Guatemala is the only country in the hemisphere, excluding Cuba, prohibited from receiving assistance through the Foreign Military Financing (FMF) pgm. Annual foreign operations appropriations legislation specifically singled out Guatemala among the few banned countries during each of past several years; this provision remains in place for 2000. G
 		 U A T E M A L A
links &

maps   relief   ¤   ¤   ¤   ¤  
a r c h i v e
Depts of Guatemala don't have flags of their own, but, as a militarised country, military divisions of Guatemala have their flags.

INTELLIGENCE OVERSIGHT BOARD
6/28/96 Report   Anthony S. Harrington, chair " On March 30, 1995, the President directed the Intelligence Oversight Board (IOB) to conduct a govt-wide review concerning allegations regarding the l990 death of US citizen Michael DeVine, the 1992 disappearance of Guatemalan guerrilla leader Efraín Bamaca Velásquez, and related matters. Under terms of reference issued on April 7, 1995, the scope of this inquiry covers any existing intelligence bearing on the torture, disappearance, or death of US citizens in Guatemala since 1984, including the cases of Dianna Ortiz, Griffith Davis and Nicholas Blake. Other cases that have come to our attention and have been included in our review are those involving Peter Wolfe, Janey Skinner, Jennifer Roitman, Meredith Larson, June Weinstock, and Daniel Callahan. Because an investigation of the Dianna Ortiz case by the Department of Justice is still underway, …

The IOB "failed to investigate several DEA and CIA operations in which U.S. agents knew before hand that individuals (some Americans) were going to be murdered. … I became so frustrated that I forced myself to respond to the I.O.B report citing case file numbers, dates, and names of people who were murdered. In one case (DEA file # TG-86-0005) several Colombians and Mexicans were raped, tortured and murdered by CIA and DEA assets, with the approval of the CIA. … The main target of that case was a Guatemalan Congressman, (Carlos Ramiro Garcia de Paz) who took delivery of 2,404 kilos of cocaine in Guatemala just before the interrogation. This case directly implicated the Guatemalan Govt in drug trafficking"   Cele Castillo

In March, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)awarded on of its highest honors, the Distinguished Career Intelligence Medal, to former officer Terry Ward, who was dismissed from the agency in 1995 for failing to report CIA ties to a Guatemalan colonel implicated in the murders of Efraín Bamaca Velásquez and the U.S. citizen Michael Devine. After fierce political debate, Guatemala in April approved the deployment of U.S. military forces to the country to combat illicit drug trafficking. In June, the National Security Archive, a Washington D.C. based NGO released a report entitled "The Guatemalan Military: What the U.S. Files reveal." This named 232 Guatemalan officers and contained information on their activities and command responsibilities, so assisting NGOs and victims in their efforts to identify and bring to justice those responsible for gross abuses during Guatemala's civil war.

GUATEMALA CITY   … "Guatemalan children have a price,'' concluded a UNICEF study released late last year. … usually runs $20,000 or more, according to agencies that advertise Guatemalan adoptions on the Internet. Typically, international adoptions cost between $15,000 and $20,000 because of such expenses as air fare, mandatory donations to orphanages, agency fees and fees to the foreign country. The difference, as one breakdown of costs noted, is that in Guatemala, nearly three-fourths of the money goes to the local lawyers who provide children for foreign families. Guatemala is one of the few countries in the world that still allow mothers to directly relinquish their newborn babies to private lawyers who arrange adoptions. Most other nations require courts or government agencies to oversee placement of children.

Memory of Silence Guatemalan Commission for Historical Clarification rpt
State Dept annual reports re Guatemala
Guat emala Peace Accords summary
Heads of State
Refugees
political links   embassy in U.S.
Canadian Info Resource Ctr
media
Washington Post
NY Times
CNN< br> CBC
Seattle Times
P hila. Inquirer 		links 1   2
forums 1
news groups
newswire
Latin Am. Newsletters

