Guatemala Human Rights Update Vol14 No8 Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit source - "Alice Zachmann" GUATEMALA HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION/USA *GUATEMALA HUMAN RIGHTS UPDATE -- VOL 14-NO 8* May 8, 2002 in this UPDATE... ( peasants lynched, beaten ( Menchu foundaiton staffer killed ( groups oppose PPP ( Gerardi: 4th anniversary ( more... CASE UPDATES EIGHT DOAN AGENTS DETAINED FOR DRUG THEFT 4/17/02 On April 16th, eight Guatemalan Department of Anti-narcotic Operations (DOAN) agents, were detained for their alleged participation in the theft of more that 1,000 kilograms of drugs from the police storage facilities that they guarded. The accused were captured in different police headquarters and were taken to the PNC Office of Professional Responsibility, located in Zone 6 of Guatemala City; afterwards they were moved to a holding facility in Zone 18. After hearing their statements, Guatemalan Judge Jaime Leonidas Ramos sentenced the eight DOAN agents and National Civil Police (PNC) officer Julio Humberto Salazar Munoz to be held in prison, until their trial for illegal trafficking of narcotics. ALEGRIA CASE: MAYOR REMOVED FROM DUTY 4/24/02 The municipal council of Puerto Barrios, Izabal, removed local Mayor Jorge Mario Chigua, after a pre-trial judicial investigation began looking into the Mayors connection to the extra-judicial execution of Guatemalan journalist Mynor Alegria. A Guatemalan court recently stripped Mayor Chigua of his immunity, so that he can be investigated in this case. Alegria was shot and killed on September 5, 2001. According to the Public Ministrys (MP) preliminary investigations, Mayor Chigua paid at least 40 thousand quetzals to have him murdered. Alegrias reporting had uncovered corruption in the Mayors office. ODHAG: GERARDI CASE IS NOT CLOSED 4/26/02 On the 4th anniversary of the assassination of Bishop Juan Gerardi, the Archbishops Human Rights Office (ODHAG) reported that the intellectual authors of the Bishops murder remain free. According to ODHAG director Nery Rodenas, the case is not closed, but is being unfairly held-up in the courts. Rodenas explained the the Guatemalan courts ordered a continued investigation to establish other persons involved in the murder, but the Public Ministry has since discontinued any follow-up. Rodenas said, This process is stalled; it has a lot to do with the will to do something. Mario Leal, Guatemalan public prosecutor assigned to the case, is confident that last years ruling leaves the door open for further prosecution against other persons involved-including military. Bishop Gerardi was found bludgeoned to death in the garage of his home at the San Sebastian Church in Zone 1 of Guatemala City. Military Captain Byron Lima Oliva, Colonel Byron Lima Estrada and military official Obdulio Villanueva were found responsible for the murder. The military officials were sentenced to 30 years in prison, and the priest Mario Orantes, to 20 years for being an accomplice. Orantes has not yet been in imprisoned; he is being held in the Hermano Pedro Hospital. The sentence is currently being reviewed in a Guatemalan Appeals Court. Gerardis housemaid Margarita Lopez, was absolved of any involvement. REYES LOPEZ CASE: WITNESS TESTIFIES BEFORE EXILE 4/27/02 On April 24th, a witness accompanied by members of the United Nations Verification Mission in Guatemala (MINUGUA) appeared before Guatemalan Judge Maria Antonieta Morales and gave new evidence about the alleged participation of Vice President of the Republic Juan Francisco Reyes Lopez and four other officials in the printing of leaflets slandering businessman Jorge Briz in the National Printing Office. The witness and 2 others gave their testimonies to attorney Ramiro Coronado as pre-trial testimony before leaving the country due to threats against them. One of the three presented the outlines of the posters and leaflets that he designed on orders from his bosses. The witness charges Luz Arminda Barrios, the Vice Presidents Secretary, as the person who came to the National Printing Office and requested the work as an urgent job. According to the witnesses statements, the current director of the Printing Office, Carlos Rafael Soto, was accused of threatening all the Printing Office employees so that they would stall the investigation. Fundamental Human Rights Violations PEASANT LYNCHED IN HUEHUETENANGO 4/23/02 On April 21st, a mob from the hamlet of Laguna el Pajarito, Guisoc, San Pedro Necta, Huehuetenango, beat one man to death and left another seriously injured. The men were accused of robbing 1,000 quetzals from a neighbor. According to the Guatemalan National Civil Police report, the deceased was identified as Arturo Carrillo Perez, age 24. There have been no reports of arrests in this