rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu (06/15/91)
HUMAN RIGHTS UPDATE #21
June 10, 1991 (updated June 13)
CASE UPDATE
MILITARY SUSPECT IN DEVINE MURDER RELEASED Infantry Captain Hugo
Roberto Contreras, one of the suspects in the abduction and
extrajudicial execution of U.S. citizen Michael Devine, has been
released for lack of evidence.
Contreras is not the only military officer implicated in the
murder. Colonel Mario Garcia Catalan, Colonel Guillermo Portillos
Gomez, and an army intelligence (G2) officer named Cabrera, have
all been linked to the crime, but it is not known whether any of
these suspects have been detained. The Army is holding five
enlisted men in connection with the murder: Pablo Lajuj, Rafael
Tiul, Andres Morente, Fabian Arevalo and Benjamin Punti.
6/13 SIX DETAINEES RELEASED IN EL QUICHE The six campesinos
detained by civil defense patrollers in Xequiquel, Chiul, El
Quiche have apparently been released. (See Update #20.) The
villagers were illegally arrested on May 24-28 and accused of
being guerrillas. No details are available yet.
DETENTIONS/DISAPPEARANCES
GILBERTO RODRIGUEZ (52) was abducted on May 25 by unidentified
armed men in a parking lot located at the intersection of La
Reforma Avenue and 12th Street in Zone 10 of Guatemala City.
Rodriguez was waiting for his wife and daughter. His car was
found in Antigua Guatemala, Sacatepequez on June 1.
Farmer SANTOS TOJ REINOSO (23), a member of the Council of Ethnic
Communities "Runujel Junam" (CERJ), was abducted on May 26 by
unidentified men. According to CERJ, Toj Reinoso had been
pressured to leave his home village of Cruzche Cuarto, Santa Cruz
del Quiche by local civil defense patrols. CERJ has presented a
writ of habeas corpus on his behalf.
ENMA ELIZABETH PEREZ DE COJULUN (32) has not been seen since
May 29 when she left her home in Mogotlon, Nueva Concepcion on her
way to the Western University Center (CUNOC) in Quezaltenango.
Perez De Cojulun, a licensed social worker who teaches at CUNOC,
never arrived at the university. Her husband, Abraham Cojulun,
reported her disappearance to the police.
EXTRAJUDICIAL EXECUTION
A group of unidentified men shot at JUANA FRANCISCA AMBROCIO (40)
and her husband TOMAS CHANCHAVAC (40) on May 31 while they were
walking along a path in Sachogel, Xequimya, Momostenango,
Totonicapan. Ambrocia died immediately. Her husband, who was not
injured, reported the extrajudicial execution to the local
authorities.
UNIDENTIFIED BODIES
APPROX.
DATE NO. SEX AGE DEPARTMENT DESCRIPTION
6/1 1 M - Guatemala body found inside a vehicle
parked at 20th Avenue and
4th Street in Colonia Kaminal
Juyu, Zone 7, Guatemala City; the
victim had been stabbed in the
chest and back, and shot in the
head from behind; 5,000 quetzals,
a watch and other belongings were
found in a bag near the body
6/2 1 M 35 Guatemala found near km 25 of the Pacific
Highway in the jurisdiction of
Amatitlan; victim had been beaten
and shot in the head
OTHER HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS
According to denunciations received by the Comision de Derechos
Humanos de Guatemala (CDHG/Mexico):
- The Army fired 24 howitzer shells and 45 mortar grenades
("obuses y granadas de mortero") at populated and cultivated areas
of Cary and Pueblo Nuevo, Ixcan, El Quiche between April 25 and
May 25.
- Air Force planes have on several occasions bombarded
communities near the Mexican border, approximately 12 km from La
Libertad, El Peten.
- The Army has committed several extrajudicial executions and
illegal detentions in Chimaltenango, and has burned down homes in
that department.
MAN WOUNDED BY MILITARY COMMISSIONERS IN SAN MARCOS ANTULIO
DELGADO was shot and wounded by four military commissioners on
May 27 in San Rafael Pie de la Cuesta, San Marcos. According to
Delgado's brother-in-law, Hugo Choc Hernandez, Delgado had been
jailed on May 26 on false charges because he refused to enlist in
the Army. A judge, however, ordered his immediate release. The
next morning, the commissioners, four brothers named Sanchez, shot
Delgado several times, leaving him in critical condition.
