wfn.org | Guatemala's Amnesty Law Brings Cautious Hope

[PCUSA.NEWS@pcusa.org]

21-April-1997 
97169 
 
             Guatemala's Amnesty Law Brings Cautious 
                    Hope to Civil War Victims 
 
                          by Alexa Smith 
 
GUATEMALA CITY, Guatemala--It remains to be seen whether politicians, 
soldiers and guerrillas will be granted amnesty for crimes committed 
against civilians during Central America's longest war.  Judges are just 
beginning to interpret Guatemala's controversial National Reconciliation 
Law (NRL). 
 
     Passed overwhelmingly by Guatemala's Congress in December, the law 
forbids amnesty for those implicated in cases of forced disappearance, 
torture or genocide.  But the law fails to address extra-judicial 
executions -- such as the torture and murder of Kaqchiquel Presbytery 
minister Manuel Saquic and the shooting death of layman Pasqual Serech -- 
that took the lives of countless Guatemalans during the 36-year armed 
conflict. 
 
     So those with war crimes complaints pending -- such as Kaqchiquel 
Presbytery -- are waiting to see how judges assigned to their cases 
interpret the NRL's broad language when facing amnesty petitions from those 
who may be charged with crimes. 
 
     "The signing of the peace doesn't solve our problem.  That is just the 
first step," said Kaqchiquel Presbytery president Margarita Similox, who 
has watched Guatemala's judicial process get sandbagged as the presbytery 
pressed for the arrest of former military commissioner Victor Roman, who is 
charged with murdering both Serech and Saquic.  Despite warrants and court 
orders, Roman has yet to be arrested.   
 
     To date, the Guatemalan courts are ruling on amnesty petitions on a 
case-by-case basis.  At least five Guatemala National Revolutionary Union 
(URNG) members have been granted amnesty so far. But according to Margaret 
Popkin of the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center for Human Rights in 
Washington, D.C., both the peace negotiations and subsequent legislation 
"went beyond the immediate need to legalize the status of URNG members and 
established provisions for extinguishing criminal responsibility for crimes 
committed by ... members of the military, civil patrollers and politicians" 
during the armed conflict. 
 
     Popkin told the Presbyterian News Service that "even if the amnesty is 
interpreted in the most limited way, you're still stuck with a judiciary 
that has not done well with human rights crimes." 
 
     That is why activists like Anne Manuel of Human Rights Watch America, 
also based in Washington, D.C., are nervous about language within the NRL 
that grants amnesty for common crimes "perpetrated in the armed conflict." 
Another clause grants amnesty for crimes committed for motives that were 
"not personal," according to Manuel, who describes both phrases as 
"extremely vague and extremely confusing." 
 
     Even though the courts have denied amnesty in two of the most visible 
international cases, Manuel said, "all these cases" -- including those of 
Saquic and Serech -- "fall in between these two [categories].  These cases 
did not come out of combat or out of personal motive.  They came out of 
political motive.  That's a huge loophole. 
 
     "So it is up to the judges.  And judges in Guatemala, historically, 
get intimidated," said Manuel, who is hoping that the ambiguity of the 
language will work to the advantage of the victims who are filing cases. 
"This amnesty law is very carefully crafted," she said, insisting that 
despite the NRL's flaws, it is superior to the blanket amnesty other 
Central American governments adopted in the face of disappearances, torture 
and genocide.  Manuel credits the international condemnation of the 
Guatemalan military for successful negotiations with the URNG and passage 
of the amnesty law. 
 
     But international condemnation has not, so far, cracked the impunity 
that shields those with ties to the military who are accused of crimes, 
such as Roman. 
 
     "They've never captured Victor Roman.  That is a very clear case of 
impunity," said Nery E.  Rodenas, legal coordinator for the Office of Human 
Rights of the Archbishop of Guatemala.  But like everyone else connected 
with the case, Rodenas has heard virtually hundreds of reports on Roman's 
whereabouts and has even gotten worried reports from Roman's family that 
the former military commissioner disappeared with an army captain named 
Siguinajay and hasn't been seen since.   
 
     "He has to be arrested," Rodenas said.  "The problem is we don't know 
where he is now." 
 
     According to attorney Frank LaRue of Guatemala City's Center for Human 
Rights Legal Action, who represented Kaqchiquel Presbytery before the 
Inter-American Court last year, the backlog of cases, the negligence of 
judges, the intimidation of witnesses and the disappearance of defendants 
are  tactics in a campaign designed to wear down plaintiffs.  
 
     "After the last 15 years of conflict, the whole legal system is in 
disarray," said LaRue, who is doubtful that Roman will ever be arrested. 
He has more hope that Armando Tucubal, a former civil patroller who is also 
charged as an accomplice in the Serech murder -- and for threats against 
Similox -- may stand trial, even though he is now free on bail.  "Everyone 
knows [Roman] was around for quite a while.  Then he was protected in the 
[local military] garrison.  Then he probably left the country. 
 
