parently the Central American countries can progress economically, politically, and socially through nonviolent and nonoppressive democratic means: Costa Rica's development since 1948, when it abolished its army, is a testimony to this belief. It would be much more beneficial to the Central American masses if the United States as "The Leader of the Free World" would aid civilian political development and promote democracy in the isthmus instead of sustaining and encouraging militarism. STATEMENT OF THE GOVERNMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF GUATEMALA Ł The Government of the Republic of Guatemala, taking into account the declarations made by René de Leon Schlotter during the Hearings on Human Rights, held on the 8th and 9th of June, by the Subcommittee on International Organizations of the Committee on International Relations of the United States Congress, makes the following statement: The declaration made by León Schlotter relates to three different matters: (1) Political violence; (2) the so-called "Somozisation" of Central America"; and (3) military and economic aid to Guatemala by the United States. 1. POLITICAL VIOLENCE With regard to political violence, to which León Schlotter refers, the Government of Guatemala puts on record that this violence is due to the perpetration of criminal acts by groups of extremist ideology obliging the Government of the Republic to make superhuman efforts for the control and punishment of the terrorists. It was possible to the government in office to largely reduce terrorists activities, because the government is sufficiently strong, enjoys popular support for controlling the situation through legally constituted National Armed Forces and police authorities. However it is completely false that the Government tolerates the existence of paramilitary groups to suppress the factions fighting for ideological motives with the aim to conquer the political leadership by force. The Government of the Republic, not only respects but also guarantees universally accepted human rights, expressly mentioned in the Constitution of the Republic. There is absolute freedom in this country for the: (a) Expression of opinion without any censorship; (b) Right of assembly for lawful goals; (c) Labor, peasant and employers unions; (d) Participation in the political life of the nation; (f) Entering and leaving the country at pleasure; and The persons detained by the police are immediately brought before the judicial authorities, which function with absolute independence from the executive branch of the government, followed in each case by trial, where the suspect has: (a.1) All the guarantees of defence during the trial; (b.1) Formal interviews; (c.1) Legal advice by a lawyer; (d.1) Possibility of all resources foreseen by the procedural law, with the higher courts to review the sentence; (e.1) Extraordinary recourse of review before the Supreme Court of Justice. [in addition]; (f.1) The lawyers may see the detainees as often as they desire; (g.1) The relatives of the suspect may visit them during the days indicated in the regulations of the detention centers; and (h.1) No detainee is subjected to physical torture or moral coercion. The same León Schlotter, admitted in this statement to the United States Congress, that the Government of the Republic of Guatemala has created a democratic climate in which the present administration offers its decisive support to the creation, consolidation and development of cooperatives as a means for allowing the peasantry to associate in order to defend its interests, and to attain the necessary material advancement within the development process of the nation. In like manner, the Government sees to it that the produce of its work reach the peasantry without intermediaries, since the peasantry contributes, through its efforts, to the progress of the country. 1 This document was translated from the Spanish original by Dr. C. C. Petraitis of the Library of Congress, Congressional Research Service. 2. THE "SOMOZISATION" OF CENTRAL AMERICA With respect to what León Schlotter calls the "somozisation" of Central America, the Government of the Republic of Guatemala, affirms that it maintains cordial relations with the Government of the Republic of Nicaragua. However, the present regime of Guatemala, which is solely responsible for its own sovereignty and who zealously observes the principle of non-intervention in its domestic affairs, can never accept directives or allow interference in its national problems, since this domain belongs exclusively to the Guatemalans themselves. 3. UNITED STATES ECONOMIC AND MILITARY AID (a) Economic aid.