VZCZCXYZ0003
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHGT #1150/01 1641908
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 131908Z JUN 06
FM AMEMBASSY GUATEMALA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 9915
INFO RUEHZA/WHA CENTRAL AMERICAN COLLECTIVE
RHMFIUU/CDR USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC

UNCLAS GUATEMALA 001150 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM KCRM KJUS MOPS PGOV EAID GT
SUBJECT: GUATEMALAN SOLDIERS ALLEGEDLY BEAT STREET KIDS 
 
 
¶1. (U) Summary:  Allegations surfaced that Guatemala's joint 
military-police patrols are not operating as designed. 
Guatemalan Army units are in some instances patrolling 
without their police counterparts and thus without any legal 
authority to conduct arrests or detentions.  Worse, a 
respected NGO has filed a complaint against the Guatemalan 
Army claiming that an Army patrol severely beat three street 
children.  The Charge d'Affaires raised our concerns about 
the incident with the unit's commander, who claimed the 
victims had been beaten by others.  End summary. 
 
Soldiers on the Street; Allegations of Abuse 
-------------------------------------------- 
¶2. (U) A local NGO filed a complaint with the Prosecutor 
General's Office against the Guatemalan Army over a May 22 
incident in which soldiers allegedly beat three adolescents 
in the capital.  Casa Alianza, the local affiliate of 
U.S.-based NGO Covenant House, works extensively with street 
children in Guatemala.  On May 22, Casa Alianza staff 
received an anonymous telephone call that claimed soldiers 
were beating children in an abandoned building in Zone 1 of 
Guatemala City.  Casa Alianza staff arrived at the scene and 
found three severely beaten adolescent boys, whom they took 
to Casa Alianza's shelter for boys in nearby Antigua for 
medical care. 
 
¶3. (U) After providing medical care and debriefing the 
victims, Casa Alianza filed a complaint with the Prosecutor 
General's Office.  The complaint alleged that on May 22 at 
9:30 am on 8th Avenue between 19th and 20th Streets of Zone 
1, two vehicles possibly from the Army (identified as 007GDH 
and 010GDH) arrived with an unconfirmed number of soldiers. 
The soldiers entered a building, found three adolescent boys, 
and beat them severely.  The three victims stayed several 
days at the Casa Alianza shelter, but have since left.  Casa 
Alianza staff, however, provided us with a dozen photographs 
to document the extent of the injuries. 
 
¶4. (U) Guatemala employs joint patrols comprised of National 
Civilian Police (PNC) and Guatemalan Army soldiers to augment 
the meager resources of the PNC in specific high-crime areas. 
 In a new supplemental effort, the military has deployed 
almost 3,000 recently trained reservists to patrol jointly 
with the PNC.  The soldiers' participation is intended solely 
to provide security to the PNC.  Although in this particular 
instance the deployed soldiers were from a military police 
unit, they had no legal authority to conduct arrests or 
detentions. 
 
¶5. (SBU) According to the Casa Alianza staff, however, the 
victims were adamant that there were no PNC personnel present 
in the May 22 patrol.  Casa Alianza staff also told us that 
an officer in the military police unit designated to 
participate in joint patrols confirmed to them that there 
were two patrols in the area on the given day.  The Charge 
d'Affaires raised the brutality allegations with the 
commanding officer of the unit (the Army's Honor Guard), who 
said that the Honor Guard's internal investigation confirmed 
the presence of the soldiers, but that they arrived after the 
victims had been beaten by someone else. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Separately, military sources have told us that PNC 
officers regularly fail to appear for planned joint patrols, 
especially with the military reservists, but that the Army 
intends to follow President Berger's orders to deploy assets, 
with or without PNC presence.  Embassy staff stressed to our 
Guatemalan Army contacts that the military should not patrol 
the streets without the PNC.  Military sources tell us that 
President Berger insists on maintaining a visible military 
presence on the street. 
 
Comment 
------- 
¶7. (SBU) There have been credible reports of torture, abuse, 
and other mistreatment by members of the PNC.  This complaint 
of army brutality, however, is notable due to the specific 
details (location, license plate numbers, and the time of the 
incident).  The phone caller who first tipped off Casa 
Alianza had said it was soldiers whoe were beating the youth. 
 The Honor Guard Commander's account therefore strikes us as 
implausible, but given that the evidence -- oral testimony by 
street children who are no longer available for comment -- is 
weak, we expect little further action.  We are concerned that 
the impunity in this case will send the wrong message to 
other soldiers.  Regardless of any future prosecution or 
punishment, military patrols without a PNC presence are a 
concern.  Joint patrols, while apparently popular with the 
residents in high-crime neighborhoods, have been portrayed by 
the human rights community as a "militarization" of citizen 
security.  Guatemala's leading daily paper, Prensa Libre, 
reported June 13 that the Human Rights Ombudsman (PDH) is 
investigating reports of abuse by army soldiers patrolling 
the streets. 
 
Wharton