Latinnews Archive
Caribbean & Central America - 9 June 1988
Military displeased by talks with URNG;GOVERNMENT SAYS FAILED COUP WAS A 'MISUNDERSTANDING'
A coup attempt had been expected since early this year, with the local press reporting that right-wing politicians were clamouring for intervention by the military, who were said to be angry over real or imaginary slights by the government of Vinicio Cerezo (WR-88-06).
When it came on 11 May, the coup attempt proved a bloodless and almost farcical episode, dismissed as a 'misunderstanding' by the government and the military high command.
Initial reports suggested parts of two of the country's 74 military units were involved. The government later reported that officers from seven military units had taken part. It said 10 officers would appear before military tribunals, while five civilians would also be put on trial for sedition. These include the Central Autentica Nacionalista's 1982 presidential candidate Gustavo Anzueto Vieldman and its 1985 candidate Mario David Garcia, and the secretary-general of the Partido Nacional Guatemalteco, Mario Castejon Garcia-Prendes.
The would-be rebels' demands identified them with the extreme anti-Communist fringe. At the top of their list was the 'limitation of relations with Cuba'. This demand, and its wording, closely followed a call issued weeks earlier by a group calling itself Oficiales de la Montana (OFEM -- 'officers of the mountain') and echoed by the resuscitated right-wig assassination group Manno.
These groups accuse members of the government and of the military command of involvement in drugs and arms trafficking, and of either having close contacts with Cuba or tolerating them. Among the accused are the President's wife, Raquel Blandon de Cerezo, health minister Carlos Gehelert Matta, defence minister General Hector Gramajo, and former general staff chief and now ambassador to Panama, General Rodolfo Lobos Zamora.
General Gramajo has said the so-called 'officers of the mountain' are in reality 'civilians of the cities'. He has strongly hinted that members of the right-wing Movimiento de Liberacion Nacional (MLN) were the instigators of the attempted coup.
* Military unease
Although both General Gramajo and President Cerezo attributed the 'act of indiscipline' to the promptings of extreme right-wing civilians, it is known that the military are very uneasy about Cerezo's willingness to talk peace with the URNG guerrillas, fearing that, through negotiations, the URNG will gain the political advantage the armed forces have denied them in the field.
The military's complaints have been directed mainly at three incidents: the government-URNG talks in Madrid in late 1987 (RM-87-09); the government's recent decision to accept further talks with the URNG within the 'national reconciliation commission'; and its recent authorisation for a brief visit to the country by members of the Representacion Unitaria de la Oposicion Guatemalteca (RM-88-04).
The military high command is also concerned about the possible repercussions of the Esquipulas II regional peace agreement. In their view, the agreement has already led to the 'neutralisation' of the anti-Sandinista Contras in Nicaragua, and development that they believe could lead to a shift of the main conflict towards El Salvador.
In mid-May the army's former chief of staff, General Benedicto Lucas Garcia, said some sectors of the army feel 'injured' by the government's willingness to provide 'a political space for the insurgents'. In an interview published by the daily Prensa Libre, the brother of former President Fernando Romeo Lucas Garcia, who was ousted by the military in March 1982, advised Cerezo to 'listen to and not punish' the officers involved in the 11 May coup attempt. Otherwise, he warned, 'the government will face new and more serious problems.'
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