The situation in Central America: procedures for the
establishment of a firm and lasting peace and progress
in fashioning a region of peace, freedom, democracy
and development
United Nations Mission for the Verification of Human Rights
and of Compliance with the Commitments of the Comprehensive
Agreement on Human Rights in Guatemala
Report of the Secretary-General
1. The present report is submitted pursuant to General Assembly resolution 50/220 of 3 April 1996, in which the Assembly decided to authorize the renewal of the mandate of the United Nations Mission for the Verification of Human Rights and of Compliance with the Comprehensive Agreement on Human Rights in Guatemala (MINUGUA) for a further period of 9 months and 13 days, that is until 31 December 1996, and requested me, inter alia, to keep the Assembly fully informed of the implementation of the resolution.
2. Since my last report on the activities of MINUGUA (A/50/881), the peace
process between the Government of Guatemala and the Unidad Revolucionaria
Nacional Guatemalteca (URNG) has made considerable headway. I have reported on
a regular basis to the General Assembly on this progress, in particular in my
latest report on the situation in Central America, which covered developments
until September 1996 (A/51/338, paras. 31-39). In that report, I stressed the
importance of the agreement on social and economic aspects and the agrarian
situation, signed at Mexico City on 6 May 1996. Another major agreement was
signed at Mexico City on 19 September 1996 namely the agreement on the
strengthening of Civilian Power and on the role of the armed forces in a
democratic society (A/51/410-S/1996/853, annex). It contains a comprehensive
set of provisions for the strengthening of democratic institutions in Guatemala, including the executive branch, the legislature and the judiciary. In the context of ending 35 years of armed conflict, it emphasizes in particular the need to overhaul the security functions of the State: under a reformed Constitution, the police are to be restructured, strengthened and consolidated in a new National Civil Police, which will assume responsibility for internal security; intelligence gathering activities are to be reorganized and regulated; and the army will limit its role to external defence and will adjust its doctrine, training, deployment, size and budget accordingly. The signing of the agreement has opened the way for the final phase of the negotiations, namely the consideration of the cluster of so-called "operative" issues, which include the definitive ceasefire, the reinsertion of URNG and the timetable for implementation and verification of the peace agreements.
3. In late October, as consideration of these issues began, the negotiating
process was shaken by the news that a senior field commander of one of the four
factions which make up URNG had been involved in the kidnapping of an elderly
woman in Guatemala City. In addition to being a serious violation of the
Comprehensive Agreement on Human Rights (A/48/928-S/1994/448, annex I), this
action was in stark contradiction with the spirit that had characterized the
peace process throughout the year and with the confidence-building measures
pledged by both sides. The incident affected the process all the more severely
as there is widespread outrage in Guatemala at the wave of kidnappings that has
afflicted the country in recent months. On 29 October, in a public statement, I
deplored the incident and its damaging consequences for the negotiating process
and I called upon URNG to take the action necessary to restore conditions in
which a final peace agreement could promptly be reached. Between 30 October and
7 November, the URNG leadership issued several public statements in which it
acknowledged and lamented the involvement of URNG members in the kidnapping; offered, as a confidence-building measure, to suspend all armed propaganda activities and other acts that could affect the peace process; proposed that negotiations resume with priority being given to the negotiation of the definitive ceasefire; and announced that the leader of the faction to which the kidnapper had belonged would withdraw from the negotiating table. As a result, negotiations resumed at Mexico City on 9 November and the parties quickly reached an understanding about the substantive provisions of the agreement on the definitive ceasefire.