Yesterday I had the strange opportunity to enter the National Palace for the formal ceremony to commemorate the 8th anniversary of the Peace Accord signing. You knew something was up in downtown Guatemala City. They closed off the roads and brought in 3 truckloads of extra police to make sure that things went smooth.
It was a surprisingly short ceremony, with lots of official declarations about the "peace"in Guatemala. Only a few hundred were in attendance, with virtually no Mayan representation - this in a country with roughly 60% of the population being Mayan.
There was a break between the formal ceremony and the bread & circus event for the public outside. At this point a small crowd gathered in front of the fountain in the center of the Central Plaza. I went over to see who was speaking and to my surprise there was Nobel Peace Prize winner Rigoberta Menchu Tum. Her reason for the impromtue press conference was her denunciation of CAFTA, with particular emphasis on what the US-based pharacuetical industry will do to Guatemala's. Menchu claims that CAFTA will increase medicine costs for her fellow citizens, many of which can not afford the generic drugs manufactured locally.
A couple of hours later the Peace Accords anniversary celebration resumed with a ridiculous MC who sounded more like a game-show host. A marimba band played and then they brought out a Brittney Spears look a like. The ceremony ended with a group of people introduced as members of the National Peace Committee. They said nothing, but released several doves, apparently to demonstrate that peace has indeed come to Guatemala. Unfortunately, eight years after a cease fire agreement was signed between the government and the insurgent forces (URNG), peace alludes most of the country.
The Guatemalan Human Right Commission in its November report documents many current violations of the Peace Accords signing. First, the state "the army is patrolling the streets along with the police," a clear violation of the agreement. More importantly, many of the private and clandestine security forces, believed to be connected to much of the recent crime, human rights abuses and drug
trade - are actually linked to the Army.
Impunity is still one of the main issues that underscores the lack of Justice in the country. The United Nations Verification Mission in Guatemala (MINUGUA) documents in it´s last report states that "shielded by impunity, these structures (clandestine security groups) have regrouped and are pursuing illegal business interests and political influence. Whenever human rights groups attempt to prosecute these organizations they are intimidated with death threats." Even the US State Department admits as much, "with relatively few exceptions, plaintiffs, witnesses, prosecutors, and jurists involved in high profile cases against members of the military reported threats, intimidation and surveillance." Perhaps more relevant to this trip is the fact that everyone I have spoken to up to this point all agrees on two things; that the root causes for the war still exist - extreme economic injustice and institutional racism, and that CAFTA will only exacerbate these problems.