Development Pgm
Unrepresented Nations
High Comm. on Guatemala HR Comm./USA
HRts Watch   FIDH in French
Office of the Americas
Wash. Off. on Latin America M. Novick   Guatemala theme Jan. & Feb. 2001 began with The Story of Jesus Tecu, a Mayan Indian who's family was massacred along with the entire village of Rio Negro. With our guests Raki Baur and Cat Wilson of the Jennifer Harbury Support Group, for the past two weeks, we have been discussing the findings of the Guatemalan truth commission which they attended last year. This week, we continue this discussion with Raki, focusing on the role of the US in creating schools of torture throughout Latin America and how this was exposed with the capture of a US torture expert Dan Mitrioni by the Uruguayan Tupamaro Guerrillas in the mid 70's.
This training process included picking up street children and torturing them slowly to death in front of the classes. These people never knew why they were experiencing this pain. They did not even have the option to confess anything in order to make it stop. They were just Guinea Pigs. Each day they were given amphetamines to revive them. This usually lasted about a week, then they were dressed in their rags and their bodies were trown back in the street. This was exposed by human rights organizations and was covered in the NY Times. Costa Gavits made a film about Mitrione called "State of Siege". A segment of the esteemed documentary about the CIA, "On Company Business", was also devoted to this incident.
As an activist, I am well aware of how difficult it is for most people, even "liberals" to believe that the US government does this sort of thing on a routine basis all over the world, yet it has been exposed time and again. As we struggle against Corporate Globalization, I think that it's important to remember that it is Fascism that we are fighting and to never underestimate what Fascists are capable of doing.		 Mitrioni was an associate of (Jim) Jones in the early days of the temple. Mitrioni was a former Indianapolis police chief who went to work for the CIA. He was involved in the instruction of torture, brainwashing and public terrorism to government soldiers and security teams in countries such as Bolivia, Uruguay and Brazil for the purposes of establishing and perpetuating the "fational Security State". Jim Jones was known to have had a long history with Mitrioni as they were childhood friends and had grown up together. In addition, Jones was in Brazil in 1962 at the same time that Mitrioni was there instructing Brazilian Security Services in extraction of information from political prisoners, tortures etc. Their friendship was rekindled during this period. Prior to this time together in Brazil, they had last been involved with each other in Evansville, Indiana where Jones made his start in religious evangelism by studying the methods and practices of a Black evangelist known as Father Divine.
… Did Jones and Mitrione know each other? … A number of years ago I called Mitrione's son Dan Jr., himself an FBI agent, and asked that very question. No, he said quite emphatically. And that was the end of it until March 1985, when Dan Mitrione Jr. was in the papers himself. He had just pleaded guilty to federal charges of possessing 90 pounds of cocaine and was about to be sentenced to prison.

ecotravel & environment
Forest Conservation portal
IntlRelations Comm.
W. Hemisphere Subcomm. hearings
legislation 10/1/00 H.R.
 S.R.
Shrub's top LatinAm advisors Contra roles
Albright in S.America

Off. of Research
State Dept 1999 Human Rights, Trade, Narcotics , Terrorism & Intl Religious Freedom reports re GUATEMALA

Peacekeeping budget
Wash.Rpt
country report staffing govt from military ranks 6/99 $1-billion loan from Ex-Im Bank for purchase of U.S. goods. World Socialist Web

Cele Castillo   The IOB "failed to investigate several DEA and CIA operations in which U.S. agents knew before hand that individuals (some Americans) were going to be murdered. … I became so frustrated that I forced myself to respond to the I.O.B report citing case file numbers, dates, and names of people who were murdered. In one case (DEA file # TG-86-0005) several Colombians and Mexicans were raped, tortured and murdered by CIA and DEA assets, with the approval of the CIA. … The main target of that case was a Guatemalan Congressman, (Carlos Ramiro Garcia de Paz) who took delivery of 2,404 kilos of cocaine in Guatemala just before the interrogation. This case directly implicated the Guatemalan Government in drug trafficking (The Guatemalan Congressman still has his US visa and continues to travel at his pleasure into the US). To add salt to the wound, in 1989 these murders were investigated by the U.S Department of Justice, Office of Professional Responsibility. DEA S/I Tony Recevuto determined that the Guatemalan Military Intelligence, G-2 (the worst human rights violators in the Western Hemisphere) was responsible for these murders. Yet, the U.S. government continued to order U.S. agents to work hand-in- hand with the Guatemalan Military. This information was never turned over to the I.O.B. investigation. (See attached response)
I have obtained a letter, dated May 28, 1996, from the DEA administrator, to U.S. Congressman Lloyd Doggett (D), Texas. In this letter, the administrator flatly lies, stating that DEA agents "have never engaged in any joint narcotics programs with the Guatemalan Military". I was there. I was the leading Agent in Guatemala. 99.9% of DEA operations were conducted with the Guatemalan military. In 1990, the DEA invited a Guatemalan military G-2 officer, Cpt. Fuentez, to attend a DEA narcotic school, which is against DEA policy. I know this for a fact because I worked with this officer for several years and was in Guatemala when he was getting ready to travel to the States.

