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Guatemala: Establish Investigative Commission

New President Should Make Accountability Central to His Agenda

Guatemala’s new president, Oscar Berger, should ensure the establishment of a commission to investigate clandestine groups responsible for political violence, Human Rights Watch said today.

"The biggest challenge for democracy in Guatemala remains reestablishing the rule of law," said José Miguel Vivanco, executive director of Human Rights Watch’s Americas Division. "Ending impunity by prosecuting cases of political violence is an essential step in that process."

Last week, the Guatemalan government and the United Nations signed an agreement to create an international commission to investigate clandestine groups responsible for numerous acts of political violence in recent years. The commission, known as the Commission of Investigation into Illegal Groups and Clandestine Security Apparatuses (CICIACS), will be led by a U.N.-appointed commissioner and work with the Guatemalan Attorney General’s Office to prosecute cases in Guatemalan courts.

The critical first step for the establishment of the commission is for the Guatemalan Congress to ratify the agreement. As a presidential candidate, Berger promised to support the creation of the U.N.-led investigative commission. As his term in office begins, he should press Congress to ratify the agreement as a matter of urgent priority.

Berger is the second Guatemalan president elected since the 1996 peace accords that brought an end to a 36-year internal armed conflict in which as many as 200,000 Guatemalans lost their lives. The Guatemalan military was responsible for the vast majority of abuses committed during the war, which included hundreds of massacres of unarmed civilians.

In the seven years since the war ended, only two major human rights cases have resulted in the conviction of senior army officers. These rulings came only after witnesses were assassinated, and investigators, judges and prosecutors fled the country. Both convictions were subsequently overturned on dubious grounds and remain under review in the courts.

The most pressing obstacle to progress on human rights cases has been the country's climate of political violence and intimidation. Rights activists, justice officials, journalists and others who have promoted accountability have faced scores of threats and attacks over the past three years.

There is a solid consensus among local and international observers that the perpetrators of many of these acts of violence and intimidation are affiliated with clandestine groups that have links to both state agents and organized crime. These groups threaten not only specific individuals and organizations, but also Guatemalan society as a whole, given their capacity to corrupt public institutions and undermine the rule of law.

The role of the planned commission is to investigate and promote the prosecution of these groups. "The proposed commission could offer Guatemala its last, best opportunity to restore the rule of law," said Vivanco. "It's critical that President Berger honor Guatemala's commitment to making the commission a reality."

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