From: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu (Rich Winkel)
Subject: Guatemala: Cerigua Briefs SEPTEMBER 27 - OCTOBER 3, 1992
Followup-To: alt.activism.d
Originator: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
Organization: PACH
Date: Wed, 7 Oct 1992 23:02:06 GMT

/** reg.guatemala: 94.0 **/
** Topic: Cerigua Weekly Briefs **
** Written  8:57 pm  Oct  6, 1992 by cerisea in cdp:reg.guatemala **
WEEKLY BRIEFS, SEPTEMBER 27 - OCTOBER 3, 1992

US Not Satisfied with Devine Murder Decision

The US State Department says "justice has in no way been
fulfilled" by the verdict handed down by a Guatemalan
military court in the murder of a US citizen.  The court has
sentenced six army specialists to 30 years in prison for the
June 1990 murder of Michael Devine, but acquitted Army
Captain Hugo Contreras, accused of planning the crime.

The State Department says the verdict does not resolve the
most important question in the case -- whether someone in the
army command was involved in the crime.  Captain Contreras
was chief of intelligence at the army base near the site of
the crime.  In acquitting him, the court left responsibility
solely with low-ranking officers.

Guatemala's Attorney General is appealing the Contreras
acquittal.  Earlier this month Attorney General Acisclo
Valladares said there is testimony that it was Contreras who
gave the order for the murder.  The State Department says the
appeal tacitly acknowledges that justice has not been served,
and it will closely follow the appeal process.

The Guatemalan government reacted immediately to the State
Department's criticism.  Government spokesman Alturo Alvarado
said the statement "could be interpreted as interference in
Guatemala's internal affairs."  He added "Guatemalan is
respectful of the judicial systems in other countries, and
expects the same treatment."

The court said there was insufficient evidence to convict the
army captain of kidnapping and murder.  Charges of covering
up and failing to denounce the crime are still pending.
Almost nothing has been said about a motive for the murder.

US military aid to Guatemala was suspended in December 1990
primarily over lack of progress in prosecuting the case.

Guerrilla Says She Was Kidnapped

Maritza Urrutia, a member of the Guatemalan guerrilla forces,
has testified before the Interamerican Commission on Human
Rights that she was indeed kidnapped and forced to make
public statements in late July of this year. Urrutia spoke at
the commission, part of the Organization of American States,
September 30 in Washington, D.C.   Urrutia now says she was
kidnapped by quasi-government agents July 23 in the capital.
While detained by them she was coerced into making the video
shown on Guatemalan television and also into applying for
amnesty.  In that video, aired two months ago, Urrutia denies
she was kidnapped.  She says friends were helping her to
leave the guerrilla organization (see Weekly Briefs, July 26
to August 1).

Urrutia says her captors wanted her to cooperate with the
army.  Her testimony implicates Attorney General Acisclo
Valladares and Judge Leticia Secaira, who drew up the amnesty
document, in the crimes committed against her.  Urrutia says
her kidnappers threatened to hurt her family, including her
son, if she failed to cooperate with them.  She says her
kidnappers showed her photographs to demonstrate that her
home and family were under surveillance, and they also showed
her an album of persons tortured and murdered.  She says fear
kept her from discussing what had happened to her  earlier,
and she asked for protection for her family still in
Guatemala.  Urrutia says she left Guatemala with the aid of
the Archbishop's Human Rights Office and the US and Canadian
embassies.

While in Washington, Urrutia also met with Congressmen John
Miller, Jeff Bingaman, Dick Sweett and Arthur Ravenel, and
also with Amnesty International.

Reactions to Urrutia's Washington Testimony

Defense Minister Jose Garcia Samayoa categorically denied
October 1 that security forces kidnapped Urrutia.  Garcia
called it unacceptable that Urrutia make accusations against
the government and the army after having absolved them
publicly and asked for amnesty.  He added that the army  no
longer uses the obsolete and absurd methods it did in the
past.

Interior Minister Francisco Perdomo said Urrutia is "trying
to play games with the public and the press" and that she
should come back to Guatemala to file a complaint.
Government spokesman Arturo Alvarado said Urrutia could have
denounced the situation while she was in Guatemala.  Urrutia
says that she did tell Guatemalan officials what really
happened.  She told Human Rights Ombudsman Ramiro de Leon,
the Archbishop's Office and officials at the US and Canadian
embassies before she left the country.

Archbishop Prospero Penados is asking for a thorough
investigation of Urrutia's denunciation.  A human rights
expert from the United Nations who is presently in Guatemala,
Christian Tomuschat, says he also has received a letter from
Urrutia stating she was kidnapped and coerced into saying
what she did in the televised video.

