VZCZCXYZ0000
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHGT #0168/01 0301510
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 301510Z JAN 06
FM AMEMBASSY GUATEMALA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 8711
INFO RUEHZA/WHA CENTRAL AMERICAN COLLECTIVE
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 0069

UNCLAS GUATEMALA 000168 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM EAID SNAR KJUS GT
SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR'S MEETING WITH GUATEMALAN HUMAN RIGHTS 
LEADERS 
 
 
¶1. (U) Summary:  Ambassador Derham hosted a meeting with 10 
leaders of the Guatemalan human rights community to share 
views on security and violent crime.  Most agreed that while 
violence has many sources, the current government does not 
engage in social cleansing or violence against any sector of 
society.  They agreed, however, that the GOG is failing 
dramatically in its responsibility to provide law and order. 
They also confirmed that civil society has not yet been 
consulted on the latest version of the CICIACS.  They 
expressed qualified support for specific U.S. priorities for 
improving the rule of law in Guatemala, including CICIACS. 
End Summary. 
 
¶2. (U) On January 20, the Ambassador met with 10 leaders of 
the human rights community for a roundtable discussion at the 
Embassy.  Participants were Mario Polanco (Mutual Support 
Group, or GAM), Iduvina Hernandez (Association for the Study 
and Promotion of Security and Democracy, or SEDEM), Alejandra 
Vasquez and Marvin Rabanales (Social Movement for the Rights 
of Children, Adolescents, and Youth), Maria Eugenia Villareal 
(ECPAT), Maria Salome Garcia Ortiz (Creative Learning), 
Amilcar Mendez (CERJ), David Bahmondes (Mack Foundation), and 
Carlos Barreda (Social Organizations Collective, or COS). 
 
¶3. (U) The Ambassador requested their views on violent crime 
and citizens security in Guatemala and elicited a variety of 
responses.  All agreed that Guatemalans, and especially 
children, live in a state of "extreme vulnerability" to 
violence.  Regarding the roots of violence, they offered not 
one but many plausible explanations, including extreme 
poverty, inadequate investments in education and public 
health, a culture of violence, the influence of organized 
crime and gangs, a highly unequal distribution of wealth, and 
the failure to dismantle violent groups at the end of the 
armed conflict.  To Villareal's observation that violence in 
Guatemala is compounding in the absence of an effective 
government response, Polanco added grim statistics:  in 2005 
GAM catalogued 2900 particularly brutal homicides and 560 of 
those victims were women.  (Note:  these statistics are close 
to those released by the GOG that we use in the Human Rights 
Report, but do not tally exactly.  End note.) 
 
¶4. (SBU)  Most participants agreed that the government does 
not engage in social cleansing nor does it pursue a policy of 
violence against any sector of society.  The lone voice of 
dissent was Amilcar Mendez of the Strategic Alliance for 
Human Rights, who said that the state -- and Minister of 
Government Carlos Vielmann in particular -- authorized the 
extrajudicial killing of gang members.  When pressed for 
evidence to back up his accusation, he backed off 
considerably, noting that "this is our perception."  The 
other attendees espoused the less radical position that, 
while the state does not endorse or sponsor violence, it has 
been negligent in its failure to protect society from it. 
Some claimed that the government had neither the means nor 
the will to investigate allegations of criminal misconduct by 
rogue police and military.  They pointed out that the general 
impunity that benefited corrupt government actors has 
returned to haunt the GOG by enabling the growth of gangs and 
other organized crime. 
 
¶5. (U) Participants viewed with varying degrees of pessimism 
the state of the justice system in Guatemala.  Police, in 
particular, were severely criticized.  Several observed the 
problems inherent in the National Civilian Police (PNC) 
practice of "recycling" personnel (transferring corrupt or 
discredited police to a different jurisdiction).  Vasquez 
added that restructuring and/or changes in PNC leadership has 
never been effective.  Polanco suggested that the police had 
been infiltrated, but did not specify by whom.  Others 
pointed to unsatisfactory training, corruption, and police 
involvement in criminal activities.  On a more positive note, 
Bahmondes said the Mack Foundation had observed genuine 
attempts to reform the PNC, although they fall short of what 
is needed. 
 
¶6. (U) None of those assembled had seen the GOG's latest 
proposal for establishing a U.N. investigative body 
(CICIACS).  They said the GOG had not consulted civil society 
for input.  Polanco expressed concern that the new version 
might focus too narrowly on organized crime.  He said civil 
society favors a CICIACS with a broad mandate to investigate 
current and past human rights abuses. 
 
¶7. (U) The Ambassador asked specifically about perceptions of 
U.S.-supported initiatives, such as reforms to the appeals 
law, the organized crime bill, and the national forensic lab. 
 There was general agreement that all were potentially 
positive steps but also subject to abuse.  Bahmondes said the 
United States is working toward the correct goal -- that is, 
 
combating impunity -- but observed that "bad problems are not 
necessarily solved by good laws," since the real weakness in 
Guatemala is failure to enforce the law.  While most viewed 
DNA testing as indispensable, Rabanales declared that the 
forensics lab had the potential for utter failure.  It will 
depend not on the quality of the law or the lab, he said, but 
rather on its staff.  He also expressed concern about the 
difficulty of balancing civil liberties with providing 
police, prosecutors, and judges the tools they need 
(including wiretap authority) to successfully prosecute 
criminals.  The current appeals process, for example, 
shelters the bad guys, but it also provides needed protection 
from persecution. 
 
¶8. (U) A number of other issues were raised: 
 
-- Villareal noted that the government has failed to devote a 
budget line-item to anti-trafficking measures. 
 
-- Vasquez expressed concern that, as elections approach, the 
parties will try to outdo one another with the strongest 
"mano dura" anti-gang approach. 
 
-- Bahmondes mentioned with concern an initiative, now in 
Congress, that would give military tribunals jurisdiction 
over all crimes committed by members of the military, 
regardless of the nature of the crime.  (Note:  Congress has 
essentially shelved this initiative.  End note.) 
 
-- Hernandez classified the government's prosecution of the 
Chixoy Dam protest leaders as "state violence." 
DERHAM