From: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu (Rich Winkel)
Subject: Guatemala Human Rights Update #38 September 21, 1992
Followup-To: alt.activism.d
Originator: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
Organization: PACH
Date: Sat, 3 Oct 1992 00:40:21 GMT

/** reg.guatemala: 95.0 **/
** Topic: HRU#38.Sept 21 **
** Written  6:46 pm  Oct  1, 1992 by ghrc in cdp:reg.guatemala **

                  GHRC/USA Human Rights Update*
                      PEACENET Version #38
                        September 21, 1992

DISAPPEARANCES

LEONZO EDY GUZMAN OCHOA (30) was disappeared on September 11 by a
group of armed men in Pajapita, San Marcos.  

HEBER ROLANDO SALGUERO CABALLERO has been missing since August
31, when he left his home in Concepcion El Chato, near kilometer
12 of the highway to the Atlantic in Guatemala. 

PEDRO SEBASTIAN POP (30) has been missing since August 18, when
he left his house on his way to work at the General Management of
Roads. 

DEATH THREATS

MEMBERS OF GUATEMALAN CHAMBER OF JOURNALISM THREATENED  The
Guatemalan Chamber of Journalism (CGP) reported that several of
its members have received threats.  The CGP also criticized a
transnational corporation for hindering the activities of the
local press and warned that it will take legal action if the
interference continues. 

CITIZENS OF JOYABAJ, EL QUICHE, RECEIVE THREATS  Mayor FERMIN
RAMOS GOMEZ and citizens of Joyabaj reported that they have
received death threats from unidentified individuals.  A  grenade
was also allegedly thrown at one of the church offices.

CIVILIAN POPULATION IN EL QUICHE THREATENED   The Mutual Support
Group for Families of the Disappeared (GAM) reported that
Jeronimo Morales Alba, an Army Intelligence agent in Chupol and
Chueguza, Chichicastenango, El Quiche, has ordered civil defense
patrol (PAC) commanders to make civilians participate in the
PACs.  GAM also said that Morales Alba ordered patrol chiefs to
watch PEDRO and THOMAS MORALES MORALES, who he says are members
of the guerrilla and advise the people not to serve in the PACs. 
Morales Alba reportedly has threatened to kill both the men. 
     On September 16 in Chueguxa, the commander of the Chupol
military detachment ordered the PAC commanders to gather the
entire community together and make each citizen turn in a photo
for an identification card the Army would issue.  Whoever did not
hand in a photo would be classified as a member of the guerrilla.

The PAC commander had a list of supposed guerrillas.  Among them
were LUCAS LARES MENDEZ, MANUEL MORALES MORALES, and JUAN LARES
CALEL, who have opposed the patrols. 
     GAM is holding the Army and Jeronimo Morales Alba
responsible for any action endangering the safety of the people
who oppose the PACs.  GAM has also asked the government to
intervene to guarantee their safety and has asked the
international community to denounce these threats immediately.

EXTRAJUDICIAL EXECUTIONS  

Early on the morning of September 13, on 33rd Street 32-86, Zone
7 of Guatemala City, three heavily armed men and one woman threw
a grenade into the TUY CAMEY family's home and killed LUIS
ANTONIO TUY CAMEY (14) and SUSANA TUY CAMEY (17).  MARIA TUY
CAMEY (19) was seriously injured.  The assailants then entered
the house, brought JOSE TUY CAMEY (26) and JUAN TUY QUISQUINAY
(68) outside, and killed them.  Maria Tuy Camey identified one of
the assassins as "William Oswaldo" of the Army Intelligence
Service (G-2). 
     This collective execution was carried out in much the same
manner as the January massacre in Ciudad Peronia, in which the
Army executed four indigenous people, among them a child.  The
victims were internally displaced people who had fled their
original homes because of oppression.

Taxi driver CARLOS MORAN (35) was shot to death by several
unidentified men on September 10 in Justo Rufino Barrios, Zone 12
of Guatemala City.

Campesino (farmer or peasant) FRANCISCO MENDEZ LORENZANA (45) was
shot to death by armed men on a street in Flores, El Peten on
September 10.

Farmer CARLOS HUMBERTO BERGANZA DUARTE (22) was murdered by
several armed men on a highway in Chiquimula on September 11. 

REGINALDO ESQUITE GOMEZ (26) was killed and EMILIO NAJERA NAJERA
(48) was injured when several men opened fire on them on
September 11 in Petapa Avenue in Zone 12 of Guatemala City.

On September 12 JOEL HIPOLITO RENDON SANTISTEBAN was murdered in
Santa Emilia finca, San Antonio Suchitepequez, Suchitepequez,
when a group of unidentified men opened fire on him with machine
guns near the Taltuxate bridge.  Rendon Santiesteban was the
director of the ruling party, Solidarity Action Movement (MAS),
and was about to be named departmental governor by President
Jorge Serrano.