… In October of 1985, Upon my arrival in Guatemala, I was forewarned by Guatemala DEA, County Attachˇ, Robert J. Stia, that the DEA had received intelligence that the Contras out of Salvador, were involved in drug trafficking. For the first time, I had come face to face with the contradictions of my assignment. The reason that I had been forewarned was because I would be the Lead Agent in El Salvador.
… Oscar Alvarado-Lara "a.k.a." El Negro Alvarado (CIA asset and Contra pilot) was mentioned in 3 DEA files. On June 11, 1986, Alvarado transported 27 illegal Cubans to El Salvador Ilopango, where they were then smuggled into Guatemala. On Sept. 28, 1987, Alvarado picked up CIA officer Randy Capister in Puerto Barrios Guatemala after a joint DEA, CIA and Guatemala Military (G-2) operation. Several Mexicans and Colombians were murdered and raped. This was supported by the CIA. DEA File TG-86-0005.
… Dec. 03, 1988, DEA seized 356 kilos of cocaine in Tiquisate, Guatemala (DEA # TG-89- 0002; Hector Sanchez). Several Colombians were murdered on said operation and condoned by the DEA and CIA. I have pictures of individuals that were murdered in said case. The target was on Gregorio Valdez (CIA asset) of The Guatemala Piper Co. At that time, all air operations for the CIA and DEA flew out of Piper. Aug. 24, 1989, Because of my information, the U.S. Embassy canceled Guatemalan Military, Lt. Col. Hugo Francisco Moran-Carranza, (Head of Interpol and Corruption) U.S. visa. He was documented as a drug trafficker and as a corrupt Guatemalan Official. He was on his way to a U.S. War College for one year, invited by the CIA.

… May 10, 1990, DEA HQS OPR S/I Tony Recevuto returned to Guatemala and requested the U.S. Ambassador, to please grant Lt. Col. Hugo Moran-Carranza a US Visa, so that he could testify before the BCCI investigation in Miami. The ambassador could not understand why anyone, for any reason would request a US Visa for an individual who had planned the assassination of a US drug agent. May 27, 1990, I was ordered to return back to Guatemala to pack my household goods. The threat was still very real for me. On June 01, 1990, I departed Guatemala for the last time. On June 05, 1990, another American was killed by the Guatemalan Military. Before the Kerry Committee."

Since the inception of the Haitian National Police (HNP) in 1996, limited progress has been made. As presently configured, the HNP lacks logistical support and training, a unified drug intelligence system, command and control capability, and resources. Furthermore, several incidents have occurred which have further destabilized the leadership and effectiveness of the HNP. Firstly, on October 7, 1999, the Haitian Secretary of State for Public Security Robert Manuel formally resigned and left Haiti with his family for Guatemala. Following this, on October 8, 1999, an advisor to HNP Director Pierre Denize and confidante of President Preval and former President Aristide was assassinated. It was learned shortly after the assassination that the advisor, Jean Lamy was the potential successor to Manuel. Finally, during the evening of October 14, 1999, an assassination attempt was made against Mario Andersol, head of the Judicial Police. information with each other through the UNICORN system.

Miami Herald Dallas Morning News St. Petersburg Times According to described was later found

"We have had an assessment with the US Secretary of Defense of the damage caused by Hurricane Mitch, but I would like to underscore at this time that the fact that there was previous training offered by the United States in disaster preparedness was very, very helpful in terms of saving a lot of lives. The government is responsible for the well-being and life of its citizens, but my country was able to save 7,000 lives on the border with Honduras, and 3,000 people in other regions of the country. Therefore, training was very, very helpful for which we thank the United States and we thanked the United States in the past."
12/1/98   Guatemala Defense Minister
DoD News Briefing   Cartagena, Colombia
with U.S. DefSec Wm. S. Cohen
 Special Ops
Guatemala budgets

New Horizons

In January 20001, U.S. Southern Command will be conducting humanitarian exercises in:

