CAMINOS
Newsletter - June 2003
Dear Friends and Family,
We’re in the
4th Quarter of a high stakes divisional match-up between two teams
who have little affection for one another. Army still leads Civil
Society, but it’s anybody’s guess who will come away victorious.
The instant replay official has just reversed the field judge’s
decision to penalize three Army players for unsportsmanlike conduct.
As a result of Army’s illegal hit, Civil Society has lost one
of its key defenders, Myrna Mack. Earlier in the game Army took
out Juan Gerardi, C.S.´s moral and spiritual leader, with a vicious
blow to the head. There is evidence that Army’s coaches ordered
their players to carry out these cheapshots, but the referees are
afraid to penalize them for fear of personal reprisals. Meanwhile,
the crowd of Civil Society fans have become disgusted with the officiating
and want to see Army sanctioned for their blatant misconduct, violent
behavior and intimidation of the referees.
What I have just
described is not a football game but is instead the real battle
being waged in Guatemala between human rights activists who want
to create a democratic, civil society and the Guatemalan military
who want to maintain their power over the people. The Army does
not hesitate to threaten or kill judges and human rights activists
who dare to challenge them. Not surprisingly, civil society has
suffered a number of setbacks this year but none greater than the
appellate court decision to free three convicted Army officials
that were found guilty of orchestrating the murder of anthropologist
and activist Myrna Mack. In the case of Bishop Juan Gerardi, a
man who bravely spoke out and wrote about the Army’s role in the
deaths of over 180,000 civilians during the 36-year armed conflict,
a similar setback occurred when three men had their murder convictions
overturned. Fortunately, in the Gerardi case the guilty remain
in jail while the courts decide how to proceed with the next round
of appeals.
It is becoming clear to many people that
the justice system in Guatemala is extremely unreliable and easily
manipulated from within. In an effort to strengthen the judicial
system in Guatemala and simultaneously attract more football fans
to the issue of justice and human rights in Guatemala I am encouraging
people to view Guatemalan politics like a high stakes football game
- to cheer for the underdog, to boo the bad calls made by the officials,
to talk at the office water cooler on Monday morning about the “game,”
to pore over articles about Guatemala in the newspaper, to talk
about Guatemala on talk radio shows, and/or to write empassioned
Letters to the Editor and emails to the Comissioner, or in this
case the Guatemalan President, berating him for all the cheapshot
that have gone unpunished and unnoticed by him and his advisors.
If 10% of the people around the world who watch football begin
supporting Guatemalan Civil Society, I am sure corruption, impunity,
and the corrupt Guatemalan Army will go down in defeat.
From where I am standing it appears Guatemala’s
Civil Society is losing the battle in the trenches because they
have been outmaneuvered, outgunned, outmuscled, and outspent.
As a result, instead of cutting funding to the military as the 1996
Peace Accords prescribe, the government increased this year’s military
budget by 23%. Instead of rooting out corruption, the Attorney
General’s office forces honest government employees like Karen Fischer,
who investigate high profile corruption cases, to resign and flee
the country in fear for their lives. Instead of carrying out land
reform and paying reparations to the victims of state-sponsored
violence, the government pays ex-Civil Defense Patrollers (ex-PAC’s),
many of whom committed heinous crimes against civilians. And finally,
instead of spending Social Security revenues on patients in need
of medical treatment, health care officials recently ENRON’ed, or
embezzled, US $30 million to make-believe, offshore holding companies
while patients in Guatemala suffered and/or died.
War Criminal for President?
Meanwhile, as the presidential elections
officially get under way, an ex-dictator and alleged war criminal
by the name of Efrain Rios Montt prepares himself to be the presidential
candidate for the FRG, the Guatemalan Republican Front. Rios Montt:
a general who ruled from 1982-1983 when 192 military masacres
resulted in over 10,000 civilian deaths , a man who truly
believes God is on his side, a man who
by comparison makes Slovodan Milosovic and Saddam Hussein look like
second-rate street thugs. Now he wants to be elected president.
A shred of good news (for all of you
who would rather see this man behind bars than behind the chief
executive’s desk in the Presidential Palace) is that the Spanish
courts have agreed to hear Rigoberta Menchu Tum’s case against Montt
for his role in the deaths of several Spanish nationals during a
military raid on the Spanish Embassy in 1983. Rigoberta, the winner
of the 1992 Nobel Peace Prize, hopes to connect the Embassy massacre
to other massacres that occurred during Montt’s Reign of Terror.
The key for prosecutors is to show that the dictator ordered his
military to use indiscriminant and excessive lethal force during
the Embassy raid and possibly connect this behavior to the raids
perpetrated in villages across the country.
