OEA/Ser.L/V/II.61
Doc. 47 rev.1
October 5, 1983
Original: Spanish

INTRODUCTION

A.          Background

1.         The following is the second report that the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights issues on the situation of human rights in Guatemala. The First “Report on the Situation of Human Rights in the Republic of Guatemala” (OEA/Ser.L/V/II.53 doc. 21, rev. 2), was approved by the Commission on its 722^nd session held on October 13, 1981 and addresses the situation of those rights up to that date.

          2.          Although this Report is limited exclusively to the human rights situation in Guatemala from March 23, 1982,--the date of the coup d'etat from which the government of President Efrain Ríos Montt would later emerge—this introduction will briefly cover background material (some of which was also included in the previous IACHR Report) for the purpose of fostering a better understanding of the present human rights situation in Guatemala.

          3.          During the decade of the 60's anti-government insurgent groups such as the Rebel Armed Forces (FAR), the Revolutionary Movement November 13^th (MRI 13) and the Guerrilla Front Elder Ibarra (FGEI), emerged aiming their acts of harassment and attacks, at persons as well as private and public institutions. At the same time, paramilitary organizations such as “Mano” (Organized National Anticommunist Movement), “Mano Blanca”, the New Anticommunist Organization, An Eye for an Eye, the Death Squadron and others were also formed. The latter introduced into Guatemala a new way to suppress political opposition using threats, torture, assassination attempts, abductions, and plain murder. The objective and victims of these groups were not only the insurgents and persons identified as members of the political opposition but also persons who were suspected of sympathizing, collaborating or lending assistance to the opposition. Hundreds of innocent persons became victims of the acts of these paramilitary groups and their counter-insurgency terrorism.

          4.          This spiral of progovernment and antigovernment violence is aggravated, beginning in 1966, by the designation of Colonel Carlos Arana Osorio as Commander of Zapaca and his later rise to the presidency of the Republic in July of 1970. The increased fighting leads the country to the most extreme state of violence, to wit, the establishment of a reign of terror. This constituted a weapon of social repression used against unions, opposition groups, universities, political parties, cooperatives, leagues of peasants and the Church; in other words, against all the institutions and groups critical of the Government.

          5.          In 1974, two generals vie for the presidency of the Republic: Kjell Laugerud García, candidate for the Government party and José Efrain Ríos Montt, supported by the United Revolutionary Front (FUR), the then Authentic Revolutionary Party (PRA) now named the Socialist Democratic Party (PSD) and the Christian Democratic Party (PDC). General Laugerud García is elected and assumes the Presidency on July 1, 1974, even though the election is challenged by certain political sectors.

          6.          Some human rights organizations estimate that during the first two years of President Laugerud's term reigned a situation of internal peace and few human rights violations. But, toward the end of his term government terror manifested itself with the same intensity as before although new methods of terrorism were introduced.

          During this period, the Death Squadron and the Anticommunist Secret Army (ESA) as well as the guerrilla groups, published lists of persons who had been declared “sentenced” to death, among whom were prominent leaders of the Guatemalan community. As a result of the murder and execution of persons whose names appeared on the mentioned lists, many other persons who were also included in the same lists chose to leave the country. This significant voluntary exodus of important politicians from Guatemala is an example of the effectiveness of the methods of terror utilized to remove, apparently by their own decision, the leaders of the opposition. Also, the paramilitary groups were responsible for executions and disappearances of persons under the most complete silence, without announcing they had taken place nor claiming responsibility for the same.

          7.          On February of 1976 there is the catastrophe of the earthquake which destroys a large part of Guatemala leaving thousands of people dead. According to statements by important Guatemalan citizens, from that moment on it could be seen that both citizens and organizations were ready to seek other solutions. On the Government's part, there is more flexibility and a political opening. The ratification of the American Convention on Human Rights as well as the publication and dissemination of its text, access to rural credit for the country's Indian population, and the Government's tolerance of the labor movement, constitute examples of the willingness of President Laugerud García's Government to govern by peaceful and democratic means.

          8.          In 1978 General Fernando Romero Lucas García, who had been Minister of Defense under President Kjell Laugerud, assumes power as a result of what have been described as fraudulent elections. Lucas García faces growing opposition not only from guerrilla groups, which he had promised to combat, but also from political, labor and student organizations and part of the peasantry.

          9.          Toward the end of the 70's violence increases and two new guerrilla organizations appear: the Poor People's Guerilla Army (EGP) and the Organization of the People in Arms (ORPA).