WOMAN DETAINED IN GUATEMALA CITY LILIAN CRISTINA ARENAL TARANO
DE SANDOVAL (28) was detained on May 29 in Guatemala City and
interrogated for several hours before her abductors realized that
they had the wrong person. Arenal Tarano De Sandoval, who lives
in Chimaltenango, was abducted in Colonia Tikal, Guatemala City,
by two men and a woman who brought her to a house on the outskirts
of the city. There, several men interrogated her about a person
named Mario, who she repeatedly said she did not know. After
several hours, her captors realized that she was telling the truth
and released her near km 29 of the Western Highway in the
jurisdiction of San Lucas Sacatepequez.
5/30 CONAVIGUA DENOUNCES THREATS Leaders of the National
Coordinating Council of Guatemalan Widows (CONAVIGUA) say that
women in the countryside are constantly threatened and intimidated
by military commissioners, civil defense patrollers and members of
the Army who pressure them to stop working with the organization.
The denunciation was made before the Commission on Women and Human
Rights of the Guatemalan Congress.
In January, when CONAVIGUA received school supplies for
orphans and children of widows, the civil patrols accused the
group of getting the supplies from the guerrillas. CONAVIGUA
members have also been accused of transporting arms.
5/31 JOURNALISTS DENOUNCE ABUSES The Association of Guatemalan
Journalists (APG), citing several recent incidents, has accused
the administration of abusing journalists and violating freedom of
expression. One case cited was that of journalist ANA JULIETA
CARDENAS, who was apparently attacked ("sufrio agresiones") by
members of the president's security guard during a press
conference at the National Palace. The APG also denounced the
Ministry of Defense for accusing some foreign journalists of being
URNG (insurgency) mouthpieces.
SOLDIER SHOOTS AT TAXI PASSENGERS IN GUATEMALA CITY A soldier,
who felt insulted when one of the passengers in a taxi clapped as
he and other soldiers who had been blocking the Avenida La Reforma
finally moved out of the way, shot at the taxi with his assault
rifle, wounding passenger WILLIAM AMILCAR ALARCON in the arm.
(Alarcon is the one who clapped.) Passenger MARTHA LIDIA CASTILLO
and the unidentified taxi driver were injured by splinters of
glass, and all three had to be taken to the hospital. The
incident took place on June 3 in front of the residence of the
Minister of Defense, known as the "Casa Crema."
OTHER NEWS
DEMONSTRATION AGAINST FORCED RECRUITMENT A group of indigenous
campesinos from the departments of El Quiche, Quezaltenango and
Guatemala held a demonstration on June 2 to protest forced
recruitment by the military. Forced recruitment is a common
practice in the interior of the country, and affects the
indigenous population disproportionately. The demonstration was
organized by the Young Christian Movement, CERJ, CONAVIGUA, the
Committee of Campesino Unity (CUC) and the Mutual Support Group of
relatives of the disappeared (GAM).
GAM PROPOSES ALTERNATIVE COMMISSION The Mutual Support
Group (GAM) has proposed an alternative commission to investigate
disappearances, after the commission formed by the Human Rights
Attorney's Office failed to include national and international
human rights organizations. The proposed commission, as submitted
to President of the Congressional Human Rights Commission Andres
Giron, Supreme Court President Edmundo Vasquez Martinez and
Attorney General Humberto Valladares, would include the following
organizations: NATIONAL GROUPS -- GAM, the Association of
University Students (AEU), the Center for the Investigation, Study
and Promotion of Human Rights (CIEPRODH), the Federation of
Guatemalan Trade Unions (UNSITRAGUA), UITA, the Conference of
Guatemalan Religious (CONFREGUA), the Conference of Evangelical
Churches of Guatemala (CIEDEG), and the Archbishop's Human Rights
Office. INTERNATIONAL GROUPS -- ACAFADE, FEDEFAM, the Forensic
Anthropology Medical Team of Chile, GAM/USA and GAM/Germany.
Congressman Giron pledged to submit the proposal to the Guatemalan
Congress for approval.
** End of text from cdp:reg.guatemala **