Guatemala Update

Guatemala Update

By Vincent Delgado

Antigua, Guatemala-

No one knows who is now in power in Guatemala.

   It's certainly not the President of the republic, ex-human rights monitor, Ramiro de Leon Carpio; nor is it the URNG. the rebel party in conflict with the govemment during the civil war going on the last 20 years in this war-torn nation.

   A safe bet, however, would have to be ex-president and initiator of the scorched-earth poicies which resulted in the complete annihilation of over 440 highland villages in the mid-to-late'80s- Rios Montt.

   His party, the FRG, came to power a week ago after legislative elections last Sunday. Montt, in recent public speeches, has made no bones about his desire to return to the presidency - constitutional support or no constitutional support.

   Meanwhile, conciliations made by UNRG leaders to govemment negotiators have, according to most, put them out of touch with their popular base of support.

   This past Sunday (Aug. 21 ), agroup of over 100 armed subversives attacked a military installation near the popular markettown of Chichicastenango. A two hour firefight ensued, taking the lives of two servicemen, one ingenous woman, and three rebels, while leaving well over 25 people wounded.

   The attack took UNRG leaders by surprise, who were conducting negotiations with a UN human rights team and govemment representatives at the very same time in the capital.

   This morning, Gualemalans arose to reports of a military attack on farmworkers occupying a farm, in the province of Quetzaienengo in protest of their working conditions.

   Two workers were killed and eleven wounded in the fighting. In the end, it was found that the farmworkers were armed with nothing more than machetes, a revolver, and several Molotov cocktails.

   The occupation of farms has been a common occurrence here in the last two years.The problems,however, have almost always been resolved through negoliations between govemment representatives, the Catholic Church, and human rights monitors.

   Today, it was reported that negotiations lasted no more than two hours before the military was called in. This action took both the populace and President de Leon Carpio by surprise.

   The attack was called, by the survrvors, "a brutal action taken by the security forces, for which we must call in the help of Human Rights procurador, doctor Jorge Mario Garcia Laguardia." The military has made no comment.

   The recent fighting and strong actions taken by the military cause most observers to believe there is something more in the works now that the most reactionary of the right-wing, the FRG, are in power in the legislature.