From: hrcoord@igc.apc.org (Human Rights Coordinator)
Newsgroups: soc.rights.human
Subject: GUATEMALA: WAVE OF INTIMIDATIONS TA
Date: 17 Dec 92 18:24:00 GMT
Nf-ID: #N:cdp:1476700880:000:5302
Nf-From: cdp.UUCP!hrcoord    Dec 17 10:24:00 1992


From: Human Rights Coordinator <hrcoord>
Subject: GUATEMALA: WAVE OF INTIMIDATIONS TA

/* Written 12:13 am  Dec 17, 1992 by newsdesk@igc.apc.org in
igc:ips.englibrary */ Copyright Inter Press Service 1992, all
rights reserved.  Permission to re- print within 7 days of
original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.

Title: GUATEMALA: WAVE OF INTIMIDATIONS TARGETS PRESS, GRASSROOTS
GROUPS

guatemala, dec 14 (ips/fabiana frayssinet) -- the guatemalan
government has launched a barrage of accusations against the
national press, foreign correspondents and grassroots movements,
claiming that they are agents of destabilization or are following
the line of insurgent groups.

the accusations, which their targets decribe as part of a new type
of intimidation, reached a highpoint sunday when guatemalan
president jorge serrano announced that ''lack of respect for'' and
insults against the authorities ''in communications media'' would
no longer be tolerated.

in an address delivered on the ''day of the guatemalan airforce,''
serrano warned that he would make use of ''all the force which the
law gives us to put these provocations and insults in order.''

''i sometimes wonder whether it is worse to put a bullet into a
person or make a coarse attack against his dignity, his reputation
or his honour,'' the guatemalan president added.

just two days before, on friday, serrano had told correspondents
in panama, where he attended the recent central american summit,
that human rights were not being violated in his country.

he claimed that, on the contrary, it was members of the press and
humanitarian organizations who ''have created an industry based on
a smear campaign.'' and charged the media with using the presumed
violations to ''fill the pages of newpapers.''

the main media houses and press organizations in guatemala monday
interpreted serrano's accusations as the start of a ''phase of
repression against the press.''

''no one has any need to carry out a campaign against guatemala's
image,'' read an editorial in monday's issue of the daily ''prensa
libre.''

''unfortunately, the very acts which occur daily in this country
give rise to the news, whose effects are negative, not through the
fault of those who report on them, but that of those who commit or
fail to prevent them,'' the editorial added.

the latest weekly report of the guatemala human rights commission
(cdhg), which operates from exile, indicates that
1,389 human rights violations have been committed in the central
american country in 1992.

a report issued by a human rights office which depends on the
guatemalan congress gives a similar picture.

the national council for the defence of journalistic rights
(cnddp) has cautioned that the climate of confrontation created by
the government against the press has intensified dangerously.
(more)
----

the cnddp, which groups guatemala's main media houses and
independent journalists, has rejected the claim that the media has
been playing a destabilizing role.

it said the main agent of destabilization was the government, with
''its mistaken, provocative and violent political attitudes'' and
described as ''unfortunate and alarming'' serrano's declarations,
which it linked to an anonymous communique sent two weeks ago to
all the media.

the communique announced that dec. 15 would mark the beginning of
a campaign of increased harassment against institutions and people
considered fronts of the guatemalan national revolutionary unit
(urng), ''including journalists and the communications media.''

a number of recent incidents have caused much concern within media
circles.

on friday, the director of a national news agency, axel cocon, who
is also correspondent for the colombian station ''radio caracol''
went into exile after he received death threats.

the week before, a reporter of the daily ''siglo xxi'' was
attacked by lumber smugglers in peten, northern guatemala, while
investigating immoderate logging in the area. military operatives
have been linked to the attack.

the association of journalists of guatemala (apg) has denounced
that new techniques have now been added to the traditional methods
of muzzling the press.

in a publication titled ''the martyrs of journalism,'' the apg
said the old label of ''communist'' has now been replaced by that
of ''destabilizer'' in a bid to strike terror in the hearts of
members of the press.

the new label has also been extended to human rights activists,
such as ronald ochaeta, of the catholic church's human rights
office, and two members of similar groups, factor mendez and
amilcar mendez.

the three have been branded conscious or unconscious propaganda
instruments of the urng by serrano and defence minister jose
garcia.

in a press communique, the popular trade union action movement
(uasp) warned thursday that the government, the army and other
security forces were conducting a repressive campaign against
civilian groups committed to peace, democracy and human rights.

the first symptoms of this campaign, it said, were the placing of
bombs at the headquarters of the ''tinamit'' magazine and the
association of university students, the ''aggression against the
press'' and the ransacking of the office of a group of widows
against violence. (end/ips/trd/so/ff-cs/kb/92)
----