Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
03GUATEMALA2744
2003-10-28 18:25:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Guatemala
Cable title:  

FORMER CIVIL PATROL MEMBERS TAKE JOURNALISTS

Tags:  PGOV PHUM PREL PINR PINS ASEC GT 
pdf how-to read a cable
This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 GUATEMALA 002744 

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/28/2013
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL PINR PINS ASEC GT
SUBJECT: FORMER CIVIL PATROL MEMBERS TAKE JOURNALISTS
HOSTAGE

Classified By: PolCouns David Lindwall for reason 1.5 (b) and (d).

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 GUATEMALA 002744

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/28/2013
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL PINR PINS ASEC GT
SUBJECT: FORMER CIVIL PATROL MEMBERS TAKE JOURNALISTS
HOSTAGE

Classified By: PolCouns David Lindwall for reason 1.5 (b) and (d).


1. (C) Summary: A group of approximately 500 ex-PACs blocked
the inter-American highway in La Libertad, Huehuetenango on
October 26 and took four journalists hostage, in an attempt
to get the government to compensate them for wartime service.
The former civil patrol members had originally taken the
highway to block a campaign rally for FRG candidate Rios
Montt, but took the journalists hostage when the FRG
suspended the rally. The Minister of Government told the
Ambassador that the GOG does not want to use force which
could put the hostages' lives in jeopardy, and said that the
GOG negotiators are offering to register the ex-PACs and
process their compensation on an expedited basis. Opponents
of the government in civil society and the media blame the
GOG for the general lawlessness in the country and for
creating expectations of compensation among the ex-PACs that
the GOG is not able to meet. Former civil patrol members in
other areas of the country who have not been compensated are
doubtless watching the tense negotiation in Huehuetenango
closely, and the resolution could lead to new protest
actions. The daily images in the press of armed peasants
blocking roads and forcing the FRG to cancel campaign rallies
in areas where the ex-PACs have strength will not have a
positive impact on the FRG's election campaign. End summary.


2. (U) On October 26, approximately 500 former civil patrol
members (ex-PACs) blocked the inter-American highway at La
Libertad in the Department of Huehuetenango to keep the FRG
from bussing in participants to an election campaign rally
for presidential candidate Rios Montt scheduled for later
that day. The ex-PACs were protesting their lack of
compensation by the GOG for their wartime service (Note: As
of October 21, the GOG had compensated 454,098 former civil
patrol members, including 60,313 in Huehuetenango. Tens of
thousands of others who believe they have a right to
compensation, however, have not received payments, leading to

protests by ex-PACs in different areas of the country. End
note). The ex-PACs detained four journalists from
(anti-government) daily "Prensa Libre" at the road block, and
continued to hold them as hostages after Rios Montt canceled
his campaign rally. Vice President Reyes Lopez, in an
address to the nation on October 27, claimed that four other
hostages were also being held by the ex-PACs. The civil
patrol members, who are poor peasants from that rural
highland province much affected by the war, are using the
hostages to pressure the GOG to compensate them.


3. (U) Prensa Libre editor Gonzalo Marroquin, Human Rights
Ombudsman Sergio Morales and NGO rep Frank Larue traveled to
La Libertad on October 27 to seek the release of the
hostages. Huehuetenango Governor Carlos Morales (an FRG
appointee) also traveled to La Libertad, but kept a prudent
distance from the ex-PACs, as he had been held hostage by a
different group of disgruntled former civil patrol members
earlier this year. The ex-PACs claimed that they had filed
for GOG compensation through the association of retired
military personnel (AVEMILGUA),and rejected the GOG's
contention that their names did not appear on any GOG lists
(Note: AVEMILGUA is a private association of former military
personnel. It is not a part of the GOG, but is viewed as
having ties to or at a minimum sympathies with the ruling
FRG. End note).


4. (C) The Ambassador has been in contact with Minister of
Government Reyes Calderon since the hostage taking began, to
urge the GOG to find a peaceful solution to the standoff.
The Ambassador has also been in frequent contact with
Marroquin, Larue and others in civil society and the GOG who
are involved in seeking a solution. The Embassy issued a
public statement on October 27 condemning the hostage taking.
Reyes Calderon told the Ambassador that police had been sent
to cordon off the site, and added that the GOG did not want
to put the hostages' lives in jeopardy by escalating the
confrontation or attempting a rescue. A high level
negotiating team made up of GOG Peace Commissioner Soberanis,
MINUGUA Chief Koenigs, GOG Human Rights rep (COPREDEH)
Fuentes Soria, Huehuetenango Governor Morales, and
representatives of the military and the Public Ministry are
meeting with the ex-PAC leaders at the Military base in
Huehuetenango on October 28. Minister of Government Reyes
Calderon told the Ambassador that the GOG will offer to
review expeditiously all the documentation the La Libertad
ex-PACs can provide to substantiate their claims to
compensation for wartime service, and will also expedite
payment to those who qualify. The GOG hopes the offer will
result in a prompt release of the hostages, though they told
us that many of the ex-PACs at the road block are drunk,
undermining the possibility of reasonable discourse.


5. (C) Frank Larue and other civil society leaders denounced
the government for abdicating its role of providing public
security, telling reporters that the La Libertad hostage
taking was only the most recent in a long series of violent
crimes that illustrate that the Portillo government is not in
charge (Note: a string of homicides only five days earlier --
including two shoot-outs on public buses which left seven
dead -- have shocked Guatemalans, normally inured to crime
reports. End note). Larue told the Ambassador that the
ex-PACs in La Libertad had not been compensated because they
were not FRG supporters, and that the GOG was only
compensating ex-PACs that were likely to vote for them in the
upcoming elections (Note: The fact that the La Libertad
ex-PACs were associated with AVEMILGUA would seem to indicate
that their electoral preferences, had they been compensated,
would have been with the FRG. The OAS mission and the NGO
CIEN, which have been monitoring payments to the ex-PACs,
have not uncovered evidence that the GOG is discriminating by
making payments only to ex-PAC members affiliated with the
FRG as suggested by Larue. End note).


6. (C) Comment: The standoff in Huehuetenango may well be
resolved in the coming hours, but the unfulfilled
expectations created by the Portillo government by offering
to compensate the former civil patrol members has frustrated
tens of thousands of poor peasants who may draw inspiration
from the action of the La Libertad ex-PACs. Former civil
patrol members in Mazatenango and San Cristobal (Alta
Verapaz) are at this time protesting peacefully (so far)
against their lack of payment and have publicly threatened
the FRG if it comes campaigning in those localities. With
ex-PACs spread out all over the country, the possibility of
protests emerging in other areas remains latent. The
opposition to the FRG, including the press and the NGO's, are
using the Huehuetenango hostage taking to illustrate for
voters the danger of keeping the FRG in power for four more
years. The message, carried by newspaper photos and radio
news bulletins, that FRG candidate Rios Montt is not welcome
in many rural communities where the ex-PAC feel deceived by
the GOG can not be helping his campaign. It also will add to
the concern of many Guatemalans that violent acts continue to
be a part of of elections in Guatemala.
HAMILTON