Caribbean & Central America - April 2006 (ISSN 1741-4458)

In an unfortunate irony President Oscar Berger chose one of the most turbulent months of political violence and protest actions of his presidency in which to unveil his new "special public-security support force" drawn from among former members of the military and reservists which, if it proves successful, will end up being incorporated into the Policí­a Nacional Civil (PNC).

The opposition Unidad Nacional de la Esperanza (UNE) has been on the receiving end of much of the political violence which could foretell a campaign of murder and intimidation in next year's election campaigns. A congressional deputy for the UNE, Mario Ronaldo Pivaral, was shot dead on 6 April in the south of Guatemala City. He had been investigating the alleged mishandling of public funds in the education ministry. The last deputy to be shot in Guatemala was Carlos Hipólito Miralda Roca (also a member of the UNE) on 28 September 2005. On 11 April Eleaza Tabalan, a party coordinator for the leftwing Encuentro por Guatemala party, was also shot dead. 

Both these killings came within a fortnight of the murder of Rodolfo Castellanos, a prominent lawyer and adviser to the small Partido Patriota (PP), on 30 March and the assassination of a peasant leader, Antonio Ixbalán Calí­, and his wife on 5 April. All the killings were carried out by professional assassins in broad daylight.

The leader of the UNE, Alvaro Colom, said that both he and his wife had also been threatened. He blamed the government for the breakdown in law and order and asked for security to be provided for UNE legislators. The government said this would be far too expensive and offered to provide security for UNE party headquarters instead. The PP also held the government responsible. The PP's presidential candidate, the retired general Otto Pérez Molina - a former ally turned adversary of Berger - is campaigning on a law and order platform for the 2007 presidential elections.

Protests fail to take off

As if Berger were not facing enough problems with the escalation in political violence, peasants and trade unions decided to stage protests across Guatemala on 20 April. The peasants, largely Indians, accused the government of ignoring their demands for land reform; they were backed by school teachers who demonstrated for higher wages. However, the Coordinadora Nacional Indí­gena y Campesina (Conic) did not get the national uprising with widespread participation that it wanted. 

Conic had planned to continue the protests on 21 April but after lengthy talks with the vice-president, Eduardo Stein, agreed to meet the government around the negotiating table rather than clash with police on the streets. Fourteen people were injured and 30 arrested in the southern department of Escuintla and western department of Quetzaltenango. About 2,000 protesters marched past the US embassy in Guatemala City to condemn the free trade agreement with the US before making their way towards the government palace.

New force takes to streets

The political violence and protests coincided with the completion of the training of the new special public-security support force. The defence minister, Francisco Bermúdez, announced in February the creation of the 2,400-strong force, drawn from among former members of the military and reservists, which will be sent into crime hotspots. The members of the new force were recruited on 1 March and underwent a 40-day crash course in policing.