405 WOMEN MURDERER SO FAR THIS YEAR
NUEVA LINDA RE-OCCUPIED
DECREE TO PAY EX-PAC APPROVED
VICTIMS REMAINS EXHUMED IN QUICHÉ
FINAL MINUGUA OFFICES CLOSED
MORE...

FEATURE:  CONFRONTING A RACIST PAST, PRESENT


EXTRAJUDICIAL EXECUTIONS

PETÉN MAYOR MURDERED
11/04/04 - The mayor of San Andrés, Petén, CRUZ ULDARICO CHATÁ MANZANEROS,
was killed on November 3 by unknown assailants who shot him three times in
the face.  The murder occurred at 2:40 PM, and took place in zone 6 of
Guatemala City.
        According to Police Chief Agustín Mejía, Chatá Manzaneros, a member of the
Grand National Alliance coalition (GANA), was traveling with two other
passengers in a green Honda.  As they reached 15th Street A and 23rd
Avenue, the passengers forced him out of the car and shot him. Three 9mm
caliber shevicels were found at the crime scene.
        Preliminary investigations reveal that the victim was probably abducted and
that two other cars had followed the vehicle.  The police dismiss robbery as
a motive for the crime, given that cash and other valuables were found on
the victim.



DEATH THREATS

JOURNALIST THREATENED
11/08/04 - Journalist DIEGO LÓPEZ has reportedly received threats.  Lopéz, a
reporter with TGQ station, believes the threats he has received owe to his
coverage of illegal acts committed by several city council members.

CAMPESINO LEADER THREATENED
11/6/04 - Campesino leader Daniel Pascual, of the Campesino Unity Committee
(CUC) and the National Coordinating Committee of Campesino Organizations
(CNOC), reported that his blue Isuzu Trooper was stolen in what may have
been an act of intimidation.  The car was stolen while he was attending a
meeting on a proposal for a Comprehensive Agrarian Reform.  Pascual
acknowledged that theft of his vehicle could have been part of the wave of
common crime that is sweeping Guatemala, but he also speculated that the act
could be related to his work with the campesino movement.  In the past
month, he has been receiving intimidating phone calls.  A month ago a woman
called the CUC central office and said, CNOC and CUC are the same.We have
them well monitored, so they should stop meddling in more and then the
call ended.


WOMENS RIGHTS

405 WOMEN MURDERER SO FAR THIS YEAR
11/3/04 - According to the No Violence Against Women Network, a total of 405
women have been murdered so far this year, already surpassing last years
toll of 383 murders. The Human Rights Ombudsmans Office (PDH) reported that
family members perpetrate many of the crimes against women.
        César Salazar, chief of  the National Civil Polices Division on Crimes
Against Women, attributes the majority of the murders to gang members who
had personal problems with their girlfriends or spouses.  After one
university student was found dead in her car, he said, robbery was initially
presumed to have been the motive. The murder was later linked to
relationship problems the student had had with her partner.  Salazar has
said that 50.6 percent (205) of the murders have occurred within Guatemala
City and its surrounding areas.  He also claimed that 109 arrest warrants
had been issued and that sixty-three suspects had been arrested.
        Interior Minister, Carlos Vielmann provided different figures: thirteen
arrest warrants have been issued, he said.  He claimed that at least seventy
cases were almost solved, and police were waiting for details from nine
suspects.
        As a response to the growing wave of violence against women, several
congresswomen are pushing to pass decree 52-2004, which calls for the
establishment of a Congressional commission that will take charge of
investigating these cases.  They are hoping this decree will help solve some
of the cases, as well as, result in publishing a report before the end of
the legislative cycle.
        Nineth Montenegro, president of the Congressional Human Rights Commitee,
said, The actions needed to stop the violence against women are urgent and
should not be left for next year.
        The president of the Congressional Committee on Domestic Affairs, Roxana
Baldetti, also suggested that womens security be carefully monitored.  We
are looking for a group from the committees on women, domestic affairs, and
human rights to work with representatives from social organizations, said
Baldetti.  She indicated that this group could be formed this month and
would focus not only on the violent deaths of women but on all aspects of
gender-related issues.  Additionally, they could publish quarterly reports.
        Led by the National Commission for the Rights of Indigenous Women, a
coalition of womens groups presented a resolution to President Óscar
Berger.  The resolution demands that laws be passed to protect women, such
as the criminalization of domestic abuse and sexual harassment.  They are
also requesting that the violent murders of women be investigated and
prosecuted and that an adequate budget be allotted to social institutions
that promote human rights.


