Cerigua Weekly Briefs #21 6/3/99 Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit source - cerigua CERIGUA WEEKLY BRIEFS, NUMBER 21, JUNE 3, 1999 This week's stories: *Big Bucks for Peace and Reconstruction *Coalition Invites Congress to Implement Truth Commissions Recommendations *Officers Seek Loophole to Avoid Civilian Trial *Womens Health Day Sparks Call for Greater Government Effort *Environment Commissioner in Hot Water *In Search of Guerrilla War Dead *Street Kids Slain; Threats Against Casa Alianza Worker *Refugees Evaluate Return Process Big Bucks for Peace and Reconstruction Stockholm, May 30. Despite fears that setbacks in the nations peace process might reduce its bargaining power, Guatemala walked away from its meeting here with the Consultative Group of international lenders with pledges of just over US$1.6 billion in aid. After several hours of questions and answers, the governments and international finance institutions that make up the Group agreed to finance the four-year plan that Guatemalas official delegation presented for approval. The funds are principally earmarked for reconstruction and relief efforts in the wake of Hurricane Mitch, which ravaged the Central American region last November. But they are also aimed at advancing Guatemalas two-year-old peace process. According to Arnoldo Noriega, who, as chair of the Commission to Accompany the Peace Process and delegate for the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity (URNG), attended the meeting, the Group made clear that the peace process was still a priority for the international community. He said that topics such as human rights, impunity and the recommendations of the Historical Clarification Commission (CEH), which investigated wartime atrocities in the country, were discussed at length. Leading up to the May 26 to 28 meeting, some observers wagered that the recent defeat by popular vote of a package of constitutional reforms would cool the international communitys enthusiasm for the peace process. The reforms were key to implementing many of the governments obligations under the 1996 peace accords. Others had called for conditioning future aid on making greater advances in other facets of the peace accords, and on involving broad sectors of society in reconstruction and development initiatives. In its final declaration, the Group reflected some of these concerns, committing the Central American nations that participated to consolidating democracy and governability, reinforcing the decentralization of government functions and faculties with the active participation of civil society. In addition, the Group urged recipients of the aid to promote respect for human rights, gender equity, and the rights of children, ethnic groups and minorities. According to Guatemalan Finance Minister Pedro Lamport, most of the promised funds -- US$1.3 billion -- will be delivered to the Guatemalan government over four years in the form of loans from the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank. The remaining US$290 million was pledged by several governments and will be disbursed directly to nongovernmental organizations, he said. Nonetheless, pledges are not the same as cash in hand. Of the US$1.9 billion promised to Guatemala at the last meeting with the Group in early 1997, US$1.2 billion has yet to be disbursed. The speed with which the international community releases the funds will depend on how well the government keeps to the projections presented, and its capacity to execute its plans, according to Lamport. A committee made up of government representatives from Germany, Canada, Spain, Sweden and the United States will monitor the use of the funds granted. The Group also agreed to meet again with Guatemala early in the new year to discuss peace process goals and future funding with the incoming government. Coalition Invites Congress to Implement Truth Commissions Recommendations Guatemala City, June 1. In its first official act since its formal launch May 28, a broad-based coalition has presented Congress with a draft bill to establish a foundation that would follow up the recommendations of the Historical Clarification Commission (CEH), or Truth Commission. The Multi-institutional Coalition for Peace and Harmony, representing more than 60 Guatemalan human rights, labor, indigenous and student organizations, delivered the proposed legislation today to congressional president Leonel Lspez Rodas. The document calls for an entity responsible for supporting, implementing and managing compliance with the CEHs recommendations under the name Foundation for Peace and Harmony. In keeping with the CEHs recommendations, the umbrella group advocates a foundation that would comply directly with the recommendations; support and monitor their implementation; assist in procuring funds to finance projects stemming from them; and promote historic research. The foundations seven-member board would include two representatives from the congressional human rights committee, a government appointee, two delegates from human rights organizations, one