Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06GUATEMALA1313
2006-07-07 12:44:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Guatemala
Cable title:  

SPANISH JUDGE DEPARTS GUATEMALA EMPTY-HANDED

Tags:  PGOV PHUM KJUS MASS GT 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXYZ0012
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHGT #1313 1881244
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 071244Z JUL 06
FM AMEMBASSY GUATEMALA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0093
INFO RUEHZA/WHA CENTRAL AMERICAN COLLECTIVE
RUEHMD/AMEMBASSY MADRID 0349
UNCLAS GUATEMALA 001313 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PHUM KJUS MASS GT
SUBJECT: SPANISH JUDGE DEPARTS GUATEMALA EMPTY-HANDED


UNCLAS GUATEMALA 001313

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PHUM KJUS MASS GT
SUBJECT: SPANISH JUDGE DEPARTS GUATEMALA EMPTY-HANDED



1. Summary: Spanish judicial personnel departed Guatemala without
having obtained any official testimony regarding the 1980 burning of
the Spanish Embassy and the deaths of two Spanish citizens. They
did, however, draw international attention to the lack of activity
by the Guatemalan authorities to investigate these and other abuses
during the period of the internal conflict. End summary.

Spanish Courts and Guatemalan Courts
--------------

2. Santiago Pedraz, a Spanish judge, and Jesus Alonso, a Spanish
prosecutor, visited Guatemala June 24 - July 1 to investigate the
burning of the Spanish Embassy and the death of two Spanish citizens
in 1980 during the internal conflict. Upon arrival in Guatemala,
the Spaniards also noted their intention to investigate genocide
cases from the same era. The Spaniards had hoped to stay until July
4 to interview authorities from the governments of that era,
including former heads of state Efrain Rios Montt and Oscar Mejia
Victores.


3. Several of those to be called to testify filed legal challenges
to the jurisdiction of the Spanish officials. Rios Montt, in
particular, obtained from the Guatemalan Constitutional Court (CC) a
provisional measure suspending the Spaniard's deposition. The CC
issued its provisional ruling June 27, with one CC judge describing
the decision as procedural rather than substantive, since the
Supreme Court had not provided all the necessary paperwork. Spanish
officials could therefore not conduct formal interviews. They paid
courtesy calls on Guatemalan prosecutors and met with NGO
representatives but gathered no official testimony.

Court of Public Opinion
--------------

4. Nobel laureate Rigoberta Menchu filed charges in Spain in 1999.
Her father was one of the indigenous and student leaders who seized
the Spanish Embassy in January 1980 and then died in the fire that
consumed the building. There are conflicting versions of who
started the fire -- some say it was the police, others say it was
the hostage-takers who misfired a Molotov cocktail. The Menchu
Foundation's legal advisor recognized the jurisdictional issues that
the Spanish faced but noted the weakness of the Guatemalan judicial
system.


5. Several NGO leaders told us that they viewed the GOG's
cooperation with the Spaniards as a litmus test for the GOG's
commitment to human rights. When pressed, these leaders vowed
adherence to the concept of "universal jurisdiction" for human
rights questions, but grudgingly agreed that jurisdictional
questions were not without merit. Nonetheless, they welcomed the
international attention that the Spanish action had brought to
unresolved cases in Guatemala. Indeed, dozens of family members of
the disappeared gathered at the Supreme Court to demand
investigations into their cases as well.

Comment
--------------

6. Guatemalan Republican Front (FRG) leaders close to Rios Montt
told us they considered the highly-publicized arrival of Pedraz and
Alonso to be "pure show" and rejected out of hand any Spanish
jurisdiction in these cases. They were confident that Rios Montt's
lawyers would win the jurisdiction challenge and other procedural
motions but could also win on the merits if it ever came to that.
They also claimed that Menchu had inappropriately used her position
as GOG Goodwill Ambassador in order to lure the Spanish judge and
prosecutor to Guatemala. They noted that Rios Montt was resorting
to legal defense maneuvers that were well within his constitutional
rights.


7. Nonetheless, the attention brought about by the Spaniards' visit
was a useful reminder to the GOG that many cases from the 1960-1996
internal conflict have not been investigated or resolved to anyone's
satisfaction.

DERHAM