NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #31/NN_1992_31.iso/spool/misc/activism/progress/9759

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From: [e-mail] (Rich Winkel)
Subject: Guatemala: ENFOPRENSA #509
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/** reg.guatemala: 132.0 **/
** Topic: ENFOPRENSA #509 English **
** Written  2:08 am  Jan  3, 1993 by web:enfopre in cdp:reg.guatemala **
                NEGOTIATIONS.
    IMMEDIATE RESPECT OF HUMAN RIGHTS, GUARANTEES
    CREDIBILITY: URNG.
  Pablo Monsanto, a member of the Guatemalan National
  Revolutionary Unity -URNG- High Command, stated on
  December 28th that, a signing of the Human Rights
  agreement including its immediate application and
  international verification of the process would provide a
  guarantee of continuity in addition to given the agreement
  "credibility".  In an interview given to a very well known
  Guatemalan daily newspaper, the guerrilla commander
  pointed out the isolation at both national and
  international levels of the Serrano Government based on
  the confrontations with wide ranging social sectors in
  Guatemala. He said that this means the demilitarization of
  the country and consequent strengthening of civilian
  society are necessary steps to achieve " a resolution to
  current problems" and "transformations of an economic
  nature".
 About the current situation of the negotiations, Monsanto
 stated that, if the 'Truth Commission' and International
 verification existed, the military "would no longer to be
 able to carry out current repression against some
 communities". He clarified that, the URNG believes in "a
 political solution but if the Government and Army want to
 defeat us by military means, they would never manage this".
                POLITICS
        DISAPPOINTING VISIT WITH SERRANO: RIGOBERTA
        MENCHU.
  News arrived on December 22nd that the Nobel Peace Prize
  winner, Rigoberta Menchu, had expressed her disappointment
  at the attitude of the Guatemalan President Jorge Serrano
  Elias after he had visited him in The National Palace.
  Menchu pointed out that, during her interview with
  Serrano, he denied "the existence of a difficult climate
  currently in respect to the Human Rights situation in the
  country and he continues to assert that I belong to the
  guerrilla movement". In accordance with this, the
  President informed Menchu that "your job is to convince
  the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity -URNG- to give
  up their arms".  The  indigenous leader underlined this
  statement as "the most depressing part of my conversation
  with the President".  Afterwards Rigoberta Menchu talked
  of her fear of the possibility of a military offensive
  against "civilian sectors of Guatemalan society who are
  pushing for peace and the respect of human rights", given
  the evident harrasment against them. This is confirmed by
  "the aggressive attitude shown by military sectors", she
  added.  Rigoberta demanded that the Guatemalan President
  pay  "more attention to the denouncements presented during
  their meeting, throughout which Serrano Elias maintained a
  "hostile inattentive and arrogant" attitude, according to
  Menchu.