-As concerns the economic aid, it is received from the United States Government within the global system of cooperation and development in effect all over the world, in order to finance projects of national interest, that the Government of the Republic cannot finance from its own resources. This aid is however in form of loans, which the Government is obliged to repay. The Government fulfills strictly the conditions agreed upon in the loan contracts, and this is the reason why it attained high prestige in the international financial circles. Such international prestige is of lasting value: thus, on the occasion of the tragedy that Guatemala suffered during the earthquake of February 4, 1976, the international institutions opened their credit facilities even with more sympathy, and on more favorable terms than before, granting unconditional loans which Guatemala, with its habitual responsibility in the international financing, will repay, strictly observing the provisions of the contracts in question. (b) Military aid.-As regards the military aid, it is granted within the framework of the Continental Defence. This aid is used for professional training of the national army, but never for para-military formations or repression. The Government of Guatemala states very clearly, that though it does not recognize any competence whatsoever to the United States Congress to judge a friendly nation, it nevertheless undertakes this clarification with the aim to put on record of the Hearings in question, the absolute truth of the Guatemalan situation and to forestall that these hearings publish only the biased information supplied by León Schlotter, information which is nothing more than his personal appreciation or that of his political party, the Christian Democrats, to which he belongs. STATEMENT OF SUSANNE JONAS, PH. D., RESEARCHER AND WRITER, COEDITOR OF "GUATEMALA," ON HUMAN RIGHTS IN GUATEMALA As a researcher and scholar concerned primarily with U.S. operations and institutions in Central America, I have devoted considerable attention to Guatemala. The topic of my Ph. D. dissertation at the University of California at Berkeley was "Test Case for the Hemisphere; U.S. Strategy in Guatemala 1950-1974". I have written numerous articles on Guatemala and in 1974 coedited a 264-page book on Guatemala published by the North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA). I commend the International Organizations Subcommittee of the House International Relations Committee for holding hearings on the violations of human rights in three Central American countries and the role of U.S. economic and military aid in abetting those violations. I am submitting this written testimony and supporting evidence on the situation in Guatemala since I feel that, although the bulk of René de Leon Schlotter's testimony was accurate, some of his statements could lead to incorrect conclusions. Specifically, I refer to the following section in his written testimony (p. 52): "The last wave of violence that I have mentioned was clearly part of the MLN strategy of keeping up the social tension and attributing it to leftist guerrilla factions, in order to justify their own presence in the national political arena. So far, however, I can tell you that the MLN has been losing part of its power and that President Laugerud Garcia is trying to establish a more democratic climate in the country. "During the last few days, the government ordered a search of the house of Mr. Zimeri, a close associate of the highest rightist leadership whom they found to be in possession of a large cache of arms, apparently intended to be used to help certain leftist guerrilla groups. This evidence seems to demonstrate, on the one hand, President Laugerud's intention to bridle all violent groups and, on the other hand, a conspiracy between the extreme right and the extreme left to renew a climate of violence, conducive to the action of both groups, but designed to block any efforts at democratization going on within the parliament and in the political life of the country as a whole." There are two aspects of these statements which I question: (1) "President Laugerud Garcia is trying to establish a more democratic climate in our country" and intends to "bridle all violent groups": All available evidence indicates that the level of violence remains as high under Laugerud as it has been under previous governments, and that official police and military forces have been deeply involved in the violence at all levels, both before and since the February 4, 1976 earthquake. To mention only a few confirming facts: (a) Top opposition leader, Manuel Colom Argueta, charged President Laugerud with being directly responsible for the harrassment against him by secret police, and indirectly responsible for the attempt against his life in March of this year. (For details, see attached article, "Class-quake in Guatemala.")1 The same secret police were subsequently linked to right-wing terrorist groups. (See attached article translated from Inforpress Centroamericana.) (b) As seen in other incidents since the earthquake, the line between official repression and political violence by right-wing paramilitary organizations is so thin as to leave little doubt regarding government responsibility. A clear example is the situation in Quiché province in recent months, in which the forces of "law and order" have