So what does all this mean for indigenous
Mayans, including the witnesses we accompany in Ilom and Xix, who
want to put this monster on trial for crimes against humanity and
genocide? If he runs for the presidency and wins in November,
it will be extremely difficult and dangerous to move forward with
this case. However, several analysts believe Montt’s candidacy
is just a publicity stunt designed to attract attention both inside
and outside of the country. The FRG wants to gain sympathy amongst
voters who look at the international condemnation of Montt´s candidacy
as an attack on Guatemala’s sovereignty. These analysts say it
is unlikely that Montt will actually be the FRG’s candidate. Instead,
he will probably hand over that task to one of his underlings and
maintain his judicial immunity by running for and winning a seat
in the Congress. If he is found guilty in the Spanish court, there
is a small chance that he would be extradited to that country to
serve his prison term.
For social justice activists and football
fans alike this year’s presidential election is worth following.
It could determine whether Army or Civil Society wins the right
to create Guatemala’s future. Unfortunately, the Army has allied
itself with the three most powerful political parties: the FRG,
PAN, and the Democratic Christians. The only candidate many of
us find palatable is an articulate, reform-minded mayor of Quetzaltenango
named Rigoberto Quemé, running with ANN , the New
Nation Alliance. As is so often the case, his party has limited
resources, and he is not widely known around the country. But
just as the New England Patriots surprised us with their Super Bowl
victory in 2002, perhaps Quemé can do the same in 2003.
Connect the Dots
I have just finished reading an excellent
but sobering book by William F. Schulz, Executive Director of Amnesty
International USA. It’s called In Our Own Best Interests:
how defending human rights benefits us all . This is a must-read
for human rights activists and concerned citizens who are trying
to convince friends and family that improved human rights in other
countries creates a safer world for US citizens and a healthier
environment in which to raise their children.
Schulz makes
a convincing argument that improving human rights around the globe
is a key ingredient to rooting out corruption in international business,
reducing the number of environmental disasters like Chernobyl and
Three Mile Island, and preventing the occurrence of genocides and
ethnic cleansings like we saw recently in Rwanda and the former
Yugoslavia. Improved human rights are good for our souls as well.
Schulz says,
“...to look on human agony and consistently
remain unmoved is to be dead in all the ways that truly matter,
dead to the mystery of pulse and breath, dead to the gifts of grace
and kindness, dead to the fragility of Creation.”
So if people ask you, “Why should I care
about international human rights?” You could tell them that caring
is essential if they want the following:
1.) a stable pension fund, 2.) more transparent governments
around the world, 3.) more accountable corporate and political leaders,
4.) stricter punishments for all government leaders who operate
above the law, 5.) more people who are healthy and prosperous enough
to purchase the goods and services they produce. Last but not
least, if they want their children to live in a more ethical
world, they should demand that human rights be provided
to all humans regardless of economic status, nationality, political
affiliation, race, gender, religion, or sexual orientation.
Ilom Overheats
Do you remember in my last newsletter
the description of the political divisions that exist within Ilom?
Well, those divisions recently boiled over into what could have
been a grave confrontation. On April 27 after several days and
night of high heat and humidity, the irritable Mayor of Ilom received
a visit from two police officers and was handed a letter written
by the government’s human rights investigation unit saying that
a police investigation was being carried out in connection with
alleged slanderous comments made by the Governor of Quiche to the
ex-Civil Defense Patrollers of Ilom on January 26.
During his speech the Governor said that CALDH,
the Center for Legal Rights Action, several opposition political
parties, and other human rights organizations were impeding the
ruling party’s ability to provide the ex-PAC’s with the backpay
they had been promised in 2002. Ilom’s mayor immediately called
together the ex-PAC’s and relayed the news about the investigation.
The problem with this chain of events is that CALDH looked like
they were to blame for the police investigation. Adding fuel to
the fire, the ex-PAC’s see the Governor as an ally and were extremely
upset that the government was investigating him and potentially
them due to a letter written by the Director
of CALDH.
According to two members of our witness families
who attended the emergency meeting, five of the hotheaded ExPACs
suggested lynching the townspeople associated with CALDH. (In
Guatemala lynching usually involves pouring gas over a person and
burning them to death). Understandably, our two friends took offense
at such talk and demanded that the exPAC’s prove that CALDH was
responsible for the nonpayment of the backpay. Since they had no
proof, the threats were not carried out. A few days later the
accompaniers left Ilom with the witnesses and stayed out of Ilom
until May 5 when a meeting was convened in Ilom’s plaza to dispel
the rumors and clear up misunderstandings about the police investigation
and the work done by CALDH.
After a closed
door meeting of all the leaders of the various groups, a police
representative from the provincial capital of Santa Cruz Quiche
assured the crowd of nearly 200 people that there was no police
investigation against anyone in Ilom. The former mayor of the
nearby city of Chajul emphasized that CALDH has no jurisdiction
over the process of paying the exPAC’s their back wages. A representative
of the Governor, the Human Rights Investigation Unit, and a representative
of CALDH also declared to the audience that their meeting had been
very productive and all sides had agreed to sign a document indicating
they would not use violence against each other.