        MORE ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS FOR RIGOBERTA MENCHU.
  Since her arrival in the country in the 19th of December ,
  Nobel Peace Prize winner Rigoberta Menchu Tum was the
  object of several awards, recognizing her work in defense
  of human rights, On December the 22nd in a ceremony in the
  Municipal Building the Guatemala Municipality gave the
  peasant leader the Order of "Miguel Angel Asturias" and
  also name her "Distinguished Citizen". The award which
  carries the name of another Guatemalan Nobel prize winner,
  this time for literature, is given to people "who achieve
  acclaim for the country" on an international level.
  Rigoberta Menchu received her award in the name of the
  people of Guatemala, the workers, indigenous people and
  peasants who have contributed to improve our cultural
  image".  On the same day the Catholic Church carried out a
  mass in the Metropolitan Cathedral in honor of Rigoberta
  Menchu and Hellen Mack, Nobel Peace Prize and Alternative
  Nobel winners respectively. During the service Bishop
  Gerardo Flores stated that, change in Guatemala would be
  brought about by "the thousand of indigenous martyrs on
  whose spilled blood the future of peace is founded". Also
  the Foundation for Democracy and Peace -FUNDAPAZ- honored
  Rigoberta in a meeting attended by Guatemalan Politicians
  and members of the Diplomatic Corps.  Meanwhile, it was
  announced that based on a survey carried out by a  German
  Press Agency -DPA- involving representatives of the Latin
  American Media, Rigoberta Menchu, was chosen as
  "Personality of the Year" beating USA President elect Bill
  Clinton by 11 points.
         PRAISE FOR MEXICAN PRESIDENT'S ATTITUDE.
   In their editorial on December the 22nd, Guatemalan daily
   newspaper 'Prensa Libre' praised the attitude of the
   Mexican President Carlos Salinas de Gortari for his
   "kindness" towards Rigoberta Menchu. They stated that
   this "will soften the Guatemalan 'tigers' who would have
   liked to eat her alive".  The editorial whose headline
   was "Nice gesture by Mexican President", highlighted the
   act of making available a Mexican air force plane for
   Rigoberta's flight to Guatemala and the President's
   statement that "Mexico loves and respects you". With this
   they stated that Mexico "has celebrated the Nobel peace
   prize as if won by a Mexican citizen". They pointed out
   that this is in contrast to the response in Guatemala.
  Prensa Libre considers that within three years "Guatemala
  will have to amply recognize the intelligence of the
  Mexican government and their brotherly attitude towards
  Guatemala". They categorize Salinas de Gortari as "an
  extraordinary politician who is destined to leave his
  personal mark on Guatemalan modern history".
        OFFICIAL POSITION NARROW AND IMMATURE:
        MENCHU.
  News arrived on the 28th of December that just before
  leaving Guatemala for Mexico Nobel Peace Prize Rigoberta
  Menchu Tum made public her disappointment over having
  received "death threats and harrasment during Christmas
  celebrations", and lamented "deeply that the Government
  position continues to be very narrow and immature".
  Menchu Tum warned of a possibility that "more armed
  antigovernment groups would form as a result of the
  current government attitude, insisting in "making
  accusations against popular sectors". She stressed that
  this "prevents the ending of the armed conflict which has
  caused suffering to our brothers and sisters".
   The President of the Government Negotiation Team Manuel
   Conde Orellana accused Rigoberta of defending the
   position of  the insurgency.  The indigenous Quiche woman
   called his position "very sad" suggesting that if she
   were to lower herself to his level, she could assert
   "that Conde leans towards the army" given that he has
  always "defended it as if it were his own".  She
  reiterated her determination to return to Guatemala on the
  11th of January to inaugurate the 'Vicente Menchu
  Foundation' and a few days later to accompany the first
  contingent of refugees returning to the country. She also
  urged the Guatemalan Government to accede the formation of
  the 'Truth Commission', because with their refusal Human
  Rights violations will continue.

