|
|
|
Case Nos. 1702, 1748, and 1755 GUATEMALA Case
Nº 1702, presented in a communication dated February 5, 1971,
denounces a number of events allegedly in violation of human rights in
Guatemala and, in particular, the death of a number of individuals
during the "state of siege" declared in that country as of
November 12, 1970. Case Nº 1748, presented in a communication
dated July 28, 1972 also denounces the status of human rights in
Guatemala and specifically, the death or disappearance of 296
individuals between November 1971 and the first months of 1972. Case
Nº 1755, presented through a communication dated September 30,
1972, denounces the arbitrary arrest of a number of individuals in
Guatemala City on September 26, 1972, and the lack of effective result
on the writs of habeas corpus submitted by the interested parties to the
competent judicial authorities. As
for case 1702 the Commission, in a note dated May 10, 1971,
requested the Government of Guatemala to provide the corresponding
information. That request was repeated on November 6 of that year and on
March 30, 1972. As
for case 1768 the Commission, in a note dated September 6, 1972,
requested the Government of Guatemala to provide the appropriate
information. In
a note of October 18, 1972, the Government has asked to provide
information on case 1755. At
its thirty-first session (October 1973) the Commission examined these
cases together with the response filed by the Government of Guatemala on
September 4, 1973 (I-OEA-12) and decided to process these cases
jointly, by combining them for processing and decision; it also decided to
appoint Dr. Genaro R. Carrió as rapporteur for these cases, to
formulate the appropriate recommendations on handling thereof. In
keeping with the recommendation made by the rapporteur, the Commission,
through a cable dated November 1, 1974, requested the Government of
Guatemala (in accordance with Article 11.c of its Statute) to agree to
allow the rapporteur to gather the necessary data on-site, in order to
expedite his work and to present the Commission a report that would
enable the Commission to reach a decision as to the merit of these
denunciations, based on all necessary facts. Through
a cable dated November 3, 1973, the Government of Guatemala denied the
request. In
accordance with its Regulations, the Commission provided the claimant
the text of the request made to the Government of Guatemala and the text
of the Government's reply. Subsequent
to the request for permission, the Commission received new communiqués
from the claimant with regard to the status of one of the individuals
arrested in Guatemala, whose name appears on the list of individuals
presumed dead or missing, which was transmitted to that country with a
note dated September 6, 1972, requesting information, in accordance with
Articles 42 and 44 of its Regulations. In
view of the serious and urgent nature of the new denunciations, the
Commission addressed the Government of Guatemala on December 19, 1973,
to request information on those denunciations. The Government of
Guatemala replied to that note on March 4, 1974 (Note 755), stating that
the individual with regard to whom the denunciations had been made
"had not been arrested by the National Police in Chimaltenango, nor
by any other police corps." With
this new information, the Commission continued to study cases 1702, 1748
and 1755 during its thirty-second session (April 1974). The
Commission had at hand, as a working document, a draft report prepared
by the Secretariat on the state of human rights in Guatemala. That
report (doc.5-32) is in part comprised of background information, the
denunciation received which the above-cited cases comprise, classified
according to the human rights allegedly violated; the requests for
information filed with that Government and the responses received from
it. The
Commission instructed Dr. Genaro R. Carrió, rapporteur for the cases in
question, to examine the status of these cases in order to determine the
status of their processing and to formulate the recommendations that he
deemed appropriate, especially as to the advisability of again
requesting the Government of Guatemala to permit an on-site
investigation of the denunciations received. The
rapporteur presented an oral report; based on the recommendations he
made, the Commission decided, by a majority, with the opposing vote of
Dr. Andres Aguilar, not to reiterate to the Government of Guatemala its
request for permission to visit its territory. However, at that same
session it was unanimously decided to address a new communication to the
Government of Guatemala stating the observations of the CIDH on the
Guatemalan Government's denial to allow the Commission to visit its
territories and on the statements that the Minister of Foreign Affairs
made to the press with regard to that request for permission. Pursuant