LAND RIGHTS

NUEVA LINDA RE-OCCUPIED
11/9/04 - Despite the violent eviction of the Nueva Linda plantation on
August 31, campesinos have re-occupied the area and are determined to remain
on the premises until their demands are met.  Their primary demand is that
the government clarify the disappearance of campesino leader Héctor René
Reyes Pérez who has been missing since September 5, 2003.  The campesinos
have asked that a special coalition be organized to represent their
interests before the State.  They demand justice for the death of seven
campesinos killed during the eviction.  Additionally, the campesinos are
asking for financial compensation for the destruction of furniture, five
cars, and the harvest that were destroyed by police.
        Since the demands were lodged, the so-called Guarantor Group was organized
on behalf of the campesinos.  The group is composed of bishop of the San
Marcos diocese Álvaro Ramizini; Human Rights Ombudsman Sergio Morales;
Pastoral of Land representatives Fernando Bermúdez and Úrsula Roldán;
representatives of the National Land Commission, Nineth Montenegro, Raúl
Robles, Alfredo de León, and Mariel Aguilar; César Montes, of the Turcios
Lima Foundation; Guadalupe Orellana, of the United Nations Verification
Mission; Mauro Bay, of the Committee for Campesino Development; and Basilio
Sánchez, of the National Coordinating Committee of Campesino Organizations.
        They have met with various government officials, including Agriculture
Minister Álvaro Aguilar to discuss the campesinos demands.  The Guarantor
Group is now trying to set up a meeting with President Berger.
        Families of the murdered campesinos are to receive Q20,000 (approximately
$2,578) each from the government.  The plantation owner has promised to give
campesinos an amount of no less than Q200,000 (approximately $25,780)  in
compensation for their harvest, which was destroyed by police.
        Despite the fact that some monetary compensation has been given to the
families of the deceased, the campesinos continue to occupy the plantation.
Government officials claim the campesinos should leave the land now that
their demands are being met.  The campesinos, however, argue that the
government has yet to comply with their primary objective of obtaining
information about Héctor Reyes.
        A court order has been issued, and plans are set for another eviction.
Over 2,000 special police agents have been mobilized.  Tensions are
mounting; a recent Police Investigation Service enquiry reportedly found the
campesinos to be heavily armed.
        The campesinos are charged with having alleged ties to subversive groups
like the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN), of Chiapas, Mexico.  To
carry out the eviction, some officials are advocating the use of the
Combined Forces, consisting of the police and the army.  Although Interior
Minister Carlos Vielmann has promised that they will wait to see if the
conflict can be resolved peacefully, forces are poised and ready to initiate
the eviction.


SOCIAL, CULTURAL, ECONOMIC RIGHTS

CAMPESINOS SHOULD BE CONSULTED ON MINING CONCESSIONS
11/5/04 - Communities in the department of San Marcos were polled regarding
the prospects of mining.  The survey revealed that 95.5 percent of the
residents there are against potential mining in the area.  President Berger
stated, I think it [the poll] is a great exercise because the communites
[that the mining] will affect are the first ones who should be consulted.
        But Berger continued, I have a different perspective: that the mining will
be beneficial for the country.  He added, however, that mining would not
occur in the area if the local communities do not want it to.  Inspections
of mining sites in San Marcos would continue, he said.  Archbishop Rodolfo
Cardenal Quezada Toruño said that a Catholic Church commission had been
established to examine the mining issue.

