wfn.org | More Threats Against Minister's Widow in Guatemala Are Reported

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25-July-1996 
 
 
 
96278         More Threats Against Minister's Widow 
                    in Guatemala Are Reported 
 
                          by Alexa Smith 
 
LOUISVILLE, Ky.--Continued threats against the widow of a slain Guatemalan 
pastor vividly exhibit the disparity between current life in Guatemala and 
the full range of reforms being negotiated that will end Central America's 
longest war. 
 
     "This shows how far the legal reality is from the human reality in 
Guatemala," said Michael Willis of the Center for Human Rights Legal Action 
(CHRLA) in Washington, D.C., the organization that successfully prosecuted 
the threatened Presbyterians' case before the Inter-American Court last 
month in Costa Rica.   
      
     "Reconciliation," he said, "is a long way away." 
 
     That comment is borne out by reports of intensified threats against 
Mar¡a Ventura de Saquic, the widow of the Rev. Manuel Saquic, a 
Presbyterian who was tortured and murdered over one year ago in 
Chimaltenango, just a few miles outside Guatemala City.  Such harrassment 
continues despite the order of the Inter-American Court to Guatemala's 
government to arrest Victor Roman, the former military commissioner charged 
with Saquic's death, and to guarantee protection of Kachiquel Presbytery's 
human rights workers. 
 
     Willis said the presbytery's president refused government protection 
last year when it was offered "in the form of a bribe" -- protection in 
exchange for silence. 
 
     More harrassment began just after a June 23 memorial service in 
Chimaltenango on the first anniversary of Saquic's death.  A protest about 
the government's failure to arrest Roman followed the service, as well as 
did a call to close Chimaltenango's military base, where Roman has 
reportedly been spotted, despite warrants for his arrest, and where, many 
suspect, Saquic was tortured before dying. 
 
     According to the Hermandad de Presbiterios Mayas (the Brotherhood of 
Mayan Presbyteries) in Guatemala City, uniformed soliders have been 
inquiring about Saquic's widow at the market in Antigua where she sells 
cloth. Messages have been left at her booth, such as: "Tell Mar¡a Francesca 
that yesterday's activities [the service] will prove to be very costly for 
her." 
 
     Other threats to the widow -- and members of her family -- have been 
reported by the Hermandad in Alotenango, where Manuel Saquic had been 
pastoring when he was killed.  The family fled the community shortly after 
his murder and have lived at an undisclosed address ever since. 
 
     "She doesn't dare go to sell.  She just goes to check on how things 
are," said Mary Ann Litwiller, a former mission worker and the Presbyterian 
Church (U.S.A.) accompanier who spent time with the widow last week.   
 
     Litwiller speculates that Saquic may be losing her customer base in 
Antigua because of her infrequent presence at the market.  "We went 
yesterday. ...  She was very uneasy the whole time we were there.  Her eyes 
were roving to see if anyone was watching or following," Litwiller said. 
 
     Longtime Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) mission worker Dennis Smith 
suspects surveillance will not stop until Roman and his two sons -- both of 
whom are reportedly tied to the military -- are "out of the picture. ... 
 
     "My impression is [that] this is not something the Defense Ministry is 
involved in at an official level," said Smith, who believes local officers 
at the Chimaltenango military base continue to give Roman cover and 
support, preventing his arrest.  "If Roman would get out of the picture, 
this [intimidation] would basically disappear." 
 
     But, according to Willis, actually arresting Roman would tip the 
"delicate political balance" between hardliners and reformers vying for 
power within Guatemala's already tense military.  What possible 
repercussions a strong action, such as an arrest, might unleash is not 
clear.  
 
      In addition to internal tensions, the military has long been accused 
of commiting atrocities during Guatemala's civil war, particularly during a 
crackdown against suspected leftists in the late 1970s and early 1980s. 
More than 140,000 people -- mostly civilians -- are thought to have been 
killed in over three decades of violence in Guatemala. 
 
     Guatemala's military has always denied those charges.  But last month, 
a presidential panel in Washington, D.C., found evidence that the CIA was 
involved in torture, executions and other abuses in Guatemala and failed to 
keep the U.S. Congress well informed about its activities there.  The 
disclosure came after years of accusations by human rights activists that 
U.S. military and intelligence services equipped and trained Guatemala's 
military intelligence unit. 
 
     "It's the beginning of a slippery slope," Willis told the Presbyterian 
News Service, stressing that hardliners want to "hold the line" because 
arresting Roman may lead to the arrests of others accused of human rights 
violations.  
 
     "An arrest of Victor Roman would be a tremendous symbolic victory. ... 
Whether it would lead immediately to the end of harrassment, I wouldn't 
want to say," Willis said, insisting that a message from the government 
demonstrating that it will prosecute individuals accused of human rights 
violations would "send chills through the whole band of folks that operated 
that way [through threats]." 
 
     For now, the Guatemalan government is required to report to the 
Inter-American Court every 30 days about its compliance with the court's 
order for the arrest of Roman. And the National Evangelical Presbyterian 
Church of Guatemala is still seeking international accompaniment for 10 of 
its leaders through December -- though it is currently not seeking 
accompaniment for Saquic's widow. 
 
     Antonio Otzoy, executive secretary of the Hermandad, believes she will 
continue to need accompaniment.  Otzoy told the Presbyterian News Service 
that he feels the increased pressure on Saquic's widow is because of 
heightened visibility of the case after last month's memorial service.  It 
was attended by international guests, including Presbyterian Church 
(U.S.A.) former moderator the Rev.  Herb Valentine of Baltimore. 
 
     Otzoy said the simple fact that the case is still being pursued is 
also causing harrassment. 
 
     Accompaniers for Guatemalan church leaders are being sought for at 
least two-week terms. Applicants must have basic Spanish, be able to live 
with what the denomination's coordinator for mission recruitment calls 
"medium risk," and, preferably, have some counseling and pastoral skills. 
 
     Applicants are asked to contact Susan Rhema, coordinator for mission 
recruitment, at (502) 569-8268. 

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