OTHER INFORMATION

UN REQUESTS INVESTIGATION OF CLANDESTINE PRISONS   Professor
Christian Tomuschat, United Nations Independent Expert on human
rights in Guatemala, requested an investigation into the
existence of clandestine prisons in Guatemala.  Tomuschat called
for the investigation in response to the testimony of Gonzalo
Cifuentes Estrada, accused of murdering National Police Chief
Investigator Jose Miguel Merida Escobar in 1991. (Merida Escobar
was shot to death while investigating the murder of Myrna Mack
Chang.)
     Cifuentes Estrada testified that he was captured,
blindfolded, and driven to an unknown place.  There, threatened
with being disappeared and having his family disappeared, he was
interrogated and forced to memorize a self-incriminating note. 
Professor Tomuschat stated that the Ambulatory Military Police,
which has been accused of numerous human rights violations, had
detained Cifuentes Estrada.  Before Cifuentes Estrada's
testimony, many national and international organizations had also
reported on the existence of clandestine prisons.      

URNG SAYS ARMED FORCES TORTURE CIVILIANS IN GUATEMALA  In a
communique released in Guatemala City, the Guatemalan National
Revolutionary Unity (URNG) accused the Armed Forces of torturing
civilians and POWs to force them to tell the national and
international press that they are deserters from the guerrilla
ranks.  The URNG also strongly criticized Defense Minister Jose
Domingo Garcia Samayoa's recent threats to file slander and libel
suits against several international organizations that, in the
wake of the clandestine cemetery discoveries, have denounced
human rights abuses in Guatemala.  The URNG said the General's
attitude had become combative instead of conciliatory.

U.S. WILL INVESTIGATE WORKER RIGHTS ABUSES IN GUATEMALA  On
August 17, in response to a petition filed by ten religious, 
human rights, and trade union organizations, the U.S. government
agreed to investigate workers rights abuses in Guatemala to
determine whether trade benefits should be suspended.  Hearings
on the request to suspend trade benefits will be held October 14-
16 in Washington, D.C., and the government is expected to make a
decision in April 1993. 

SECOND ANNIVERSARY OF MYRNA MACK'S MURDER REMEMBERED  On
September 11, to commemorate the assassination of the
"Investigator of Truth," as Myrna Mack Chang was called, hundreds
of people participated in three marches that ended in the Central
Park of Guatemala City.  Archbishop Prospero Penados del Barrio
then celebrated mass in the Metropolitan Cathedral.  Among those
at the mass were U.S. ambassador Thomas Stroock, Spanish
ambassador Juan Pablo De La Iglesia, and Guatemelan Attorney
General, Acisclo Valladares.  Monsignor Penados said that "the
light of truth that Myrna transmitted in her works annoyed those
who keep the people in the dark, and that's why they killed her."

ABUSE OF STREET CHILDREN CRITICIZED  Franz J. Hucklenbruch, the
president of a German Casa Alianza (Covenant House) affiliate,
wrote a letter to Guatemalan Minister of Defense Jose Domingo
Garcia Samoyoa, saying that he had trusted Garcia's word when the
Defense Minister had said that for "moral, political, and
religious" reasons, he would order an end to the abuse of street
children.  Hucklenbruch said that, despite his conversation with
Garcia, the abusive treatment of children continues. 
Hucklenbruch also said that, believing Garcia's promises, he had
spoken in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland on the Guatemalan
government's willingness to respect human rights.
     Also, the diplomatic corps of Australia sent a letter to the
Guatemalan Ministry of the Exterior denouncing the abuses and
death threats that members of the Hunapu force direct against 
street children and the people who help street children.

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL CALLS FOR END TO REPRESSION IN GUATEMALA 
In the World Conference on Political Disappearances and
Assassinations, Amnesty International (AI) demanded an immediate
end to disappearances and political crimes committed by State
security forces.  AI said that, according to reports, more than
100,000 people in Guatemala have been assassinated for political
reasons; more than 50,000 have disappeared; approximately
1,000,000 have been displaced within the country; and nearly
200,000 are refugees, 45,000 of whom are known to live in Mexico.

The conference resolution emphasized the role of human rights
organizations, which work to identify and bring to justice those
responsible for disappearances and political crimes.  Street
children, who have been tortured and murdered, were also
mentioned in the resolution.

RELIGIOUS GROUPS ASK FOR DIGNIFIED, HUMANE RETURN FOR REFUGEES 
The Conference of Evangelical Churches (CIEDEG) demanded that the
Serrano Administration establish a process to allow for the
dignified, humane, and Christian return of Guatemalan refugees in
Mexico.  The Conference asked that the returning refugees be
located in the same communities the oppression of the eighties
forced them to leave.  The refugees' return should take place in
a free and truly democratic atmosphere, Conference leaders said,
and for this atmosphere to exist, the country must be
demilitarized, the PACs must be abolished, and human rights must
be respected.  
     Archbishop Penados del Barrio insisted that, given the
country's poor economy and unsafe environment, conditions are not
adequate for the refugees' return.

