HUMAN RIGHTS UPDATE: JOURNALISTS RELEASED, EMP

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 GUATEMALA 002793

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

DEPARTMENT FOR WHA/CEN

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PHUM PGOV PREL AORC GT
SUBJECT: HUMAN RIGHTS UPDATE: JOURNALISTS RELEASED, EMP
DISBANDED, CICIACS REACTION

REF: GUATEMALA 2563


1. (SBU) Summary: Protesting ex-PACs have released four
journalists in Huehuetenango, President Portillo presided
over a ceremony marking the dissolution of the Presidential
Guard (EMP),and the GOG formed a working group to analyze
the UN's revised proposal for a Commission to Investigate
Clandestine Groups (CICIACS). Our previous report (Ref) on
the Ovalle killing was mistaken; his killers have not yet
been tried. End Summary.

Ex-PACs Release Hostages
--------------


2. (U) On October 28 protesting former civil self defense
patrollers (ex-PAC) in Huehuetenango province released four
journalists after a tense stand-off that lasted 51 hours.
The release came after a GOG negotiating team led by Peace
Secretary Catalina Soberanis agreed to process and pay

SIPDIS
(within six days) qualified ex-PAC applicants for their
national service during the internal conflict, according to
MINUGUA Chief Tom Koenigs and press reporting. (Comment: By
insisting that only qualified ex-PAC will be paid, the GOG
hopes the incident will not be repeated by unqualified
agitators who aspire to GOG compensation. The international
community and electoral observers are alert to the
possibility of further incidents which could endanger
observers. End Comment.)

EMP Dissolved
--------------


3. (U) On October 29 President Portillo marked the
dissolution of the Presidential Military Guard (EMP) and its
replacement with a civilian Secretariat for Administrative
Support (SAAS) with a major public address. In his address,
Portillo praised the EMP for maintaining a clean record
during his tenure, lambasted the economic elite who had
manipulated previous governments and the Army in their own
private interests, and took a jab at the international
community for pressuring the GOG to "run when it is learning
to crawl." Speaking without a prepared text, he accused
Guatemala's critics in the international community of
starting more wars and killing far more people than the
Guatemalan Army had. The Ambassador atttended this event,
but could not bring himself to applaud the President's
remarks and left after the President spoke. Human rights
leaders and MINUGUA chief Koenigs publicly praised the EMP
dissolution, and pledged to monitor the exit (expected
January 13) from the SAAS of a team of 30 military security
agents guarding Portillo. (Comment: Despite Portillo's
disappointing, unpresidential venting, the GOG deserves
credit for finally completing a key Peace Accords commitment.
While some administrative staff from the EMP remain in the
SAAS, and Portillo will retain his inner security team until
he leaves office, the bulk of the EMP staff have been
replaced by civilians. End Comment.)

Reaction to UN CICIACS Proposal
--------------


4. (SBU) Representatives of the MFA, the Human Rights
Ombudsman's office, and some human rights leaders met on
October 29 to create a working group to discuss the UN's
revised CICIACS proposal. While local press emphasized
constitutional hurdles to the muscular UN proposal, Helen
Mack and Frank La Rue both told the Ambassador and PolOff
that they believe the UN proposal is "legally viable," with
some clarification, but NGOs will resist any GOG attempt at
"half-measures." According to Mario Rene Cifuentes, the
MFA's security advisor, FM Gutierrez favors an alternative
proposal of creating a national commission as a precursor to
an internationally-run CICIACS. The first meeting of the
working group will be on November 3, and the MFA will invite
the UN to send a representative to that meeting, according to
Cifuentes.

Correction: Ovalle Case Update
--------------


5. (U) RefTel reported that Ever Lopez Gomez and Billy Rene
Barrios were found guilty for the April 29, 2003 murder of
Guillermo Ovalle, accountant of the Rigoberta Menchu
Foundation, and sentenced to life imprisonment by the first
instance court for the crime. That information was
incorrect, and derived from an unconfirmed report from a U.S.
NGO. The office of the Special Prosecutor for Crimes Against
Human Rights Workers told us on October 14 that in fact the
court had ruled in September only that the two suspects be
tried for homicide. No date has been announced for the trial
while judges rule on a request from the Menchu Foundation to
become a joint complainant in the case.
HAMILTON