/* Written 8:54 pm Oct 26, 1992 by cerisea@igc.apc.org in igc:reg.guatemala */
WEEKLY BRIEFS, OCTOBER 18 - 24, 1992
Menchu Supporters Attacked
Two teenage members of the Majawil Q'Ij indigenous coalition were
kidnapped and threatened October 19 by three armed assailants,
according to an Amnesty International report. Cristina and Matea
Par had just left the Majawil Q'Ij office when they were abducted
at knife and gunpoint by one man and two women. The assailants
told the young women that they had seen them at a march
celebrating Rigoberta Menchu's award. The victims were beaten and
stripped off their clothing. The attackers threatened to kill the
two, calling them guerrillas for wearing traditional dress.
The Amnesty report says "from the manner in which the attack was
carried out, members of the security forces or those working with
them may have been responsible." It adds that it has documented
"many similar cases where armed men in plain clothes carry out
acts of violence, which are made to look like common crimes,
against people considered political opponents of the government."
Assistant Human Rights Ombudsman Cesar Alvarez says the attack
against the two teenagers is clearly tied to the discontent of
groups that opposed Rigoberta Menchu's candidacy for the Nobel
Prize. Amnesty International expresses its concern for the
physical safety of all those associated with Menchu in Guatemala,
especially leaders and members of indigenous groups, and urges the
Guatemalan government to take steps to protect them.
Menchu heard news of the attack just as she was leaving the
country. She identified the two women as members of CONAVIGUA who
helped in the kitchen where the Nobel Prize campaign was based.
Rigoberta related that President Serrano has promised her that
nothing will happen to the leaders and participants of activities
organized in celebration of the Nobel Peace Prize. She expressed
deep concern for those in Guatemala who supported her candidacy.
Meeting With The President
Rigoberta Menchu had a brief meeting with President Jorge Serrano
before she left Guatemala October 19. Serrano congratulated her
for the "conciliatory" and "moderate" messages she gave in the
days following the award. The day before the meeting, Serrano had
warned that confrontations between indigenous and ladinos in
Guatemala would be permitted "only over my dead body." The remark
was apparently in response to large gatherings of primarily
indigenous Guatemalans who have been celebrating Menchu's award.
Serrano said "we will never tolerate bad Guatemalans trying to
encourage class or ethnic confrontations, or tryingto create
conflict between ladinos and indigenous people. I want to warn
all those who could be thinking of bringing new elements of
discord to our country--they will have to do so over my dead
body."
Menchu told President Serrano she was very surprised by his
comments of the previous day. She emphasized that "dialogue
begins with a respect must create between us, and in many other
parts of the world." The October 19 editorial in Prensa Libre
called the President's statement "warlike," adding that Rigoberta
and other indigenous leaders are widely applauded for speaking
"the language of peace."
Rigoberta Greeted Warmly in Mexico
The crowd of journalists and camera crews that turned out to meet
Rigoberta Menchu at the Mexico City airport October 19 was so
thick it made it impossible to hold a press conference. Instead,
she was whisked off for a meeting with Mexican President Carlos
Salinas. The next day hundreds of people packed into the La
Candelaria church to pay tribute to the Nobel Prize winner.
Rigoberta told the crowd Guatemala needs real peace, not
agreements on paper. She urged the Guatemalan government and the
Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity (URNG) to renew peace
talks because "the Guatemalan people need immediate solutions to
the problems they're facing." She recalled those who have
sacrificed their lives in Guatemala and elsewhere in the
continent, saying "we've paid a high price for justice and for our
peoples' dream of a decent life."
According to Rosalina Tuyuc, who accompanied Rigoberta, President
Salinas told Rigoberta that the people of Mexico share her honor
because they have considered her a citizen of their country for
the past twelve years. Tuyuc is a leader of the Guatemalan Widows
Association (CONAVIGUA) and a member of Rigoberta's campaign
committee. When she returned to Guatemala, Tuyuc announced that
the Mexican President had offered to build a special place to
exhibit the Nobel Peace Prize medallion. Tuyuc contrasted the
response of the Mexican government with that of Guatemala. She
said that by not accepting Rigoberta's victory, the Guatemalan
government "has made a serious political error that will go down
in history."
Government Says Menchu Will Not Be Part of Negotiations
Chief government negotiator Manuel Conde said October 21 that
Rigoberta Menchu may work for peace in Guatemala only if she puts
aside her ideology. Conde added that Menchu is not under
consideration as one of the civilians who may participate in
negotiations with the insurgency.