representative of the Mayan peoples, and an independent, respected Guatemalan appointed by the U.N. secretary general. The foundation would work for an initial period of three years, leaving to Congress the option of renewing its mandate. The proposed legislation would also oblige Congress to provide the foundation with sufficient funds to finance its operations. Coalition member Norma Rodas of the Unity of Labor and Popular Action (UASP) says adhering to the CEHs recommendations is key to Guatemalas transformation as conceived in the 1996 peace accords. Among other recommendations, the CEH had called on Congress to help create a national program for compensating war victims; adopt a law to facilitate the exhumation of clandestine cemeteries; draft a new Military Code to guarantee that the army operates according to judicial and moral norms which reflect the rights enshrined in the Constitution and the commitments laid down in the peace accords; and issue a solemn declaration reaffirming the dignity and honor of the wars victims. Officers Seek Loophole to Avoid Civilian Trial Guatemala City, June 2. The recent defeat of a series of constitutional reforms may have legal repercussions for numerous human rights trials -- at least according to the accused in one case. Three high-ranking army officers are demanding to be tried under military, instead of criminal, law for the 1990 murder of anthropologist Myrna Mack. Their lawyer points to constitutional Article 219, which authorizes military courts to try offenses or crimes committed by members of the Guatemalan army, to justify their plea. The law that is in effect states that military personnel should be tried in military tribunals. The supremacy of the Constitution should be respected, said Fernando Gutiirrez, defense lawyer for retired Gen. Edgar Godoy Gaitan and Cols. Juan Valencia Osorio and Juna Oliva Carrera. Article 219 was one of almost 50 that would have undergone changes if the yes vote had won in last May 16s constitutional referendum. In this case the proposed amendment restricted the jurisdiction of military tribunals to infractions of the Military Code. The reform was meant to bring the Constitution into line with changes enacted three years ago through ordinary legislation to turn all cases of common crime committed by military personnel over to civilian courts. The Mack case was one of the first to reach the hands of civilian judges, but it has yet to go to trial. According to Luis Rammrez of the Institute of Comparative Studies in Criminal Sciences (IECCPG), the officers arguments have little legal weight, since well founded precedents already exist of army personnel facing civilian courts. The Constitution stipulates that civilians may not be tried in military courts, but not necessarily that military personnel must be tried under military law, he said. Basically I see this as a delaying tactic, totally unnecessary. If a new precedent is established for political motives, however, the results could be really dangerous, the legal expert said. It would bankrupt the Guatemalan legal system. Until 1996, most cases involving military personnel were tried in military courts. But in keeping with peace negotiations underway at the time, Congress moved to abolish the old system, which was widely accused of protecting guilty soldiers and officers, especially in human rights cases. Womens Health Day Sparks Call for Greater Government Effort Guatemala City, May 29. To mark the International Day of Action in Favor of Womens Health, womens groups here called on the government to live up to obligations undertaken at the 1994 Conference on Population and Development in Cairo, Egypt. Celebrations yesterday focused on government policies that, according to womens advocates, hurt instead of help the health of women, and the population in general. Todays neoliberal economic policies have given free reign to the play of the market in the area of medical attention, declared the womens group Tierra Viva. The organization charges that health policies based on cost-efficiency have led to cutbacks in healthcare and turned it over to market forces. According to Tierra Viva, government pledges made at the Cairo conference to reduce the rates of infant mortality, maternal mortality, malnutrition, and preventable diseases in the country have suffered as a result. There, 183 nations, including Guatemala, had approved a program of action that was to guide policy in terms of health and reproductive rights for the next 20 years. As women, this May 28 we must no longer allow our sexual and reproductive rights to be ignored, since they have so much to do with our fulfillment as persons, with survival itself and with the continuity of life, the group stated. The feminist magazine la Cuerda also argues that the governments approach to the commitments undertaken at Cairo constitute for the vast majority of womens organizations a fundamentalist position that violates the sexual and reproductive rights of Guatemalan women. Government consultant for the conference Vinicio Mora told the magazine that the agreement