AMBASSADOR'S MEETING WITH GUATEMALAN HUMAN RIGHTS

UNCLAS GUATEMALA 000168

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PHUM EAID SNAR KJUS GT
SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR'S MEETING WITH GUATEMALAN HUMAN RIGHTS
LEADERS



1. (U) Summary: Ambassador Derham hosted a meeting with 10
leaders of the Guatemalan human rights community to share
views on security and violent crime. Most agreed that while
violence has many sources, the current government does not
engage in social cleansing or violence against any sector of
society. They agreed, however, that the GOG is failing
dramatically in its responsibility to provide law and order.
They also confirmed that civil society has not yet been
consulted on the latest version of the CICIACS. They
expressed qualified support for specific U.S. priorities for
improving the rule of law in Guatemala, including CICIACS.
End Summary.


2. (U) On January 20, the Ambassador met with 10 leaders of
the human rights community for a roundtable discussion at the
Embassy. Participants were Mario Polanco (Mutual Support
Group, or GAM),Iduvina Hernandez (Association for the Study
and Promotion of Security and Democracy, or SEDEM),Alejandra
Vasquez and Marvin Rabanales (Social Movement for the Rights
of Children, Adolescents, and Youth),Maria Eugenia Villareal
(ECPAT),Maria Salome Garcia Ortiz (Creative Learning),
Amilcar Mendez (CERJ),David Bahmondes (Mack Foundation),and
Carlos Barreda (Social Organizations Collective, or COS).


3. (U) The Ambassador requested their views on violent crime
and citizens security in Guatemala and elicited a variety of
responses. All agreed that Guatemalans, and especially
children, live in a state of "extreme vulnerability" to
violence. Regarding the roots of violence, they offered not
one but many plausible explanations, including extreme
poverty, inadequate investments in education and public
health, a culture of violence, the influence of organized
crime and gangs, a highly unequal distribution of wealth, and
the failure to dismantle violent groups at the end of the
armed conflict. To Villareal's observation that violence in
Guatemala is compounding in the absence of an effective
government response, Polanco added grim statistics: in 2005
GAM catalogued 2900 particularly brutal homicides and 560 of
those victims were women. (Note: these statistics are close
to those released by the GOG that we use in the Human Rights
Report, but do not tally exactly. End note.)


4. (SBU) Most participants agreed that the government does
not engage in social cleansing nor does it pursue a policy of
violence against any sector of society. The lone voice of
dissent was Amilcar Mendez of the Strategic Alliance for
Human Rights, who said that the state -- and Minister of
Government Carlos Vielmann in particular -- authorized the
extrajudicial killing of gang members. When pressed for
evidence to back up his accusation, he backed off
considerably, noting that "this is our perception." The
other attendees espoused the less radical position that,
while the state does not endorse or sponsor violence, it has
been negligent in its failure to protect society from it.
Some claimed that the government had neither the means nor
the will to investigate allegations of criminal misconduct by
rogue police and military. They pointed out that the general
impunity that benefited corrupt government actors has
returned to haunt the GOG by enabling the growth of gangs and
other organized crime.


5. (U) Participants viewed with varying degrees of pessimism
the state of the justice system in Guatemala. Police, in
particular, were severely criticized. Several observed the
problems inherent in the National Civilian Police (PNC)
practice of "recycling" personnel (transferring corrupt or
discredited police to a different jurisdiction). Vasquez
added that restructuring and/or changes in PNC leadership has
never been effective. Polanco suggested that the police had
been infiltrated, but did not specify by whom. Others
pointed to unsatisfactory training, corruption, and police
involvement in criminal activities. On a more positive note,
Bahmondes said the Mack Foundation had observed genuine
attempts to reform the PNC, although they fall short of what
is needed.


6. (U) None of those assembled had seen the GOG's latest
proposal for establishing a U.N. investigative body
(CICIACS). They said the GOG had not consulted civil society
for input. Polanco expressed concern that the new version
might focus too narrowly on organized crime. He said civil
society favors a CICIACS with a broad mandate to investigate
current and past human rights abuses.


7. (U) The Ambassador asked specifically about perceptions of
U.S.-supported initiatives, such as reforms to the appeals
law, the organized crime bill, and the national forensic lab.
There was general agreement that all were potentially
positive steps but also subject to abuse. Bahmondes said the
United States is working toward the correct goal -- that is,

combating impunity -- but observed that "bad problems are not
necessarily solved by good laws," since the real weakness in
Guatemala is failure to enforce the law. While most viewed
DNA testing as indispensable, Rabanales declared that the
forensics lab had the potential for utter failure. It will
depend not on the quality of the law or the lab, he said, but
rather on its staff. He also expressed concern about the
difficulty of balancing civil liberties with providing
police, prosecutors, and judges the tools they need
(including wiretap authority) to successfully prosecute
criminals. The current appeals process, for example,
shelters the bad guys, but it also provides needed protection
from persecution.


8. (U) A number of other issues were raised:

-- Villareal noted that the government has failed to devote a
budget line-item to anti-trafficking measures.

-- Vasquez expressed concern that, as elections approach, the
parties will try to outdo one another with the strongest
"mano dura" anti-gang approach.

-- Bahmondes mentioned with concern an initiative, now in
Congress, that would give military tribunals jurisdiction
over all crimes committed by members of the military,
regardless of the nature of the crime. (Note: Congress has
essentially shelved this initiative. End note.)

-- Hernandez classified the government's prosecution of the
Chixoy Dam protest leaders as "state violence."
DERHAM