participated in extensive violence against the population (see "Class-quake"). In 1975, too, as Mr. Wipfler mentioned in his testimony, official repression against peasants in Quiché (including arrests and "disappearances") under the guise of counterinsurgency clearly involved official forces; yet the Ministry of Defense refused to investigate the matter. Throughout the coun 1 Excerpts from this article is reprinted in appendix 8, p. 245. try in recent years, citizens have faced threats and violence from a Death Squad known to have police participation. These are only a few examples of what has become a general pattern. The Laugerud government, like its predecessors, has taken no action against official forces participating in political violence, nor has it even investigated citizen allegations against official forces. (c) Amnesty International, in a report of June 1975 (a year after Laugerud took office) concluded: "The principal implication of the dossier, based both on the magnitude of political murder in Guatemala and the impunity with which it is carried out, is that such violence is tacitly condoned, if not expressedly supported, by governmental authorities." (d) According to Mr. Wipfler's testimony, victims of extralegal activities by paramilitary groups and official security forces are denied legal recourse, which is supposedly guaranteed to them; thus, it is almost impossible to prosecute government forces and officials who abuse their authority. Certainly, if we are to believe in Laugerud's sincere desire to end the violence and establish democracy in Guatemala, he must begin by ending tacit government support of right-wing paramilitary groups and by controlling the activities of official forces. (e) Mr. de León's statements are especially surprising in view of the fact that leaders of his own Christian Democratic Party have been the targets of many attacks since the Laugerud government took office in July 1974. Only three weeks before Mr. de León testified in Washington, two top Christian Democratic leaders were machine-gunned, fortunately escaping death. These and other leaders of the party have suffered repeated threats and assassination attempts in the past year. Members and leaders of the Christian Democratic Party have undergone harassment and repression by police and army forces with the complicity of local authorities, especially in the rural areas. Christian Democratic leaders claim to have proof of illegal actions by security forces of the government. In their call for a Congressional interpellation (questioning) of Internal Security Minister Vassaux, the Christian Democrats focused on the role of this Ministry of the Laugerud government in the increasing repression and political violence. The evidence indicates that official repression and police participation in rightist paramilitary groups are not phenomena of the past, as could be inferred from Mr. de León's statements; and that, although the extreme right-wing MLN and the Arana forces are largely responsible, the Laugerud government cannot be exonerated. (2) The Zimeri affair reveals "a conspiracy between the extreme right and the extreme left to renew a climate of violence," and the arms discovered on Zimeri's property were "apparently intended to be used to help certain leftist groups :" This is an irresponsible allegation, with no factual basis whatsoever. (See accompanying summary of news reports about the incident, translated from Guatemalan news service, Inforpress Centroamericana; also reports in Londonbased Latin America). Never in the last twenty years (or previously) have "the extreme right and the extreme left" collaborated on anything, nor would they do so now. This statement contradicts de León's own previous statement regarding the ultra-right MLN strategy of "keeping up the social tension and attributing it to leftist guerrilla factions, in order to justify their own presence in the national political arena." Mr. de Leon's statement about the "conspiracy" lends support to the position taken by Internal Security Minister Vassaux that the violence comes primarily from the left rather than the right-a rather strange position for an opposition leader to take, especially since his Christian Democratic Party has been hit severely by right-wing violence a position which is contradicted by others in the Christian Democratic Party. Statements of this kind only strengthen the Laugerud government's attempt to present itself as besieged from both right and left-which every Guatemalan government since the late 1960's has presented as a cover for its real role of official repression and complicity with the extreme right. TRANSLATIONS FROM "INFORPRESS CENTROAMERICANA" #194, JUNE 3, 1976, SUBMITTED BY SUZANNE JONAS (1) INDUSTRIALISTS AND MILITARY MEN FINGERED AS LEADERS OF TERRORIST BAND Two well-known Guatemalan industrialists, Mr. Elías Zimeri Nazar and Mr. Jorge Antonio Zimeri Safié (father and son), have been accused by police au 2 Article is reprinted in appendix 9, p. 247. 76-200-76-10 |