to provide a wide range of sure and safe methods of birth control goes against our Constitution, which commits the state to guaranteeing and protecting human life from its conception. In one program that the government is promoting to combat maternal mortality, director Ernesto Velasquez admits that we dont talk about family planning but about obstetric risk, both physical and psychological. Although under the previous government the program offered its patients contraceptives, under the administration of Alvaro Arzz it is only permitted to advise them to decide for themselves the method of birth control, Velasquez said. According to UNICEF, only one third of Guatemalan women use birth control. At an average of 5.4 children per woman, the country has the highest fertility rate in the hemisphere. Two women here die every day from pregnancy related causes, the U.N. Population Fund reports. Environment Commissioner in Hot Water Guatemala City, June 3. The president of the governments National Environmental Commission (CONAMA) is facing legal action because of his alleged failure to prevent two ecological disasters. The environmental crimes unit of the Justice Department has presented a formal complaint against Adrian Juarez for violating the countrys Forestry and Protected Areas Law. The department states that the commissioner abused his authority and willfully allowed the destruction of a mangrove swamp in Guazacapan, Santa Rosa province. Early this year, Guazacapan authorities began to dredge a canal in a protected area of the region with the reported aim of facilitating access to the Pacific Ocean. But opening up the marshland has put virtually the entire forest there at risk, investigators report. According to Juarez, however, the municipality of Guazacapan began the project before CONAMA could complete an environmental impact study and without awaiting authorization from the National Council for Protected Areas (CONAP) and the National Forestry Institute (INAB). The municipality argues that the onus was on CONAMA to seek the two entities approval. Nevertheless, the commissioner did acknowledge deficiencies within his office. This problem reveals that our institutions are weak and that we need to strengthen our work and our community support so that the laws are obeyed, he said. Although Juarez said he would order a halt to the canals construction, 95 percent of the work has already been done. Juarez is also facing a civil suit for concealment, breach of duties and failure to act against the Palo Gordo distillery, which is accused of polluting the Cheg|ez River in Suchitepiquez province. Lawyer Walter Robles Valle, acting on behalf of the villagers of Cheg|ez and Nahualate I and II of San Antonio Suchitepiquez, has launched charges against Luis Gonzalez Bauer of Palo Gordo as well, for industrial pollution and illegal use of natural resources. The villagers depend on the river for their water supply. According to Robles, CONAMA has refused to take action against Palo Gordo, even though the commission is aware that the companys activities may be affecting the health of area residents. He said that more than 100 people, mostly children, have contracted cholera and dengue fever, and livestock in the zone have died, apparently because of the contaminated water. Robles attributed the problem to years of waste disposal from the distillery into the Cheg|ez waters. On June 5, Juarez is to be appointed president of the Central American Environmental Commission. In Search of Guerrilla War Dead Guatemala City, May 27. More than two years after peace was signed here, the remains of nearly 3,000 fallen guerrilla combatants and collaborators have yet to be recovered, according to the Guillermo Toriello Foundation. As part of its work to assist the nations former guerrillas make the change to civilian life, the foundation, created by the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity (URNG) in keeping with the 1996 peace accords, has gathered information on more than 1,000 of its members who were disappeared by security forces during the war and a further 1,890 who fell in combat. Determining the whereabouts of the guerrilla dead and handing over their remains to relatives constitutes a basic step toward peace, reconciliation and the mending of so much torn social, family and personal fabric, said foundation director Enrique Corral. The URNGs list of dead and missing include urban and rural militants, fighters, collaborators, relatives and sympathizers. According to Corral, the foundation bases its figures on information gathered from relatives, URNG members and witnesses. To further the foundations work in this regard, Corral called on the government to follow the recommendations of the Historical Clarification Commission (CEH), which include establishing programs to locate and exhume the wars victims. And he reminded Alvaro Arzzs administration that the 1996 peace accords themselves oblige the government to provide all the elements, appropriate measures and information leading to the recovery of the remains of URNG members, including