case. FOUR PEOPLE BEATEN IN ALTA VERAPAZ 4/23/02 On April 22nd, a mob from the Nacimiento Raxquiche community of Chisec, Alta Verapaz tried to lynch 4 peasants. The local Guatemalan Police indicated that the villagers accuse the auxiliary mayors Manuel Tjul, age 32, and Alberto Che, 23, as well as Roberto Chub Cuz, 50, and Laura Che, 43, of practicing witchcraft and killing Catalina Tupil, age 43. The mob captured them and took them to the soccer field, where they beat them. A Guatemalan Special Police Forces (FEP) contingent rescued the accused individuals, although it was not made public if the four survived the beatings. UNID OFFICES BROKEN-INTO BY UNIDENTIFIED MEN 4/23/02 Leaders of the Democratic Left Unity (UNID) party asked authorities to investigate the break-in that occurred in their offices on April 19th, carried out by unidentified persons. Alfredo Fernandez Gradiz, UNID Assistant Secretary, reported that those responsible took a computer and documents that contained information about the party, its affiliates, membership lists, and a directory of international contacts. Fernandez ruled out common crime as a motive, since the unidentified men did not take money that was in a desk which was forced open. He stated that this action is one more in the wave of break-ins perpetrated against civil and religious groups. He said that the break-in is a warning to the UNID leaders and members to stop their work. The week of April 14th, several human rights groups called on the government to investigate and punish those responsible for the break-ins and the repeated death threats against humanitarian activists, religious leaders, and journalists, as well as for the murder of Jorge Rosal Zea, leader of the Patriot Party. BREAK-IN AT PUBLIC DEFENSE OFFICE, DEFENDERS INTIMIDATED 4/18/02 Unidentified men broke into one level of the Institute of Public Criminal Defense building located in the capitals Zone 2. The Institute Council was meeting on another floor of the same building. Hugo Rolando Lopez, coordinator of the Guatemalan Lawyers Association, believes that the break-in was an act of intimidation aimed against defense attorneys. The unidentified men wanted the break-in to look like a robbery; they ransacked all the office equipment and defecated in the offices before they left. Blanca Aida Stalling, deputy-director of the Institute, requested an investigation of the incident by the authorities. MENCHU FOUNDATION STAFFER MURDERED (excerpted from Reuters) 4/29/02 Gunmen shot and killed a member of a Guatemalan human rights organization in a restaurant on Monday in what rights activists said was a political murder disguised as a robbery. Witnesses said Guillermo Ovalle, 28, an administrative worker for the Menchu organization, was shot while he was ordering a takeout lunch in the Guatemala City restaurant. At least one other person in the restaurant, about 50 yards from the Menchu organization office, was wounded. The manager of the restaurant, Maria Elena Lopez, said the gunmen had been robbing customers when one resisted and shots were fired. But Gustavo Meono, a founding director for the Menchu organization, said the attack was a political assassination. They wanted to make this look like a common crime, and I agree that angle must be investigated, he said. But the facts contradict this. This was a completely disproportionate use of force for a robbery. Meono said that 10 minutes before Ovalle was shot the organization received phone calls in which someone played the recording of a funeral march over the telephone. According to the Menchu organization and witnesses, at least three heavily armed gunmen were involved directly in the attack and another stood guard outside the restaurant. The shooting occurred a day before civil hearings begin into an alleged massacre in 1995 of refugees by Guatemalan soldiers. The foundation, founded by Nobel laureate Rigoberta Menchu, is providing legal support for massacre survivors involved in the hearings. Menchu, who lives in Mexico, condemned the murder and expressed her condolences to Ovalles family in a statement released by the foundations main headquarters in Mexico City. The circumstances surrounding Guillermo Ovalles cowardly assassination lead us to think of a carefully planned operation, she said. Under such circumstances we should not rule out the hypothesis that the murder was political. Guatemalan human rights activists investigating abuses by security forces during a 1960-96 civil war in which some 200,000 people died say they and their families have been threatened at gunpoint and have received menacing phone calls and letters. Police indicated they were treating the killing on Monday as a robbery. Rights of the Child LACK OF RESOURCES DELAYS ADOPTION REGULATION 4/15/02 Guatemalan Congressman Otto