[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 99 (Friday, June 16, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1281]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             SUPPORT EFFORTS FOR A JUST PEACE IN GUATEMALA

                                 ______


                            HON. DAN BURTON

                               of indiana

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, June 16, 1995

  Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Mr. Speaker, I would like to urge the 
administration and my colleagues in Congress to support important 
efforts which are underway to establish a just peace in the friendly 
Central American Republic of Guatemala. This country has suffered 
through 34 years of a prolonged terrorist campaign, conducted by 
elements of the communist URNG, which has provoked violent military 
responses to its attacks and assassinations. Approximately 100,000 
Guatemalans have been killed by both sides during this period. Even a 
former U.S. Ambassador, Gordon Mein, and a number of United States and 
other foreign embassy personnel have been assassinated by terrorists 
groups.
  The disappearance of the U.S.S.R., the electoral demise of the 
Sandinistas and the impoverishment of Castro have left the guerrillas 
with little financial support other than Norway and a lame cause which 
has never commanded a popular following in Guatemala. The URNG has 
agreed to negotiations with the Government following its signing of a 
Comprehensive Human Rights Accord in 1994. Considerable progress has 
been made, and Guatemala's respected former Human Rights Ombudsman, 
Ramiro Leon Carpio, has become the nation's President, with a strong 
commitment to peace. He has sustained the peace talks and signed six 
agreements with the URNG since January 1994. These have included 
agreements on the protection of human rights, the establishment of a 
historical clarification commission to address past human rights abuses 
by both sides once the peace has been finalized, as well as agreements 
to protect Guatemala's Indian people, refugees and other displaced 
persons who have been victims of this bloody and protracted conflict.
  To prove good faith, the Guatemalan Government has implemented its 
Human Rights Agreement and has agreed to the presence of a United 
Nations Peace Mission to Guatemala. I know of no other nation which has 
been so forthcoming about improving its human rights situation absent a 
peace agreement and in the face of on-going URNG provocation--police 
assassinated, numerous kidnapings.
  As a society, Guatemala still suffers from residual violence and 
societal problems which prolonged conflict and unequitable wealth 
distribution have sustained since colonial times. Nevertheless, as a 
country, I believe that Guatemala has come farther, from a semi-feudal, 
conflict-torn and institutionally violent land, ruled by the military 
in the 1970's and 1980's, to a strong sustained effort toward 
democratic status. Against all expectations, Guatemala has sustained 
two democratic elections, which included transfers of power between 
political parties in 1986 and 1990, and elections of a fully empowered, 
multiparty legislative branch.
  The largest remaining and unresolved Guatemalan problem remains the 
need for a better legal and police system. Impunity or corruption of 
the legal branch and untrained and susceptible police, has restrained 
the advancement of complete democratic process in Guatemala. Yet, in 
spite of the progress which I have only been to sketch out for you 
here, Guatemala now faces substantial threats including one from the 
United States.
  The source of this extraordinary problem is an American woman who has 
become the public affairs front for the URNG. Jennifer Harbury, the 
widow of URNG Commandante Bamaca, has blitzed the United States for the 
URNG against Guatemala and has pilloried it in the court of media 
opinion, over the torture and death of her spouse who appears to have 
been killed in 1992. Now Harbury and a growing chorus of former 
supporters of the Sandinistas, and the El Salvadorean FMLN, are 
clamoring for a cut off of United States aid. What makes this 
implausible situation even worse is the fact that the terrorist URNG 
controls no territory, has fewer than 500 men under arms, and lives on 
war taxes extorted from kidnappings and intercepting local farmers and 
persons on busses going to market. Harbury has so focussed world 
opinion on past violent measures used by the Guatemalan armed forces in 
the face of terrorist assault, that the URNG has continued on its 
violent course today, with apparent impunity.
  Mr. Speaker, I hope that you will join me in calling for the United 
States to refrain from the short-sighted actions called for by those 
seeking to cut off assistance to Guatemala at this pivotal time in its 
history. They would have us break with the Guatemalan armed forces, 
thereby aligning ourselves with the terrorist URNG in the peace 
process. The United States must assist Guatemala in the development of 
civilian controlled and staffed alternatives to the armed forces for 
law enforcement, and in the reform of a residually corrupt and 
discredited legal system. These are small items in the balance of a 34 
year struggle, and of the Guatemalan people's wish for democracy and 
freedom from violence.
  The United States can offer Guatemala invaluable and inexpensive 
assistance and constructive criticism, but the media driven opposition 
to needed democratization-related aid, and demonization of the country 
and of its government are driven by Harbury's effective campaign. The 
fact speak for themselves and loudly in favor of the peace process and 
the restraint of Guatemala's government. I hope the special treatment 
accorded to Harbury can be postponed until the peace accord has been 
signed, and all of the victims or casualties of this horrible episode 
can be accounted for.
  We must do what can to encourage a just and lasting peace in 
Guatemala. This will enable that government to complete its remarkable 
transition to full democracy, implementing needed internal reforms 
necessary to create a system of justice that will bring criminals to 
justice.

                          ____________________