US embassy cable - 03GUATEMALA2744

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 GUATEMALA 002744 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/28/2013 
TAGS: PGOV, PHUM, PREL, PINR, PINS, ASEC, GT 
SUBJECT: FORMER CIVIL PATROL MEMBERS TAKE JOURNALISTS 
HOSTAGE 
 
Classified By: PolCouns David Lindwall for reason 1.5 (b) and (d). 
 
1. (C) Summary: A group of approximately 500 ex-PACs blocked 
the inter-American highway in La Libertad, Huehuetenango on 
October 26 and took four journalists hostage, in an attempt 
to get the government to compensate them for wartime service. 
 The former civil patrol members had originally taken the 
highway to block a campaign rally for FRG candidate Rios 
Montt, but took the journalists hostage when the FRG 
suspended the rally.  The Minister of Government told the 
Ambassador that the GOG does not want to use force which 
could put the hostages' lives in jeopardy, and said that the 
GOG negotiators are offering to register the ex-PACs and 
process their compensation on an expedited basis.  Opponents 
of the government in civil society and the media blame the 
GOG for the general lawlessness in the country and for 
creating expectations of compensation among the ex-PACs that 
the GOG is not able to meet.  Former civil patrol members in 
other areas of the country who have not been compensated are 
doubtless watching the tense negotiation in Huehuetenango 
closely, and the resolution could lead to new protest 
actions.  The daily images in the press of armed peasants 
blocking roads and forcing the FRG to cancel campaign rallies 
in areas where the ex-PACs have strength will not have a 
positive impact on the FRG's election campaign.  End summary. 
 
2. (U) On October 26, approximately 500 former civil patrol 
members (ex-PACs) blocked the inter-American highway at La 
Libertad in the Department of Huehuetenango to keep the FRG 
from bussing in participants to an election campaign rally 
for presidential candidate Rios Montt scheduled for later 
that day.  The ex-PACs were protesting their lack of 
compensation by the GOG for their wartime service (Note: As 
of October 21, the GOG had compensated 454,098 former civil 
patrol members, including 60,313 in Huehuetenango.  Tens of 
thousands of others who believe they have a right to 
compensation, however, have not received payments, leading to 
protests by ex-PACs in different areas of the country.  End 
note).  The ex-PACs detained four journalists from 
(anti-government) daily "Prensa Libre" at the road block, and 
continued to hold them as hostages after Rios Montt canceled 
his campaign rally.  Vice President Reyes Lopez, in an 
address to the nation on October 27, claimed that four other 
hostages were also being held by the ex-PACs.  The civil 
patrol members, who are poor peasants from that rural 
highland province much affected by the war, are using the 
hostages to pressure the GOG to compensate them. 
 
3. (U) Prensa Libre editor Gonzalo Marroquin, Human Rights 
Ombudsman Sergio Morales and NGO rep Frank Larue traveled to 
La Libertad on October 27 to seek the release of the 
hostages.  Huehuetenango Governor Carlos Morales (an FRG 
appointee) also traveled to La Libertad, but kept a prudent 
distance from the ex-PACs, as he had been held hostage by a 
different group of disgruntled former civil patrol members 
earlier this year.  The ex-PACs claimed that they had filed 
for GOG compensation through the association of retired 
military personnel (AVEMILGUA), and rejected the GOG's 
contention that their names did not appear on any GOG lists 
(Note: AVEMILGUA is a private association of former military 
personnel.  It is not a part of the GOG, but is viewed as 
having ties to or at a minimum sympathies with the ruling 
FRG. End note). 
 
4. (C) The Ambassador has been in contact with Minister of 
Government Reyes Calderon since the hostage taking began, to 
urge the GOG to find a peaceful solution to the standoff. 
The Ambassador has also been in frequent contact with 
Marroquin, Larue and others in civil society and the GOG who 
are involved in seeking a solution. The Embassy issued a 
public statement on October 27 condemning the hostage taking. 
 Reyes Calderon told the Ambassador that police had been sent 
to cordon off the site, and added that the GOG did not want 
to put the hostages' lives in jeopardy by escalating the 
confrontation or attempting a rescue.  A high level 
negotiating team made up of GOG Peace Commissioner Soberanis, 
MINUGUA Chief Koenigs, GOG Human Rights rep (COPREDEH) 
Fuentes Soria, Huehuetenango Governor Morales, and 
representatives of the military and the Public Ministry are 
meeting with the ex-PAC leaders at the Military base in 
Huehuetenango on October 28.  Minister of Government Reyes 
Calderon told the Ambassador that the GOG will offer to 
review expeditiously all the documentation the La Libertad 
ex-PACs can provide to substantiate their claims to 
compensation for wartime service, and will also expedite 
payment to those who qualify.  The GOG hopes the offer will 
result in a prompt release of the hostages, though they told 
us that many of the ex-PACs at the road block are drunk, 
undermining the possibility of reasonable discourse. 
 
5. (C) Frank Larue and other civil society leaders denounced 
the government for abdicating its role of providing public 
security, telling reporters that the La Libertad hostage 
taking was only the most recent in a long series of violent 
crimes that illustrate that the Portillo government is not in 
charge (Note: a string of homicides only five days earlier -- 
including two shoot-outs on public buses which left seven 
dead -- have shocked Guatemalans, normally inured to crime 
reports. End note).  Larue told the Ambassador that the 
ex-PACs in La Libertad had not been compensated because they 
were not FRG supporters, and that the GOG was only 
compensating ex-PACs that were likely to vote for them in the 
upcoming elections (Note: The fact that the La Libertad 
ex-PACs were associated with AVEMILGUA would seem to indicate 
that their electoral preferences, had they been compensated, 
would have been with the FRG.  The OAS mission and the NGO 
CIEN, which have been monitoring payments to the ex-PACs, 
have not uncovered evidence that the GOG is discriminating by 
making payments only to ex-PAC members affiliated with the 
FRG as suggested by Larue. End note). 
 
6. (C) Comment: The standoff in Huehuetenango may well be 
resolved in the coming hours, but the unfulfilled 
expectations created by the Portillo government by offering 
to compensate the former civil patrol members has frustrated 
tens of thousands of poor peasants who may draw inspiration 
from the action of the La Libertad ex-PACs.  Former civil 
patrol members in Mazatenango and San Cristobal (Alta 
Verapaz) are at this time protesting peacefully (so far) 
against their lack of payment and have publicly threatened 
the FRG if it comes campaigning in those localities.  With 
ex-PACs spread out all over the country, the possibility of 
protests emerging in other areas remains latent.  The 
opposition to the FRG, including the press and the NGO's, are 
using the Huehuetenango hostage taking to illustrate for 
voters the danger of keeping the FRG in power for four more 
years.  The message, carried by newspaper photos and radio 
news bulletins, that FRG candidate Rios Montt is not welcome 
in many rural communities where the ex-PAC feel deceived by 
the GOG can not be helping his campaign.  It also will add to 
the concern of many Guatemalans that violent acts continue to 
be a part of of elections in Guatemala. 
HAMILTON