US embassy cable - 03GUATEMALA1805

UNCLAS GUATEMALA 001805 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, PINR, PREL, MOPS, PHUM, KDEM, GT 
SUBJECT: CONSTITUTIONAL COURT DECLARES RIOS MONTT ELIGIBLE 
TO RUN FOR PRESIDENT 
 
REF: A. GUATEMALA 1774 
 
     B. GUATEMALA 1760 
 
1. (U) By a vote of 4 to 3, the Constitutional Court issued a 
decision on the evening of July 14 striking down the earlier 
findings of the Registry of Persons, the Supreme Electoral 
Tribunal and the Supreme Court (reftels), which had found 
that former de facto President Efrain Rios Montt was not 
eligible to be a candidate for President, based on Article 
186 of the Constitution.  The Constitutional Court decision 
goes against a 1990 decision by the Constitutional Court and 
a 1995 decision by the Supreme Court (Note: In 1995 the 
appeal was not raised to the Constitutional Court. End note), 
which found that Article 186 of the Constitution did apply to 
Rios Montt, and that he could not be a candidate. 
 
2. (U) The Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) must now register 
Rios Montt as a candidate.  Some civil society leaders and 
representatives of some opposition political parties have 
called on the TSE to refuse to register Rios Montt, arguing 
that they can not be compelled to carry out an instruction 
that violates the law.  Others, however, have said that the 
Constitution does not allow for an appeal to the 
Constitutional Court's decision, and say that rebellion by 
the TSE would only compound the damage to Guatemala's fragile 
democratic process begun by the questionable decision of the 
Constitutional Court. 
 
3. (U) Reaction to the widely anticipated decision was swift. 
 Rios Montt ran a paid add on TV only minutes after the 
announcement of the decision in which he heralded the 
Constitutional Court finding as a victory for the rule of 
law, and called on FRG members to refrain from celebrating in 
the streets.  Nobel Prize winner Rigoberta Menchu told 
reporters that the Supreme Court decision had been a 
"constitutional coup."  Private Sector leader Dionisio 
Gutierrez said the Court's decision had wrought "irreparable 
damage on Guatemala's democratic institutions."  GANA 
presidential candidate Oscar Berger called on all Guatemalans 
to defeat Rios Montt once and for all at the ballot box.  The 
Ambassador used the Department's previously cleared press 
guidance on the morning of July 15: basically, that while the 
decision is final, we are perplexed by a decision that, in 
the absence of new facts, runs counter to two previous 
findings on the issue. 
 
4. (SBU) Comment: The decision, while following the 
procedures outlined in the law, goes against the previous 
findings of the Court and smacks of partisan manipulation. 
Opponents of the FRG view the decision as the opening act of 
electoral fraud in the current election campaign, and are 
expressing concern that it sets a precedent for the ruling 
FRG to perpetrate "further fraud" during the elections.  OAS 
election observation chief Paniagua, in town on an initial 
visit, told the Ambassador (when he phoned to ask that we 
lobby other donors for financing) that he did not plan to 
comment until he was better grounded in the situation here. 
HAMILTON