The role of the accompaniers was also discussed
during the meeting and the opposing faction expressed its frustration
with the unequal attention accompaniers pay those who work with
CALDH. The irritable mayor even asked during this meeting whether
the accompaniers should be allowed to stay in their quarters or
be thrown out. The silence that followed his proposal showed there
was no support for such an action. Therefore, we are not too worried
about being evicted by the mayor, but it may be time to go on a
charm offensive to win the “hearts and minds” of people who support
him generally.
Since May 5th the political climate has
cooled down substantially and the threat against the witnesses has
greatly dissipated; however, the traditional factions are still
vying for power and the town gossip still lurks in the whispering
shadows. As accompaniers and international observers our job becomes
more difficult when rumors and gossip run wild. Regardless of all
that, we try to be friendly to everyone we meet in town. Unfortunately,
in a town of 3000 people we don’t always know who is a friend of
the witnesses and who is against them. Most importantly, the divisions
in this town are getting in the way of community development due
to a profound lack of trust exhibited by the two main factions.
The ones who suffer most are the children because the adults can’t
seem to agree on much of anything. Hence, Ilom continues to operate
without a middle school or a high school, without a trash disposal
plan, without a women’s group, without a library, and without a
city plan for the treatment of sewage.
Normally in Ilom
While all these threats make for exciting reading
back home, the reality is that life moves pretty slowly in the “campo,”
and on most days I see the men planting, growing or harvesting corn,
beans, coffee, and cardomon while the women make tortillas, cook
beans, boil up collard greens, fry eggs, heat up chicken and pasta
soup, or prepare tamales for their families. On special occasions
they butcher a turkey, chicken, or pig and make a meat and vegetable
stew out of it, but most of the time the people here eat vegetarian.
The children in grades one through six
go to primary school Monday through Saturday from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.
under a system called “Plan 22.” The teachers stay in the community
for the first 22 days of the month and then return to their homes
in Nebaj, which is about 3 hours away by vehicle. Not all the
children go to primary school, but I believe that over 80% of school-aged
children attend school.
I and my fellow accompanier Jennifer, a former
social worker soon headed for law school, continue to spend a lot
of our time with the witness families - eating meals together, playing
with their children, collecting information about local and national
political developments, teaching a bit of ultimate frisbee, and
building bonds of international solidarity and trust. During the
hot part of the day we stay in our quarters and listen to the wind-up,
shortwave radio that broadcasts BBC News, Amy Goodman’s Democracy
Now and David Barsamian’s Alternative Radio. I
felt a bit homesick the day I heard the speech Noam Chomsky gave
in Boulder in early April, but it’s great being able to keep up
with what’s happening in the world at large as I try to make sense
of the world down here.
And Then There’s Xix
We also travel twice a month to another
town that is participating in the genocide case against Rios Montt
and Lucas Garcia. The town of Xix (Sheesh) is much smaller and
much cooler than Ilom. Because it is relatively peaceful compared
to Ilom, we only spend three or four days a month there visiting
with the witnesses and their families. Recently, we have noticed
logging trucks with the familiar BFI logo passing through Xix loaded
up with lots of large pine and Douglass fir timber. The clearcutting
that they are doing is just one byproduct of the government’s inability
to create or enforce a sustainable environmental plan. Jungle
rainforest and mountain slopes covered in pine are sacrificed to
make way for corn fields, coffee, and cardomon that hungry campesinos
need to have in order to keep their families fed. Wild animals
are often killed by Guatemalan campesinos because they are an additional
source of protein that come with no immediate price tag attached.
There are enough Catch 22’s, paradoxes,
and ironies down here to make your head spin, but I have come to
the conclusion that Guatemalans have as much to teach us about living
simply, wasting nothing, and consuming carefully as we have to teach
them about building a strong judicial system, preserving nature,
and fostering the growth of the middle class.
One final thought for those of you who
are interested in learning more about the genocide case against
Rios Montt and Lucas Garcia, go to www.justiceforgenocide.org
and there you will find a gold mine of information about the case.
And for those of you who want to see what happened to many Guatemalan
villages during the 1980’s, please look for a copy of the film Hija
del Puma . I recently saw it while I was visiting
a Zapatista village in Mexico and found it to be painfully similar
to the accounts of massacres that occurred in Ilom and Xix in 1982.
Therefore,
whether you are a football fan or a peace activist, I hope you will
actively cheer for Guatemalan Civil Society. They need your support
now more than ever. And the consequences of an FRG/Army victory
in November would be terrifying not just for Guatemalans. It would
reinforce the idea around the world that crime does indeed
pay. We cannot allow Rios Montt or anyone in the FRG to become
president. What we need to do is put Rios Montt in jail for his
wars crimes and his crimes against humanity.
“The
only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to
do nothing.” - Edmond Burke (1729-1797)
Rick Clifford
“Winning
isn’t everything. It’s the only thing.”
- Vince Lombardi (1913-1970)
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