From: hrcoord@igc.apc.org (Human Rights Coordinator)
Newsgroups: soc.rights.human
Subject: Violations of Ref rights on Av.
Date: 22 Jan 93 20:43:00 GMT
Nf-ID: #N:cdp:1476701014:000:11346
Nf-From: cdp.UUCP!hrcoord    Jan 22 12:43:00 1993


From: Human Rights Coordinator <hrcoord>
Subject: Violations of Ref rights on Av.

/* Written  7:45 pm  Jan 21, 1993 by cwands@igc.apc.org in
igc:reg.guatemala */

NATIONAL COORDINATING OFFICE ON REFUGEES AND DISPLACED OF
GUATEMALA  (NCOORD)
January 21, 1993

Dear Friends,


     We have received the following documents which we have
translated for your convenience.  We request your continuing
vigilance on the refugees as they begin their arduous process of
building a New and Just society in Guatemala.  Thank you for all
of your efforts.

Recommendations:
     The above-mentioned actions of CEAR should be denounced at
the international level. From our point of view, these did violate
the October 8 agreements, especially the concerning the free
movement of the refugees and the promise by the Guatemalan
government to guarantee everythinthe well-being of the returnees
in order that they enjoy their rights as citizens and human
beings. The people have the right to leave the reception center
and should not be considered "undocumented", as characterized by
CEAR.  The necessary documentation for the return was taken care
of in Comitan, Mexico in order that there be no stop at the border
of La Mesilla. The government of Guatemala and CEAR should be
called on to comply with the accords and with their obligations
and allow free access to enter and leave the reception centers
during the return process. This includes freedom of movement in
and out of the centers for those internationals accompanying the
refugees.  The government should also be called on to comply with
its responsibility to not place all of the responsibility upon the
UNHCR, especially regarding their physical security and safety.
The government should understand that when it speaks about
guaranteeing the security of the returnees, it is speaking of the
civilian population, recognized as such by the international
community, and by the government itself in the accords. And so for
this reason the security and attention should be given by means of
CIVILIAN INSTITUTIONS, AND NOT BY THE MILITARY. We add the list of
persons where concerns about these issues can be sent by fax:

 Ing. Jorge Serrano Elias Presidente de la Republica Palacio
Nacional Guatemala, GUATEMALFAX: 011 (502-2) 519702

Ing. Sergio Mollinedo Buckley CEAR / Comision Nacional para la
Atencion de Repatriados 15 Avenida 9-16, Zona 13 Guatemala,
GUATEMALA
FAX: 011 (502-2) 234-5569

John Keane Deputy Chief of Mission Embassy of the United States
Guatemala, GUATEMALA
TELEX: 305-5325

cc:VITALINO SIMILOX SALAetary
   12 Calle 11-18, Zona 1; 010Apdo Postal 2579; CD 01901
   Tel2-2)537368 - 537406; Telefax: (502-2)519680

     NGOs should stay on maximum alert during the return process,
especially given what transpired on this first day of the return
into Guatemalan territory. It is possible that the welcome planned
in Guatemala City could also be blocked in the same manner as was
done in Huehuetenango.
______________________________________________________________________________
National Coordinating Office On Refugees and Displaced of
Guatemala (NCOORD) 59 E. Van Buren St., Suite 1400 Chicago, IL.,
60605, U.S.A.  Tel: (312) 360-1705 Fax: (312) 939-3272email:
PEACENET; cwands

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

III) SCHEDULE REMAINING OF THE OFFICIAL ROUTE OF THE RETURN:

22/01/93 - Friday: (In Huehuetenango)

23/01/93 - Saturday:
     Leave Huehuetenango:                              6:00 am KM
     187 (rest stop)                                9:00 am Cuatro
     Caminos (reception ceremony)              10:30 am Solola
     (welcome celebrations in route) Los Encuentros (welcome
     celebrations in route) Chimaltenango (dinner)
     4:00 pm
	  (Transit Police presence) Leave for Guatemala City:
     5:00 pm Arrive in Guatemala City:
     6:00 pm

The caravan will be divided in three parts with accompaniment by
the Transit Police and will go to different reception centers:
     1. Liceo Guatemala
     2. Instituto Indigena Santiago
     3. Liceo Javier

24/01/93 - Sunday: Rest Day

25/01/93 - Monday:
     Leave Guatemala City:                             7:00 am
     Meeting of the three caravans after the
	  Belize bridge (Transit Police presence)      7:30 am
     Arrival El Rancho (Transit Police presence)      12:30 pm
     Arrival in Coban:                                 5:00 pm
	  Reception Centers:  1. El Calvario
			      2. San Marcos Parish 3. Nazarene
			      Church
			      4. INJAV
			      5. Parish convent 6. Evangelical
			      Centers

26/01/93 - Tuesday:
     Leave Coban:                                      5:00 am
     Arrival in Chisec:                                5:00 pm
	  (After this date, one caravan will leave each day with
	  approximately 400 persons, roughly corresponding to 10
	  busses.)

27/01/93 - Wednesday:
     Leave Chisec:                                     5:00 am
     Arrival in Cantabal:                              5:00 pm
	  Activities:  Thanksgiving Mass
		       Dinner and reception

28/01/93 - Thursday
     Leave Cantabal:                                   7:00 am
     Arrival in Poligono 14:                           1:00 pm

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


CIEDEG   CONFERENCE OF EVANGELICAL CHURCHES OF GUATEMALA

January 21, 1993 Ref SE-015

Dear Friends of the Cooperating Agencies:

     Receive our greeting of Peace and our desire that your labors
continue with the blessing and protection of the God of Love.