REQUESTS FOR MINING TO BE DISCONTINUED
11/11/04 - Campesino communities of Sipacapa and San Miguel Ixtahuacán, San
Marcos, have obtained international support for their request for a halt to
mining by the Canadian company Montaña Exploradora. The communities argue
that the mining violates their rights.  Article 169 of the International
Labor Organization (ILO), which Guatemala ratified, stipulates that
indigenous populations have the right to be consulted before their land is
developed.  This has not been the case regarding the mineral exploration by
Montaña Exploradora.  A letter mailed to President Berger by North American
organizations was alluded to during a meeting of representatives of
approximately seventy San Marcos communities, who adamantly expressed their
opposition to mining activity in the region.   The North American
organizations support the campesinos petition to modify the Law of Mining
so that it, too, includes the requirement that mining companies consult
indigenous communities prior to exploration or mining.
        Concerns cited about mining include the following: it will use 66,000
gallons of water each hour, in an area where water is scarce, it is
speculated that it will also destroy the environment and contaminate water
with heavy metals.
        The exploitation of precious metals in developing countries also tends to
create conflicts within communities, as some community members obtain work
with the company, while others do not. Violence and corruption tend to
increase, and although the mining creates jobs, it also destroys
agricultural production and jobs in that sector are lost.

CAMPESINOS PROTEST RISE IN BUS FARES
11/5/04 - On November 5, nearly 500 campesinos from Cuyotenango and La
Máquina, Suchitepéquez blocked highways and took two buses hostage in
protest of the October 14 rise in bus fares from Q1 (approximately $.12) to
Q3 (approximately $.37).
        A similar protest took place near San Antonio la Paz, El Progreso, where a
highway was blocked by more than 200 angry locals who were lead by members
of the National Union of Public Health Workers.  According to Luis Lara from
the National Union of Public Health Workers there were additional protests
in Quetzaltenango and Petén.


JUSTICE AND RECONCILIATION

DECREE TO PAY EX-PAC APPROVED
11/4/04 - The former militiamen of the Civil Defense Patrols (ex-PAC) have
proven that they have the capacity to force Congressat least the present
Congressto do their will. On November 3, they set up thirty-eight
roadblocks on Guatemalas main highways and entrances to ports and airports,
vowing to paralyze the country indefinitely if the legislators did not
immediately approve the law enabling payment of the compensation they had
been promised for services rendered to the state during the
counterinsurgency campaign.
        President Óscar Berger reacted to the ex-PACs campaign by announcing that
he would use the security forces to clear away the roadblocks, employing
whatever force was necessary.  Congress, however, buckled so fast that there
was no time to deploy the security forces. Ditching normal procedure, which
demands three readings of a bill, Congress decided this one merited
national urgency status and voted to appropriate $57 million for this year
and the same for 2005.  This will translate to Q5,241.60 (approximately
$655) for each former patroller.
        Only a few legislators maintained their objection to paying compensation
to members of a force that was involved in some of the most heinous abuses
of the counterinsurgency campaign: the law was approved by 114 of the 120
members of Congress in attendance. The quick action on the part of Congress
was not a total surprise; two months ago Congress approved a similar law,
which had been ruled unconstitutional by the Constitutional Court (CC) in
August.
        No sooner was the news announced than the ex-PAC lifted their roadblocks.
All that now remains to be done before the disbursement is to cleanse from
the list of recipients those falsely claiming entitlement to compensation, a
task that must be completed by December 31, 2004.
        While the National Hope Unity, the Guatemalan Republican Front, the
National Advancement Party, and the Patriot Party all supported the measure,
the Unionist, the New Nation Alliance, the Guatemalan National Revolutionary
Unity, BIEN, and independent congressional representatives Anabella de León
and Concepción Rainhardt opposed the payments.
        Ótto Pérez, of the Patriot Party, who was a staunch proponent of the law,
believes that this version will pass muster with the CC and said, There is
a source for the financing.  Conchita Mazariegos from the BIEN party and
former Constitutional Court justice stated that the decree has errors and
that the CC should reject it, as it has done in the past.
        According to Álvaro Velásquez, an analyst with the Latin American Social
Science Foundation, Congress has set a poor precedent by giving into the
public disorder of the ex-PAC.  In this manner, he said, the rule of law
will never be consolidated. Human rights organizations, including the
Mutual Support Group, the Myrna Mack Foundation, the Center for Human Rights
Legal Action (CALDH), and the Archbishops Human Rights Office, aim to file
an injunction against the decree, which they say violates the Constitution
by drawing on funds reserved for autonomous institutions, such as the
University of San Carlos and the municipalities.  CALDH added that
compensation to the ex-PAC, victimizers in the armed conflict, should not
have been prioritized over compensation to victims of the armed conflict.
        The military created the PACs in 1982, at the height of the
counterinsurgency, and the PACs have been deemed responsible for the some of
the worst atrocities of the period. The mostly campesino PAC members were
left out of accords that ended the armed conflict in 1996. Since then they
have repeatedly agitated for compensation

