GUATEMALA: Government and Guerrillas Say Peace is Ensured

By Tito Drago Reprint | | Print |

Tito Drago

OVIEDO, Spain, Oct 24 1997 (IPS) - The government and guerrillas of Guatemala said Friday in this Spanish city that the peace process in their country was ensured, even though some difficulties have arisen.

Guatemalan President Alvaro Arzu and former guerrilla leaders Rolando Moran and Pablo Monsanto – whose real names are Ricardo Ramirez and Jorge Soto – received the International Cooperation Prize Friday, awarded by the Prince of Asturias Foundation.

The ceremony took place in the northern city of Oviedo by the heir to the Spanish crown, Felipe de Borbon.

Moments before the ceremony, Arzu told IPS that he found the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity (URNG) to have a patriotic spirit and to be convinced of the need for peace, which allowed the happy conclusion of the peace talks and the overcoming of the main obstacles.

Arzu added that the advantages of peace have already begun to be felt in Guatemala, even though peace must be conceived as a process, with joint efforts, time and some sacrifice. He said the most important thing was that an atmosphere of peace and freedom had begun to be felt.

That atmosphere has also made positive economic progress possible, he said. Guatemala today has the highest level of foreign reserves in history, and lacks a fiscal deficit, he underlined, adding that inflation will be 8.5 percent by year’s end, while the gross domestic product will have grown 4.5 percent, a level never before achieved.

Monsanto said the peace process was taking sure steps forward, but maintained that some sectors were trying to hinder it. He cited the case of the owner of the Tres Maria estate, who filed legal charges against him, accusing him of extortion.

Monsanto denied that there had been any attempt at extortion, and accused Guatemala’s large landholders of fomenting confrontation and a return to the past. “They do not want reconciliation,” he contended.

The lawsuit, he said, was part of a systematic and constant campaign against the former guerrilla-now political party URNG. “The landholders are resisting democratic and progressive changes that necessarily arise from the peace process.”

Arzu and the guerrilla leaders chatted in a friendly manner before, during and after the prize was granted.

Recipients of the prize have included former Colombian president Belisario Betancur, former Argentine president Raul Alfonsin, Nobel Peace Prize-winner and former president of Costa Rica Oscar Arias, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and South African leaders Frederick de Klerk and Nelson Mandela.