  •   St. Lucia (JTF Piton)
  •   Guatemala
  •   Honduras
  •   St. Vincent
Gary D. Speer, Maj.General U.S. Army
Deputy Commander in Chief, U.S. Southern Command
served with the Department of State as the Director of Operations, Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism. Subsequently, he commanded the 3d Brigade of the 25th Infantry Division (Light) in Schofield Barracks, Hawaii. As a brigade commander, he also served as the Task Force Commander in the city of Cap Haitian during Operation Uphold Democracy, responsible for the northern departments of Haiti. His multinational, multi-agency task force included military contingents from the Caribbean Command (CARICOM), Guatemala, and the U.S.; police monitors from Argentina, Bolivia, CARICOM, Canada, and France; U.N. observers; and a variety of other agencies and non-government organizations from other countries. He also planned and supervised his soldiers' preparation and deployment for peacekeeping operations with the multinational force and observer mission in the Sinai, and military employment in humanitarian missions involving the repatriation of migrant personnel recovered at sea in the Pacific, hurricane disaster relief, and fighting forest fires. Major General Speer was the Deputy Commander, United States Army South, in Panama from 1996 to 1998. Most recently, he served as the Assistant Division Commander, Operations, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry), Fort Drum, New York from 24 July 1998 to 6 July 2000, which included command of the Coalition Joint Task Force - Kuwait (Forward) during January- February 1999.

FOIA Denial Authorities
Col. Joe M. Hanning, Commander, U.S. Military Group Guatemala, U.S. Southern Command
LtCol Robt Phores, Chief, Air Force Section, U.S. Military Group Guatemala, U.S. Southern Command

PR South Com regalia fetish 6/22/99   "US SouthCom Gen. Wilhelm outlines Counterdrug strategy"
WASHDC USIS   Transnational threats associated with illegal drug trafficking are greatest menace to peace & prosperity in the Western Hemisphere, General Charles Wilhelm, commander-in-chief of U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM), told a Senate Foreign Relations Committee panel 6/22/00. "In region that fears no external power, essentially at peace with itself, and on per-capita basis, spends less on arms than any other region of the world, transnational threats are greatest dangers to regional stability. Corrupting influences of drug trafficking, money laundering & organized crime are undermining the foundations of democracy & impeding economic development," he said. U.S. counterdrug strategies in region against these transnational threats based on conviction that drug trafficking organizations "are not invulnerable," Wilhelm said. "With right amount of effort, drug trafficking profit reduced."
Military Interdiction Ops troops from San Diego in Persian Gulf shipboard search for sanctioned chlorine & infant formula.   DoD photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Charles Abell, U.S. Navy Gen.Wilhelm plans for supporting ongoing counterdrug activities & all U.S. forces' withdrawal from Panama by year end. Initiatives for greater coordination within region. Colombia "is headed in the right direction." Now produces 75% of world's cocaine & its govt lacks control over nearly 40% of countryside. Wilhelm "cautiously optimistic" military restructuring & govt efforts to negotiate settlement with insurgent groups will make Colombia's security forces "more competitive" in the anti-drug war. Cent.Amer countries more aggressive stance against narcotics trafficking & increasing US support incl maritime agreements with several countries for drug interdiction efforts and has provided tactical airlift support for host nations, "enabling them to respond instantly to intelligence cues," Wilhelm said.
force of the future
Joint Task Force Bravo located at Soto Cano Air Base in Republic of Honduras, represents main presence in Cent.Am for US military. JTF-Bravo is primary agent for Commander in Chief, U.S. S.Command to promote multinational cooperation in Joint Area of Operations. The JAO includes Honduras, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala, & Belize.
SecDef Cohen in
In 1998 28 U.S. troops in GUATEMALA .
GUATEMALA armed forces
School of the Americas Watch
    NGOs
Peace Brigades
Guatemalan Development Foundation (FUNDESA) Guatemala News Watch

Fed. American Scientists:  : Intel   Arms  
Amnesty Intl

NGOs & PVOs Providing Disaster Relief in Guatemala

links for S.America & Latin American

Environment & Latin America Network

Council on Foreign Relations   Ctr for Strategic & Intl Studies
NED   ICG   Corp
WorldBank Chiapas refugees
Guatemala - Mexico: Returnee-Refugee Area 3 May 1999 UNHCR

D.C. embassy   practical timeline Deal was arranged Caribbean & Cent.Am Rpt   CONCERNS Amerindian Peoples Association (APA) Area 13k sq.mi Pop 715k Lang English, Amerind
Life 1996 av. 58yr male 63yr female
People's Progressive Part regional map

timeline Drug War WashPost issue focus Foreign Media Reaction US State Dept Off. of Research
Sunshine Project Fusarium 7/27/00 State Dept 1999 Military Expenditures annual report 'a couple hundred' US troops Marxist revolutionaries Guardian Ankle Deep in the Big Muddy IPS Press Review
Time
    reading list
Amazon re Guatemala
relocation

