Guatemala: Report on Recent Political Violence Deborah Tyroler
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University of New Mexico UNM Digital Repository NotiCen Latin America Digital Beat (LADB) 3-30-1990 Guatemala: Report On Recent Political Violence Deborah Tyroler Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/noticen Recommended Citation Tyroler, Deborah. "Guatemala: Report On Recent Political Violence." (1990). https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/noticen/3875 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Latin America Digital Beat (LADB) at UNM Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in NotiCen by an authorized administrator of UNM Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. LADB Article Id: 070907 ISSN: 1089-1560 Guatemala: Report On Recent Political Violence by Deborah Tyroler Category/Department: General Published: Friday, March 30, 1990 Extrajudicial Executions Recent reports by the Mexico City-based Guatemalan Human Rights Commission (CDHG) contain brief descriptions of 26 killings during the Feb. 28-March 20 period. An "extrajudicial execution" is defined as a homicide committed by unidentified persons for known or suspected political reasons. Dates appearing below do not always refer to time of death, but rather to the date a corpse is found, or when such discovery is reported to the CDHG. Feb. 28: Body of 24-year-old woman, discovered in a ditch in Agua Dulce, Zaragoza, Chimaltenango department. The victim had been "disappeared" since Aug. 7. March 1: Body of 22-year-old man found, Pueblo Nuevo, Ocos, San Marcos department. The victim had been stabbed repeatedly, and an arm had been amputated. He was a resident of Palin, Nuevo Progreso, San Marcos. Body of unidentified man found on Geneva Costa Cuca estate, San Antonio Morazan, Quezaltenango department. The victim had been knifed to death. March 2: Body of security guard at Swedish embassy found in the embassy building. The victim had been shot in the head, and his hands and feet were bound. Member of National Electrical Workers Union (STINDE) shot to death by unidentified persons while at work at the National Electricity Institute (INDE) affiliate in Pasabien, Chiquimula. March 5: Agricultural worker killed outside his home on the Marina estate in Nuevo Progreso, San Marcos department. On the Atlantic Ocean roadway, Los Amates, Izabal, 17-year-old man shot to death. Body of 45-year-old man bound on road between San Miguel Petapa and El Frutal estate in Villa Nueva. The victim had been abducted earlier in San Miguel Petapa, Guatemala department. March 10: Body of man, 54, found in a vacant lot near km. 10 on road to Atlantic near Guatemala City. The victim, a resident of the colonia Valle del Atlantico in Guatemala City, appeared to have been bound at the hands and feet and hung. Body of man found in Guatemala department. The victim, who had been reported abducted, was strangled. Corpse of unidentified woman, 30, found in Esquintla department. The victim had been shot to death. March 15: A pickup truck carrying nine residents of San Miguel Ixtahuacan, San Marcos department, was stopped on a road between Tejutla and Malacatan. Hours later the body of one of the passengers was discovered in Morazan department, and the bodies of four others in Malacatan. One of the passengers, a four-year-old boy was found alive. The whereabouts of the three others are unknown. March 16: Bodies of two unidentified men, 48 and 28, found in Totonicapan. The victims had been strangled and tortured. Corpses of two unidentified men, 45 and 30, found in Quezaltenango. The victims had been strangled and tortured. Student reported shot to death in Guatemala City. March 18: Bodies of two men found, aged 23 and 24, El Quetzal, San Marcos department. The victims, who had been abducted a few days earlier, were shot to death. March 20: Body of woman, 53, found in San Pedro Yepocapa, Chimaltenango department. The victim had been strangled and tortured. Corpse of man, 28, found in Chal, Santa Ana Peten, El Peten department. The victim was shot to death. Corpse of man, 28, found in San Marcos department. The victim had been severely beaten. Army abuses Feb. 13: The Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity (URNG) recently reported that troops pertaining to the Mariscal Zavala Brigade Second Infantry Battalion captured and tortured to death two URNG combatants in Pujujil, Solola department. Two civilians were also killed by the troops. Feb. 27: During a battle with guerrillas on the outskirts of Santa Maria de Jesus, Sacatepequez department, troops launched rockets into the homes of civilian residents, causing the death of a ©2011 The University of New Mexico, Latin American & Iberian Institute. All rights reserved. Page 1 of 3 LADB Article Id: 070907 ISSN: 1089-1560 three-year-old, and injuries to three children. March 1: Soldiers stationed in Los Cimientos, Chajul, El