VICTIMS REMAINS EXHUMED IN QUICHÉ
11/8/04 - The Guatemalan Forensic Anthropology Foundation (FAFG), the
Families of the Detained and Disappeared of Guatemala (FAMDEGUA), and a
mental health team from the Archbishops Human Rights Office (ODHA) have
been locating skeletal remains in clandestine graves throughout the
department of Quiché.  Most of the remains are those of children and women.
The massacres occurred in 1982 and were perpetrated by the Guatemalan Army.
        Victims remains were found in a small cave in Xecojá, Chichicastenango.
Family members of the victims were present for the exhumation of the remains
of two women and ten children.  Micaela Lindo Macario, a relative of one of
the massacred victims, recalls, One morning in 1982, the military came to
the town.  The army chased the men, women, and children along a cliff, but
they had nowhere to escape to.  They went into a guerrilla hiding, place
where the military found them and killed them.
        Skeletal remains belonging to fourteen children and two women were exhumed
during the excavations of clandestine cemeteries in La Cama I and II and in
Sabillaguach, Chichicastenango, Quiché.  The exhumations took place between
October 25 and 31.  The massacres occurred in March of 1982 when the
military unexpectedly came to those villages. Various people were
assassinated by the soldiers and thrown from cliffs over 500 yards high.
        On November 8, forensic anthropologists found four skeletal remains, three
children and one adult, in a clandestine cemetery in the village of Lacamá
Primero, Chichicastenango, Quiché.  According to a communication sent July
31, 1982, the army arrived at Lacamá Segundo and attacked the village,
killing four individuals.  Many families were forced to flee or to hide
while the victims were buried along the banks of the Lacamá River.
        Human rights activists demanded that the government conduct an immediate
investigation into what occurred in the various communities of Quiché,
adding that justice needs to be served for the hundreds of massacres
perpetrated by the army during the internal armed conflict.

LAW SUIT FILED WITH CIDH IN MASSACRE CASE
11/3/04 - The Center for Justice and International Rights (CEJIL) and the
Families of the Detained and Disappeared of Guatemala (FAMDEGUA) filed a
case on October 29 in Washington, DC, before the Inter-American Human Rights
Commission (CIDH), asking that the Guatemalan army be held responsible for a
massacre in Los Josefinos, La Libertad, Petén.  The communiqué stated that
the massacre, in which fifty-seven people were murdered, including fifteen
children, occurred in the village of Los Josefinos in La Libertad, Petén,
between April 29 and 30, 1982.  General Efraín Ríos Montt was the president
of Guatemala at the time.  The two groups declared that the Guatemalan State
had violated the right to life, the right to personal integrity, the rights
of the child, the right of protection of family, and the right to judicial
guarantees and protection.  Both organizations say that the State has not
taken any steps to determine those responsible for the massacre nor to
identify the exact number of victims murdered or their identities.  They
asked the CIDH to declare the Guatemalan State guilty of the massacre and to
recommend an investigation regarding the governments conduct.

