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Protest and Violence in Guatemala

Article written by Yakira Teitel

The ratification of CAFTA by the Guatemalan Congress on March 10th sparked nationwide protests and roadblocks.

The Costs of Ratifying DR-CAFTA

On Thursday, March 10th, the
Guatemalan Congress ratified the Dominican Republic-Central America-US
Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA) despite three days of widespread
popular protests against the treaty. After the treaty's ratification,
the protests grew into a national strike launched on Monday, which has
included the staging of roadblocks on major highways throughout
Guatemala. Military and police repression has become increasingly
violent over the past week; yesterday, this violence escalated to death
and bloodshed. At a peaceful protest staged by teachers and members of
various indigenous and campesino organizations, the military fired into
the crowd, killing two protestors and sending at least ten others to
the hospital.

Beginning at 6:30am, the protestors staged a
roadblock on the Pan-American Highway in Colotenango, Huehuetenango.
While police forcefully pushed the group backwards, the military
encircled them from the back and sides. Around noon, without any prior
warning, the police and military forces began throwing tear gas
canisters into sections of the crowd with women and children and firing
shots at the men.

Map of Guatemala

As a result of the violence, two community
leaders from the Committee for Campesino Unity (CUC) were killed. Juan
Lopez from Xemal, Colotenango was killed immediately and Jose Sanchez
Gomez from the town of Ical died later in the hospital. While officials
claim that they fired in response to shots from the crowd, witnesses
and the organizations involved confirm that the protest was peaceful
and that Juan Lopez was brutally beaten before being shot in the head.

The
National Civil Police later removed three wounded compañeros, who were
in serious condition, from the Huehuetenango hospital with the pretext
of transferring them to the Institute of Social Security (IGSS). It has
since been confirmed that they have not actually been taken to this
center.

On Monday, police used tear gas and a water cannon to
disperse thousands of protestors in Guatemala City, allegedly after the
police were pelted with rocks and bottles. Official reports listed
nineteen people as injured and 16 detained. President Oscar Berger
signed the treaty into law and maintains his opposition to the
protests, claiming to have lost 70 million Quetzales (the equivalent of
almost $10 million dollars) in exports and imports as a result of
Monday's action.

Demands of Protestors

The following are the demands of the Guatemalan organizations and sectors of civil society opposed to CAFTA:

- The guarantee of the right to assemble and protest.

- The immediate removal of the military removed from the streets.

- That the National Civil Police and the Army be prohibited to intimidate protestors.

-
The immediate dismissal of Carlos Vielmann, the Minister of Governance,
and Erwin Sperisen, Director of the National Civil Police.

-
The creation of a special committee, made up the Human Rights Ombudsman
(PDH), the rector of the University of San Carlos, and Cardinal Rodolfo
Quezada, to investigate the violent acts.

- That the ratification of CAFTA not be published in the official records (necessary to make the ratification official).

- That the law of mineral concessions not be approved.

 

CAFTA

DR-CAFTA
(formerly CAFTA) refers to a group of separate free trade agreements
between the United States and five Central American countries
(Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Guatemala, and El Salvador), and the
Dominican Republic. The treaty is modeled after NAFTA, and is seen as a
crucial step in passing the Free Trade of the Americas Agreement, which
would include 34 countries in the Americas. While there has been
widespread opposition to the measure in all proposed participating
nations, it has been ratified so far by El Salvador, Honduras, and now
Guatemala.

 

Sources

Indymedia Chiapas, Comite por la Unidad Campesina, Associated Press, Public Citizen

For more information on further developments and ways you can help, visit : http://www.mediosindependientes.org http://www.citizen.org/trade http://www.stopcafta.org/index.php

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