to these decisions, the Commission instructed the rapporteur for case
1702, 1748 and 1755 to prepare a draft resolution, in application of the
provisions contained in paragraph 1 of Article 51 of the Regulations. At
the same time it requested the Chairman of the Commission to send a note
to the Government of Guatemala prior to the conclusion of the present
session with regard to the observations made by the CIDH on that
Government's refusal to allow a subcommittee to visit that country. Pursuant
to the decision to address the Government of Guatemala with regard to
that Government's refusal to allow the CIDH to visit its territory, the
Commission sent a note to that Government on April 16, 1974. As
for the draft resolution on cases 1702, 1748 and 1755, the Commission,
based on the material prepared by the rapporteur, approved the following
resolution (OEA/Ser.L/V/II.32, doc.21 rev.1, April 17, 1974): INTER-AMERICAN
COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS, WHEREAS: In
February 1971 a claim was filed before the Commission allowing that
since November 1970, the date on which Guatemala was declared to be
under a state of siege, not less than 700 murders have taken place
because of political reasons, perpetrated by elements which, according
to the denunciation, "enjoy full government protection and
therefore act with total impunity." The denunciations received,
made by labor and private political organizations, make reference to a
waive of terror attributed to police and military forces in Guatemala
and mention the names of a number of individuals who, it states, were
murdered. In
May 1971, the Commission requested the Government of Guatemala to
provide information. Because of its failure to respond, the request was
repeated in November 1971 and in March 1972. The reply arrived on April
24, 1972. The Government of Guatemala stated that it was in no way an
accessory to the murders committed and it maintained that those murders
were imputable to radical factions engaged in destroying one another. It
added that when the security forces capture those responsible for those
crimes, they will bind them to justice. It did not provide any specific
information on the concrete cases included in the original denunciations
mentioned above. The
Commission addressed the entities filing the denunciations and informed
them of the reply filed by the Government of Guatemala. One of these
entities provided material information through transmittal of two lists.
One of the lists names 57 individuals who allegedly have disappeared or
have been captured, as well as the date of their alleged disappearance
or arrest and a brief account of the specific circumstances of the
event. The other list, less precise, is entitled "List of
Individual Missing" and names 248 individuals, the dates on which
they are alleged to have disappeared and the source of the information
being transmitted. Those
lists were sent to the Government of Guatemala in September 1972, which
responded on December l of that year. In its reply it provided
information with regard to only 8 of the individuals named on the
first of these lists. It provided no concrete information on the other
individuals mentioned in the two lists. It made general observations on
individuals who are missing without a trace and added that there are
cases where it has been discovered that these individuals have never
disappeared and other cases, too numerous to mention, where the
investigations continue and will continue until the whereabouts are
established." From the reply filed by the Government of Guatemala
one concludes that all judges in criminal courts in Guatemala have been
asked to provide information as to the whereabouts of the individuals
alleged to have been arrested or to have disappeared and that to date,
only two of those judges have replied. In
view of that response, in April 1973 the Commission decided to request
the Government of Guatemala to kindly provide, as soon as possible, the
following information: a) A list, with Christian name and surname, of
those individuals being referred to when the Government states that
"there are cases where it has been discovered that these
individuals have never disappeared and others, too numerous to mention,
where the investigations continue and so forth"; b) A copy of the
replies filed by all the criminal court judges to the officials who
addressed them in order to request from them information on the
individuals alleged to be missing or to have been arrested, and c)
Concrete data and the current status of the investigations aimed at
determining whether these individuals are being held under arrest and in
general, at establishing their whereabouts. All that information was
requested in connection with all those individuals whose names appear on
the lists that the Commission had sent to the Government of Guatemala.