CICIACS NEEDS SUPPORT FROM THE UN
11/08/04 - Guatemalas Attorney General, Juan Luis Florido, proposed to the
United Nations that the International Commission to Investigate Illegal
Bodies and Clandestine Security Groups (CICIACS) be created to serve as a
new prosecution office within the Public Prosecutors Office (MP).
According to a Constitutional Court (CC) decision, the MP is the only
institution in charge of investigations.  To convert CICIACS to a division
of the Public Prosecutor Office, the MP will need new investigators.  There
is no set date yet for the proposal to be introduced, nor is the proprosal
finalized.
        Frank LaRue, head of the Presidential Human Rights Commission (COPREDEH),
recommended that foreign investigators become part of the MPs team and
asked for the support of the UN.  We want to follow the recommendations of
the Constitutional Court and also listen to civil society and to the Public
Prosecutors Office on Human Rights, said LaRue.

REQUEST TO RATIFY CONVENTION
11/10/04 - Delegates from the United Nations Commission against Organized
Crime, based in Vienna, Austria, traveled to Guatemala to convince President
Berger to push Congress to approve the Convention against Organized Crime.
The convention sets the standards for sanctions for crimes of and against
transnational criminals.  Vice-President Eduardo Stein emphasized the
importance of the Convention and said he would send it to Congress for
approval within a week.

VICTIMS ORGANIZE FOR COMPENSATION
11/8/04 - Over 600 families that were victims of the armed conflict during
the 1980s in the town of El Limonar, Jacaltenango have asked the National
Compensation Commission (CNR) to take note of their precarious living
situation.  Residents of El Limonar recently met and agreed that the CNR
should take them into account, especially since it is mandated by the Peace
Accords.  We want the commission to tell us what they have done with the
funds that the Government of the Republic gave them, said local leader
Santiago Montejo.

FMM PRESENTS REPORT ON IMPUNITY
11/6/04 - The Myrna Mack Foundation (FMM) presented a report on emblematic
judicial cases, which highlight the impunity that exists in Guatemala and
the widespread and common problems with resolving criminal investigations.
        In the document Mechanisms of Impunity in Cases of Human Rights Violations
in Guatemala, the FMM analyzes the assassination cases of anthropologist
Myrna Mack, Monsignor Juan Gerardi, former president of the Constitutional
Court Epaminondas González Dubón, and journalist Jorge Carpio Nicolle.  It
also investigates the massacres of Xamán and Dos Erres.
        The foundation emphasized that the State has failed in its obligation to
investigate, procecute, and sentence those responsible for committing
numerous human rights violations.  The majority of cases that were
investigated, were not done so in a timely manner.  In the few that were
promptly investigated, the cases were plagued with deficiencies.  For those
cases that actually went to court, numerous violations hampered progress
such as a lack of due process and unjustified delays.
        According to FMM, due to the impunity that exists in Guatemalas domestic
court systems, plaintiffs in human rights cases have sought international
measures to find justice.  Since October 24, 2003, 153 cases have been taken
to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and thirteen have gone to
the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.


