From: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu (Rich Winkel)
Subject: Guatemala HUMAN RIGHTS UPDATE #14/92  April 8,1992
Followup-To: alt.activism.d
Originator: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
Organization: PACH
Date: Thu, 9 Apr 1992 22:47:24 GMT

/** reg.guatemala: 131.0 **/
** Topic: HUMAN RIGHTS UPDATE #14/92 **
** Written  3:53 pm  Apr  8, 1992 by ghrc in cdp:reg.guatemala **
              HUMAN RIGHTS UPDATE #14/92
                   PEACENET Version
 
CASE UPDATE
 
DIANNA ORTIZ RETURNS TO GUATEMALA   Ursuline nun Sister
Dianna Ortiz returned to Guatemala on April 4 to give
testimony concerning her abduction, torture and rape in
November 1989 by men believed to be members of the
Guatemalan security forces.  This is the first time Ortiz
has returned to Guatemala since the incident.  Observers
question the impartiality of the proceedings, since the
special prosecutor in charge of advancing the case,
Fernando Linares, has accused Ortiz in newspaper
advertisements of being uncooperative and inconsistent in
her testimony.
 
DISAPPEARANCES
 
EGIDIO TUNCHEZ PERALTA (39) has not been seen since
March 10, when he left his Guatemala City home on his way
to work.  Tunchez Peralta is a street vendor inspector.
 
Employees of the State Roads Office (Direccion General de
Caminos) report that co-worker SALVADOR GUDIEL
QUINONEZ (49) has not been seen since March 20, when he
left his home in Zone 18, Colonia El Limon, Guatemala
City.  Note: A bomb was found at a DGC building on
March 30 (see below).
 
EXTRAJUDICIAL EXECUTIONS
 
Teacher JUAN SAUL CALDERON MALDONADO (35) was shot to
death on March 26 while travelling from Cuyotenango to
the village of La Maquina, Suchitepequez. 
 
MARIO VALENZUELA GARCIA (67) was shot to death by
unidentified men on March 26 in El Pino, Barberena, Santa
Rosa.  The men broke into Valenzuela Garcia's home and
shot him in front of his family.  Valenzuela farmed a
small plot of land in El Pino.
 
RIGOBERTO HERNANDEZ ORANTES (28) was killed by two men
armed with machetes on March 27 in San Juan Talpetate,
Casillas, Santa Rosa.
 
The bodies of ARTURO GARCIA MOSCOSO (28) and JULIO
ERNESTO BARRIOS PEREZ (30) were found on March 27 in
separate locations on the outskirts of Guatemala City. 
The two men, who are related, had been tortured and shot. 
They were abducted a month earlier along with two other
men who are still missing.  (One of the others who was
abducted is named "Echeverria."  The fourth victim's name
is unknown.)
Several unidentified men broke into the home of campesino
RIGOBERTO LOPEZ VIRULA on March 29, forced him outside,
shot him with a machine-gun, then slit his throat.  His
body had approximately 40 bullet wounds.  The victim
lived in Las Canoas, Oratorio, Santa Rosa.
 
OTHER HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS
 
TWELVE WOUNDED BY POLICE DURING EVICTION IN SOLOLA  
Police shot into a crowd of villagers in San Jorge La
Laguna, Solola, on April 4, wounding at least twelve
people.  The police were trying to evict the villagers
from the Jaibal finca, which they had peacefully occupied
on March 23.  The villagers, who belong to the Cakchiquel
indigenous ethnic group, claim that the present "owners"
do not have legal title to the land.  At least
60 villagers (possibly as many as 74) were arrested
during the eviction, 20 of whom apparently remain in
police custody. 
     The Jaibal property, which borders Lake Atitlan near
the village of San Jorge La Laguna, has traditionally
belonged to the Cakchiquel.  In 1870, a lawyer named Jose
Domingo Fuentes was permitted to build a house on part of
the land in informal exchange for serving as translator
between the village and the authorities.  Fuentes willed
the land to his widow when he died, despite the fact that
he did not have legal title to the property.  In 1959,
Cakchiquel families living on the Jaibal lake front were
dislodged so that a tourist center could be built there. 
(The venture never got off the ground.)
     In 1975, Fuentes's children sold the land to the
Sarabia and  Camache families, who still claim ownership. 
The new "owners" blocked the villagers' access to the
beach in 1979.  In 1990, after the land had lain
abandoned for years, the two families secretly began to
make moves to legalize their claims to the land.
     On March 23 of this year, more than half of the
1,800 residents of San Jorge la Laguna resettled the
Jaibal land.  They informed the Serrano Government, the
Human Rights Procurator and the media (who initially
ignored the story).  A week later, on March 31, 250 riot
police came to evict the villagers, accompanied by the
Governor of Solola and the Assistant Human Rights
Procurator.  The police, who did not show a court order
for the eviction, used teargas bombs, which were tossed
back by village youths.  
     Eventually, at the request of the villagers, a
meeting was arranged with the Governor and the Assistant
Procurator (who asked that the commander of the riot
police squad also be present).  It was agreed at this
meeting that the villagers would be given six months to
negotiate with the other claimants to the land.
     However, the riot police returned three days later
accompanied by soldiers and began attacking the villagers
with sticks, stones and teargas, again without a court
order.  The villagers resisted, and police shot at the
crowd, wounding at least twelve people, including a woman
named BUCH RAMOS [first name unknown] who reportedly
remains in critical condition.  The police prevented
reporters and volunteer firemen who had come to take the
wounded to the hospital from entering the finca.  They
also looted and damaged a house and a Catholic church
located on the property, and stole the villagers'
possessions.  The prisoners were taken to the Solola
jail, which has been surrounded by protestors.  
     San Jorge la Laguna lies across Lake Atitlan from
the town of Santiago Atitlan, where soldiers shot into a
crowd of protestors in December 1990, leaving 13 people
dead.
     SOURCES: The Comision de Derechos Humanos de
Guatemala (CDHG/Mexico) and the Committee of Campesino
Unity (CUC).
 