The new request for information was filed through a note dated June 15,
1973. The
Government of Guatemala replied on September 4, 1973. The reply
essentially stated the following two facts: a) That it felt that its
earlier reports were sufficiently extensive and explicit, so that it
also felt that there was no further information to provide, and b) that
in connection with the request for data on the progress being made in
the investigations, "it is not possible to reveal names and
circumstances, because this would nullify the investigation, enabling
those responsible to go into hiding, once alerted, so that a reply to
the respective points made in the note sent by the Commission was not
possible. Bearing
in mind the gravity of the denunciations, the high number of individual
cases that these involve and the negative attitude of the Government of
Guatemala, at its thirty-first session the Commission decided to request
permission of that Government to allow a subcommittee to conduct an
on-site investigation (Articles 11 in fine of the Statute and
Article 51 in fine of the Regulations). That permission was
requested through a telegram dated November 1, 1973, and denied through
a cable dated November 3, 1973. Article
51 of the Regulations of the Commission, the test of which was quoted in
the note sent to the Government of Guatemala, provides that "the
occurrence of the events on which information has been requested will be
presumed to be confirmed if the government referred to has not supplied
such information within 180 days of the request." In our case, on
June 15, 1973, the Government of Guatemala was asked to provide specific
information on the alleged disappearance or arbitrary arrest of more
than 300 individuals, whose names and surnames were specified for that
Government. The Government of Guatemala had to provide information on
the other individuals concerned, and on the progress of the
investigations aimed at determining their whereabouts. It is therefore
appropriate to apply the presumption of confirmation provided for under
Article 51 of the Regulations with regard to the events involving all
those other individuals included in the lists sent to the Government of
Guatemala with the note dated June 15, 1973, and with regard to whom no
concrete and specific information was provided in the note sent by that
Government on September 4, 1973. That is, to presume that those
individuals have disappeared as a consequence of arbitrary acts in
violation of the rights upheld in Article I of the American Declaration
of the Rights and Duties of Man and that agents of the Guatemalan
Government or individuals protected or tolerated by that Government have
not been uninvolved in these acts. Article
9 (bis) b of the Statute of the Commission empowers the
Commission to make recommendations to the Government of any state, when
it deems it appropriate, "with the objective of bringing about more
effective observance of fundamental human rights." Article 56 of
the Regulations provides that if violation of one or more rights
contained in Article 51 of the Regulations is confirmed (in other words,
those upheld by Articles I, II, III, IV, XVII and XXV of the American
Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man), the Commission shall
prepare a report on the case and make appropriate recommendation to the
Government concerned. THE
INTER-AMERICAN COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS, RESOLVES: In
application of the provisions contained in Article 51 of the
Regulations, to presume confirmation of the events referred to in
paragraph 8 of the preamble with the implications expressed therein. To
declare that all the events presumed to be confirmed are serious
violations of the right to life, liberty and personal security upheld in
Article I of the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man. To
recommend to the Government of Guatemala that: a) It encourage and
conduct, with the urgency that the case requires, an investigation aimed
at determining, based on rigorous evidence, whether the events presumed
to be true have in fact taken place, and, should this be the case, at
singling out and punishing those individuals responsible and b) It
report to the Commission before September 30 on the status of that
investigation. To
report this decision to the claimants. This
resolution was transmitted to the Government of Guatemala on June 3,
1974, and to the claimants on June 4, 1974. At
its thirty-fourth session (October 1974), the Commission confirmed that
the period provided for under that resolution for the Government of
Guatemala to report on the measures it had taken in response to the
recommendations contained in that document for the purposes set forth in
Article 57 of the Regulations, had expired. It decided the following: a)
to include those cases in the Annual Report to the General Assembly of
the OAS, and b) to address a note to the Government of Guatemala
informing it of its decision and of the status of the processing of the
case. This
decision (point b) was not carried out in view of the fact that on
October 14, 1974, the Government of Guatemala addressed a note to the
Commission, the pertinent parts of which are presented below: "I
have the honor to refer to the note dated June 3, 1974, which you sent
to Jorge Arenales Catalán, then Minister of Foreign Affairs of this
Republic. The note made reference to cases 1702 and 1748 being processed
in that Commission, stating that the Commission had continued its
examination of those cases during the course of its thirty-second
session, held in Washington from April 8 to 18, 1974, and that the
Commission had approved the resolution which was appended to that note. "As
you know, there was a constitutional change in government in Guatemala,
which took place on July 1 of this year, whereby the President, General
Carlos Manuel Arana Osorio, turned over the Office of the President to
the candidate elected by the people, General Kjell Eugenio Laugerud García.