          10.          Political violence intensifies with numerous violations to the right to life and other fundamental rights of the human person as described in the first IACHR Report on the human rights situation in Guatemala.1 The situation deteriorates even further with events such as the painful episode at the Embassy of Spain which was occupied by 29 men, among them 23 peasants and 6 leaders of popular organizations in the city of Guatemala. Gregorio Yuca, the only survivor, was taken to a hospital from which he was kidnapped despite the presence of security forces who were guarding the Spanish Ambassador, also in the same hospital. The body of the kidnapped victim was found on the grounds of the San Carlos University. After this and other distressing events, the harassment of universities, labor unions, professionals and churches intensified. Some organizations suffered from government actions that infringed on their right to associate and their freedom to form unions and also from actions which violated the persona safety of their leaders through kidnapping and, in certain cases, by murder. There were also numerous murder and disappearances of people, among them, prominent political personalities of Guatemala.

          11.          In October of 1981, the IACHR adopts its Report on the situation of human rights in Guatemala. In this report, the following conclusions and recommendations were formulated:

         CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

         A. Conclusions

         1. In light of the background information and considerations set forth in the present report, the overall conclusion of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights is that an alarming climate of violence has prevailed in recent years in Guatemala, which violence has either been instigated or tolerated by a Government, unwilling or unable to contain it. The violence has resulted in an excessive loss of life and in a widespread deterioration of the human rights set forth in the American Convention on Human Rights.

         2. While the victims of this violence are found in all sectors of society—including even the Armed Forces and those who possess political and economic power--, there is no doubt at all that the sectors most affected have been political leaders of opposition parties, trade unionists, priests, lawyers, journalists, professors and teachers, as well as the thousands of peasants and Indians who have been assassinated.

         3. In the large majority of cases, the deaths resulting from this violence were due to illegal executions and to the “disappearances” engineered by the security forces or paramilitary civilian groups acting in close collaboration with the Governmental authorities, which authorities took no steps to conduct proper or effective investigation as to the identities of the perpetrators of these crimes.

         4. These illegal executions and disappearances not only violate the right to life, they have created an endemic climate of total alarm, and even terror, which has subverted the role of law, and in practice, has inhibited the observance of most of the rights set forth in the American Convention on Human Rights.

         5. The generalized violence in Guatemala has meant, as shown in the various chapters of this Report, that the rights to personal freedom an safety, a fair trial and due process, freedom of conscience and religion, freedom of thought and expression, and freedom of assembly and association, as well as political rights are seriously affected and restricted in fact, despite their formal recognition in the Guatemalan Constitution and laws.

         6. The great socio-economic disparities among the various sectors of the Guatemalan population have also contributed to the generalized violence in the country. These disparities are evident in, among other things, the notable lack of correspondence between Guatemala's rates of growth in recent years and the quality of life of approximately half the population, whose economic and social rights—particularly as regards basic needs in the areas of health, nutrition and education—have not been realized.

         B. Recommendations

         In consideration of the conclusions set forth here the IACHR presents the following recommendations to the Government of Guatemala:

         1. That it take the necessary measures to prevent the occurrence of serious violations of the right to life; that it end the participation of an tolerance by, governmental authorities and paramilitary groups in the violence and terrorism, and that it investigate and rigorously punish those responsible for such acts.

         2. That it investigate and punish, with the full force of the law, those responsible for the illegal executions, disappearances, arbitrary detentions and torture.

         3. That it effectively guarantee freedom of association, the right of assembly and trade-union freedom as set forth in the Guatemalan Constitution and in the American Convention on Human Rights.

         4. That it effect a thorough-going and complete reorganization of the judiciary, so that once it has the human and material resources, the judiciary can function in true autonomy and with sufficient powers to effectively and promptly investigate violations of human rights, and to punish those responsible, regardless of who they may be, without fear of reprisals.

         5. That it open a broad dialogue with all sectors of Guatemalan society in an effort to end the violence and to find a solution to the social and economic problems through democratic, peaceful means and processes.

          12.          In spite of these recommendations, Guatemala continued to experience a climate of violence and terror produced by armed political clashes resulting from ideological confrontation.

          The paramilitary groups and the death squadrons,--some of them with certain ties to the security forces and tolerated by the Government—continued to operate The Government seemed to have been more interested in maintaining a hard line, which it apparently considered essential to its survival, than in seeking solutions that would lead Guatemala to democratization within the framework of law, order and justice.

