US embassy cable - 04GUATEMALA26

C O N F I D E N T I A L GUATEMALA 000026 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/06/2014 
TAGS: PREL, PINR, MOPS, MARR, GT 
SUBJECT: NEW MINISTER OF DEFENSE CESAR MENDEZ: BIOGRAPHICAL 
INFORMATION 
 
 
Classified By: Poloff Robert E. Copley for reason 1.5 (b) and (d). 
 
1. (C) Summary: Brigadier General Cesar Augusto MENDEZ Pinelo 
(53) was named to be the next Minister of Defense by 
President-elect Berger on January 7.  Mendez is a protege of 
former General Otto Perez Molina, a ranking member of 
Berger's GANA coalition.  Embassy databases contain no 
derogatory information related to Mendez.  Human rights 
groups view his appointment as positive.  In recent years, 
Mendez has kept a low profile and faces mandatory retirement 
in September 2004.  End Summary. 
 
2. (C) Mendez was part of the military's peace commission, 
headed by Perez Molina, and he assisted in the negotiation of 
the Peace Accords that put an end to the 36-year internal 
conflict.  He was Director of Operations for the Chief of 
Staff in 1996 when the final accords were signed.  Mendez has 
spent the last few years out of the limelight as Defense 
Attache in Spain and, until recently, Honduras.  As a General 
Officer, Mendez held major (post-conflict) commands in Quiche 
and Quetzaltenango, the two most important military zones in 
the largely indigenous highlands.  Mendez was Deputy Director 
of Intelligence and Assistant Chief of Staff for the 
Presidential Military Staff (EMP) when Perez Molina headed 
those units.  Mendez has also served as Director and Deputy 
Director of the Military Academy (Escuela Politecnica), 
positions that provide substantial influence through shaping 
new officers. 
 
3. (C) Mendez's curriculum vitae, obtained by the DATT, lists 
substantial human rights training inside and outside of 
Guatemala.  Although Mendez commanded troops in combat during 
the worst years of the war, rising from platoon commander to 
battalion executive officer before moving into logistics in 
1985, our databases contain no derogatory information.  Frank 
LaRue, Director of CALDH, a major human rights NGO in 
Guatemala, told the Ambassador that, as Guatemala military 
officers go, Mendez was one of the most interested in human 
rights.  LaRue added that Mendez's absence from the country 
in recent years gives him a relatively fresh perspective on 
the military's role in a democracy and suggests that he was 
not a part of the corrupt clique of military and former 
military officers who had significant influence with the 
Portillo Administration. 
 
4. (U) Mendez speaks fluent German and Italian, which he 
picked up while training in those countries.  Mendez returned 
to Germany in 1989 for Command and General Staff College. 
His English is described as "conversational."  Mendez is a 
practicing Catholic.  He does not drink alcohol and is 
considered to be very religious.  He has four adult children, 
all studying in Guatemala.  Mendez's tenure as MOD will be 
short as he faces mandatory retirement in September 2004 
after 33 years of service. 
 
5. (C) Comment: Berger's appointment of Mendez was almost 
certainly due to the influence of Mendez's long-time ally 
Perez Molina, who heads Berger's security portfolio.  Perez 
Molina had other choices for MOD, such as the higher-profile 
General Bustamante.  In picking Mendez, Perez Molina has 
opted for an apparently squeaky-clean, quietly competent, and 
loyal protege that he can replace without a ripple in less 
than a year.  Mendez's short tenure will provoke immediate 
jockeying to replace him. 
HAMILTON