Quiche department, killed a 23-year-old man, a two-year-old, and a 15-year-old boy. In the village of Putul, Chajul, the same soldiers killed a 45-year-old man, and tortured another man. Army troops were reported to have forced hundreds of residents of Santa Maria de Jesus, Sacatepequez department, to join local civil defense patrols. Guatemala's constitution specifies that the patrols are voluntary, civilian organizations. Civilians cannot be obligated in any way to serve in the patrols. March 5: The Committee for Campesino Unity (CUC) reported that commander of the military dispatch in Chupol, Chichicastenango, El Quiche, is forcing civilian defense patrol chiefs, military commissioners and auxiliary mayors to sign statements requesting the continuation of the civilian defense patrols. Village residents in the area are also being obligated to present 10 young men apiece for military service. March 9: The URNG reported to the UN Human Rights Commission, the Guatemalan Congressional Human Rights Commission and the Human Rights Attorney that army troops fired 35 rockets on populated and cultivated areas in Ixcan, El Quiche department. March 10: Troops launched 34 105 mm projectiles and mortars over villages and cultivated areas of La Cienega, El Quetzal and Yuxcuen, Huehuetenango department. March 12: Candelaria and Manuela Perez were threatened with death by Chichicastenango military commissioner Juan Lares. Col. Angel de la Vega demanded participation in civilian defense patrols by residents of Santa Maria de Jesus, Sacatepequez in order to exterminate the guerrillas "like wild animals." The village was occupied by soldiers who carry out continual patrols on foot and in tanks. March 15: Army troops dropped 57 grenades and 59 bombs from planes over populated areas in Chajul, El Quiche, and Nenton, Huehuetenango department. March 17: In Parraxtut, Sacapulas, El Quiche department, military commissioners burst into the home of Maria Mejia, 47, and her husband, Pedro Castro Tujin. Mejia was shot to death, and Castro severely wounded. The incident was witnessed by family members and relatives. The couple's son, Juan Tum Mejia, 22, had received death threats from military commissioners and civilian patrol chiefs since January when he began working at the Runujel Junam Ethnic Communities Council (CERJ) office in San Cruz del Quiche. Two brothers, Domingo, 17, and Diego, 15, recently fled Parraxtut and were provided refuge at the CERJ office as a result of threats from military commissioners. On March 9, CERJ leaders filed a habeas corpus petition with the Santa Cruz del Quiche justice of the peace regarding the threats against the two teenagers. A complaint was also filed with the Human Rights Attorney General. According to CERJ, the military commissioners said the complaint was meaningless because the rights attorney general is not military and thus has no jurisdiction. Since March 19: CERJ leaders reported that 39 residents of Parraxtut, Sacapulas, El Quiche, took refuge in the Santa Cruz del Quiche CERJ office after military commissioners Domingo Castro Lux and Juan de Leon Perez delivered death threats to three families. Disappeared March 7: William Jonathan Palacios, 15, student, Guatemala City. March 8: Denis Diaz, 19, disappeared on his way to school in Guatemala City. March 14: Hector Rosalio Mejia Fuentes, 20, Guatemala City. Assault, threats, other abuses March 1: Guillermo Hernandez Perez, 30, shot three times by unidentified men, Coatepeque, Quezaltenango. Rafael Barrios, 64, shot by unidentified men in his home, Paty, San Rafael Pie de la Cuesta, San Marcos. March 11: Juan Luis Coy, leader of the Electricity Institute employee union (STINDE), left Guatemala. Coy has received several death threats, and his wife was kidnapped for a brief period in February. March 13: Residents of Sacpuluc and Chunima, near Chichicastenango, El Quiche department, report that they continue to receive anonymous death threats. Next, the mayor of Chichicastenango reported to the Mutual Support Group (GAM) office that he has received several anonymous death threats in letters claiming he supports the guerrillas. Several Sacpuluc residents who have received death threats fear for their lives because they have been been under increasing pressure to join civilian defense ©2011 The University of New Mexico, Latin American & Iberian Institute. All rights reserved. Page 2 of 3 LADB Article Id: 070907 ISSN: 1089-1560 patrols. The church in Sacpuluc has been destroyed by fire as part of the intimidation campaign against residents. [Dates appearing in the summaries above refer to the date of the event, or the date the item was reported to the CGHG. Basic data from 03/19/90, Xinhua; 03/19/90, 03/21/90, 03/28/90 reports distributed by Guatemala Human Rights Commission/USA (Washington, DC)] -- End -- ©2011 The University of New Mexico, Latin American & Iberian Institute. All rights reserved. Page 3 of 3.