Cabrera, President of the Congressional Commission on Legislation and Constitutional Areas, stated that if the current Adoption Regulation law was passed, it would likely not be put into practice. The new law calls for the use of DNA testing. However, the Public Ministry (MP) does not currently have lab or testing resources that have the capacity to handle the DNA tests. Cabrera is encouraging the MP to incorporate a request for this equipment into their budgets, so this regulation law, if passed, could be followed. Guatemalan Congresswoman Nineth Montenegro of the New Nation Alliance (ANN) political party proposed the adoption regulation legislation to combat the illegal trafficking of Guatemalan children. Land Rights GOVERNEMENT SHOWS DIPLOMATS RURAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN 4/20/02 On April 19th, Chamber of Agriculture representatives met with officials from the UN Development Program (PNUD), the World Bank (BM), the Inter-American Development Bank (BID), and the Canadian, Japanese, German and Dutch embassies. During the meeting, the international officials were told in detail about the rural development plan designed by the Chamber of Agriculture. The plan seeks to diversify crops, establish a foreign commerce policy as a development tool for Guatemala, and describes the associations vision of agro-business reponsibility. Patricia Monge, executive director of the Chamber, stated that unemployment causes the occupation of lands. Juan Pablo Corlazzoli, PNUD in-country representative for Guatemala, said that there should be a policy of integral development that generates income opportunities that do not depend on land ownership. He said that current problems exist because laborers are not being paid due to the coffee crisis. He added that the State should strengthen investment policies for construction of public works and housing in rural areas. Corlazzoli emphasized that in Guatemala there is a correlation between the emerging problems and the lack of compliance with the Peace Accords. He cited as an example that while the Land Fund (FONTIERRAS) was to be given a budget of 300 million quetzals for the purchase and distribution of land, the agency never received the money. PEASANTS OCCUPY FONTIERRA OFFICES IN CAPITAL, PETEN AND COBAN 4/24/02 On April 23rd, hundreds of peasants occupied the FONTIERRA offices to demand from the government the concession of credits and the purchase of 12 plantations. One group took over the agencys offices in the capital at 9 a.m. In Santa Elena, Peten and Coban, Alta Verapaz, the FONTIERRA offices were also occupied. The peasants left the FONTIERRA offices at 9:30 p.m.; however, they announced that they would occupy them again if they do not receive a concrete answer to their demands within 20 days. According to Sergio Funes, director of FONTIERRAS, the problem is that the institution lacks financial resources. Meanwhile, it was revealed in the Executive Body that on May 1st the State Secretary of Agrarian Affairs will be created. A commission made up of representatives from the Presidents Commission on Human Rights (COPREDEH), the Human Rights Ombudman (PDH), the United Nations Verification Mission in Guatemala (MINUGUA) and the Council on Protected Areas (CONAP), engaged in dialogue with the peasant groups and worked to reach an agreement. Maria Abrego Chen, a representative of one of the protesting groups, said the authorities promised to stop displacements of occupied lands, and not to carry out reprisals against them. PEASANTS OCCUPY PLANTATIONS NATIONWIDE 4/23/02 On April 22nd, a group of 239 peasants from the Alta Verapaz communities of San Jorge el Zapote, Las Palmas and San Juan Las Flores occupied the Santa Teresa plantation, located iin the San Manuel Tucuru municipality and owned by Fernando Antonio Garcia-Salas Rivera. At least 16 plantations have been occupied by landless peasants in the last 2 weeks. Nine of them are State property. Fifteen of them are in Alta Verapaz and the other is in San Martin Jilotepeque, Chimaltenango. According to Huan Tiney, leader of the National Indigenous and Peasant Coordinating Committee (CONIC), the Santa Teresa plantation problem began in 1995, when the owner offered former workers 8 units of land as payment for their labor. However, Garcia-Salas Rivera gave the peasants titles to lands that did not exist. Guatemalan media sources have reported peasant land and plantation occupations in Alta Verapaz: in Santa Teresa, en San Miguel Tucuru; as well as Las Ilusiones Samox Yalicar, in Chisec, Alta Verapaz, by peasants from San Pedro Carcha and Chisec. In Suchitepez, peasants occupied land in Las Marias plantation, in Santo Domingo and San Basilio, in Rio Bravo (currently owned by the Guatemalan military) and Santa Maria in Santa Barbara, COMMISSION