PEACE ACCORDS

FINAL MINUGUA OFFICES CLOSED
11/14/04 - Assistant Secretary General of Political Affairs of the United
Nations, Kieran Prendergast, arrived in Guatemala to oversee the
transference of duties from the UN Verification Mission (MINUGUA) to
organizations that will be entrusted to ensure compliance with the Peace
Accords.  Predergast, Guatemalan Vice-President Eduardo Stein, and head of
MINUGUA Tom Koenigs visited the archeological site of Q´umarkaj to close
down the regional office in the department of Quiché.
        At the closing of the MINUGUA office in Quetzaltenango, Tom Koenigs stated
that the closing of MINUGUA is an indication that the process of peace has
matured.  He also said that the Peace Accords are more alive than ever and
will continue to govern how Guatemalans overcome socio-economic problems
that began during the internal armed conflict.  Koenigs asserted that it is
the responsibility of civil society to continue the verification process of
the Accords in order to create a more just and democratic country.
        Héctor Nuíla, leader of the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity (URNG),
commended MINUGUAs work.  According to Nuíla, MINUGUA was created so that
officials would be forced to comply with the Peace Accords, in spite of the
fact that they lacked the will to do so.  Even though there are still many
promises left to complete, future advancements will depend on political and
social pressure.  The government must also change its attitude and
facilitate a political environment in which advancements can be made.  Rudy
Castillo, auxiliary of the Human Rights Ombudsans Office (PDH), and
Monsignor Álvaro Ramazini, bishop of the San Marcos Diocese, also commended
MINUGUAs work for securing peace in Guatemala.
        The last regional offices of MINUGUA were closed in Santa Cruz del Quiché.
The office was opened ten years ago on December 5, 1994.  Vice-President
Stein announced the future construction of a monument commemorating the
process of reconciliation in the old military zone of Quiché.  The military
base could also be the future home of civil, Mayan, and educational
organizations.  Communities in Quiché lamented the closing of MINUGUA,
because it signals that the country is even more to human rights abuses.
        According to Vice-President Stein, the topics that now need to be discussed
are the High Commissioners Office of Human Rights, the International
Commission to Investigate Illegal Bodies and Clandestine Security Groups
(CICIACS), and reforms needed in the Guatemalan government.  Regarding
CICIACS, the government will explain a new plan that came about after the
initial proposal.  It calls for the creation of an office under the Public
Prosecutors Office and an investigation unit under the auspices of the
Interior Ministry.  Stein explained that both would be exclusively dedicated
to the investigation of clandestine groups.

MINUGUA DONATES DOCUMENTS
11/11/04 - The United Nations Verification Mission in Guatemala (MINUGUA)
donated all documents pertaining to its ten-year efforts to establish peace
in Guatemala to the University of San Carlos, located in Guatemala City.  At
a ceremony, the papers were handed over to the institutions new Library of
Peace.
        Also transferred were records of the Historical Clarification Commission
that documented the human rights abuses committed in Guatemala during its
thirty-six-year war.  In addition, the UNs audiovisual material was given
to Guatemalas Channel 33 and the Universitys film and radio library.
        In making the donation, MINUGUA, which wraps up its work next month, voiced
hope that all Guatemalans will be guaranteed full access to this material so
that they can better understand their countrys recent history and the
positive steps taken since the Peace Accords were signed in 1996.  It is
important to the peace process that these documents can be used by the
Guatemalan people, MINUGUA spokeswoman Seda Pumpyanskaya told the UN News
Service. It is also important to MINUGUAs transition in giving over
responsibility for the peace process to the Guatemalans themselves.
        MINUGUA chose the University of San Carlos due to its historic commitment
to fight for human rights. Numerous professors, students, and administrators
at the institution were targeted during the armed conflict.


OTHER INFORMATION

DUTCH TOURIST MURDERED
11/11/04 - A Dutch tourist was shot dead and her husband wounded as they
returned from a visit to an archeological site aboard a boat on the Pasión
River.  The dead woman was identified as ADRIANA HLEINGELL HILL,
fifty-six-years old, and her wounded husband as WILLHELM HILL,
fifty-seven-years old. The couples son and a guide were also aboard the
boat when it was attacked late on November 9.
        According to Juan Carlos Villacorta, Deputy Minister of Security, the
persons responsible were not intent on robbing her.  There was no pursuit;
instead, the suspects shot her and later escaped.  The suspects used a .22
caliber rifle, which has been confiscated and is undergoing ballistic
analysis at the National Civil Police (PNC) lab.  Three people have been
detained, although Villacorta believes that there are two individuals yet to
be arrested.  The Deputy Minister declined to identify the suspects, though
he assured that they are being closely monitored.
        The news caused alarm at the Interior Ministry, which dispatched a team of
special investigators and a team of agents in charge of searching the area.
Although there have been no convincing arguments to explain the
assassination of the tourist, there is speculation that the woman may have
witnessed a criminal act, perhaps linked to drug trafficking since the PNC
did not secure the crime scene as they normally do for crimes against
tourists, but rather secured it as if it has been a narcotics related crime.
Two other hypotheses exist, though Villacorta would not make them public