Rigoberta answered, "my ideology is to defend people's rightsand
lives. It would be impossible to renounce this." She added in an
interview with CERIGUA that even if defending human rights makes
her persona non grata among Guatemalan officials, she will keep
her commitment to the "dream of peace." Rigoberta said the
government has never taken into account civilian proposals for
change in her country. If the government really wanted to respond
to people's hopes, she said, it would have participated in peace
prize celebrations, and neither the CONAVIGUA women nor members of
the Nobel Prize campaign committee would have received death
threats.
Bishop Quezada Talks Of Peace Process
Speculating on a possible role for Rigoberta in official peace
talks, negotiator and Bishop Rodolfo Quezada said this week her
participation would be helpful. He also expressed support for the
idea of other civilians taking part in the talks. The bishop says
"no one should be kept on the sidelines of the process."
Referring to organized groups of Guatemalans who are demanding a
part in the negotiations, he added "it's not enough that they be
informed of how the process is going. That's an inadequate
response to the effort they've exerted, and above all, it violates
their right to participate."
Rigoberta Concerned Over Refugee Return
Rigoberta says in her new role as Nobel Peace Prize winner she
will give special attention to the return of Guatemalan refugees
living in Mexico. In a press conference in Mexico City October 20
she said conditions for their return have not been met. She said
the government intends to provide only "some tents" for the
refugees to live in. She insisted they must be provided with
adequate conditions to begin new lives in Guatemala.
Rigoberta Releases Second Book
A new book by Rigoberta Menchu called "Cry for Land" is now
available in Guatemala, according to Rosalina Tuyuc of the
Guatemalan Widows Association (CONAVIGUA). Tuyuc says Rigoberta
and other members of the Campesino Unity Committee (CUC) write of
organized struggles for land in Guatemala, including the work of
Rigoberta's father, Vicente Menchu. Tuyuc says the book was
published in Spain and copies are available only in CONAVIGUA and
CUC offices, because bookstores are afraid to sell it.
Two Other International Awards to Guatemalans
Vicente Us will receive an ecological award from the Edbert
Foundation in Sweden on October 24. Us, an indigenous Guatemalan,
will be honored for a reforestation project that observes Mayan
traditions in planting and caring forseedlings. The award was
established for ecologists from all over the world by Rolf Edbert.
It includes prize money as well as scholarships to study at the
foundation in Sweden.
Helen Mack, sister of murdered Guatemalan anthropologist Myrna
Mack, is one of this year's winners of the "Right Livelihood
Award," also known as the Alternative Nobel Prize. This award was
established in 1980 by the Swedish-German philanthropist Jakob von
Uexhull as an alternative to the Nobel Prizes. The Swedish panel
of judges say Helen Mack deserves the award for her "courage and
persistence in taking her sister's murderers to court." More than
two years after Mack's murder in September 1990, legal proceedings
against one army sergeant continue. In a October 7 report by the
Spanish news agency EFE, the panel says Mack has waged a campaign
against the impunity enjoyed by those guilty of political murders
in Guatemala, and has set an example for all of Central America.
While speaking at a ceremony in her honor at Georgetown University
in Washington, D.C. earlier this month, Helen Mack said the most
important aspect of receiving the alternative Nobel prize is that
it illustrates the ability Guatemalans have developed in fighting
for an end to impunity. She will receive the award in Stockholm
on December 9, just before the Nobel prizes are awarded. Mack
will share the prize money of $185,000 with other winners,
including a health center in Bangladesh a journalist from Ukraine
who investigated the Chernobyl nuclear accident.
Greenpeace Warns Of Toxic Waste Deliveries
Plans to import toxic wastes to Guatemala are progressing,
according to Greenpeace worker Edwin Gorzona, in a Prensa Libre
report October 17. Gorzona says there are plans to import and
recycle industrial, household, livestock and agricultural wastes.
There is also an experimental project to import used tires from
the United States and burn them for energy production. Greenpeace
says the companies involved as intermediaries in this project are
Energia y Recursos in Guatemala; Camus, Granata and Associates of
Miami; Consulting Engineers, also of Miami; and Volund of Denmark.
Gorzona mentions a third project promoted by Suelos Organicos in
Guatemala and the Robert Dalton and Patrick Tinley company in
Texas, to produce methane gas from wastes from New York.
Gorzona says that far from promoting economic development, these
projects will only create unhealthy living conditions for
Guatemalans. He also warns that Central American countries must
unite to prevent shipments of radioactive wastes through the
Panama Canal. About thirty such shipments bound from Japan to
France and Britain are already planned, the Greenpeace worker
reports.
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