TO DEAL WITH LAND CRISIS TO OPEN 4/29/02 Beginning May 8th, a 3-part commission will be established to deal with the land crisis. The National Coordinating Committee of Peasant Organizations (CNOC), the Chamber of Agriculture, and the government will participate in the commission. Guatemalas Presidential Spokesman Byron Barrera stated that the commission will find a solution to the land crisis. The government will be represented by the Presidential Agency for Legal Assistance and Land Conflict Resolution (CONTIERRA), the Land Fund (FONTIERRA) and the Presidential Secretariat for Strategic Analysis (SAE). Barrera also said that representatives from the peasant sector will also take part in the commission. Social, Cultural and Economic Rights EU RULES OUT FREE TRADE WITH LATIN AMERICA 4/16/02 On April 15th, the European Union (EU) decided to propose political dialog and cooperation agreements to Central America and the Andean Community of Nations (CAN) at the Second Euro-Latin American Summit, ruling out a free trade agreement (FTA) that both regions are examining. The meeting will be held in Madrid in May. The EU Foreign Relations ministers met on April 15th and decided to launch a new initiative for a mutual, privileged approximation of our regions for better relations and deeper integration, in the Madrid summit, according to the councils conclusions. They propose an agreement of dialog and cooperation in order to achieve 3 objectives: political and social stability through democracy, human rights and good government; a continuation of the regional integration process among countries; and the reduction of poverty and economic development. Several countries believe that both regions need more integration to be able to negotiate a free trade agreement and that their economic levels are far below those of Europe, so they would not benefit from such an agreement. PETEN ORGANIZATIONS FORM FRONT AGAINST PPP 4/22/02 In order to inform citizens of the purposes of the Plan Puebla Panama (PPP), the Peten Action and Proposal Solidarity Group is promoting public education campaigns which are meant to educate the population of the dangers that the project represents. The Peten solidarity group, made up of non-governmental organizations concerned about the negative consequences of the PPP and any other similar plan or project, protested that Guatemalans are still not aware of the true details or the implementation of the plan. The group said that government representatives have denied that they intend to build a hydroelectric plant on the Usumacinta River and highways through the Mayan Biosphere Reserve, and they also defend U.S. policies to expand oil exploitation. Despite the lack of information, analyses done by specialists show that the project, promoted by the United States and endorsed by the Mexican and Central American governments, threatens the integrity of the Mayan Biosphere Reserve and oher protected areas in the Peten department, with the risk that poverty will increase in Guatemala. A commission made up by the Peten Association of Forest Communities (ACOFOP), the Peten Association of the Displaced (ADEP), the Peten Association of Tourist Guides (AGTP), the Center for Popular Research and Education (CIEP), the National Coordinating Committee of Peasant Organizations (CNOC) and other organizations, is in charge of facilitating and coordinating the centralization, analysis, and disseminating information regarding the dangers represented by the project. BUSHNELL: FTA NOT A MAGIC SOLUTION FOR ECONOMIC PROBLEMS 4/30/02 On April 29th, during a recent public address, U.S. Ambassador to Guatemala Prudence Bushnell said that the establishement of a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the U.S. and the region would not be the magic or instantaneous solution to Central Americas economic problems. Despite all its advantages, obstacles will have to be overcome before the agreement takes effect, Bushnell said. She identified the respect for international labor and environmental standards, among other things, as one of the fundamental aspects of an agreement between the United States and the region. According to Bushnell, one of the topics not subject to debate in the negotiation is the possibility to do what 180 years could not do: unite Central America. The members of the U.S. government have been very impressed by tbe unity that the governments of the isthmus have shown in the process of preparing for the trade negotiations. A FTA implies that the economy can grow, your community can be better off and your future can be much more hopefulthe opportunity to change is before you now, said Bushnell. Health Rights UN SUGGESTS INVESTMENT IN POOREST AREAS 4/30/02 During his official visit to Guatemala, Jacques Diouf, general director of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), called for the erradication of poverty through investment in rural development. 