R 170917Z FEB 09 FM AMEMBASSY GUATEMALA TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 6953 C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 GUATEMALA 000142 SUBJECT: INDIGENOUS COMMUNITIES AFFECTED BY INCREASING

VIOLENCE; ADMINISTER OWN JUSTICE REF: 08 GUATEMALA 1458 Classified By: Ambassador Stephen McFarland for reasons 1.4(b,d) 1. (U) Summary: Guatemala's climate of impunity and violence is affecting not only the country's urban, concentrated areas, but also rural indigenous areas where public lynchings are a common form of social justice and deterrence. Human rights activist Manuel Calel Morales, leader of an indigenous rights organization in Chichicastenango, discussed with poloff the challenges confronting the indigenous communities in the region, including violence, lynchings, extortion, and kidnappings. End Summary. 2. (U) On February 4, poloff met with Manuel Calel Morales, coordinator and founder of K'Amalb'e Rech Tinamit Ixim Ulew (Guide that Leads the People of the Corn Field), an indigenous rights organization

in Chichicastenango that promotes human rights and access to education, and conducts exhumations of victims of the conflict era. Morales noted that during the first month of 2009 alone, indigenous communities in Chichicastenango have been affected by a wave of crime which is becoming increasingly typical of crimes in indigenous populations, including the kidnapping of a local woman and her daughter; the burning of the three alleged kidnappers; and the public lashing of a 22-year-old who allegedly attempted to steal a radio from a parked car. On January 12, community members captured the alleged thief and delivered him to the local Security Committee, which took him to the mayor's office where they tied him up and whipped him. Afterwords, they forced him to walk barefoot through the streets, publicly denouncing him as a thief, before delivering him to the police. 3. (U) In a separate incident, on January 11, community members captured and burned alive three men in the village of Camanchaj, Chichicastenango for allegedly kidnapping a 28-year-old indigenous woman and her two-year-old daughter, both of whom were later released unharmed. Community members went to Semeja canton in search of the kidnappers, burned their residence and car, and upon capturing the three men took them to a communal hall in Camanchaj where they doused them with gasoline and set them on fire. Ten hours passed before the crowd permitted municipal police and firemen to enter the hall to rescue the burned victims. All three subsequently died from their injuries. According to Morales, members of Camanchaj village organized a search party to find the ringleaders (two brothers) of "Los Geronimo," a criminal group

allegedly responsible for this kidnapping as well as other kidnappings, extortion, ransacking of homes, and assaults of trucks on the Inter-American Highway. 4. (SBU) Morales commented that the increasing violence is impacting all sectors of society, including indigenous communities, and that assaults are a serious problem in communities in Chichicastenango. Over the past two years, there have been numerous kidnappings for ransom. He cited poverty as the primary cause, and believed that modern criminal groups are legacies of the internal conflict -- formations of former members of Civil Defense Patrols and the military who retained their weapons rather than demobilize. 5. (C) Morales described what he called "a climate of fear" that is paralyzing the indigenous communities supported by his organization. He said that those who report human rights violations become the targets of threats because community members are complicit with local kidnappers. Many choose to remain silent. The majority of victims do not report crimes due to fear of reprisal and their belief that there is no justice. Morales criticized President Colom for focusing on the security problem only in the principal cities, while overlooking smaller, rural communities. He noted that there is very little police presence -only eight policemen for the 150,000 inhabitants in the municipality of Chichicastenango -- reportedly due to lack of vehicles and funds. To combat the wave of violence, the community is organizing neighborhood night patrols. Participants are armed

with machetes. Last year, he said, there were three lynchings in his community. The population suspects police complicity in illicit activities and does not trust the police. 6. (C) Morales said he has received death threats from community members for his opposition to lynchings, as well as death threats from former members of the Civil Defense Patrols and the military for his work on exhumations of victims of the internal conflict. He said the threats and climate of violence are impeding his work. He continues to receive threats from members of his community, including the son of a former Civil Defense Patrol member and his five associates. He filed a complaint, naming the six individuals. Thus far, no action has been taken. 7. (U) Morales' indigenous rights organization, which supports itself with small contributions from the community, coordinates with the Guatemalan Forensic Anthropological Foundation (FAFG) on exhumations. It conducts one to two inhumations, and three to five exhumations per year. An inhumation takes place one year to the date after an exhumation. After a victim's remains are sent to FAFG for forensic examination and identification, they are returned to the community for a proper traditional burial. Morales stressed that his organization seeks reconciliation, not vengeance, and takes cases to the judicial system only upon request by victims' families. 8. (SBU) Comment: The violence and resort to

public lynchings and other forms of traditional justice in the indigenous communities of Chichicastenango are typical of rural Guatemala, where police presence is insufficient and poverty is widespread. In other communities, so-called "indigenous punishment," based on Mayan common law practices, often consists of community service and limited corporal punishment. Last year, poloffs were invited by Morales to attend an exhumation. It was a peaceful reconciliatory community effort that contrasted with the reality of the violence of Guatemala's past and present. McFarland (Edited and reading.) reformatted by Andres for ease of