Cerigua Weekly Briefs 19 Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit source - cerigua CERIGUA WEEKLY BRIEFS, NUMBER 19, MAY 20, 1999 This week's stories: *Guatemalans Vote No on Constitutional Changes *Referendum Fallout: Where to From Here? *Internal Army Log Reveals Fate of 183 Disappeared *General Elections Set for Nov. 7 *Indigenous Activist Murdered; Threats Against FDNG *Congress Passes Land Fund *Promoting Peace and Unity Among Kids Guatemalans Vote No on Constitutional Changes Guatemala City, May 18. The majority of voting Guatemalans said no this week to a package of constitutional reforms derived from the nations peace process. Though the no vote clearly prevailed, dismal voter turnout and a marked division between the yes and no response along racial and geographic lines leave questions about who really won the day. With 100 percent of the votes tabulated, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) announced today that 50 percent of voters marked the no response to the four questions put to national referendum May 16, and 40 percent marked yes. Over 80 percent of the electorate stayed at home, with voter turnout lowest in the areas where the no prevailed. In one province voter abstention reached more than 99 percent. The capital, where almost 30 percent of valid ballots were cast, determined the outcome of the race. Without the votes from Guatemala City and area, the no response would have triumphed only on question number two, which sought principally to give Congress greater oversight vis-`-vis the executive branch. The 12 southern and eastern provinces, where most of the countrys mestizo minority live, also voted no, but in nine provinces in the north and west, the yes vote dominated. Most of this region is not only overwhelmingly indigenous, but forms the area of the country hardest hit during Guatemalas civil war. In two provinces there was a split vote, with a yes response to the first and fourth questions, on the nation and social rights and on the judicial system, respectively, and no to numbers two and three, on the legislature and on the executive branch, including the army. Everywhere else, voters tended to reject or approve the entire package. Of the four questions asked, the race was closest for the first, with less than 40,000 votes -- 5 percent -- separating the yes and no responses. Leading up to the referendum, the reforms covered by this question, principally recognition of the nations indigenous peoples, their languages and other rights, had spurred the most debate in the national media and conferences on the subject. Referendum Fallout: Where to From Here? Guatemala City, May 20. The defeat earlier this week of a series of draft constitutional reforms has clouded the immediate future of the countrys incipient peace process. But supporters of the proposed changes, which stem from the provisions of the 1996 peace accords, say there are still great advances that can be made. Advocates of the yes vote were frustrated, disappointed and surprised by the results of the May 16 referendum that they had hoped would ratify the draft reforms. In analyzing the defeat and the alarming levels of voter abstention, they point to scant efforts, especially by the nations political parties, to publicize the reforms contents; a well heeled no campaign that relied on fear and distortion to stymie potential voters; deep-seated racism; and widespread aversion to the political class as the main causes. Generalized opposition to the peace process or of what the reforms promised does not figure as a major factor in most explanations of the results. The outcome of the referendum doesnt indicate rejection by Guatemalans of the peace accords nor of the process itself, but of the interpretation that the reforms were given, said government Peace Secretary Raquel Zelaya. Although a few proponents of the peace accords, including Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity (URNG) leader Jorge Soto, warned that the results of the vote could produce greater conflicts and even lead to a return to armed struggle, others agreed that Guatemalans do not want more bloodshed. We indigenous people are not interested in returning to armed confrontations to assert our rights, said Rosario Pu of the Committee for Campesino Unity (CUC). There now exist legal mechanisms where, through dialogue, its possible to defend our points of view until their recognition is achieved. But even if the peace process is not over, the road ahead is certainly long. In light of the referendum results, diverse sectors, including the government, have suggested that the changes contained in the proposed reforms could be achieved through ordinary legislation instead. But the process would be much slower, they admit. Analysts also wonder whether, with general elections right around the corner, the government will be interested in pushing a sometimes controversial peace agenda. Compliance with (the peace accords) and their enforcement depends mostly on the will of this and the next government, said Conrado Martmnez of the Guatemalan Human Rights Commission (CDHG). Congressional president Leonel Lspez said yesterday that the House would not prioritize bills stemming from the peace process during the remainder of its term. Other important legislation on banking, civil servants, the general auditors office, consumer protection and reforms to the Penal Code will take preference, he said. For its part, the U.N. Verification Mission (MINUGUA) has pledged to trudge ahead with verifying and promoting the process. MINUGUA spokesperson Diego Zorillo noted that