24% of the Guatemalan population is malnourished, so it seems to us that efforts must be undertaken to increase production in the rural communities, Diouf stated in a press conference. Diouf met with President Alfonso Portillos cabinet in order to talk about food security and to plan strategies and policies to attain this security. In some emergency cases it is necessary to give provide food for a short time, but the sustainable solution to combat hunger is to let populations produce their own food, he said. In Guatemala, 102 of 331 municipalities suffer from malnutrition. With this in mind, the UN officials are considering extending the special food security program that FAO operating in 68 countries. The organizaton announced the opening of an office In Guatemala. Rights to a Clean and Healthy Environment STUDENTS MARCH FOR EARTH DAY 4/22/02 Guatemalan primary and secondary school students marched on April 22nd to celebrate Earth Day, demanding an end to water pollution, deforestation and forest fires. Public and private school students and marching bands marched from Parque Morazan to the Plaza Central to demand protection of natural resources. The march was organized by government offices, the Guatemala municipality, and other institutions. Ten-year-old Karla Reynoso said that water should not be wasted because it is necessary for human survival, and that cutting down trees and pollution are causing it to run out. She asked people to stop dumping chemical compounds and trash in the streets, rivers, and oceans. Marco Vinicio Cerezo Blandon, from the Eco-Development and Conservation Foundation (FUNDAECO), said that Earth Day is a day when the planets inhabitants unite to demand protection for the environment, which is being destroyed at an accelerated pace. According to Cerezo, the fact that businesses, political leaders, government institutions and civil society use ecological language to convince the public is worrying, since they are not helping to protect the environment. He stated that it is necessary to demand that Guatemalas National Congress speed up the process to legally declare Rio Sarstun, Punta de Manabique, Semuc-Champey, and the Yaxha Lake to be protected areas. Cerezo also requested protection of the forested hillsides in the capital, advocating for the preservation of green spaces in Guatemalas most urban area. He asked all Guatemalans to become ecologists, since if no one demands changes from the large chemical-producing corporations in the country and the institutions responsible for the environment, they will not do their job. The organizers of the march reported that celebrations were also held in the other 330 municipalities in Guatemala, in which public and private school students, businesses, and other citizens participated. PDH CREATES ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE OFFICE 4/22/02 Guatemalas Human Rights Ombudsmans (PDH) Office created the Environmental Defense Office. The opening responds to the concern over environmental conservation, the PDH reported. Reports about environmental destruction can be directed to this new agency. WORKERS OCCUPY INAB HEADQUARTERS IN QUETZALTENANGO AND COBAN 4/26/02 The National Forest Institute (INAB) regional offices in Coban, Alta Verapaz and Quetzaltenango, Guatemala were occupied on April 25th by several members of the groups linked to the Program for Forest Incentives (PINFOR). According to Coban environmentalist Waldemar Schwendener, they were protesting government-decreed intervention. Meanwhile, dozens of INAB workers from the Quetzaltenango office occupied the regional offices to protest the April 25th dismissal of director Vinicio de Leon. According to their spokesman Guillermo Monterrosa, de Leon also opposed government intervention. Right to Justice BISHOP GERARDI MURDER: 4TH ANNIVERSARY 4/16/02 In commemoration of the the April 26, 1998 murder of Bishop Gerardi, several local and national events took place throughout Guatemala. Events included the release of a report, For a New Guatemala (Por Una Guatemala Distinta) and a book containing the biographies of several woman affected by the violence of Guatemalas civil war. There is also an exhibit opening on Guatemalan martyrs and the life of Monsignor Gerardi. On April 26th, Gerardis crypt opened at 7am for public viewing and at 5pm, Archbishop Rodolfo Quezada Toruqo and the Episcopal Conference of Guatemalan Bishops (CEG) celebrated a mass in Guatemalas Metropolitan Cathedral. In the department of San Marcos, Guatemala, approximately 3,000 Catholics marched through the streets. The march organized by Monsignor Alvaro Ramazzini, Bishop of the San Marcos Diocese, commemorated