         HUMAN RIGHTS
    CONDEMNATION OF ATTACK AGAINST APG.
  The Guatemalan Press Association -APG- issued a press
  release on December the 23rd in which they urged the
  Government to investigate an attack on their offices
  carried out by unknown persons on December the 21st. They
  asked that those responsible "be charged under the law".
  The APG accused "criminal and backward sectors" in
  Guatemala of being those who take refuge in violence "in
  order to intimidate, invoke terror and violate basic Human
  Rights".  For their part the Canadian Committee for the
  protection of Journalists made a statement to Guatemalan
  president Serrano Elias reminding him that the last two
  attacks against the Guatemalan Press occurred "immediately
  after you launched a series of verbal attacks" against the
  Guatemalan Media. This raises the fear that the Government
  is entering "face reminiscent of the 1980's, during which
  "more than 40 journalists were assassinated or
  disappeared, they asserted.  The Guatemalan Press Council
  released a bulletin expressing support for "journalists in
  general and the APG in particular, especially in their
  investigations".  The Latin American Journalists
  Federation -FELAP- supported this position by demanding
  "guarantees and protection for reporters, media property
  and organizations who are victims of attacks" which
  "recently culminated" with the explosion of a bomb in the
  APG offices. FELAP also demanded justice in the cases of
  journalists who have been attacked by the Guatemalan
  Government, emphasizing that statements by Serrrano Elias
  about the work of the press "constitute a danger for media
  workers" asserting that this serve as a pretext for
  "committing more abuses against them".
        CONTRADICTIONS IN THE CASE OF ATTACKED
        JOURNALIST.
  It was learned on the 22nd of December Guatemalan Defense
  Minister Jose Domingo Samayoa had announced that the
  attackers of journalist and university professor, Alfredo
  Torres, had been "captured, suspended from the army and
  placed at the disposition of the Military Courts
  (Auditoria de Guerra).  Oscar Salvatierra, Jorge Adan Lot
  y Edgar Rolando Gonzalez who are charged with the attach
  are "specialists of the President's Guard High Command,
  according to Garcia Samayoa.  On the contrary public
  relations Secretary Arturo Alvarado rejected the Defense
  Ministers claims that those responsible belonged to the
  Presidents Guard High Command and stated that "they could
  possibly have been members of the National Police".
         POPULAR MOVEMENT.
    PEASANTS REACH SOLUTION ON LAND CLAIM.
  News arrived on December 22nd that peasants from Cajola
  Quetzaltenango had convinced the  Institute of Agrarian
  Reform -INTA- to assign them the Santo Domingo Ranch in
  Champerico Retalhuleu after spending five months in the
  Guatemalan capital demanding the return of their lands.
  Damian Vail is the leader of the group of 500 peasants who
  have been waiting for the last five months at the
  Paraninfo building of the USAC for a response to their
  demands. Following a meeting with the President's
  Political Affairs Secretary, Juan Daniel Aleman and INTA
  president Carlos Enrique Ortega, to finalize the details
  of handing over the ranch, Vail stated that the Ranch has
  a value of 20 million Quetzales (Q5.32=1$US) "which will
  be paid in ten years time".  The peasant representative
  pointed out that with the handing over of the land the
  people of Cajola ended "five months of resistance, pain
  and hunger in both the Paraninfo building and on the
  road". The National Police forced them out of the Central
  Square in September of this year.
        PROTESTS AGAINST INCREASE IN BUS FARES.
  As a consequence in the increase in transport fares in the
  Guatemalan capital various worker and popular sectors
  demonstrated their rejection of the steps taken by the bus
  owners and the Municipality. The Association of Secondary
  School Teachers -ANEEM- informed through their secretary
  Jorge Garcia that several worker and popular organizations
  in the country maintain the position of "legally demanding
  the owners of urban buses to confirm the existance of a
  conspiracy between the Government the Municipality and
  Transport owners to increase the bus fares" and "achieve
  the privatization of state run institutions".  Byron
  Morales, leader of the Unity of Labour and Popular Action
  -UASP- declared that official figures indicate that of the
  70% of the population in the active labour force, the
  average worker earns 300 quetzales a month. He or she
  requires Q 2.60  a day for transportation or Q 62.40 per
  month, If this is added to money for lunches the net "take
  home salary is dramatically reduced". This produces "a
  significant deterioration in the income of Guatemalan
  families".  The leader of the judicial workers union
  -STOJ-, David Alirio Cifuentes, accused Guatemalan Major,
  Oscar Berger, President Serrrano Elias and bus owners of
  being "enemies of the people" for the "manipulative" way
  they "solved " the transport problem.
   Cifuentes stated that Mayor Berger "does not deserve to
   be leading activities in the capital city". He also
   criticized "the mayor and the transport owners" for the
   "totally unjust "and "unilateral way" in which they
   increased the bus fares.

        DEGRADING Q10.00 SALARY INCREASE: PUBLIC
        EMPLOYEES
  On December 24th public employees declared that " the
  municipal government has acted in an illegal way and now
  the government is trying to silence its employees with a
  minimum salary increase". The public employees also
  rejected the Q10 'bonus' given by the government, calling
  it "degrading for the working class".  The National
  Federation of Public Employees -FENASEP- through its
  secretary Felix Hernandez, indicated that "if the
  government denies transport owners 80 million quetzales in
  subsidy, they should invest this money in salary
  adjustments for state workers". With the Q10 bonus the
  employees "feel humiliated" he said.  For his part, the
  general inspector of work, Francisco Espinosa, declared
  that the bonus does not "fulfil the expectations" of the
  workers, as it does not even cover " 30% of the workers
  additional expenses". He also said that "the government
  should issue a decree to protect employees and make the
  bonus effective by being in accordance with the workers
  needs".
   Espinosa also declared that public employees "should get
   a special bonus so that family income would not be
   affected". This may be achieved by a "legal order"
   forcing employers to comply.

                ECONOMY
        ECONOMIC CRISIS MAKES POVERTY GROW
  On December 28th, ex-viceminister of foreign relations,
  Jose Luis Chea Uruela, gave a report of the economic
  situation in the country in 1992. He pointed out that the
  economy "did not show any improvement with respect to last
  year". This was reflected and evidenced by "poverty having
  an increased growth".