the high levels of voter abstention alone indicate how much work remains to be done, for example, in the area of civic education. Internal Army Log Reveals Fate of 183 Disappeared Washington, May 20. Disclosure of a secret military record of nearly 200 disappeared Guatemalans has rocked the Central American country. Four U.S. human rights groups made public in Washington, D.C. today a 54-page document that contains files on 183 Guatemalan men and women who were disappeared between October 1983 and March 1985 during the countrys four-decade civil war. The National Security Archives (NSA), Human Rights Watch, the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Washington Office on Latin America reportedly purchased the record for US$2,000 from a low-ranking Guatemalan military officer who lifted it from military intelligence archives and smuggled it out of the country last February. Human rights workers in Guatemala and the United States called the internal logbook the most detailed document of military abuses ever made public. It is about the best evidence we have ever gotten about the cold-blooded, deliberate, calculated strategy that the military used to pick people up one by one, said NSA Guatemala specialist Kate Doyle. The logbook, which the human rights groups determined belonged to a counterinsurgency unit of the Guatemalan security forces, records the victims names, alleged pseudonyms, education, jobs and suspected allegiance to guerrilla organizations and other groups that the state deemed subversive. A photo of the victim was appended to most entries. More than 100 people on the list were killed by their captors, investigators said. In many instances, the place and circumstances of their arrest and execution are noted. Their fate was recorded in code, most of which the U.S. organizations managed to decipher. Doyle said that the groups compared the logbooks information with their own records, with press accounts from the time and with declassified State Department files. We found dozens of the same cases.... The document is real, she said. In Guatemala, former Defense Minister Gen. Julio Balconi Turcios, who was shown a copy of the logbook, said he could not comment on the matter. This is a sensitive issue... so its best to wait for the position of the defense minister (Gen. Hictor Barrios Celada). Relatives of the armys victims are also eager to hear what the army will have to say about the papers. This (document) demonstrates the existence of secret archives and that the army should collaborate by telling us where our relatives remains are, said New Guatemala Democratic Front legislator Nineth Montenegro, whose disappeared husband, Fernando Garcma, appears in the dossiers pages. The disappearances entered in the logbook began three weeks after Gen. Oscar Humberto Mejma Vmctores took power in 1983. His regime marked an era of selective violence against urban guerrilla elements and the disappearance of dozens of students, union leaders and university professors. General Elections Set for Nov. 7 Guatemala City, May 19. Electoral officials have fixed the date for upcoming elections for president, Congress and the countrys 330 mayoralties. In a decree issued yesterday, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) announced that Guatemalans will go to the polls next November 7 to decide who will form the nations government during the next four years. In addition to choosing their new president and vice president, voters will elect 113 congressional representatives -- 33 more than currently sit in the House -- municipal authorities and delegates to the Central American Parliament (PARLACEN). In the presidential race, if no candidate reaps more than 50 percent of the votes cast, a run-off election between the two leading candidates will be held December 26, the TSE added. Both the new central government and Congress would take office January 14, 2000, and the municipal councils would start work the following day. Elected PARLACEN delegates would not begin their terms of office until October 2001. Guatemalan adults who do not already appear on the voters list will have until the beginning of August to register, according to the TSE decree. With the elections officially called, political parties will be allowed to launch their electoral campaigns starting today. Indigenous Activist Murdered; Threats Against FDNG Guatemala City, May 18. The torture and killing of an indigenous leader and ongoing threats against members of one of the countrys leading left-wing parties appear to mark a renewed campaign against the political and social opposition in Guatemala. On May 12, several individuals wearing ski masks attacked and killed indigenous leader Juana Lucma Bin in the Qeqchi village of Tamahz, Alta Verapaz province. According to witnesses, Bins assailants intercepted her as she was returning from Coban, about 50 miles away. The body of the 71-year-old woman showed signs of torture and 14 large cuts, apparently from the blows of a machete. In the early 1980s, during the height of the countrys civil war, Mama Lucma, as she was popularly known, worked to defend indigenous rights and was labeled a guerrilla as a result. In 1992, she helped promote an initiative to convert Tamahz into a cooperative. Authorities later turned down the proposal. Bin was buried in the Tamahz cemetery the day after her death, with almost the entire village -- more than 3,000 people -- in attendance. Days later in Chimaltenango province, Lino Cas Socoy, municipal secretary general for the New Guatemala Democratic Front (FDNG), and the partys secretary of