DIALOGUE BEGINS ON HUMAN RIGHTS
11/6/04 - Various civic organizations and the Presidential Human Rights
Commission (COPREDEH) inaugurated a round-table discussion on human rights,
granting civil society greater input in the national human rights agenda.
The first meeting of the group took place on November 5 and was attended by
Frank LaRue, director of COPREDEH, and representatives from the Organization
in Support of a Comprehesive Sexuality Against AIDS (OASIS) and the
Association for Disappeared Children, among others.
        The Roundtable of Participation and Dialogue on Human Rights, as the group
is called, will seek to create three documents:  the Basic Human Rights Law,
the National Human Rights Plan, and the Human Rights Action Plan.
Additionally, they plan to promote public policy regarding ongoing human
rights capacity-building for government officials.

GOVERNMENT MAKES CHANGES IN POLICE FORCE
11/15/04 - The interior minister, Carlos Vielmann, laid off 187 police
officers on November 14 for failing to carry out their duties. He said the
dismissals were part of a wider purge of the National Civil Police (PNC).
The head of the PNC, Edwin Sperinsen, ordered the seizure of a further
thirty officers for their alleged participation in criminal activities.
        President Óscar Berger has taken drastic measures to try and reduce the
high level of violent crime in Guatemala and to clean up the PNCs image.
In July, he launched a controversial anti-crime crusade  Crusade Against
Violence - which sent more police officers onto the streets to patrol crime
hotspots in Guatemala City. The monthly average of 260 recorded murders in
the first half of the year initially declined, falling to 153 in July, but
it increased to 179 in October.
        The PNC has long been tainted by corruption and allegations of violent
conduct.  Berger dismissed the head of the police in July 2004 shortly after
it emerged that various senior police officers had been cooperating with
criminal gangs.


RESOURCES

Our Elders Teach Us:  Maya-Kaqchikel Historical Perspectives.  By David
Carey Jr.  2001.  $29.95 paperback.  Available at www.uapress.ua.edu.

FEATURE: CONFRONTING A RACIST PAST, PRESENT

By Catherine Elton
Published by the Miami Herald, 10/28/04

GUATEMALA CITY, Guatemala - Maria Tuyuc was at the doorstep of a popular bar
in an upscale Guatemala City neighborhood when she knew she had a problem.
The bouncer was talking to one of her friends but looking at her.
Then the bouncer . . . came over to me and said This bar isn't made for
people like you, especially not dressed like that, recalls Tuyuc, the
groups only Maya Indian. It was so humiliating I went out to the parking
lot and cried.
The Guatemalan government often uses images of women dressed like Tuyuc in
colorful Maya clothing to attract foreign tourists. But at home, the Mayas,
roughly half the countrys population, get no such respect.
The discrimination that Tuyuc suffered is not uncommon. But Tuyucs case is
breaking new ground because the media covered it amply and prosecutors --
after some prodding -- are investigating.
Another case filed after Nobel Peace Prize winner Rigoberta Menchú, a Maya,
was subjected to ethnic slurs and physical aggression at an appearance here
last year, is close to being heard in court.
Adding to the impact of these cases, the government is studying increasing
the punishment for race discrimination, which was not even a crime until a
couple of years ago.

CHANGING ATTITUDES

Observers say these are just some of the signs that eight years after the
end of Guatemalas brutal guerrilla war -- when tens of thousands of Mayas
were killed or disappeared as the military sought to root out suspected
leftist rebels -- the issue of discrimination against indigenous people
finally may be making its way onto the national agenda.
There has been a very heartening change in the publics sense of what is
right. Things are changing very fast in Guatemala. Churches, the state, the
media, everyone knows this issue has to be dealt with, said Tani Adams,
executive director of the Guatemalan Center for Mesoamerican Research, a
private think-tank known here as CIRMA.
Many well-to-do non-indigenous Guatemalans only interaction with indigenous
people is with their servants, the vast majority of which are Maya women. A
Guatemalan filmmaker recently released an hourlong drama called Better Days
that relates the story of an indigenous live-in maid who is raped by her
boss son and his friend.
In what is to date perhaps the boldest attempt to promote some kind of
reckoning, CIRMA, with the support of top U.S. museum officials, created an
interactive, multimedia exhibition on intercultural relations and
discrimination.
The shows inauguration in Guatemala City was treated as nothing less than a
national event, with Guatemalan Vice President Eduardo Stein calling it a
watershed in history. A broad range of groups, including the media and the
business sector, have thrown their support behind the show.
The 5,000-square-foot exhibit uses life-size photography -- giving some
visitors their first eye-to-eye experience with an indigenous person --
graphics, video, audio, short texts and interactive tools. Visitors take a
roughly hourlong, zigzagging circuit through the show, learning about the
historical construction of discrimination and its current-day manifestations
and effects on the Maya.

