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Page 4 Portland Observer, November 12, 1981 EDITORI AL/OPINION The faces of Guatemala at war P a rti Interfering with the courts The federal courts have provided the only access fo r m inorities to their constitutional rights. Through the courts have come voting rig h ts, p ro h ib itio n against re d lin in g and housing covenants, school desegregation, equal expenditures for education, equal access to governm ental services, em ploym ent opportunity and affirmative action, etc. For Indians the courts have guaranteed their Treaty rights and regained lost land and assets. The accused have turned to the federal courts to insure their right to a fair trial and the ir p re tria l rights; prisoners have sought their basic human rights through the courts. Unable to depend on law enforcem ent agents and governm ent o ffic ia ls fo r p ro te ctio n , and relegated to second class by Julia Preston Pacific News Service citizenship by p o litic ia n s , m in o rity people have had to turn to the courts. Now the A tto rn e y General o f the U nited States not only plans to withdraw his Justice Departm ent fro m its role in the p u rs u it o f those rights, but he has told the federal courts that they should in te rp re t the law not according to the Constitution but according to Reagan p o litic s . He believes that “ fundamental rig h ts” o f citizens have been extended too fa r and m ight need some reassessment. This action is a disgrace to the co u n try - supposedly a nation o f laws. Smith should be fire d , but he works fo r Reagan and we can assume that he speaks for him also. An opportunity for unity The Black U nited Front is holding a convention this weekend to develop a political agenda. Guidlines and goals will be developed on which the candidacy o f the various office holders and candidates fo r election can be judged. This agenda w ill also be the basis for generating a united front to insure the election o f the best representative o f the community to the new House District 18. ouse District 18. Also to be developed is a set o f short and long range goals and strategies % fo r development o f the community. This convention is an op p o rtu n ity fo r the community to come together, exchange ideas, plan, strategize, and do the hard work that is necessary i f Black people are ever to gain control o f their economic and political destiny. There is room at the convention for persons o f all p o litic a l persuasions; o f varied background, education and professional expertise; parents, students, the elderly. A ll can come together to work for the same goal. The only guideline to be followed as ideas and plans are discussed, political ambitions are laid on the line, and decisions are made is, “ Is it best for Black People?” Let out again The Area Agency on A ging and the C ity /C o u n ty C om m ission on A ging are holding a series o f public hearings to receive comment on a proposed Aging Policy for the C ity and C ou nty. The p o licy is aimed at improving the quality o f life for the elderly. It is by now well known that Blacks, Indians and Chicanos s u ffe r most in old age -- the result o f years o f discrimination. Pensions are low or non-existent; saving fo r old age impossible; health poor and death early. Yet unfortunately none o f the four hearings was scheduled in the Albina area -- they are on November 16th (2:00 p.m .) at the H ollywood Senior Center; November 17th (2:00 p.m .) at C ity H a ll; Novem ber 18th (10:00 a .m .) at P A C T Senior C enter; and N ovem ber 25th (1:00 p .m .) at Gresham Senior C enter. As usual the most needy w ill have to travel the farthest to participate. CAM OTAN. G U A TEM A LA — " Is it true that the men o f eastern Guatemala are killers?** asked a vis itor. The two brawny men in black T- shirts and cowboy hats stroked their sem i-autom atic rifles and smiled. “ That's right," one said, with a hint o f pride. This dusty, o ven-hot region doesn’t look at all like the Guatema la that Americans know from travel posters. T h a t G u a te m a la , to the west o f here, is cool and forested, and inhabited mostly by Indians, who m ake up 65 per cent o f the Guatemalan population. Soft-spo ken subsistence farmers, the Indians o f the western highlands also are at the heart o f a growing leftist insur gency. Out here in the “ wild East," how ever, where every man needs a pick up truck and a five-gallon hat, all but a small minority o f the popula tion are n o n -In d ia n s , called La- dinos. They are fa m ily farm ers, hired field hands and truckers. Most are dirt poor. In this frontier town there are no rodeos, no country music and only a handful o f horses, but there are three obsessions: guns, anti-communism and Indian hating. Given these stark contrasts, it is clear that the com ing war in this cou n try w ill be more than right against le ft, or simply landed rich against land-hungry poor— the con flicts that brought bloodshed to nei ghboring