US embassy cable - 04GUATEMALA1442

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 GUATEMALA 001442 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR WHA/CEN AND DRL/IL 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, PINS, PHUM, ELAB, GT 
SUBJECT: ANTI-GOG PROTESTS END PEACEFULLY, EARLY 
 
 
1.  (U) Summary:  Nationwide protests organized by labor and 
popular groups scheduled for June 8-9 were suspended late on 
June 8 after protest leaders reached agreement with President 
Berger on a range of measures to address demands.  The 
demonstrations were smaller than expected and remained 
peaceful throughout the day, with no violence reported.  The 
GOG handled this first major anti-government protest 
effectively, preventing violence and defusing the situation 
by engaging in dialogue.  Concessions offered by the GOG 
demonstrated flexibility but did not damage GOG fiscal, trade 
or agrarian agendas.  End Summary. 
 
2.  (U) On June 8, 7-10,000 protesters from a conglomeration 
of labor, campesino and human rights organizations blocked 
highways and demonstrated at selected sites in the capitol, 
including the international airport.  The main groups 
involved included campesino groups CNOC, CONIC and CUC; labor 
federations UASP, UGT, CNSP, and the national association of 
teachers; the Social Organizations Collective (COS), 
comprised of a network of human rights and social interest 
groups; and the university student organization (AEU).  The 
demonstrations were organized to protest the GOG policy of 
forcibly evicting squatters from disputed plantation 
properties (by campesino groups), and to protest tax 
increases affecting workers in the fiscal reforms under 
consideration by Congress and reject CAFTA (by labor, student 
and social groups). 
 
3.  (U) In Guatemala City, two to three hundred protesters 
gathered at the airport, which functioned normally throughout 
the day, with police maintaining access for passengers and 
workers.  Fifty teachers gathered outside the Ministry of 
Education; 1,000 protesters gathered at the Supreme Courts; 
approximately 500 were outside Congress; and roughly 5,000 
gathered in the city's central square.  Highway access to 
Antigua, Sacatepequez province, was closed by 300 protesters; 
several other key highway crossings were blocked in different 
regions of the country.  Protests lasted from around 8:00 am 
until early evening, and were generally peaceful with no 
violent incidents reported in the city and few elsewhere. 
There were several unconfirmed incidents reported outside of 
capitol.  A report that protesters were tear-gassed in Baja 
Verapaz was denied by observers from the Office of the Human 
Rights Ombudsman (PDH).  PDH representatives were present at 
all protest sites to help mediate with authorities and 
prevent violence. 
 
Evictions and Other Demands 
--------------------------- 
 
4.  (U) After a policy of not enforcing eviction orders under 
the former government, the Berger Administration declared 
early its intention to evict squatters from land where 
property rights are clearly established.  It has reportedly 
followed through with this promise in 39 cases since taking 
office.  Twenty-three of these evictions, performed by the 
National Civilian Police (PNC), have been violent.  Campesino 
advocacy groups and other human rights defenders have claimed 
that in some cases the PNC burned crops and homes, looted, 
and have arrived at the plantations drunk, sometimes along 
with private security forces.  (There have been no reports of 
injuries or deaths associated with the evictions.)  The PNC 
has denied any wrongdoing.  The investigative daily "El 
Periodico" recently published pictures of burnt houses and a 
child holding teargas canisters allegedly used by police to 
force squatters off of the land. 
 
5.  (U) The other major demands of the protesters included 
calls to limit the burden of new personal tax increases on 
lower-income individuals (by continuing exemption of certain 
types of income and raising the income floor above which 
individuals are taxed), and a rejection of the Central 
America-U.S. Free Trade Agreement. 
 
Organizers Meet with Berger and others 
-------------------------------------- 
 
6.  (U) Late on June 8, an agreement was reached between the 
GOG and protesters, who subsequently canceled the second day 
of protests scheduled for June 9.  The agreement came after 
President Berger, the President of Congress, the President of 
the Supreme Court, and the Attorney General met with leaders 
of the protesting organizations.  During this meeting, which 
lasted close to five hours, participants reportedly agreed on 
the following: 
 
-- the GOG agreed to consider proposing revisions to the 
eviction law within 90 days; 
 
-- the GOG agreed to create a new Prosecutor's Office for 
Agrarian Affairs in the Public Ministry to handle any future 
evictions of squatters; 
 
-- the GOG agreed to suspend disputed evictions while the 
land dispute agency CONTIERRA reviews each case; 
 
-- the GOG agreed to exempt the legally mandated "aguinaldo" 
and "bono 14" salary payments (two extra months salary due 
every employee, hitherto untaxed) from taxable income and to 
raise the floor for personal taxation to 3000 Quetzals 
($375)/month (the original proposal was for a floor of 1500 
Q/month); 
 
-- the GOG promised to translate the CAFTA agreement into 
indigenous languages; 
 
-- protesters agreed to refrain from protests for 90 days; 
and, 
 
-- the participants agreed to meet again on June 15th; 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
7.  (SBU) These were the first widespread anti-government 
protests and came at a sensitive time for the GOG, as 
Congress considers a fiscal reform proposal crucial to the 
GOG.  Despite relatively low turnout (similar protests under 
the Portillo government occasionally reached 25-30,000), the 
high political stakes required the GOG to take preventive 
action to prevent any violence and political action to defuse 
protester demands, which it did successfully.  The 
concessions offered by President Berger and other authorities 
mollified protesters without damaging the GOG's fiscal, trade 
or rural development priorities.  Rather than encouraging 
more protests, as some might fear, the main result of the 
protests was to show that impatience with the GOG among 
social groups has not yet reached critical mass. 
HAMILTON