
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, July 2, 1993                   TAG: 9307020362
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

GUATEMALA MUST SHOW COMMITMENT

IT WAS WONDERFUL to hear that Guatemala's Congress was permitted by the military to elect Ramiro de Leon Carpio to complete former President Serrano's term. He is a bright, intelligent man who intimately knows Guatemala's problems. However, in a country with an army as powerful and wealthy as Guatemala's, will this "return to democracy" signal a change in its long history of social injustice?

Social injustice means that 87 percent of the population lives in poverty, many in extreme poverty. Fathers, in spite of their hard work, do not have enough food to feed their families, and mothers watch their children die of diarrhea. This extreme poverty exists in stark contrast to vast plantations that produce food for export and billions of dollars in income for Guatemala's wealthy. Clearly, they will continue to have explosive social and economic problems and the military will continue to respond to threats to the status quo (such as peaceful, and constitutionally legal, demonstrations) with assassinations and massacres.

If we want to see change, Guatemala's government must demonstrate its commitment to democracy and the rule of law by:

Allowing full participation of populist groups and leaders (e.g., trade unions, refugee representatives, 1992 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Rigoberta Menchu) in the process to restore democracy.

Fully establishing civil rule and demilitarization.

Restoring the office of the human-rights ombudsman.

Terminating obligatory service in civil patrols in accordance with the Guatemalan Constitution.

Officially recognizing the communities of populations in resistance (internal refugees) as civilians and terminating military operations against them.

Guaranteeing that voluntary, collective return of refugees to Guatemala from Mexico will be fully respected by the new government.

Resuming peace negotiations to bring a peaceful settlement to the 30-year war and allowing a greater role for the United Nations in the negotiations process.

We should continue the recently imposed suspension of military relationships with Guatemala, including the terminations of U.S. troop exercises, the halting of commercial cash sales to Guatemala, and withholding $12 million of military aid in the pipeline to be placed in a special fund to support the implementation of a negotiated peace accord. PHYLLIS T. ALBRITTON BLACKSBURG

by CNB