GAM REQUESTS PROVISIONAL INVESTIGATIVE COMMISSION  The Mutual
Support Group for Relatives of the Disappeared (GAM) and other
popular organizations sent a petition to the President of the
Republic, asking the Executive branch to organize a Provisional
Investigative Commission for the Disappeared.  The Commission
would be composed of functionaries of the Executive branch;
members of GAM and of other popular, human rights, and labor
organizations; the Archbishop's Human Rights Office; the Human
Rights Procurator; religious organizations; and the Association
of University Students.  The Commission would begin its
preparatory work to find the more than 45,000 people who have
disappeared as soon as Congress approves the National
Investigative Commission of the Disappeared.  Congress has not
shown any willingness to approve the bill, which has been before
its Human Rights Commission for more than a year. 

CONGRESSMAN SAYS SECURITY FORCES TRY TO INTIMIDATE CIVILIANS 
Congressman Cesar Augusto Porres Lessing, who represents the
Solidarity Action Movement (MAS), said many communities are
better off without the Army and the Police.  As an example, he
cited Santiago Atitlan, Solola, where citizens who ousted the
Army now live in peace as a result of the reorganization.  
Porres Lessing also said the Armed Forces "act with the idea of
intimidating the civilian population." 

CONGRESSMAN SAYS INDIGENOUS ARE EXPLOITED AND OPPRESSED  Claudio
Coxaj Tzum, president of the Congressional Commission of
Indigenous Communities, said the indigenous of Guatemala have
nothing to celebrate on Independence Day.  For five hundred
years, Coxaj Tzum said, the indigenous have suffered
exploitation, oppression, and ignominy.  He also noted that, in
Guatemala, people of indigenous background can only be soldiers,
PAC members, or military commissioners, whereas the children of
the rich can be students, colonels, or generals.  He stated his
strong support of a constitutional reform to end injustice and
stressed the necessity of ratifying the International Work
Organization's 169 proposal (convenio), which would advance the
human rights of people on society's margins.

SUPPORT FOR RIGOBERTA MENCHU CONTINUES  Rigoberta Menchu Tum's
candidacy for the Nobel Peace Prize was supported by thousands of
participants in the XII Congress of Theology in Madrid, Spain. 
The resolution to support Tum pointed out that the indigenous
leader is "a tireless fighter for peace and the respect of human
rights."

CORRECTIONS

In Human Rights Update #15 it was incorrectly reported that a
mission of forensic archeologists and anthropologists, headed by
Dr. Clyde Snow, arrived in Guatemala to exhume the remains of
bodies from clandestine cemeteries located in Tunaja,
Chichicastenango, El Quiche.  The team of U.S. and Chilean
archeologists headed by Snow exhumed remains only in Chontala,
Chichicastenango, El Quiche. 
     In Human Rights Update #16 it was incorrectly reported that
on July 28 the archeological team of Dr. Clyde Snow exhumed
remains in San Jose Puchol, El Quiche.  In fact, no excavations
were carried out in San Jose Puchol.  July 28-August 1 the
archeological team exhumed the remains of twelve campesinos at
San Jose Pachoa Lemoa.  (The victims, who had .22 gunshot wounds
to the head, had allegedly been rounded up and shot by the
regional civil patrol in 1982 for refusing to form a local civil
patrol.) 
     No excavations took place at San Jose Pachoa Lemoa on August
3, as was reported, and recent information contradicts the report
that scientists on Snow's team received death threats. 
 
ANNOUNCEMENTS

SUPPORT NEEDED FOR RIGOBERTA MENCHU  Please write to the Nobel
Committee in support of the nomination of Rigoberta Menchu Tum
for the 1992 Nobel Peace Prize and urge your Senators and
Representatives to do the same.  The address: Geir Lundstad,
Norwegian Nobel Committee, Drammenswelen 19, N-0255 Oslo 2,
Norway.

Time to Register for GHRC/USA's Symposium: Confronting the Heart
of Darkness  GHRC/USA is now accepting registrations for the
November 13-15 conference, Confronting the Heart of Darkness: An
International Symposium on Torture in Guatemala.  Registration is
$25 and checks should be made out to GHRC/USA.  For more
information call (202) 529-6599.





The Guatemala Human Rights Commission/USA monitors the human
rights situation in Guatemala and provides information to various
constituencies in the United States and to a limited extent
abroad.  Information in the Guatemala Human Rights Update is
compiled from a variety of international sources including: the
Comisi"n de Derechos Humanos de Guatemala/Mexico (Guatemalan
Human Rights Commission/Mexico), Americas Watch, and Amnesty
International. Information is also gathered from reports and
alerts from groups in Guatemala including: the Archbishop's Human
Rights Office, the Council of Ethnic Communities Runujel Junam
(CERJ), labor unions, the University Students Association (AEU),
the Conference of Religious of Guatemala (CONFREGUA) and the
Mutual Support Group of Relatives of the Disappeared (GAM).  

* Every two weeks, two PEACENET Updates are combined to form the
Guatemala Human Rights Update, which is mailed first class to
hundreds of organizations and individuals.  That publication
includes all the information in the PEACENET versions--with
infrequent addenda and corrections--and a list of suggested
actions.  To subscribe to the Guatemala Human Rights Update send
$30 (yearly subscription) to GHRC/USA at: 3321 12th Street NE,
Washington DC, 20017.  Or call (202) 529-6599 or fax (202) 526-
4611 for more information.

** End of text from cdp:reg.guatemala **

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