NISGUA National Call for Truth
Campaign Action - June 5, 1995
White House Call-in Day
On June 5, 1995, hundreds of people across the country will be
phoning the White House to urge the Clinton Administration to press
for demilitarization in Guatemala. Be one of them! Tell your
friends, relatives, and committee members to pick up the phone June
5th so the White House will hear from thousands. Call the White
House Comment line at (202)456-1111 (9am to 5pm EST) or send e-mail
to president@whitehouse.gov. Stress the following points in your
message:
The United States must make a definitive break with the Guatemalan
Army. (The United States should end all forms of cooperation with
the Guatemalan army. The policy of "constructive engagement" has
failed.)
The United States must proactively support proposals for
demilitarization in the peace process. (The Assembly of Civil
Sectors has urged several key steps its its proposal for the
demilitarization of Guatemalan society. The United States should
actively support that proposal to establish civilian authority over
the military.)
The United States should immediately disclose information to
facilitate the prosecution and purging of military officers
involved in human rights violations. (The army maintains impunity
through secrecy and terror. When the truth begins to surface, the
army threatens or kills witnesses, police investigators, human
rights monitors and judges. The veil of secrecy must be broken.)
A Moment of Opportunity for US Policy:
The recent revelations about the CIA's relationship with a
Guatemalan officer accused of the murder of US citizen Michael
Devine and of Guatemalan insurgent leader Efrain Bamaca, the
husband of US citizen Jennifer Harbury, have pointed to US
complicity in human rights violations in Guatemala. Opportunity
emerges with the disclosures and the scrutiny of the US role -- an
opportunity to break from the past. The United States must act now
to confront the army in order to assure that US citizens, and
Guatemalans, will not again be victims of army repression.
The Peace Negotiations and the Assembly of Civil Sectors:
Guatemala's peace process is unique in Central America in that an
"Assembly of Civil Sectors" (political parties, business and
professional associations, academics and journalists, labor, and
indigenous and human rights groups) is mandated to offer proposals
to the negotiating parties. Each of the Assembly's peace proposals
have highlighted the essential need to limit the role of the army
in order to strengthen democratic institutions.
The Government and the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity
(URNG) guerrillas are soon expected to take up the topic of "The
Role of the Army in a Democratic Society and the Strengthening of
Civilian Power." A summary of the Assembly proposal on this topic
follows.
********
The Proposal of the ASC on the Role of the Army and Strengthening
Civil Society:
The Army's role should be limited to defending the nation from
foreign attack. Its jurisdiction over internal security, granted
in the Constitution, should be removed.
Troops should be reduced by 50% to make available more resources
for social needs. Military service should be optional, not
compulsory.
The current police force should be replaced by a new civilian
force, and the Military Commissioners, Ambulatory Military Police
and the Civil Defense Patrols (PACS) should be immediately
abolished.
The Minister of Defense should be a civilian and officers and
soldiers accused of crimes should be prosecuted in civilian courts.
The military intelligence apparatus should be dismantled and
replaced with a civilian intelligence office, and the Presidential
Guard replaced with an office with the sole function of protecting
the security of the President and Vice President.
The Army should be prohibited from owning business concerns not
directly related to national defense or from engaging in
development activities.
The ASC also recommends measures designed to strengthen civil
institutions, including the Congress, Municipal Government, the
Courts and the Executive Branch, in order to make them more
accountable, democratic and participatory.
*****
Unfortunately, even though the United States has been given a key
role in the negotiations by being named a member of the six-nation
"Group of Friends" of the negotiations, US officials have not
provided strong backing for the positions of the Assembly's
proposal. US citizens cannot let the United States continue to
provide only neutral support for "the peace process." We must
demand that the Clinton Administration actively press the Army to
make concessions at the bargaining table in order to lay the basis
for a lasting peace.
Let's make those phones ring off the hook on June 5th!
White House Comment Line: (202) 456-1111
Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala. 1500
Massachusetts Avenue, NW #241, Washington, DC 20005. Phone:
202/223-6474. Fax: 202/223-8221. E-mail: nisgua@igc.apc.org