemalan government, however, have accused her of being a
subversive and working to defame her country.

No one from the Guatemalan government attended the Mexico
City ceremony, while the governments of France, Norway and
Spain sent their ambassadors.  More than 50 people arrived
from Guatemala thanks to a special flight arranged by the
Mexican government.  Guatemalans in attendance included
religious leaders, human rights activists, and grassroots and
trade union representatives as well as surviving members of
Menchu's family.  Menchu's mother, father and a brother were
killed by government security forces in the early 1980s.

The Norwegian ambassador to Mexico expressed hope for
progress in peace negotiations to end Guatemala's civil war.
He said a peace agreement would mean the Nobel Prize
medallion could be taken to the country where it belongs.

Menchu to Visit Guatemala

Rigoberta Menchu left Mexico for a visit to GuatemalaDecember 19.  She accompanied the Guatemalans who attended
the ceremony in Mexico.  Menchu herself was accompanied by
fellow members of the United Representation of the Guatemalan
Opposition (RUOG), Frank La Rue, Marta Gloria de la Vega,
Rolando Castillo and Raul Molina by her invitation.  Their
visit coincides with RUOG's tenth anniversary.

Communities Report Army Attacks

A commission of human rights and religious workers has
cancelled a visit to the Communities of Population in
Resistance (CPR) in Quiche planned for December 16.  The
commission announced the change on the morning it was to
travel by helicopter to the remote areas where the
Communities live in hiding.  A statement by San Marcos Bishop
Alvaro Ramazzini, a member of the commission, and Marcos
Ramirez of the CPRs, said the change was due to
"circumstances outside our control" and assured that a new
date would be set.

The cancellation is believed linked to army attacks on the
Communities which, according to the CPRs, began November 21.
The CPRs reported in early December that the communities of
Cuarto Pueblo and Los Angeles had been destroyed and
ransacked in an attack by hundreds of soldiers.  Cuarto
Pueblo was left in ashes, the CPRs reported, and in Los
Angeles, the houses which remained after army bombings in
July and August of this year were also burned.  The
Communities said they lost food supplies, farm animals,
living utensils and tools, school supplies, and clothes.
They documented the burning of nearly one hundred homes as
well chapels, health clinics, schools and a day care center.

The day the Multi-Sector Commission cancelled its visit,
Defense Minister Jose Garcia Samayoa said over a Guatemala
Flash newscast that the CPRs are "insurgent camps" where the
army has found marijuana, heavy artillery and documents that
support such accusations.  The Communities have said "every
time the army insists we are the political wing of the
guerrillas -- it is announcing and trying to justify new
actions of repression, machine gunning and bombing.  The
Communities have repeated their request that human rights
groups come to see where they live to "verify the truth and
see if [the communities] are guerrilla camps as the army
says, and see that it is not marijuana that we are
cultivating."

Transportation Halted in Capital

Nearly all city buses were off the streets of Guatemala City
on December 17, as bus company owners halted services.  The
action followed a suspension of government subsidies for
public transportation.  The bus companies said the government
owes them 12 million quetzales ($2.4 million) in pastsubsidies and that services will remain paralyzed until city
officials authorize a fare increase.  City officials
responded by asking the government post army units to keep
the buses running.  President Serrano said over Guatemalan
television that public transportation is not the government's
responsibility. But a judge imposed a time limit for owners
to turnover the buses.

Only a few companies maintained bus service, and three of
these buses were set on fire in different parts of the city.
On the second day of the owners' strike, unidentified persons
set fire to five parked buses.  City inspectors and riot
police began to break locks on garages where city buses were
hidden, as the hour for owners to voluntarily turnover buses
passed.

Public protest over the predicted increase in bus fares had
begun a week earlier.  A group of protestors set fire to a
city bus December 9, warning "No transportation increase --
this is the beginning."  Police units were dispatched to
several zones of the city and bus company owners threatened
to cut services in order to protect their property.

The Unity of Labor and Popular Action (UASP) has demanded
that the government make overdue subsidy payments covering
the past three months.  The grassroots coalition also
insisted that the government form a special commission to
propose a definitive solution to the problem of urban public
transportation -- to then be approved or rejected by a city-
wide plebiscite.

The local press has reported bus fares could double as a
result of the suspension of government subsidies.  Legislator
Hector Luna said the bus fare hike will bring the country to
the brink of widespread revolt, and urged city officials and
bus owners to move quickly to resolve the crisis.  Guatemalan
Archbishop Prospero Penados said burning buses will not solve
anything, but acknowledged that "it's not a secret to anyone
that the country's socioeconomic, political and even
religious situation is in chaos."

*****************

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** End of text from cdp:reg.guatemala **