GUATEMALA: MINUGUA CLOSES ITS DOORS

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 GUATEMALA 002868

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PHUM PGOV GT
SUBJECT: GUATEMALA: MINUGUA CLOSES ITS DOORS

REF: GUATEMALA 1447


1. (U) Summary: On November 15, MINUGUA will hold a closing
ceremony in the National Palace to commemorate the end of its
ten years in Guatemala. Over the last two months, the
organization has released a final report and held a closing
conference to evaluate the progress made in implementation of
the 1996 Peace Accords. MINUGUA hailed the "drastic
reduction of the military" as the greatest accomplishment of
the Berger administration thus far. During his conference
speech, MINUGUA Chief of Mission Tom Koenigs cited combating
impunity, discrimination, and poverty as the greatest
lingering challenges for the GOG. While MINUGUA closes up
shop, the establishment of a new UN office in Guatemala, the
OHCHR, still remains uncertain. The interim UN OHCHR (Office
of the High Commission of Human Rights) office that had
opened in preparation for an official mission will close
November 30, to reopen only if and when the GOG and High
Commissioner can arrive at agreement on the mission of such
an office. End Summary.

MINUGUA's Closing Remarks
--------------


2. (U) On October 27, the Ambassador and DCM attended the
opening remarks of President Oscar Berger, Tom Koenigs, and
Rigoberta Menchu at MINUGUA's closing conference,
"Constructing Peace: Guatemala from a comparative
perspective." According to Koenigs, "eight years after their
signing, the Peace Accords are alive and relevant. The most
transcendental (measure) has been the dramatic reduction of
the military." MINUGUA's report also commended President
Berger for appointing Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Rigoberta
Menchu and human rights activist Frank LaRue to the Cabinet,
apologizing on behalf of the state for atrocities committed
during the civil conflict, and allocating the first funds to
the National Reparations Program under the direction of
Rosalina Tuyuc.


3. (U) However, in health, education, and discrimination
against indigenous persons, Koenigs noted that the GOG has
not affected profound changes in the last eight years, and
that Guatemala still faces among the greatest poverty and
inequality in Latin America. MINUGUA expressed grave
concerns about insecurity and impunity in prosecution of
crime, as well as continued threats against human rights
defenders. Finally, the report remarked that the growing
tension in agrarian issues, illustrated by over 100 illegal
occupations of private land by peasants and consequent
government evictions, occasionally violent, of occupied land,
will present another continuing challenge for the GOG.


4. (U) The conference that followed hosted panel discussions
on topics ranging from the justice sector and public security
to economic reforms. Following the conference, UN Under
Secretary General for Political Affairs, Kieran Pendergast,

SIPDIS
will attend a series of events November 11-16, cumulating in
a closing ceremony hosted by the GOG and MINUGUA on November

15.

Fate of UN OHCHR Office Uncertain
--------------


5. (U) The debate on the establishment of a local UN OHCHR
office in Guatemala continues. In September, two
Congressional committees issued contradictory recommendations
on the ratification of the agreement between the GOG and the
UN OHCHR (the Human Rights Committee voted in favor of the
proposal and the Foreign Relations Committee against); the
Committees presented their decisions to the plenary on
November 11. Some Congressional representatives, led by FRG
Deputy Antonio Arenales Forno (a former Guatemalan UN
Representative in Geneva and Ambassador to the US, who serves
on both the HR and FR Committees),have insisted that
Guatemala should not/not be the first country to host a local
UN OHCHR office under Article 4 of the General Assembly
Resolution. Under this Article, the proposed office would be
required to submit an annual report about its activities to
the High Commissioner, who would then distribute it to member
countries. congressional deputies in the Foreign Relations
Committee also object to the requirement for an official
report. In consideration of the Foreign Relation Committee's
qualms, the Executive has proposed changes to the UN OHCHR on
the language of the agreement.


6. (SBU) After the Portillo Administration signed an
agreement with the UN OHCHR to open an office in December
2003, the High Commissioner sent a Representative to
Guatemala and opened an interim office with a small staff in
anticipation of the agreement's ratification (originally
presented to Congress in March 2004). On November 10,
Project Coordinator for the Guatemala UN OHCHR, Birgit
Gerstenberg, told PolOff that this office would officially
close November 30. At the Government's request, the UN OHCHR
has agreed to open renegotiation of the original agreement.
Guatemala UN Representative Jorge Skinner-Klee will travel to
Geneva in the coming weeks to lead discussions.


7. (SBU) Comment: What the Executive must do to satisfy
Congress on the UN OHCHR office is eliminate the official
report, and Gerstenberg reports that the High Commissioner is
not willing to take that measure. Therefore, negotiations
are likely to stall unless the two sides can find some yet
unidentified middle ground.

HAMILTON