El Salvador. The war here also is setting non-Indians against Indians, and East against West, lit erally splitting Guatemala apart. Out here in the “ wild East,” how ever, where every man needs a pick up truck and a five-gallon hat, all but a small minority o f the popula tion are n o n -In d ia n s , called La- dinos. They are fa m ily farm ers, hired field hands and truckers. Most are dirt poor. In this frontier town there are no rodeos, no country mu sic and only a handful o f horses, but there are three obsessions: guns, anti-communism and Indian hating. Given these stark contrasts, it is clear that the com ing war in this cou n try w ill be m ore than right against le ft, or simply landed rich against lan d -h u n g ry p o o r— the conflicts that brought bloodshed to neighboring El Salvador. The war here also is setting n o n -In d ia n s against In d ian s, and East against West, literally splitting Guatemala other right-w ing politicians speak only for a small elite o f landowners In Cam otan, said a youth loung and industrialists, Sandoval has en ing in the central square, “ a pistol joyed wide support from the poor just isn’t enough.“ Double-barreled Eastern farmers. shotguns and Is raeli submachine In the early '70s Sandoval adm it guns are preferred. A man needs a ted openly to foreign reporters that long weapon to dangle dow n one he had hepled fou n d the “ W h ite leg, his finger alw ays casually H and,” a notorious death squad, in wrapped around the trigger. 1966. T o d ay he m ain tain s a per The guns help serve an anti-com sonal army o f 2,(XX) gunslingers. munism which is less a p o litic a l An M L N o ffic ia l explained: creed than it is a way o f life. I f there “ Other parties are m oderate-right once were specific issues in dispute, or left-right. But Sandoval is all-the- th e y ’ ve been fo rg o tte n . N o w , it way r ig h t.” Blunt positions and boils down to the widely accepted sheer bluster account for his appeal. fact that to call anyone a communist “ We need a full-scale param ilitary in the East is to condemn that per cam paign against the com m unist son to death by a self-appointed se subversion," he declared in an inter cret posse o f gunmen. view. “ There's no point giving those “ Communism will never catch on people a trial or putting them in jail. here,’ ’ said an aging farm er, q u af This is a dirty w ar.” fing a beer in a store, “ because too Earlier this year Sandoval told re many people have died fo r it a l porters he wanted to institute mass ready.” public executions o f suspected The fe rv o r took hold in 1954, "subversives.” His list o f com mu when an invasion organized by the nists included Jim m y C a rte r, the C IA and manned by a small number Washington Post and all Guatemal o f conservative G u atem alan m ili an Christian Democrats. In 1980 he tary o ffic e rs o verth rew a d em o ordered the execution o f the third- c ra tic a lly elected, le ft-lea n in g in-command o f his own party when government in Guatemala C ity. In the man argued fo r a truce in a the East, that event is referred to as three-year M L N vendetta against “ the lib e ra tio n ,** though an es political moderates. tim ated 3 ,00 0 G uatem alans were Short and barrel-chested, San killed as the new regime established doval had his larynx removed be control. cause o f cancer, so he can barely In 1966, 300 disaffected, leftist ta lk . But the resulting g row l en arm y o ffic ers began roam ing the hanced his image as a tough man hills near here as g u errillas. The with a big gun. arm y’s counter-insurgency response H is fo llo w in g nevertheless is included param ilitary attacks on ci d w in d lin g . D u rin g a recent cam vilians suspected o f aiding the reb paign appearance in C am otan the els. Some 3 ,0 0 0 Easterners were crowd was Tilled oul with 22 truck- killed . To d ay the East is the only loands o f M L N regulars from other corner o f Guatemala that shows no eastern towns. The high point o f the signs o f leftist guerrilla operations. rally was the scramble for free sand O utside o f calling someone a wiches. W hen it was over, no one com m unist. “ In d ia n ” is the worst on the street would admit to having insult available in Camotan. This re attended. W ith hundreds o f gunmen gion now is a well-known recruiting in the street, and assassinatins by ground for param ilitary hit squads right-wing paramilitary squads run and elite troops to send to the politi ning 20 a day n a tio n w id e , even cally restless Indian highlands in the M L N supporters fear that anti-com West. Since 1980 there have been munist violence may be out o f con frequent m ilita ry assaults on un trol. armed civilians in highland towns In contrast to the M L N , the four suspected o f harboring guerrillas, leftist guerilla organizations have often leaving dozens dead from ma both Indians and Ladinos in their chine gun or machete wounds. In ranks. They have said that to bridge m any cases the soldiers are de the racial