B.       The Coup d'Etat of March 23, 1982

          1.          On March 7, 1982 general elections are held from which General Anibal Guevara, former Minister of Defense under President Lucas García, emerged victorious. General Guevara was not able to assume office, however, because on March 23, 1982, young Army officers, alleging that the elections had been fraudulent, stage a coup d'Etat and ask General Efrain Ríos Montt, who at the time was retired from the Army, to take charge of the new government.

          2.          General Ríos Montt assumed office as President of a Government Military Junta formed by General Horacio Maldonado Schaad and Colonel Francisco Luis Gordillo and announced that the President of the Junta would at the same time serve as Minister of Defense. General Maldonado Schaad would also be Minister of the Interior and Colonel Gordillo, Minister of Communications.

          3.          On the same day of the coup, the Army makes public a proclamation containing the following 14 fundamental points which the new Junta proposed to achieve:

                  1.        Make the citizenry feel that the authority is there to serve the people and not to be served by the people.

                  2.        Achieve the reconciliation of the Guatemalan family in the interest of peace and national harmony.

                  3.        Achieve individual safety and well being based on an absolute respect for human rights.

                  4.        Recapture individual and national dignity.

                  5.        Achieve a nationalist spirit and create the basis for the integration and participation of the different ethnic groups which comprise our nation.

                  6.        Achieve the recovery of the national economy within the free enterprise system subject to the controls demanded by the country's present situation.

                  7.        Restructure the Judicial Branch with the participation of the Bar Association to make it suitable to the present situation and achieve its ethical, moral and juridical functioning.

                  8.        Eradicate administrative corruption and instill in Government employees a genuine spirit of public service that will constitute the foundation of a National Government.

                  9.        Stimulate within the different pressure groups, representative of national sectors, a new line of thought based on development, reform and nationalism.

                  10.        Strengthen national integration by efficiently taking advantage of the cooperation of other countries and international organizations and by projecting the state's problems toward the outside.

                  11.        Improve the population's standard of living in order to reduce existing contradictions.

                  12.        Restructure the electoral system in order that, as the end result of a true democracy, political participation be respected and popular frustrations avoided.

                  13.        Reorganize the public administration for the purpose of activating government programs, make them efficient, control their operation and avoid administrative anarchy.

                  14.        Reestablish the country's constitutionality within a strict period of time in order for Guatemalans to know and demand their rights and obligations in the free exercise of democracy.2

          4.          On June 9, General Efrain Ríos Montt dissolved the Military Junta of Government, assumed the country's Presidency and Command of the Armed Forces. Thus, General Horacio Maldonado Schaad and Colonel Francisco Luis Gordillo were stripped of their posts. A week later, General Ríos Montt ordered the substitution of the 324 elected mayors and proceeded to name their replacements. On the 29 of the same month, he centralized all activities relating to official press releases in the Public Relations Office of the Presidency and ordered that only through that Office could authorized official information be released.

          The institutional changes that took place within the Government of Guatemala were duly transmitted to the OAS General Secretariat through cable communications.3

C.       Invitation by the Government of Guatemala to the IACHR

           to visit Guatemala

          1.          On May 29, 1982, the Military Junta of Government of Guatemala, through its then Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr. Eduardo Castillo Arriola invited the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, through the OAS Secretary General, to carry out a visit to Guatemala for the purpose of fully examining the human rights situation and to issue a report on the subject. The text of that invitation reads as follows:

         Excellency:

         I have the honor of addressing Your Excellency with instructions from my Government to inform you that under the policy being implemented by the new authorities of the Junta of Government, with the purpose of achieving the restoration of democracy in my country, aiming to return to the Guatemalan nation the institutions that would guarantee their safety, peace, calm and the reunification of the Guatemalan family, with the solemn commitment to strengthen the dignity and respect for human beings and the full force of civil and social rights, I am formally inviting the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to designate one or ore persons, in its name, to visit Guatemala in the near future on a date to be agreed upon, with the purpose of fully examining the human rights situation and, in due time, present a report to the Commission and thus, facilitate the achievement of the high goals it pursue to insure the full force of human rights in the member States.

         I tried to extend this invitation personally in this city taking advantage of the fact that I am here attending the XX Meeting of Consultation of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs which just ended today, but due to the complex and extensive workload dealt with at this meeting and knowing that the Chairman of the Commission is not presently in this city, I am forced to do so in writing, addressed to Professor Tom J. Farer, hereby attached, and kindly request Your Excellency to forward it at the earliest possible time.