Gerardis life and commitment to human rights. MONSIGNOR GERARDI MOVEMENT REMAINS ACTIVE 4/23/02 The Guatemalan coalition group known as the Monsignor Gerardi Movement, is made up of more than 40 organizations. In a recent statement, the coalition group demanded an end to impunity and corruption in Guatemala, as well as asking for a renewed commitment to human rights and the Peace Accords, including the final resolution of the case of Bishop Gerardis assassination. Sheny Berger, a representative of the Movement, called on Guatemalan authorities as well as civil society to continue Gerardis spirit, particularly the search for truth and social justice. The Movement also condemned the recent wave of threats and attacks against leaders of the Catholic Church who work with human rights. MINUGUA DEMANDS RESOLUTION TO GERARDI CASE 4/26/02 The United Nations Verification Mission to Guatemala (MINUGUA) issued a statement saying that since the June 8th, 2001 verdict that found 3 military officials and a priest guilty of involvement in Gerardis murder, that the Mission has kept a watchful eye on the case. MINUGUA expressed their concern that nearly a year since the verdict, that justice is still being stalled by the Guatemalan courts, especially the continued investigation into others involved in Gerardis murder plot. GUATEMALAN JOURNALIST GOES INTO EXILE (excerpted from Centroamerica News) 4/30/02 Guatemalan journalist David Herrera has decided to leave his country to go into exile in Mexico after escaping from an attempted kidnapping on April 16, according to an official of the U.N. Verification Mission in Guatemala (MINUGUA), adding that members of the Mission have been accompanying Herrera for his safety. Herrera had visited a community in northern Guatemala where forensic anthropologists are carrying out exhumations of the remains of indigenous peoples who were massacred during the countrys 36-year-long internal armed conflict that officially ended in 1996. PEACE ACCORDS EU WILL MONITOR EFFECTIVENESS OF COOPERATION 4/18/02 Ignacio Ibanez, from the Spanish Embassy, and Phillipe Combescot, of the European Union, presented the conclusions of the Second Meeting on European Union Cooperation with Guatemala. The meeting was held on April 15-16th in Retalhuleu; around 180 participants from different sectors of Guatemalan society attended. The European Union will wait 8 more months to see if Guatemala upholds its commitments to peace. During this time, cooperation and aid for the democratization process will continue. Combescot stated that at the beginning of 2003, the EU will establish a technical group that will evaluate the governments compliance with the time frame for peace. They are also considering inviting other international donors in order to provide more assistance to the country. Among the topics discussed in the Second Meeting were decentralization, gender, human rights, the environment, and justice. POSSIBLE COLLABORATION OF EX-PAC AND EX-MILITARY REPORTED 4/17/02 Rolando Noriega, the Human Rights Ombudsmans Office (PDH) Auxiliary, reported that former members of the Civil Defense Patrols (PAC) and former military officials could be current members of the Local Security Groups (Juntas Locales de Seguridad) in several Huehuetenango municipalities. Noriega stated that residents of the village of Chicoy in Todos Santos Cuchumatan reported that those who do not participate are made to pay 25 quetzals for the night that they are supposed to be on patrol. The Human Rights Auxiliary said that this situation is not extraordinary, since they have received complaints from residents of the San Mateo Ixatan, Santa Eulalia, Nenton, and San Sebastian municipalities, where the security groups are mostly made up of former patrollers and ex-military. Noriega believes that these actions could cause a new confrontation with civil society, since they are in violation of the Peace Accords. The Peace Accords state that only the National Civil Police (PNC) is charged with keeping order and guarding citizens safety. He concluded that the PDH does not oppose the groups, but the problem is that the groups cannot be made up of people that are linked to human rights violations. More Information BUSINESS REGISTERED IN GUATEMALA LINKED TO ARMS TRAFFICKING 4/23/02 On April 22nd, the Panamanian Police reported that the company GIR, S.A., registered in Guatemala and owned by 2 Israelis, bought a shipment of guns and ammunition with false Panamanian documents from the Nicaraguan Police and later sent it to Colombia. The businessmen Oris Zoller and Uzi Kisslevich bought 3,000 Russian-made AK-47s among other weaponry. The chief of the Panamanian National Security Council, Ramiro Jarvis, explained that the weapons were stowed on a ship on October 26, 2001 in the Nicaraguan