BOMB EXPLODES AT USAC, OTHER BOMB THREATS   A bomb
exploded on March 25 at a building housing the Chemistry
and Pharmaceutical Science faculties of the University of
San Carlos, causing several thousands of dollars worth of
damage.  The explosion in Building T-10 occurred during
hours when students, faculty and university employees
were on campus.  However, no one was hurt.  
     Two days after the explosion, the USAC began
receiving anonymous bomb threats, resulting in the
evacuation of thousands of students from buildings
housing the Agronomy, Engineering and Architecture
faculties.  Similar bomb threats caused mass evacuations
at the Guatemalan Social Security Institute (IGSS) and
the Guatemalan Congress.  The threats appeared to be
false alarms.
     Otto Peralta, head of the University Students
Association (AEU), said that the bomb attack and threats
at the university were probably intended as a warning to
students participating in the "huelga de dolores," an
annual satirical review.  This is the third bomb attack
at the university this year.  (See PEACENET Updates #6
and #9.)
 
BOMB DISCOVERED AT STATE ROADS OFFICE   A bomb was found
on March 30 inside a building used by the State Roads
Office (Direccion General de Caminos), but was safely
deactivated.  Some 1000 employees were evacuated from the
building, which is located in Zone 13 of Guatemala City.
 
STRIKING UTILITY WORKERS ATTACKED   The electrical
utility workers union, STINDE, reports that union leader
PERFECTO US was detained and beaten by unidentified men
on or around March 31.  Us was then abandoned along the
Pacific Highway in the department of Escuintla.  Another
STINDE member, VICTOR CHACON AQUINO, reports that he was
followed by unidentified men.  STINDE members called a
sit-down strike at the Aguacapa, Chixoy and Jurun
Marinala hydroelectric plants in an effort to make the
Government address their demands.
 
UNIONIST THREATENED BY ARMY COLONEL   HERMENEGILDO
BLANCO, a labor advisor to south coast plantation
workers, reports that he has received death threats from
Army Colonel Angel Sanchez Gudiel.  According to the
General Center of Guatemalan Workers (CGTG), Sanchez
heads a paramilitary group that prevents workers from
forming unions.  He reportedly roams the area in vehicles
with polarized windows, accompanied by other armed men. 
 
URNG ACCUSES AIR FORCE OF BOMBING POPULATED AREAS   In a
press release, the Guatemalan National Revolutionary
Unity (URNG) accused the Guatemalan Air Force of carrying
out machine-gun attacks and bombardments in the populated
Xolhuitz region, which borders the Nil River between the
municipalities of Nuevo San Carlos, Retalhuleu, and
Colomba Costa Cuca, Quezaltenango.  OTHER NEWS
 
MEXICAN SAILOR FOUND DEAD   The body of Mexican sailor
JORGE LUIS MATTA ROMERO (24) was found on March 26 inside
a room at the El Amanecer boarding house in Tecun Uman,
San Marcos.  He had been shot once in the head.  The
circumstances of the crime suggest that the killing may
not have been a common crime.
 
FAMILY SUFFERS TEARGAS ATTACK   Two young children were
among those affected by a teargas bomb which exploded at
a "beer festival" (feria de la cerveza) in Guatemala City
on March 30.  Four-month-old EDWIN REYES MALDONADO and
LUISA LISBETH ESCOBAR were taken unconscious to a clinic. 
Their parents, CONSUELO SANDOVAL DE ESCOBAR and EDWIN
REYES, were also injured, as were RUBEN DAGOBERTO ALVAREZ
and GILDA VERONICA ALVAREZ.  The teargas bomb, which
provoked a stampede, appears to have been set off by
police.  The festival was held on the grounds of the
Industrial Park in Zone 9.
 
GUERRILLAS SAY PEACE TALKS STALL ON TOPIC OF HUMAN RIGHTS 
 The URNG has issued a statement accusing the Government
of harboring an "inflexible and recalcitrant" position on
the issue of human rights, thus bringing negotiations to
a halt.  According to the URNG and other sources, points
of contention include the creation of an investigative
commission, the dismantling of the civil patrol system,
and the treatment of prisoners.
 
WORLD BANK TO CONDITION AID ON RESPECT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS 
 Officials of the World Bank met with representatives of
the Guatemalan Government on March 27 to inform them that
future economic assistance to the country would be
conditioned on observance of human rights.
 
SCHOOL BUILDING TAKEN OVER BY POLICE   Teachers and other
residents of Guazacapan, Santa Rosa, are protesting the
police occupation of the Cooperative Institute for
Secondary Education in Guazacapan.  The police have taken
over rooms in the building to use as offices and as a
jail.  The townspeople complain that the jail cells are
not equipped with toilets, resulting in unhygienic
conditions.
 
STATISTICS
 
The Comision de Derechos Humanos de Guatemala
(CDHG/Mexico) has received reports of 180 extrajudicial
executions and 5 detentions/disappearances through
March 18 of this year.
** End of text from cdp:reg.guatemala **
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