     We are attaching the Fax sent by the Permanent Commission
from Huehuetenango (where our brother refugees are located), where
the first violations of the Human Rights of the Refugees can be
seen.  We therefore request your solidarity, sending letters to
the Director of CEAR, Ing. Sergio Mollinedo; the President of the
Republic, Pres. Serrano Elias; the Mediating Agency, Mons. Jorge
Mario Avila, Pres.; Procurator of Human Rights, Lic.  Ramiro de
Leon Carpio; and to the UN Expert on Human Rights Prof. Christian
Tomouschat.  It should be emphasized THAT THE ACCORDS SIGNED IN
OCTOBER 1992 AND JANUARY 1993 ARE RESPECTED AND COMPLIED WITH for
a dignified return.  Please send us copies of the letters you
send, for our information.  Thank you.

     At the same time, we request your support with dishes,
clothing, tents, medicines, monetary donations, and all that you
can to help during this Emergency.

     With the hope of obtaining an answer to these requests and
thanking you for the good will of each of you and for your
valuable and opportune support which you have provided up to now,
and which we do not doubt that you will continue, I gratefully
write to you.

Sincerely,

VITALINO SIMILOX SALAZAR
Executive Secretary
__________________________________________12 Calle 11-18, Zona 1;
01001; Apartado Postal 2579; CD 01901 Tel: (502-2)537368 - 537406;
Telefax: (502-2)519680



LESS THAN 24 HOURS AFTER RETURNING TO GUATEMALA, OUR RIGHTS HAVE
BEGUN TO BE
VIOLATED

URGENT COMMUNIQUE FROM THE PERMANENT COMMISSIONS

border of La Mesilla, these accords and our rights as citizens
have begun to be violated.  Hundreds of people from diverse parts
of the country and outside of the country came to receive our
Caravan for the Return.  However, the CEAR impeded the programmed
activities and reception of the returnees.

2. At the same time, the government of Guatemala used a traffic
detour, backed by patrol cars of the National Police, to force the
suspension of a religious, civic and cultural reception
celebration planned by various sectors from Huehuetenango.  They
obligated the Caravan to go directly to the CEAR reception center,
impeding the welcome.  The church of the Diocese of San Cristobal
was waiting at La Mesilla as well as at Huehuetenango to
symbolically turn the refugees over to the Guatemalan church, and
this was also impeded by the attitude and imposition of the
government of Guatemala.

3. Although the Permanent Commission had for some time stated
their opposition to any form of physical or symbolic presence of
the army in the return, a majority of the refugees were placed in
military tents, which was rejected by the returnees.  Because of
this, CEAR stated that they have no other civilian alternatives
planned, so they began to construct tents with plastic sheeting.
At 9:00 pm on the night of the 20th of January, many families
continued to stand outside, without knowing where they would
sleep.  Added to this, CEAR did not distribute enough blankets,
and the ones that were provided were not sufficiently warm for the
intense cold of these days in Huehuetenango.

4. We also denounce CEAR for impeding the entrance and departure
from the reception center, which they are in charge of, arguing
that the refugees are undocumented.  The returnees have needed to
look for places to sleep outside of the center, but the
authorities of CEAR have not permitted them to.  Neither has CEAR
wanted to permit the international people accompanying sleep at
the reception center, and have provided no food for them.  If this
continues this way, the CEAR reception center will turn into a
concentration camp for us, with the government impeding and
violating our constitutional and legal rights of mobility.

5. All of this violates the October 8, 1992 and the January 12,
1993 Accords.  It violates a humanitarian spirit; and the spirit
and practice of a return in dignity and security; it violates our
human and constitutional rights.  It demonstrates the governmental
demagoguery of having stated that they were totally prepared for
our reception and moreover opens the question of what the
government has done with the large quantity of economic resources
which they stated were available for the return.

6. While we denounce these acts nationally and internationally, WE
DEMAND of the government a swift solution to the problems of
reception, attention and supplying of resources, as well as the
immediate processing of the documentation for the returnees.  The
Permanent Commission, representing the group which returned
January 20, 1993, has the complete backing of said population, are
giving notice that as of 12:00 noon, January 21, CEAR must have
solved the problems we have denounced.  If not, the returnees will
begin various protest actions, using and exercising all of our
rights, until we see our demands met.  The Permanent Commission
has consistently maintained attitudes of flexibility and of
respect for the Accords of the negotiations.  However, the
government of Guatemala has had a constant attitude of
inflexibility and lack of respect for the Accords signed by the
Permanent Commissions, to which the Mediating Agency, GRICAR and
the international community are witness.

7. We formally request the Verification Agency take note once
again of this lack of fulfillment of the Accords by the government
of Guatemala.

8. Finally, we urgently call once again on all the sectors of
Guatemalan society, the churches, the NGO's, the popular movement,
the ethnic movement, the various unions, all families and persons
of good will to aid us with resources which you possibilities and
generosity permit.


PERMANENT COMMISSIONS OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE GUATEMALAN
REFUGEES
Huehuetenango, Guatemala; January 21, 1993