US embassy cable - 04GUATEMALA258

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 GUATEMALA 000258 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR CA/OCS/CI  M. BERNIER-TOTH 
 
DEPT PLEASE PASS TO OFFICES OF REPS. CAMP AND DELAHUNT 
ALSO PLEASE PASS TO JOE CUDDIHY AT DHS HQS 
 
MEXICO FOR DHS  OSCAR LUJAN 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KOCI, CVIS, CASC, PREL, OVIP, PGOV, GT 
SUBJECT: SCENESETTER FOR FEBRUARY 4-6 NODEL VISIT OF 
REPRESENTATIVES CAMP AND DELAHUNT 
 
1.  Summary: Your visit, only three weeks after Oscar 
Berger assumed the presidency, will draw fresh 
attention to the emotional issue of international 
adoptions in Guatemala.  Your Guatemalan interlocutors 
will also be anxious to discuss unrelated issues such 
as the rapidly evolving trade relationship, U.S. 
assistance in the war on drugs, the proposed United 
Nations investigative unit against organized crime 
(CICIACS), and protection for Guatemala immigrants in 
the U.S. End Summary. 
 
 
 
The Adoptions Issue 
------------------- 
 
2.  Guatemala has been unable to establish a 
transparent and credible legal system for adoptions. 
Persistent charges of coerced and paid relinquishment 
plague Guatemala's current notarial adoption system, 
in which private attorneys represent the biological 
parents, the adopting parents and the child.  Under 
this system, the government has no supervisory role 
during the initial act of relinquishment of the child 
by the birth mother.  After the attorney takes custody 
of the child and matches the child with the adopting 
parents, he presents the case to the Guatemalan and 
U.S. governments for approval.  At this point, it is 
emotionally devastating for the adopting parents if 
the authorities have reason to question the match; it 
is much worse in the instances when they try to 
dissolve it. 
 
3.  In recent years, several countries have suspended 
adoptions, among them Canada, the Netherlands and the 
UK, but the U.S. instituted DNA testing and birth 
mother interviews to continue processing adoptions and 
to try to ensure they are legitimate.  These 
procedures have solved the problem of confirming the 
biological link between the mother and child, but they 
are less reliable in determining the true 
circumstances of the relinquishment. 
 
4.  The Guatemalan government's attempt to implement 
the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption in 2003 
failed when the nation's highest court ruled that 
Guatemala's accession to the Convention was 
unconstitutional.  There is now reform legislation 
pending in the Congress, consistent with the 
Convention, which would require the biological mother 
to relinquish the child under the supervision of a 
family court judge and the Department of Social 
Welfare.  A powerful adoption attorney lobby has 
thwarted reform for years, however, and evolving 
alliances in the new Congress mean passage is not a 
sure thing. 
 
5.  We have consistently emphasized the U.S. 
government's support for legitimate adoptions in 
Guatemala, our concern for reducing the vulnerability 
of everyone involved to charges of adoption fraud, and 
the U.S. government's own commitment to legitimate 
adoptions through implementation in 2005 of the 
international community's agreed-upon solution to the 
adoption issue: the Hague Convention on Intercountry 
Adoption. 
 
Trade (CAFTA) and the Economy 
----------------------------- 
 
6.  Former Mayor of Guatemala City and businessman 
Oscar Berger believes in free trade and is a strong 
supporter of U.S.  Central America Free Trade 
Agreement (CAFTA).  He is concerned, however, that the 
previous government negotiated poorly and/or 
deliberately to the disadvantage of businesses that 
supported his campaign.  Guatemala has the largest and 
most diversified economy in Central America, but it 
also suffers one of the hemisphere's highest levels of 
poverty and income inequality.  Most of the poverty is 
concentrated among the rural, indigenous population, 
contributing to social and political tensions. 
Guatemala's traditional agricultural sectors have 
fared poorly in recent years, with low world prices 
for coffee undermining what was once the country's 
leading export crop.  Low coffee prices have also 
sharply reduced the availability of seasonal jobs that 
many subsistence farmers depend upon for a cash 
income.  On a more positive note, exports of 
nontraditional products such as fruits, vegetables, 
flowers and foliage have shown relatively strong 
growth in recent years, as have exports of apparel 
from the maquila industry and income from tourism. 
Family remittances of nearly $2 billion per year (!) 
have become the country's largest source of foreign 
exchange.  Berger understands the potential CAFTA has 
to transform the Guatemala economy through transparent 
rules and dispute resolution mechanisms that have been 
lacking and need to be implemented in order to attract 
investment and create jobs. 
 
Anti-drug Cooperation 
--------------------- 
 
7.  The Berger Administration shares our commitment to 
reducing drug trafficking and consumption and we 
expect them to be good partners in the anti-drug 
effort.  A U.S.-Guatemala binational working group on 
drug trafficking meets regularly to establish goals 
and resolve problems.  Recent advances in cross-border 
anti-drug cooperation with Mexico show promise for 
denying drug traffickers free access to remote areas 
of northern Guatemala.  Working with the U.S., the 
Guatemalan anti-drug police developed operational 
plans for intercepting drug-laden aircraft that 
resulted in the seizure of more than 9,000 kilograms 
of cocaine in 2003.  In the first month of 2004, more 
than 1,000 kilograms were seized. 
 
8.  In spite of these successes, the Guatemalan anti- 
drug effort faces real problems.  Lack of anti- 
conspiracy laws and other law enforcement tools make 
it extremely difficult to arrest trafficking 
organizations' major players.  Drug-related corruption 
is a constant threat to law enforcement and the 
judiciary.  Lack of in-country resources and U.S. 
prohibitions on assisting the Guatemalan military 
(which ferry the police and prosecutors to an 
interdiction site but do not otherwise participate) 
limit the availability of aircraft and equipment 
needed to interdict drug flights and carry anti-drug 
police to remote landing sites.  Nonetheless, 
Guatemala's interdiction effort is much stronger now 
than it was between 2000 and early 2003, and we look 
forward to an increasingly successful anti-drug 
partnership. 
 
CICIACS 
------- 
 
9.  Organized crime, especially in areas such as 
narcotrafficking, alien smuggling, trafficking in 
persons, and contraband, thrives in Guatemala.  On 
January 7, the U.N. and the Guatemalan Government 
agreed to establish CICIACS, a Spanish acronym for the 
Commission on Investigation of Illegal Bodies and 
Clandestine Security Apparatuses, to investigate human 
rights cases, corruption, drugs and organized crime. 
This unprecedented initiative gives the U.N.-run 
commission independent authority to investigate and 
prosecute cases within the Guatemalan judicial system. 
CICIACS enjoys support from both the outgoing and 
incoming administrations, but the new Guatemalan 
Congress must ratify it.  We have also been strong 
supporters of CICIACS.  Although it will cost 10 to 12 
million U.S. dollars per year, CICIACS could well 
obviate a "Plan Guatemala" 3 to 5 years from now. 
 
Guatemalan Migrants 
------------------- 
 
10. Top officials in the Berger government are keenly 
interested in President Bush's proposed immigration 
reform and are well aware that the U.S. Congress plays 
a key role in defining who may benefit.  We have been 
pointing out that debate on immigration reform in an 
election year will be robust and the initiative will 
be subject to change.  You may be asked about 
extending the special immigration benefits of 
Temporary Protected Status (TPS) to Guatemalans, which 
we have discouraged the Guatemalans from thinking is 
in the cards.  El Salvador and Honduras do benefit 
from TPS and the issue has acquired some importance 
for the Berger government, as Berger visited a number 
of migrant communities in the U.S. during his campaign 
and pledged to press their concerns. 
 
HAMILTON