                SOCIAL SITUATION
        OFFICIALLY AUTHORIZED INCREASE IN BUS FARES
  On December 23rd, the municipal council authorized an
  increase in urban transport fares. Guatemala City Mayor
  Oscar Berger, announced that the new fares are: Q0.65 for
  ordinary service; Q0.90 for preferential service; and
  Q1.00 for Sundays and holidays.  Groups of unidentified
  people reacted to this increase by burning several buses
  in various zones of the city. Numerous people were left
  wounded as a result of these actions.  Bus owners, under
  the umbrella of the Transport coalition declared that "it
  is shameful to keep on carrying on these kind of actions"
  and they rejected any labour "position to stop the
  service". They added that "bus owners are the ones" who
  determine "what is convenient" to safeguard their buses.
  On the other hand the University High council -CSU- stated
  that with the increase in bus fares "thousands of poor
  students will be affected". During a press conference CSU
  proposed to the government "continuing the subsidy for 90
  more days" and  invalidating the increase. They also
  proposed "seeking a frank dialogue involving all social
  sectors" to find a suitable solution which impacts less on
  the "income of Guatemalan families".  The decision to
  increase fares on Sundays and Holidays to Q1.00 was
  questioned by citizens in general. They affirmed that "we
  cannot afford the new fares and therefore we cannot go
  out", and "they are forcing us to walk to move around,
  because we do not have the money to pay Q1.00".

        20 DEAD DURING THE CHRISTMAS HOLIDAY
  On December 28th it was learned that, in the context of
  growing social polarization; a product of the economic
  crisis affecting the poorer social sectors in the country
  and of the grave violations of Human Rights carried out by
  security forces of the state, violence once again was
  present in Guatemala during the Christmas Holiday.
  According to figures given by municipal and voluntary fire
  fighters, the Christmas Holidays left the tragic result of
  20 dead and 276 wounded.  These figures are based on
  "total numbers of services by fire fighters" in the
  capital city and other parts of the country. These figures
  differ from the ones publicized by the national police,
  who informed of only 11 deaths and 28 wounded in the
  national territory.  Among the fatalities, there were
  diverse causes including those caused by firearms and
  knives, the explosion of a grenade, and fires.

                REFUGEES
        REFUGEES REJECT ARMY ACCUSATIONS
  On December 24th news arrived that the Permanent
  Commission of Representatives of Guatemalan Refugees in
  Mexico -CCPP- had denied having links with the Guatemalan
  National Revolutionary Unity -URNG-, following accusations
  to this effect made by Jose Domingo Garcia Samayoa, the
  Minister of Defense.  Ricardo Kurtz, a representative of
  CCPP, qualified Samayoas declarations as "demagoguery". He
  also asserted that the international community knows very
  well that the refugees "are people who left the country
  because of the repression".  Kurtz pointed out that with
  his accusations the Minister of Defense, " is trying to
  scare people in order to prevent them from returning to
  the country".  In addition CCPP informed of a request made
  to the government "asking them to rebuild 'Polygon 14' in
  the north of Kiche province, as a condition for their
  return to Guatemala". They also maintained their position
  that "the route used for the return of refugees should
  follow the main road between Mexico and Guatemala", and
  not via "the route proposed by the army engineers".  This
  request was also presented to the Special  Relief
  Commission for Refugee, Displaced and Returned peoples
  (CEAR) and the UN High Commission for Refugees (ACNUR) ,
  without yet having received a favourable response. This
  puts "the political will of the government" in doubt as "
  there has been no advance in the preparations for
  receiving the refugees". For this reason the -CCPP- have
  resorted to seeking National and International support to
  guarantee that the return happens under conditions of
  dignity and security" as "we are citizens with full right
  to our rights" they asserted.

                INSURGENCY
           INSURGENT ACTION IN KICHE.
  The Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity -URNG-
  released a war communique on the 23rd of December
  informing of their latest actions which were carried out
  largely in the western part of the Kiche province.  On the
  18th of December guerrilla units carried out two attacks
  with rifle fire on an army patrol which "was preparing an
  ambush near the Cuarto Pueblo barracks". On the 20th the
  guerrilla forces attacked the same troop again, this time
  with grenade launcher and rifle fire "according to the
  communique".  They also informed that on the 19th of
  December URNG members caused one fatality to Government
  troops, when they attacked a patrol in "the area to the
  east of the road between Nebaj and Santa Cruz del Kiche
  near El Boqueron Nuevo".  Also on the 21st of December
  insurgent troops caused two fatalities when "they attacked
  a post of the army barracks in Pueblo Nuevo with
  explosives". Hours later another attack with rifle fire to
  the same barracks resulted in another fatality to the
  armed forces.  The communique ends by informing of a
  simultaneous harrasment attack on the same army base by
  rebel units.


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