Scientists and Human Rights in Guatemala Report of a Delegation (1992) / Chapter Skim
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Guatemala, An Overview
Guatemala, An Overview
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Per capita income in 1990 was estimated by the World Bank at $9001 (Trends in Developing Economies 1991~; however, "the native American population comprising more than half of population—lives in extreme poverty and at the margin of the money economy."2 CIVILIAN GOVERNMENTS In the past 5 years Guatemala has held two free and democratic presidential elections, and authority has been transferred peacefully from one elected civilian to another for the first time in nearly four decades. Nevertheless, the armed forces continue to wield significant power, and civilian authority has not been fully established.
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Although progress continues to be frustratingly slow, President Serrano announced on May 23, 1992, that he had accepted a new proposal designed to break a deadlock between the government and the guerrillas on the issue of human rights. In early August a partial agreement was reportedly reached; the Roman Catholic bishop mediating the negotiations, Monsignor Rodolfo Quezada Toruno, called it "a significant step" toward a cease-fire:4 Under the seven-point agreement, the government is to cease organizing and arming peasants to fight the rebels in the patrols "so long as there are no events that motivate it." The condition appeared to mean that the Army would be allowed to set up or arm new patrols in villages where the rebels began serious or persistent attacks....
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3 Other positive steps taken during Serrano's presidency that are often cited include the indictment of a former member of the military in the murder of Myrna Mack; the convictions (in a retrial on April 28, 1992) of four Guatemalan police officers for the murder of a 13-year-old street child; the sentencing of two soldiers to 30 years in prison for the killing of four Indians from Quiche; the conviction of a member of the civil patrols for the 1991 murder of a farm worker; the appointment of civilians to head the Ministry of the Interior and the National Police; and the implementation of crucial economic reforms and a subsequent drop in inflation from an annual rate of around 70 percent in 1990 to an expected rate of less than 8 percent in 1992.
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An April article in the Christian Science Monitor reported that "in the last three months, 775 [refugees] have relocated to Guatemala more than twice the 1991 rate of return."8 In a 1981 publication, Amnesty International described the issue of political violence in Guatemala at that time as highly complex:9 Its causes lie in a number of interrelated factors: the absence of a tradition of democratic government; a historically weak and ineffective judiciary; guerrilla insurgency; the counterinsurgency activities which were originally developed with the assistance of foreign military advisers in the 1960s; the inegalitarian distribution of wealth and income; and the "social violence" engendered by the economic situation and pattern of government since 1954.
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Most of these killings violate common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions of 1949, which prohibits attacks against persons taking no active part in hostilities. According to Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1991, human rights abuses committed by the guerrillas include "killings of policemen and others, kidnapings, forced labor and recruitment, wide use of mines and other explosives, and the use of children in combat." All of the individuals with whom the delegation met recognized that the guerrillas have been quite successfully dismantled by the Guatemalan army, without much outside assistance, and that they can no longer take poweralthough they are still an annoyance to the army.
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14 Alfonso Fuentes Soria, "Discurso del Rector de la Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala con Motivo del XLVII Aniversario de la AutonomIa Universitaria" (Guatemala City, Guatemala, 1991)
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stating that from 1973 to 1984 Guatemala published only 19 papers per year in international scientific journals, at a time when the world scientific publication rate was 6,000-7,000 articles per day. Disappearances The 1992 Amnesty International Annual Report, which covers the period from January to December 1991, reports on 142 countries;l5 disappearances in 1991 were reported to have taken place in Guatemala and 19 other countries; they involved at least 1,270 people in all 20 countries.l6 The December 30, 1991, report of the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances of the U.N.
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has begun a program to train Guatemalans to identify those buried in unmarked graves. According to a recent article in Science, a AAAS team will sponsor a technical training workshop to teach a Guatemalan forensic team, including:20 .
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He was scheduled to give testimony before the InterAmerican Commission on Human Rights of the Organization of American States. Merida's September 29, 1990, report of his investigation provided evidence that the Mack case was politically motivated, implicated military 22 Association for the Advancement of the Social Sciences, Guatemala, Assistance and Control: Policies Toward internally Displaced Populations in Guatemala (Washington, D.C.: Center for Immigration Policy and Refugee Assistance, Georgetown University, 1990)
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Because Myrna Mack was known and respected outside Guatemala, her murder became widely known and publicized; it has been the subject of repeated inquiries and appeals by dozens of organizations, including the Committee on Human Rights.24 The case has gained a profile, thus placing considerable pressure on the Guatemalan government to resolve it. In addition, recent efforts to establish competent and credible police and judicial systems are credited with helping to move the case forward, though at a frustratingly slow pace.
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He was abducted by four armed men wearing civilian clothes in front of his pediatrics clinic in Guatemala City. The CHR immediately sent telegrams to the Guatemalan authorities and urged its members to write appeals in Dr.
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Dr. Valenzuela was professor of pediatrics at the University of San Carlos, president of the Association of Women Physicians, and department head at Escuintla Hospital.
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In addition to the University of San Carlos and the Higher Council of Central American Universities, the conference was sponsored by the Ministry of Public Affairs, the office of the attorney general, and the office of the ombudsman for human rights. Government sponsorship and participation sought to underline the government's commitment to the conference's objective to promote greater human rights protection in Guatemala by means of a countrywide human rights education program.
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In addition to the CHR, two other non-Central American groups were invited to send observers the office of the ombudsman for human rights of the National Autonomous University of Mexico and the World University Service, which is based in Geneva, Switzerland. While in Guatemala, the observers met with Alfonso Fuentes Soria, the rector of the University of San Carlos; Jorge Morales Gonzalez, the dean of engineering; and Edgar Francisco Rivera, the director of the Office of Research (the office under whose auspices the human rights program was being organized'.
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