TWO GUATEMALAS

Ricardo Cajas, a member of the National Commission on Discrimination,
describes the nation's type of discrimination as nothing less than a de
facto apartheid.
Apartheid is when you are separated from opportunities; it isnt necessary
to create boundaries to have apartheid, Cajas said, adding that there are
two Guatemalas, not one.
According to the World Bank, Guatemala is the country with the
second-greatest income disparity between rich and poor in Latin America,
behind Brazil. On which side of that divide Guatemalans sit depends largely
on whether they are Indian. United Nations statistics show 70 percent of
all Guatemalans who live in extreme poverty are indigenous.
Stein says his government is dead serious about addressing this issue.
We are moving in the direction of creating joint efforts with indigenous
organizations to develop public policy that is respondent to the objectives
of overcoming discrimination and exclusion, he said. And at least in state
institutions we are opening up spaces for jobs . . . for indigenous
professionals.

WINDOW DRESSING?

While many indigenous activists say they have found an ally in Stein, who
has long spoken out against discrimination, some say they worry that
President Oscar Berger is not doing all he could.
In his campaign Berger said he was going to include more indigenous people
in his Cabinet, but there are only two, said activist Jorge Morales.
He added that a group of young Indians in traditional dress who work in the
presidential palace, presented by Berger after he took office in January,
are secretaries and receptionists. They are there in the palace as
decoration, for a folkloric touch. It's the continuation of racism.

SMALL VICTORIES

While people involved in the issue agree the government should set the tone,
they also say that the process requires deep introspection on the part of
all Guatemalans.
And most agree that a 500-year-old problem cant be resolved overnight or
even in a few years. But at the same time, observers say that because there
is so much ground to cover, even the smallest changes can feel like great
advances.
Rodrigo Obiols, 17, is one of thousands of people who have visited the
exhibition on discrimination so far. He said it made him realize that
sometimes you can discriminate against people without even noticing.
One doesnt always greet an indigenous person the same way he greets a
non-indigenous person, he said after touring the show with his class from
one of Guatemalas elite private schools. It seems like a small detail, but
it carries much weight.

END


The Guatemala Human Rights Commission/USA, based in Washington D.C., has
been on the forefront of the struggle for peace and human rights in
Guatemala since it was founded in 1982.  GHRC/USA is a nonprofit,
nonpartisan, humanitarian organization committed to monitoring, documenting
and reporting on the human rights situation in Guatemala while advocating
for victims of human rights violations. Information in the Update that is
not gathered directly is culled from various sources including; the
Guatemalan Human Rights Commission, Casa Alianza, Amnesty International,
Associated Press, Reuters and the Guatemalan Press, including Cerigua, La
Cuerda, Incidencia Democrática, Prensa Libre, La Hora, Guatemala Hoy, Siglo
Veintiuno, and Patrullaje Informativo. *Dates written before the text
indicate when the incidents were reported.

Editors:   and Max Gimbel  (mgimbel@ghrc-usa.org)
Translation:  Kendall Zanowiak, Sheila Hong, Shirly Kalush, and Stefanie
Barnes
ISSN #1085-0864

Guatemala Human Rights Commission- USA
GHRC-USA
3321 12th St, NE
Washington, DC 20017
202-529-6599
202-526-4611 fax
ghrc-usa@ghrc-usa.org
www.ghrc-usa.org