[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 129 (Sunday, October 10, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1855-E1856]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  CRIMINAL VIOLENCE IN CENTRAL AMERICA

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. EDOLPHUS TOWNS

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, October 7, 2004

  Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to draw your attention to the 
wave of criminal violence, much of it targeting women and children, now 
engulfing America's neighbors in Central America. In Guatemala, human 
rights organizations have recorded an appalling 16,788 violent crimes 
between January and June of this year and report that one woman is 
murdered every day in a country smaller than the state of Tennessee. 
Unfortunately, violence is hardly a recent development in Guatemala, 
where citizens and leaders continue to grapple with a legacy of fifty 
years of political violence and humanitarian atrocities during the Cold 
War era that claimed more than 200,000 innocent lives.
  Sadly, Guatemala's recently elected President Oscar Berger has been 
able to do little to curb the violent crime threatening his people or 
to punish those responsible for past human rights violations. 
Ironically, Berger has had to rely upon those very human rights 
violators still serving in the police and military to combat the 
current wave of violent crime. The frustration of the Guatemalan people 
with the ineffectiveness of their new leader in addressing the 
situation was painfully evident in the massive demonstrations in 
Guatemala City last August to protest the growing tide of criminal 
violence. The violence now plaguing Guatemala and other Central 
American countries should be of great interest to this congress 
because, as law and order deteriorate in the region, many Central 
Americans, out of desperation, will seek refuge abroad, with many 
immigrating illegally to the United States.
  The following research memorandum about the criminal violence which 
plagues Guatemala was authored by Eleanor Thomas, a British research 
associate at the Washington-based Council on Hemispheric Affairs, an 
independent, non-profit, non partisan, tax-exempt research and 
information organization founded in 1975. It has been described on the 
Senate floor as being ``one of the nation's most respected bodies of 
scholars and policy makers.''

                 Guatemalans Speak Out Against Violence

       On August 13, over 12,000 people took to the streets of 
     Guatemala City to protest the horrific wave of violent crime 
     currently engulfing the country. The march was organized by 
     the Human Rights Protector's Office (PDH) and supported by 
     560 of the country's civil associations. PDH Director, Dr. 
     Sergio Morales, said in an interview with COHA that the main 
     purpose of the march was to draw attention to the ``plight of 
     women and children'' who have been the most severely affected 
     by the violence. The march in Guatemala built upon similar 
     demonstrations in Argentina, where 130,000 people took to the 
     streets in April to petition Congress for stiffer penalties 
     against criminals. Mexico City also witnessed at least 
     300,000 people march through the capital protesting the high 
     levels of violent crime and kidnapping that have plagued the 
     country in recent months. The overriding message to come out 
     of the march in Guatemala is that newly-elected President 
     Oscar Berger must take bigger steps to tackle the endemic 
     problem of violence that could swamp the country's most vital 
     institutions if redress is not achieved.

[[Page E1856]]

                  Skyrocketing Levels of Violent Crime

       Violent crime rates in Guatemala have risen to astronomical 
     levels. According to the PDH, there have been 16,788 
     incidents of violence between January and June of this year, 
     15 percent more than the 14,606 cases recorded during the 
     same period last year. Of this total, 1,662 people have been 
     shot, 254 have been stabbed and 108 murdered with blunt 
     instruments; there were also 43 strangulations and five 
     lynchings. While an international outcry was mounted over the 
     infamous murders of 300 women in the last decade in Ciudad 
     Juarez, Mexico, little attention is paid to the fact that one 
     woman is murdered every day in Guatemala.
       To strike a sardonic note, in the same month that the PDH 
     announced these hideous statistics, Guatemala celebrated the 
     50th anniversary of the CIA-sponsored invasion that ousted 
     democratically-elected Jacabo Arbenz president. This wanton 
     act of intervention on Washington's part plunged Guatemala 
     into a bloody civil war that pitched government forces 
     against guerrilla commandos, resulting in the brutal murders 
     and disappearances of more than 200,000 people over the 
     decades. The impact of the war was so extensive that it 
     militarized every aspect of society. Despite the arrival of a 
     nominal peace agreement in 1996 with the UN-peace accords, 
     the country has struggled to deal with its oppressive 
     violence. Alfonso Portillo (2000-04), the first to be elected 
     president after the peace accords, paid little better than 
     lip service to the accords while allowing impunity to reign 
     and endemic corruption to flourish, especially when it came 
     to the special treatment he afforded the country's most 
     notorious human rights violator, the infamous General Rios 
     Montt.