URNG combatants killed in action. Street Kids Slain; Threats Against Casa Alianza Worker Guatemala City, May 25. Two execution-style killings and threats against a street worker have one group that works with homeless youth worried about growing violence on the streets. The tortured body of Manuel Armando Guzman Colledo, 21, was found outside a downtown hotel May 21. His hands and feet were tied, and a towel had been placed in his mouth. The body also showed knife wounds on the neck, face and other places. According to the advocacy group Casa Alianza, the crime occurred three days after the beating death of Julio Cisar Escobedo Quiqsnez, 23. A week earlier, four armed men shot former street child Marlon Alfredo Bautista Rammrez, 16, in front of his home. The attacks do not end there. Casa Alianza reports that the coordinator of the organizations drug rehabilitation program, Leonel Dubsn, was followed home April 6 by a vehicle, which left only after he made his way to the local police station. The same vehicle reappeared outside his home on his return, and as the social worker began to make a call from his cellular phone, one of its occupants stepped down to threaten him, Dubsns employers report. Refugees Evaluate Return Process Guatemala City, May 27. The countrys three leading refugee organizations have delivered a final joint report summarizing the experiences of their members in exile and the ups and downs of the long battle to return home. The three branches of the Refugee Permanent Commissions (CCPP) launched the document The Return of the Guatemalan Refugees in a public ceremony yesterday. Written with the input of the returned refugees themselves, given during a series of forums to evaluate the return process and the work of the CCPP, the 50-page booklet casts a look back at the lives of the refugees, the causes of their exile, how the return process was conceived and developed, the negotiations with the government to achieve repatriation, the journey home and finally the process of settling again the lands they had fled more than a decade earlier. >From this experience, the refugees have drawn conclusions. They note that their efforts contributed to the process of achieving peace in the country and to the construction of a more just society. They also underline the importance of returned communities, refugee organizations, local authorities, and governments working together to reach these goals. Despite the hardships they suffered and the many delays in the return process, the former exiles point to accomplishments as well. The refugees who joined the large-scale returns organized by the CCPP obtained land and with it employment. The return home reunited them with their cultures, their families and their homeland, but the process of exile also taught them how to live and interact with Guatemalans of diverse ethnic backgrounds. The former refugees also say they learned that dialogue is the best way of reaching agreements with the government and that presenting concrete and workable proposals is key to ensuring that their views and needs are taken into account. Finally, the CCPP members note that the return process opened the way to organization among the exiles, especially the women. But the setbacks were many as well. According to Manuel Cedillo of the CCPP Northern Return, constant changes in government personnel and policy regarding the returns repeatedly threw negotiations with the authorities back to square one. Red-tape and lack of official interest also produced delays. Most of the refugee groups who returned did so under pressure, he said. In addition, Cedillo complained that most of the functionaries working with the government refugee agency CEAR belong to the military, making relations with the refugees difficult. With the return process officially ended, the CCPP must decide whether there is a future role for their organizations in the returned communities or whether it is time to pack up shop. In the case of the CCPP Northern Return, the organization has decided to close its doors, turning its efforts instead to strengthening a new federation of six farming cooperatives run by returned refugees in Petin province. The CCPP Southern Return and the Northwestern Return have not made public their plans for the future. **************************************************************** 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! US$ 50/ 1 year individual ---- US$ 80/ 2 years individual US$ 75/ 1 year institutional -- US$ 120/ 2 years institutional US$ 100/ 1 year amigo --------- US$ 160/ 2 years amigo Send check or money order in US Dollars made payable to: ANI, PO Box 578191, Chicago, IL 60657-8191 (indicate regular or e-mail) For information not related to subscriptions, please contact our Guatemala office: Cerigua English Section; 2a Calle 1-42, Zona 1; Ciudad de Guatemala; Guatemala, Centro America. Email: cerigua@guate.net; Phone/fax: (502) 2212521 or 2381456. ***************************************************************** ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytcamer-06.09.99-23:05:55-31503