         Accept, Excellency, the renewed assurances of my highest consideration.

         Eduardo Castillo Arriola

         Minister of Foreign Affairs

          2.          On June 4^th of the same year 1982, the Secretary General of the Organization of American States, Alejandro Orfila, answered the note from Minister Eduardo Castillo Arriola in the following terms:

         Excellency:

         I have the honor of making reference to your note dated May 29^th of this year through which Your Excellency, in the name of the enlightened Government of Guatemala, informs me that under the policy being implemented by the new authorities for the purpose of restoring democracy in Guatemala, aiming to return to that nation the institutions that would guarantee their safety, peace, calm and the reunification of the Guatemalan family, with the solemn commitment to strengthen the dignity and respect of human beings and the full force of civil and social rights, has formally invited the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to designate one or more persons in its name to visit Guatemala in the near future on a date to be agreed upon, for the purpose of fully examining the human rights situation and in due time to present a report to that Commission and thus, to facilitate the achievement of the high goals it pursues to insure the full  force of human rights in the member States.

         Also, Your Excellency enclosed a communication addressed to Professor Tom J. Farer, Chairman of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, containing the invitation of which Your Excellency has so kindly informed me.

         Because Prof. Farer is not in Washington, I have brought the above mentioned communication to the attention of the Executive Secretary of the Commission, Dr. Edmundo Vargas Carreño, who has informed me that due to its particular importance, he will immediately forward it to the members of the Commission so that it can be given due consideration when it meets next June 21^st.

         Accept, Excellency, the renewed assurances of my highest consideration.

         Alejandro Orfila

         Secretary General

          3.          For his part, the Chairman of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights answered the invitation from the Foreign Affairs Minister of Guatemala and, by agreement of the members, accepted the invitation through a communication dated June 24^th, and whose text follows:

         Excellency:

         I have the honor of referring to Your Excellency's note dated May 19^th, 1982, in which the Government of Guatemala invites the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to visit your country for the purpose of examining the human rights situation there.

         In response, it pleases me to inform Your Excellency that the Commission, by the unanimous decision of its members, has decided to accept the honorable invitation as soon as it was received.

         At the same time, I wish to inform Your Excellency that the Commission has designated the Executive Secretary, Dr. Edmundo Vargas Carreño, to arrange with the Guatemalan authorities the details relating to the duration of the visit, the most opportune date to initiate the observation, the Commission's schedule of activities during the visit, facilities and cooperation, as well as the security measures that the Government of Guatemala will have to provide the Commission to accomplish its mission in accordance with the Commission's rules governing on-site observations.

         Together with our gratitude for the vote of confidence you have granted the Commission, please accept, Excellency, the renewed assurances of my highest consideration.

                  Marco Gerardo Monroy Cabra

           Chairman

          4.          In later communications, the Government of Guatemala and the Commission agreed to set the date of the visit by the IACHR to Guatemala for the 21^st to the 26^th of September of 1982. For the purpose of making the preparations and to reach an agreement with the governmental authorities on the details of the schedule of activities, Dr. David Padilla, Assistant Executive Secretary, traveled to Guatemala City where he remained from August 18^th until August 22^nd.

          5.          In accordance with the applicable Regulations, the Special Commission in charge of conducting the on-site observation in Guatemala was named. That Commission consisted of the following Commission members: Dr. Marco Gerardo Monroy Cabra, Chairman of the IACHR; Lic. César Sepúlveda, First-Vice Chairman; Professors Carlos A. Dunshee de Abranches and Tom J. Farer and Dr. Francisco Bertrand Galindo.

          6.          The Special Commission was accompanied by the following technical personnel from the Executive Secretariat: Dr. Edmundo Vargas Carreño, Executive Secretary of the Commission; Dr. David Padilla, Assistant Executive Secretary; Dr. Manuel Velasco Clark and Dr. Santiago Chaves Escoto, attorneys from the Secretariat and Mrs. Hilda Wicker, Mrs. Elsa Ergueta and Miss Nora Espinoza as administrative personnel.

          7.          The on-site observation began with the arrival of the main body of the Special Commission on September 21^st and concluded on the 26^th of the same month Previously, Doctors David Padilla and Manuel Velasco Clark had traveled on the 15^th of September of 1982 to make the necessary preparatory arrangements.