Civil Patrollers Attack Family: Three Dead

Members of the Guatemalan civil patrols have killed three
members of one  family and left four others injured in an
attack in San Rafael La Independencia, Huehuetenango,
according to the daily Prensa Libre.  Miguel Manuel Felipe
Pablo (67), Maria Isabel Francisca Gomez (58) and their son
Manuel Miguel Felipe Gomez (28) were killed in the October 1
attack.  One of the survivors, Francisco Miguel Gomez, told
the press that  the local patrol chief ordered the massacre
out of "envy" for the family's business.  Prensa Libre
reported that soldiers from the Huehuetenango military base
have arrested six patrollers as suspects in the massacre.

Top army officials say despite demands, they will not disband
the patrols until the armed conflict with guerrilla forces is
over.  They say participation in the patrols is voluntary, as
constitutionally required.  Human rights and grassroots
activists disagree.  In a new complaint this week legislator
Joel Cualio Soto told Prensa Libre that local military
commissioners* are forcing residents of El Milagro, Masagua,
Escuintla to join the patrols.  In the October 2 report, Soto
says those who oppose serving in the patrols are labeled
guerrilla collaborators.

*Military commissioners are civilians who work for the army
in intelligence gathering and military recruitment.

Civil Patroller Killed in Resettlement Area

A spokesman for the Archbishop's Human Rights Office has
expressed deep concern over one of the areas chosen for
returning refugees.  Archbishop's Spokesman Ronald Ochaeta
says one civil patroller was recently tortured and killed in
the Nenton district, Huehuetenango province.  He disappeared
August 31 and his body was found three days later with signs
of torture, according to the Archbishops's Office.  Ochaeta
says neither the civil patrols nor the guerrillas are
suspected of involvement in the crime.  But he says the fact
that a majority of men in the community serve in civil
patrols makes him concerned about resettling refugees there.

An agreement signed September 23 between the Permanent
Commissions representing the refugees (CCPP) and the official
Special Commission on Attention to Repatriates (CEAR)
stipulates that returning refugees will not be forced to
serve in the civil patrols.

Helicopter Attacked

A helicopter flying near Taxisco, Santa Rosa was attacked on
September 27.  The Mexican daily Excelsior's correspondent in
Guatemala quoted unofficial sources as saying that it was a
US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) helicopter on the trail of a
cocaine shipment to be delivered near Taxisco.  The Excelsior
report said the helicopter was flying over the Cahabonal
plantation near the Maria Linda River when it was attacked.
The Mexican daily said the area is considered to be "high
risk" because local airstrips are regularly used for re-
fueling planes transporting drugs.  The correspondent said
Guatemalan and US officials were keeping quiet on the matter,
but there were unconfirmed reports of two passengers killed
and another seriously injured.

According to Radio Guatemala Flash, official reports on who
the helicopter belongs to conflict.  Interior Minister
Francisco Perdomo said it belongs to the US Drug Enforcement
Agency (DEA) while Defense Minister Jose Garcia Samayoa said
it belonged to the US company International Service of
California.  Both officials, however, agreed that the pilot
was Guatemalan Carlos Castanaza and the co-pilot was a US
citizen.  The local press reported that the US co-pilot was
hospitalized in Guatemala City for injuries suffered in the
attack, but no information was given on the pilot's
condition.

According to control tower personnel at the Aurora
International Airport in Guatemala City, a DEA helicopter
took off from the airport on September 27 at 7:00 a.m. on a
"special mission" to the southern coast region.  The
personnel could not, however, verify what happened later
since the Guatemalan Air Force took control of emergency air
traffic after the attack was reported.

UN Expert Says Resolution of Mack Murder is Key

UN Human Rights Expert Christian Tomuschat says solving the
murder of anthropologist Myrna Mack is essential to
demonstrating to the world that there is justice in
Guatemala.  Tomuschat, the UN expert assigned to Guatemala,
arrived September 26 for a 10-day visit.

But legal proceedings in the Mack murder continue to lag.
Judge Oscar Sagastume asked to be taken off the case
September 25.  A few days later, he said he was requesting
transfer to another court because he "didn't want to hear
anything more about the case."  He said that if his transfer
is denied, he will resign.

Human Rights Ombudsman Ramiro de Leon says he is convinced
the murder was a reprisal for Mack's research on refugee
communities, and that persons linked to the State are
responsible for the crime.  The attorney for Army Sergeant
Noel Beteta, the only person being prosecuted in the case,
says his client is innocent.

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

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