Well, today was a real doozy! I got back to the hotel for a
quick shower and change of clothes, only to find what looked like
a lynch mob when I got back to the vigil site. Amilcar Mendez's
two adopted daughters (17 and 13) were there looking upset--
they're part of the vigil because their father--a murdered CERJ
leader--is probably buried there also. Three students from the
University were also with us....They hadn't even tried to leave
the vigil site as the mob rolled in. More heros in Guatemala--
Let's hope they never become martyrs. I just went ahead and
waded into the mob and listened as a woman shrieked, read a poem,
cried wildly, etc. She is the same person who played the exact
same act when we first entered the base for the exhumation with
Arango. Her name is Giorgiana Rodas--and she is known to be
closely linked to the army.
I spoke to all of them quietly and commiserated with those
who had lost family members...The crowd was quieting down--and
then she would rile it up again. Some of the comments were to
the effect of "He was an indito" (read "nigger") so you could
never have really loved him." And "Why does he deserve a
funeral, he was a guerrilla." Julio Cintr"n (the army's lawyer)
was there. Later the students asked the people at the back if
they had read the banners they were carrying. The people didn't
know what the banners said. They had just been brought in the
trucks by the military commissioners, who were in the crowd in
plainclothes. They also told a number of journalists that I had
been seen in combat heavily armed in 1987--an indirect death
threat. Then they told the students they were "guerrillas" for
being there with me--a very direct death threat.
The human rights guy [from the Human Rights Procurator's
Office] just came by. He saw the people in the village as they
were leaving and recognized all of them as workers and members of
the military base 918 in San Marcos--the town where he works
himself. Case closed. The police were supposed to be with us
all day but showed up at 4:00 PM--looking very frightened.
Bianca Jagger has decided to stay an extra day. We love her.
Please, Please, Please, get protection for the students. Their
names are Guillermo Antonio Flores Barrios, Juan Carlos Barillas
Cuc, and Marco Antonio Marroqu!n L"pez.
Please tell everyone--we are only carrying out a peaceful
vigil and a memorial to the dead. Two more campesinos stopped to
speak with us this morning--and said "two thousand or more" told
of screams in the night--even recently. Here I stay.
Abrazos
Jennifer
July 21, l995
HOSTILE MOB ACCUSES HARBURY AND STUDENTS OF TERRORISM
Three University of San Carlos law students--Guillermo
Antonio Flores Barrios, Juan Carlos Barillas Cuc, and Marco
Antonio Marroqu!n L"pez--two teenage girls affiliated with the
Runujel Junam Ethnic Communities Council (CERJ), U.S. documentary
filmmaker Pat Goudvis, and journalist Paul Jeffry were outside
the Caba$as military base, in La Montanita, San Marcos, Guatemala
on July 21 at approximately 11:30 A.M. when a mob of
approximately 150 demonstrators arrived in eight or nine pickup
trucks, two minivans, and a bus. Although five or six National
Police officers had at one point accompanied Jennifer Harbury and
the other vigil participants, when the mob arrived, they were no
where in sight. The head of security at the U.S. Embassy
(special agent Lance Root) and two other security agents had
accompanied Jennifer and the vigil participants the first couple
of days of the action but were on their way back to Guatemala
City today when the incident occurred. Root had promised to get
Jennifer a radio but it never arrived.
Jennifer, Bianca Jagger, and British journalist John Carlin,
all of whom had been at the hotel in Malacat n, arrived at the
base at about 12:00. Jennifer and the three students were
accused of being guerrillas and terrorists. (One student, Marco
Antonio Marroqu!n, is particularly vulnerable to such implicit
threats because he has testified before the OAS on the shooting
and beating death of a fellow student last November.) Jagger and
Carlin evacuated the girls from the site before any harm could
come to them.
The demonstrators, who were described as very hostile,
screaming and shouting, were led by Giorgiana Rodas, who is
reportedly affiliated with the G-2 (military intelligence).
There were also plainclothes soldiers in the crowd. They carried
signs that said "The URNG and B maca planted bombs on our land
and violate our human rights." "Get out of here, lying gringa.
B maca is not your husband." "Jennifer Harbury, because of your
attitude, the peace treaty has not been signed. Get out of the
country." "The URNG assassinated our children. We have human
rights also." "Jennifer and B maca have only sown terrorism,
extortion, violence, war on plantations, and kidnapping. The
URNG has assassinated our people." "Families of those Harmed by
the URNG." They reportedly held up photos of army soldiers
killed in combat. Jennifer spoke to the leader of the mob for
approximately an hour, and then the demonstrators left. The
army's lawyer, Julio Cintr"n, was spotted among the
demonstrators. Both Jennifer and Patricia Moore, the
photojournalist who reported the incident, felt that the mob
would return in stronger numbers. Jennifer, the students, Bianca
Jagger, and John Carlin are currently at the base, sleeping out,
with no protection. The U.S. Embassy, contacted by Amnesty
International, said it would ensure twenty-four-hour protection
by the National Police.
Continue actions as requested in yesterday's notice (July 20,
l995
** End of text from cdp:reg.guatemala **
***************************************************************************
This material came from PeaceNet, a non-profit progressive networking
service. For more information, send a message to peacenet-info@igc.apc.org
***************************************************************************