     "But he should never have been set free," he said, noting that Roman 
was arrested for the Serech murder.  "There's no provisional freedom in the 
case of murder. ... The courts in Chimaltenango are dreadful." 
 
     Neither, he argues, should Tucubal, who committed a second crime by 
threatening Simolox after he was already charged with complicity in the 
Serech murder case, be out on bail.  "Why is this man walking around?  He 
is the symbol of impunity. ... This is what impunity means.  You get away 
with murder," said LaRue.  He said he is baffled as to why the 
international community is not pressing for Tucubal's immediate arrest 
since his whereabouts are known. 
 
     But Manuel argues that decommissioned civil patrollers and military 
commissioners still work to maintain the army's control in the Guatemalan 
countryside in matters that ought to be handled by civilian authorities. 
"The military doesn't want to do anything to demoralize the Victor Romans 
of this world.  It needs them badly.  For the police to take these men away 
in handcuffs would make the army look powerless," she said, describing what 
amounts to de facto amnesty for former commissioners like Roman.  "The 
judge who put Victor Roman in prison the first time is still dead.  And the 
police are scared to arrest [Roman]." 
 
     That might be why Similox is hearing renewed reports that Roman has 
been seen in the Chimaltenango area in security cars.  And Kaqchiqel 
Presbytery members say that the presbytery's Chimaltenango office is again 
under surveillance.  "I think there's still danger for [Kaqchiquel 
Presbyterians]," said LaRue, referring to nearly two years' worth of death 
threats received by Presbyterians who demanded Roman's arrest.   
 
     "No, they're not being threatened [now]," he said.  "It's less likely 
they'll be threatened.  Victor Roman and Armando Tucubal have to be much 
more careful.  But I wouldn't rule out danger." 
 
     Nor does LaRue rule out the possibility that petitioners, including 
those involved in the Saquic and Serech cases, will appeal for amnesty 
under the NRL's "armed conflict" clause, accusing their victims of working 
with the guerrillas and claiming the executions were necessary to suppress 
the insurgents.  LaRue also fears that amnesty will be quietly granted 
before those pressing charges even know an appeal was made. 
 
     "We're ready to expect anything from the authorities," said Similox, 
agreeing that an appeal for amnesty might be an angle the accused try in 
the Saquic or Serech cases.  "In our country, justice is not the normal 
thing.  But we believe that with the changes that are happening there is 
the possibility that there will be justice one day." 
 
     Adamant that the military has never protected Victor Roman, Guatemalan 
Army information officer Major Berta Vargas told the Presbyterian News 
Service that the army will abide by whatever decisions the legal 
authorities make regarding amnesty or prosecution.  She said at least 20 
soldiers have been tried and sentenced in civil, rather than military, 
court in recent months for crimes like homicide, assault and rape.  Until 
recently all criminal charges against military personnel were handled 
internally. 
 
     "[The army] is making a big effort to follow the commitments of the 
peace agreements," said Vargas.  "It is not an easy task, because it means 
a whole series of new proceedings, setting up new resources.  Now the focus 
is not fighting against insurgents ... and it requires new doctrine, new 
thought and education. ... 
 
     "We really hope by the end of the year to have [put new protocols] 
into effect." 
 
     LaRue countered that only one officer has yet to be arrested for human 
rights abuses -- and his alleged crimes were committed in 1995, when the 
peace process was well under way.  He said no arrests have been made on 
charges tied to abuses of the past. 
 
     "The question of impunity is still as rampant as it was before. ... 
Everyone pretends that reconciliation means forgiving and forgetting," said 
LaRue.  "Reconciliation is not based on that. Reconciliation is based on 
bringing out the truth. ... People say this is the best amnesty law in 
Latin America, due to the fact that it makes exceptions for genocide, 
torture and forced disappearances. 
 
     "That's mildly true.  But it is still a general amnesty with a few 
exceptions," LaRue said.  He argued that the exceptions are difficult to 
prove since the victims of genocide, torture and forced disappearances are 
dead.  "That doesn't make [the NRL] a good law.  It only means the others 
are worse." 
 
     Popkin told the Presbyterian News Service that the issue now is 
dealing directly with intimidation and corruption in Guatemala's judiciary 
so that the system becomes safe enough for victims to file charges and for 
judges to convict.  An independent civil police force is also necessary.   
 
     "There's not one simple fix," said Popkin.  "You don't undo 15 years 
of military dominance by decree.  It's a process." 
 
     LaRue agrees.  "I have tremendous hope for the transition in 
Guatemala. ... There is a lot of space for people to speak out, be 
critical, demand justice," he said.  But building an effective judicial 
system will be slow, he added.  "There's no political will.  We're going to 
get prosecutions.  I'm not terribly optimistic we'll get convictions." 
 
     Similox also takes the long view, undergirding her perspective 
theologically.  "The Bible says that God is slow in healing.  Even though 
it may take a long time, there will be justice in the end.  We're not the 
only ones waiting," she said of her presbytery. "There are a lot of others 
affected who still haven't spoken." 

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