Atlantic port of Rama, and taken to the Colombian port of Turbo in November. The director of the Guatemalan Arms and Ammunition Control Department (DECAM), Colonel Blanco Moscoso, confirmed that the business is registered in Guatemala. However, the shipment could not have entered Guatemala, because imports of offensive weapons are prohibited. If somehow the shipment did come in, it had to be hidden, in which case the police would have to investigate, he explained. According to police investigations, Oris Zoller and Uzi Kisslevich own one of the biggest weapon sales businesses in Guatemala. GIR, S.A. has denied any wrongdoing. Oris Zoller, who along with Uzi Kisslevich owns the company, admitted that he acted as an intermediary in the sale of 3,000 assault rifles and 5 million cartridges to the Panamanian police, but he never had contact with the final recipient, in this case Colombia. They produced an export license that permits them to sell arms to Panama, on which appear the signatures of Interior Minister Alex Bergara, Director of General Services Rolando Taboada, Fiscal Comptroller Fredinson Carvajal and Panamanian Purchasing Chief Reiniero Castillo. The Panamanian police stated that those officials do not exist in the country, and when Taboada was investigated, he said that the signature on the document is not his. Meanwhile, Guatemalan Interior Minister Eduardo Arevalo Lacs stated that the accusation against the Israelis does not affect Guatemala, because the business that Guatemala had with the company was transparent. If they have illegal business, it has not been carried out with governmental institutions, Lacs emphasized. GUATEMALAN DE LEON CARPIO DIES IN MIAMI (excerpted from Centroamerica News) 4/30/02 Former Guatemalan president Ramiro de Leon Carpio (1993-1996) died suddenly and unexpectedly on the night of April 15 in Miami, Florida, said one of his sons, Alejandro de Leon Duque. The cause of death, according to Miami police, was a heart attack. De Leon Carpio was 60 years old. He had recently withdrawn from his post as a legislative deputy in the Guatemalan congress, representing the ruling rightist Guatemalan Republic Front (FRG), and from the party itself, in protest of the partys apparent corruption. Upon leaving his post and the party, de Leon Carpio said, I cannot continue endorsing with my presence a style of government I do not share, and that is why I am withdrawing. In addition, he said he was also displeased with what he termed the permanent confrontation between the current government and civil society. We are very upset by my fathers death, said Alejandro de Leon, because he was a man who gave himself completely in search of solutions for the poorest in the country. He was always an honest person, with integrity, and his only ideology was to help others. He said his father had been happy to leave political life and had planned to work on a project to help Guatemalans living in the U.S. De Leon said his father had traveled to Miami on April 11 to hold a number of meetings with lawyers and was supposed to return to Guatemala on April 15. The family became concerned when they could not make contact with him on April 13 or 14, and when finally he did not arrive in Guatemala on April 15, as planned. De Leon Carpio was elected to the Guatemalan Constitutional Assembly in 1984, where he served as one of three alternate presidents. In 1989 he was elected to be the countrys Human Rights Procurator. He left that post in 1993 when the Guatemalan congress named him as President, replacing former president Jorge Serrano De Leon Carpio will be buried in Guatemala. Guatemalan Vice President Juan Francisco Reyes said he would declare three days of mourning for the former president. The Guatemala Human Rights Commission/USA is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, humanitarian organization that monitors the human rights situation in Guatemala. Information in the Update that is not gathered directly is culled from various sources, including the Guatemalan Human Rights Commission (CDHG), Casa Alianza, Amnesty International, Associated Press, Reuters and the Guatemalan Press, including Prensa Libre, La Hora, Guatemala Hoy, Siglo Veintiuno, and Patrullaje Informativo. Editors: J.C. Santelices and Alice Zachmann; additional translation: Helen Winder ISSN #1085-0864 [WE APPRECIATE A $20 DOLLAR ANNUAL DONATION TO HELP COVER OUR COSTS. THANK YOU.] FOR MORE INFORMATION OR TO RECEIVE, PLEASE CONTACT: GUATEMALA HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION/USA 3321 12TH STREET, NE WASHINGTON, D.C. 20017 T: 202-529-6599 F: 202-526-4611 ghrc-usa@ghrc-usa.org http:/www.ghrc-usa.org ================================================================= 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-05.09.02-06:09:10-15561