From: harelb@math.cornell.edu (misc.activism.progressive co-moderator)
Subject: Like U.S.-backed "democratic" El Salvador, so with Guatemala:
Organization: misc.activism.progressive on UseNet ; ACTIV-L@UMCVMB
Date: Tue, 6 Oct 1992 17:00:07 GMT

Like U.S.-backed "democratic" El Salvador, so with Guatemala:


    In some cases it has been impossible for Amnesty International or
    others to attribute responsibility for apparently
    politically-motivated killings. However, study of the available
    evidence and the pattern of abuses over a period of years has led
    Amnesty International to conclude that THE SO-CALLED "DEATH
    SQUADS" ARE MADE UP OF REGULAR POLICE AND MILITARY PERSONNEL
    acting out of uniform but under orders, and that the VAST MAJORITY
    OF PEASANTS KILLED in the countryside have been NON-COMBATANT
    CIVILIANS EXTRAJUDICIALLY EXECUTED by the GUATEMALAN ARMY.
        [emphsis added --HB]

Send 1-line email:
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or contact Amnesty International for their 
GUATEMALA:HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS UNDER THE CIVILIAN GOVERNMENT
 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[Amnesty International U.S.A. // National Office//
Publications Department // 322 Eighth Avenue //New York, New York 10001]


More excerpts from the report follow.

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

[..] It was concern at this disturbing development that led Amnesty
International to send a mission of inquiry to the country in July
1988. This research paper is based on the findings of that mission and
on information received subsequently. Analaysis of this material has
led Amnesty International to the conclusion that, in many cases, the
abuses have been carried out by police and military agents both while
in uniform and while in plain clothes in the guise of the so-called
"death squads". There is also evidence to suggest that military and
police personnel operating in "death squads" do so with the knowledge
of, or under orders from, their superiors.

People from all sectors of society have been victims of human rights
abuses in recent months apparently because they were suspected to be
opponents of the government. Trade unionists, academics, students,
clergy and peasants appear to nave been particularly targeted. This
report documents numerous examples of human rights violations which
Amnesty International believes to have been committed by the military
or police.

For example, on 7 March 1988 the mutilated body of Manuel de Jesus
Lopez Morales, a member of the Luz y Fuerza, Light and Power Workers
Union, was found on the outskirts of Guatemala City, together with
that of a law student, Jose Derick Calderon Figueroa. The men's hands
had been cut off apparently to hamper identification. Manuel de Jesus
Lopez Morales had been kidnapped on 28 February 1988, Jose Derick
Calderon Figueroa on 27 February by heavily armed men in plain clothes
driving a van.

Scores of other trade unionists interviewed by Amnesty International's
delegation told of threats, harassment and attacks on their leaders
and members.  In some cases, workers believed that company personnel,
including private security forces rather than official security
forces, were responsible for the

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

Members of all branches of the Guatemalan police and military have
been responsible for human rights violations. Sometimes they have been
in uniform, sometimes in plain clothes in the guise of so-called
"death squads " Civil defence patrols--civilian auxiliaries formed by
military order and operating under military control--have also been
implicated in human rights abuses.

Amnesty International repeatedly urged the military governments which
preceded the current civilian government, to end torture,
"disappearances" and extrajudicial executions. However, they blamed
the killings and "disappearances" on "death squads" which they
described as "extremist groups of the left and right". These, they
said, were "out of government control" despite the great weight of
evidence that the squads were in fact regular police and military
officials operating in plain clothes, under orders from their
superiors. Since January 1986, when the present government was formed,
Amnesty International has continued to monitor the situation and to
press for greater respect for human rights.

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

2. People from all sectors of society have been threatened and
harassed, have "disappeared", and have been extrajudicially executed
in recent months apparently because they were suspected to be
opponents of the government. Trade unionists, academics, students and
peasants appear to have been particularly targeted. Peasant victims
have included non-combatant civilians in areas where there is still
conflict between government forces and armed opponents; members of
land rights' movements and villagers seeking to withdraw from the
nominally voluntary civil patrols which serve as civilian adjuncts to
the regular military.

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

5. The amnesties granted by the outgoing military government in 1986
and subsequently by President Cerezo's government appear to have
facilitated further human rights violations. By conferring immunity on
police and military personnel for past abuses, the amnesties appear to
have led such personnel to believe that they can act with impunity.

6. The various human rights bodies mandated under the present
administration to inquire into human rights violations appear to have
failed to carry out genuine investigations into the abuses reported to
them, and have failed to establish responsibility for those abuses.
The regular police and judiciary seem similarly unable or unwilling to
carry out indepth inquiries into the reported abuses or to bring their
perpetrators to justice.


            =============================================
            T h e   " N i c a r a g u a   L i b r a r y "
            =============================================

*
* =========
* Nicaragua
* =========
*
  WHO-WERE CONTRAS    Contras' origins; make-up; practices - documented
  FSLN     H-RIGHTS  Documented HRs comparison w/Somoza,Guat,ES,others
  FSLN     MISKITOS  Sandinista treatment of Miskitos;Charges & Realit
  FSLN     NICAJEWS  Debunks charges of Sandinista 'Anti-Semitism'
*
  OXFAM84  NICARAG   Oxfam America's 1984 report on Nicaragua, in full
  FSLN     ACHIEVE   Documented: achievements of the Nica. revolution
*
  NICA-84  ELECTION  Documented: Fair under Sandinistas; US subversion
  FAIRNESS NICA-USA  Flwup:`Is Nicaragua More Democratic than the US?'
  NICRAGUA ELECTION  Study in US subversion of '90 Nicaraguan election

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