                  New President, But No New Solutions

       When President Berger took office on January 14, a new 
     opportunity for peace and reconciliation seemed to present 
     itself. During his election campaign, Berger portrayed 
     himself as a man firmly committed to democratizing Guatemala. 
     He pledged to fight crime, corruption and poverty and to 
     apply the still dormant provisions of the peace accord. 
     However, since taking office, his policies have been 
     somewhat less than coherent.
       The cornerstone of his reforms has been a commitment to 
     implementing the international community's recommendations; 
     especially those aimed at reducing the size of the military, 
     the institution that was responsible for many of the worst 
     human rights atrocities during the country's 36-year-long 
     civil war. Although Berger was seen as substantially reducing 
     the military from 27,000 to 15,500 active members as well as 
     spearheading a campaign to close 13 of the country's 60 
     military bases, these statistics are somewhat misleading. 
     While his moves to demilitarize the country generated 
     immediate praise from the international community, Marvin 
     Perez of the Rigoberta Menchu Foundation asserted that more 
     than 6,000 of these soldiers never actually existed. They 
     were ``ghost soldiers,'' the result of creative auditing by 
     the previous administration to siphon money away from the 
     government for alleged salaries and food parcels for senior 
     personnel. Moreover, of the remaining 5,663 soldiers who 
     agreed to take early retirement, 99 percent were infantry 
     recruits. This means that the high-ranking members of the 
     officer corps--those who were subsequently found responsible 
     for 93 percent of the atrocities committed during the civil 
     war--are likely to still be on active duty.


                      Unsuccessful Plan of Attack

       Berger's latest plan to stop the wave of violence has been 
     to triple the number of soldiers and police officers on joint 
     patrol in danger zones termed ``red areas.'' Yet, the plan 
     only makes it more likely that those who are now patrolling 
     Guatemala's streets are the same military personnel who 
     raped, tortured and murdered some 200,000 people during the 
     civil war.
       At a recent meeting in Washington, Vice President Eduardo 
     Stein told COHA that the reason violent crime has reached a 
     ``level never seen before was because organized crime was 
     reacting very violently against the reforms the government 
     has enacted.'' Yet placing the blame on organized crime is 
     too simplistic an answer to a complex question. Senior 
     officials in the army and police force stand accused not only 
     of being involved in this crime network, but of actually 
     orchestrating criminal activities. If the government intends 
     to blame today's increasing violence in Guatemalan society on 
     shadowy networks of crime cartels, it must be willing to 
     accept the involvement of its own functionaries in the 
     country's burgeoning law and order calamity. Guatemala's 
     historic tradition of violence will not be solved by simply 
     increasing the presence of security forces on the streets. 
     The problems are rooted too deeply in Guatemalan society for 
     such superficial measures alone to be truly effective.


                         Looking to the future

       Berger is clearly vulnerable in the eyes of the Guatemalan 
     population. His public approval rating has slipped from 83 
     percent (the level recorded at the time of his inauguration) 
     to 48 percent according to the latest CID-Gallup poll 
     published in El Periodico. This is further compunded by the 
     significant protest of thousands of anti-government 
     marchers--it is clear that Berger must take more assertive 
     acton if he wants to retain the populace's backing.
       If the president wants to combat the situation, he must 
     create an environment where every Guatemalan is equal in the 
     eyes of the law. He needs to purge the military of not simply 
     infantry soldiers, but also of those officers of superior 
     rank who, as junior officers, planned and carried out 
     unspeakable atrocities.

                          ____________________