The Lesson of Experience from Guatemala, Mali, Mozambique, Sudan, Rwanda and Burundi
UD Evaluation Report 11.98, Oslo, Royal Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 1998
DAN SMITH Dir. Intl Peace Research Institute (PRIO) Oslo Norway

    Hieroglyphics disclose unknown war
    9.19.02   AP
A bitter war between rival Maya city-states may have set the stage for the collapse of that once-great civilization, say scientists who translated recently found hieroglyphics on stone stairs in an ancient pyramid in Guatemala. A hurricane last summer began exposing the carvings at a site known as Dos Pilas, and the story they tell is forcing scholars to rewrite history.
What was once thought to be a series of separate local conflicts in the seventh & eighth centuries turns out to have been the equivalent of a "world war" for the Maya, with battle lines formed by vassal states controlled by two superpowers, Vanderbilt Univ. Institute of Mesoamerican Archaeology prof. Arthur Demarest said Wednesday.

Demarest said in a telephone interview that the discovery is forcing him to rewrite part of his institute's lengthy history of the Maya civilization. "The hundreds of new glyphs fill in a vital 60-year gap of unknown Maya history and clarify many of the political & military relationships of this critical period," Vanderbilt Maya specialist Federico Fahsen, added in a statement.
Their discovery was supported by the National Geographic Society, Vanderbilt, the Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies and Guatemala's Ministry of Culture. Oct. 2001 issue of National Geographic reported the discovery of the steps and announced details of the findings.

The 18 steps were discovered after a storm blew down a tree in Dos Pilas. Demarest, who previously had explored there, returned with other scholars to investigate. "I didn't think for a minute it would be anything like this," he said. "We thought it was just going to be a few steps, and it kept growing and growing."
While many scholars believed the wars of this time were local & unrelated, the discovery supports the theory of Simon Martin of University College, London, and Nikolai Grube of the University of Bonn, Germany, that this period in Maya history was a "long world war" between the superpowers Tikal & Calakmul, said Demarest. This staircase is overpowering confirmation of their theory, he said. Demarest said he had not been able to contact Martin & Grube to tell them of the find because they are doing field work.

Dos Pilas was established as a military outpost of the great Maya city of Tikal in A.D. 629, and the king of Tikal placed his young brother on the throne of the new city. Later battles between the communities had been thought to be a rivalry between the brothers, but the new translations reveal a much larger & more complex conflict.
Instead, the step writings say the king of Dos Pilas grew up to become a great warrior and for many years was an ally of his brother in Tikal. Then the city-state Calakmul, located to the north in what is now Mexico, conquered Dos Pilas, took the king prisoner, and then restored him to the throne as a puppet ruler.

"When I read those glyphs, I had to blink to make sure I was reading it correctly," Fahsen said. "I had never heard of Calakmul actually invading & defeating the king of Dos Pilas. We thought that, at most, they may have had a weak alliance of some type." But the new carvings say that the king, now loyal to Calakmul, launched a decade- long war against Tikal that ended in his victory. His forces sacked Tikal and brought its ruler, his own brother, and other Tikal nobles to Dos Pilas to be sacrificed.
"This west section of the steps was very graphic," said Fahsen. "It says, 'blood flowed and skulls of the thirteen peoples of the Tikal place were piled up.' The final glyphs describe the king of Dos Pilas 'doing a victory dance.'" Dos Pilas then launched a campaign of conquest with Calakmul's backing and became a major regional power. "Rather than being an independent actor as previously thought, it now appears that Dos Pilas was a pawn in a much bigger battle," said Demarest.

He says this appears to be a time when the Maya civilization was on the verge of moving to a higher level of organization and consolidating into a single empire. "However, this didn't happen. Instead, the giant war went back & forth. After Tikal was sacked, it eventually roared back and crushed Calakmul. Then the Maya world just broke up into regional powers, setting the stage for a period of intensive, petty warfare that finally led to the collapse of the Maya," said Demarest. By 760, Dos Pilas was abandoned.

SAUL LANDAU

Dir. of Digital Media & Intl Outreach Pgms
for College of Letters, Arts & Social Sciences,
Cal State Poly Univ Pomona

Guerrilla Wars of Central America Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala
St. Martin's Press, New York, January 1994

The Dangerous Doctrine National Security and US Foreign Policy
Westview Press, Boulder, Colorado, April 1988

Changing Course Blueprint for Peace and Development in Central America
w/ co-authors IPS, Washington, 1984


PicoSearch
§ite map
courtesy of FreeFind 		presented by §
OCIAL
JUSTICE  
Home Search Site Portal E-mail