It was at that point that I took over the Office of Foreign Affairs. With
regard to one note sent by that Commission to the Government of
Guatemala, referred to earlier, I find myself facing a situation which I
feel will be difficult to settle in favor of the requests made by the
Commission. In effect, the paragraphs contained in the preamble of the
resolution refer to a number of events that took place under the
previous Government and to a series of denunciations on the
disappearance of individuals; the previous Government was responsible
for the investigation into these matters and the search for the
individuals concerned. Under
these circumstances I consider it inappropriate to comment on the four
operative paragraphs of the resolution on cases 1702 and 1748 approved
by the Commission at its 400th meeting held on April 17,
1974. Notwithstanding, the Government of Guatemala continues to make
very possible effort clarify the events denounced and has instructed the
appropriate authorities to make the necessary inquiries." The
Commission replied to that note on December 17, 1974. The text or its
response is as follows: "We
have the honor to refer to the note sent by Your Excellency on October
14, 1974 (Nº 2532) on the resolution adopted by the Inter-American
Commission on Human Rights on April 17, 1974, on cases 1702 and 1748,
being processed under this Commission. The
Commission appreciates the willingness on the part of the Government of
Guatemala and especially, on Your Excellency’s part to settle these
cases in a manner compatible with the difficult circumstances facing the
new Constitutional Government, mentioned in your note, and in keeping
with the high principles that inspire the efforts being made by the
Commission. In
view of the fact that Your Excellency states that the Government of
Guatemala, as an effort toward correct administration of justice,
"continues to make every possible effort to clarify the events
denounced and has instructed the appropriate authorities to make the
necessary inquiries, "the Commission feels that in this way the
current Government of Guatemala would be carrying out the recommendation
made in operative paragraph 3 of the resolution adopted on April 17 and
that, within a reasonable period of time, Your Excellency could inform
the Commission on the status and/or results of the inquiries those
authorities are to make, aimed at determining, on the basis of rigorous
evidence whether the events presumed to be confirmed have taken place,
and if true, at singling out and punishing those individuals
responsible. Therefore,
the Commission has agreed not to include, for the moment, the cases in
question in its Annual Report to the General Assembly to the
Organization, while awaiting such information as Your Excellency may be
able to provide on the cases in question." At
the thirty-fifth session (May 1975), the Commission considered for the
last time the status of the processing of these cases in light of the
resolution adopted on April 17, 1974, and noting that the Government of
Guatemala had not replied to the note of December 17, 1974 reporting on
the measures that had been taken in response to the recommendations
contained in that resolution, it instructed the rapporteur for these
cases, Dr. Genaro R. Carrió, to prepare a draft resolution with such
observations as he deems appropriate, an application of the provisions
contained in Article 57 of the Regulations. Based
on the draft prepared by the rapporteur, the Commission approved the
following resolution on cases 1702, 1748 and 1755 (OEA/Ser.L/V/II.35,
doc.9 rev. 1, of May 29, 1975) at that session. THE
INTER-AMERICAN COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS, HAVING
SEEN the resolution on cases 1702, 1748 (Guatemala) (doc.21-32 rev. 1)
adopted at its second session, in which it resolved: To
presume the confirmation of the occurrence of the allegations, in
application of Article 51 of the Regulations. To
recommend to the Government of Guatemala that: a) with the promptness
that the case requires it promote and carry an investigation directed to
determine in a rigorously authentic manner whether the acts presumed to
have occurred have been committed and, if so, to determine and punish
those responsible, and b) it inform the commission before September 30,
1974 on the status of the investigation, and WHEREAS: The
Commission decided at its thirty-second session (April 1974) to include
these cases in the Annual Report to the General Assembly, pursuant to
Article 57 of the Regulations, in the event that the information
indicated in that resolution had not been submitted. On
October 14, 1974 the Government of Guatemala cited the change of
administration that had taken place on July 1, 1974 and stated that, for
that reason, the resolution of the Commission "refers a series of
events that occurred during the previous government and to a series of
denunciations regarding the disappearance of persons the investigation
and search for whom was incumbent upon that government." This
last reason cannot be considered worthy of attention, taking into
account the juridical continuity of the State of Guatemala,
notwithstanding changes of administration. Nevertheless,
as the above-mentioned note states that the new administration was
continuing "to make every possible effort to shed light on the
allegations," the Commission, by note of December 17, 1974,
informed the Government of Guatemala that, in view of the fact that that
statement could be interpreted as if the "present Government of
Guatemala would be complying with the recommendation formulated in point
3 of the resolution of April 17," it had decided not to include for
the moment these cases in the Annual Report to the Assembly, awaiting
the information that the Government of Guatemala might furnish on the
cases. A
more than reasonable period has elapsed since that time and no
information has been received from the Government of Guatemala relative
to the announced investigation. RESOLVES: To
call the attention of the Government of Guatemala to the fact that these
acts constitute serious violations of the rights to life, liberty and
personal security; to a fair trial; of protection from arbitrary arrest
and to due process of law, set forth in Articles, I, XVIII, XXV and XXVI
of the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man. To
include this resolution in its Annual Report to the General Assembly of
the Organization of American States, pursuant to Article 9 (bis) c,
iii of the Statute and Article 57 of the Regulations. To
transmit the resolution to the Government of Guatemala and to claimants. This
Resolution was brought to the attention of the Government of Guatemala
on August 12, 1975. It was transmitted to the claimants on December 12,
1975.
[ Table of Contents | Previous | Next ]
|