acts, Manuel Quelex Tubac, received death threats by telephone. The pair report that on May 18 a woman called to warn them that their days were numbered. Following the first call, they received two more urging them to quit the FDNG. Failure to do so would put their lives in danger, the voice said. Cas and Quelex say they do not know either the origin of the calls or the exact motive behind them. In related news, Bilgica Isabel Toledo died in hospital May 14 from bullet wounds she received during an attack the day before against FDNG deputy secretary general for Guatemala City, Roberto Gonzalez Arias. Gonzalez, who appeared to be the gunmens principal target, had died within an hour of the shooting. As yet, police have no suspects in the double homicide. Congress Passes Land Fund Guatemala City, May 14. Congress approved legislation yesterday to increase campesinos access to land. During its final day of sessions before breaking for a two-and-a-half-month recess, Congress passed a bill to establish a new and permanent Land Fund (FONTIERRA). Sixty legislators voted in favor, exceeding by six votes the two-thirds majority needed for approval. Congressional president Leonel Lspez Rodas, who oversaw weeks of negotiations among the parties in the House on what the bills final draft would contain, called the moment a transcendental step toward the consolidation of democracy and the peace accords. The bill was first presented last year by the indigenous-government Joint Commission on Indigenous Land Rights, one of the commissions set up in keeping with the 1996 peace accords. The draft law was the product of six months of discussions and adhered closely to the terms of the agreements. But the bill did not get through Congress without changes. In all, legislators made 44 modifications to the 55 articles contained in the original version. One significant change involves the makeup of FONTIERRAs board of directors. The original text had established that two representatives appointed by the Saqbichil Coalition of Mayan Peoples Organizations (COPMAGUA) and one designated by the National Coalition of Campesino Organizations (CNOC) would sit on the six-member board. The revised legislation specifies only that one indigenous representative and one campesino representative will be elected as directors, but not necessarily from CNOC or COPMAGUA. In addition, a representative of the cooperative movement will now be appointed. The directorate will also include representation from the Ministries of Finance and Agriculture and the Chamber of Agriculture. The independence of the new Land Fund was maintained, however. It will be legally autonomous and have full control over its own resources. The new law is aimed at helping campesinos buy property and providing them with subsidies as well as legal and technical assistance. FONTIERRA will also make available, through loans to the beneficiaries, vacant national lands, state lands that were illegally awarded to private individuals, lands where no title is established and donated lands, among others. An earlier temporary land fund, set up two years ago under the Ministry of Agriculture, will be absorbed by the new entity. Many of the functions of the National Agrarian Transformation Institute (INTA), which had been involved in securing title for many indigenous and campesino communities with claims to land, will also be transferred to FONTIERRA over a period of three years, after which the institution will disappear. In the original Land Fund bill, this process was scheduled to take five years. Promoting Peace and Unity Among Kids Quetzaltenango, May 13. This western province is host to an innovative program aimed at promoting a culture of peace among children and youth. Operated under the auspices of the U.S.-based Association for Experimental Education, Playing for Peace seeks to foster unity among young Guatemalans and prevent them from turning to street gangs and delinquency, said Quetzaltenango program coordinator Alfa Escobar Dmaz. Escobar explained that the program is international in scope, existing in other countries as well where children and youth have been affected by psychological trauma brought on by war and armed conflicts. The Quetzaltenango program organizes training sessions on peace issues every three months for children and youth. The youngsters also play and take part in interactive games on a monthly basis, Escobar said. Play and laughter helps to develop better human relationships and communication, to break down barriers between urban and rural areas and to combat discrimination, the coordinator added. Playing for Peace currently operates in the villages of Nueva San Josi and Santa Anita La Unisn, Quetzaltenango. Recently, representatives of the Association for Experimental Education paid a two-week visit to the area to assess the programs impact. According to Escobar, accomplishments in Quetzaltenango have convinced organizers to promote it elsewhere in the country. Plans are in the works to establish Playing for Peace projects in Quichi province, with the participation of the National Widows Coalition (CONAVIGUA), she said. **************************************************************** Cerigua Weekly Briefs are published 48 times a year by the Centro de Reportes Informativos de Guatemala Publisher: Ileana Alamilla Editor: Ruth Taylor Cerigua 2a Calle 1-42, Zona 1, Guatemala, Guatemala Tel/FAX: 502 238 1456 502 221 2521 E-mail: cerigua@guate.net ************************************************************** SUBSCRIBE TO CERIGUA WEEKLY BRIEFS! 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