gap is essential for them to scribed as ta ll, wearing ski masks win (he war. and speaking Spanish with the ac Yet in the long run, whether the cent o f the Eastern Ladino. violent struggle for power in Guate The East figures strongly in na mala is won by leftist guerillas or ci tional politics because o f its local vilian m oderates, the h ard-b itten overlord, M ario Sandoval Alarcon, Eastern anti-com m unists still will known as "th e M on key.” He is the rely on guns, enforcing enmities that head o f the ultra-right National Lib will make a peaceful, united nation eration Movement (M L N ) and can impossible for many years. didate for president in 1982. W hile < I VS I Pacific News Service apart. AG politicizes federal courts (Continued fro m page I column J) UU 0 7? u d i M they produce, has gone far enough. W e w ill resist expansion, and in some cases, we will seek to m odify the use o f these categories . . . ” Stating that historically the courts have attem p ted rem edial e ffo rts only when they are within their own resources, he charged that recent courts have attempted remedies be yond the resources available. "F e d eral courts have attem p ted to re structure entire school systems in desegregation cases and to maintain c on tin u in g review over basic ad m in istrative decisions. They have asserted similar control over entire prison systems and public housing projects. They have restructured the employment criteria to be used by o O ZÂsÆ X / / / American business and government, even to the extent o f mandating nu merical results based upon race or gender.” Regarding the duty o f the Justice Department, as an arm o f the Presi dent, to enforce the C o n s titu tio n and the law. Smith pledged “ to en force the laws duly and constitution ally enacted by the C o ng ress.. . In the case o f ambiguous laws, the ex ecutive can in good fa ith urge and pursue those in terp re tatio n s that seem more consistent with the intention o f Congress, the policies o f the Administration, and the other laws o f the land.” The Justice D ep artm en t, which Smith heads, has the responsibility o f representing in d ivid u als and groups who claim that their Consti- tutional and legal rights have been denied them. As such it has been at the fo re fro n t o f legal action in school desegregation, voting rights, equal o p p ortu n ity and a ffirm a tiv e action, etc. These activities are ex pected to be abandoned by the Rea gan Administration. T he D ep artm en t has already proposed a com prehensive crim e package that will severly erode the rights o f the accused, im m igration and refugee policy that will “ assert control over our borders,” have al tered anti-trust policies to eliminate “ outm oded and exotic th e o rie s,” has enforce the federal anti-strike law, and has selected new judicial appointees “ who understand the meaning o f judicial restraint.” Coalition hits immigration plan / / ¿ / anncr . Portland Observer Th« P o rtla n d Observer (U SPS 969 0801 it published every Thursday by Exie Publishing Company. Inc , 2201 North Killings worth. Portland, Oregon 97217. Post Office Box 3137. Portland Oregon 97208 Second class postage paid at Portland, Oregon. Subecnptione: *10 00 par year in Tri-County area Postm aster Sand address changea to the Portland Observer, P .0 Box 3137 Portland. Oregon 97208 283-2486 National Advertieing Representative Am algam ated Publishers. Inc. N aw Vorfc M IM M I * Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association MEMBER AMoe/aMon - Founded 7888 (Continued fro m page I column 3) qualifications permanent status is not g uaranteed. They also must learn English to qualify. D u rin g the ten -year period any infraction o f law, any involvement in controversy, or any disability or illness that prevents employment, or any period o f unemployment could bring arrest and deportation. Ram irez also seces the potential use o f guest workers as strike-break ers. D u rin g the Bracero program this was repeatedly the case and the U n ite d F arm w o rkers U n io n was able to organize successfully only after that program was terminated. “ This is a plan to insure there are no strikes. It w ill provide a reserve army o f la b o r,” he said. The Rea gan a d m in is tra tio n has already demonstrated with the P A T C O ter m ination that it is willing to break unions. The refugee problem must be viewed as an international one, he added, stating that U.S. foreign pol icy bears much o f the blame. Also, the economy o f Mexico is structured to accept foreign investment. Three- fourths o f the crops are for export, while there is not enough food for local consum ption. Sherry Sylves ter, coalition chairm an, added that while M exican farm w o rkers are coming to the U .S. to escape pover ty and starvation, most o f the arable land in Northwestern Mexico is con tro lled by U .S . agribusiness, with o n e -h a lf o f the crops used in the U.S. during the winter coming from Mexico. Ramirez predicts that adoption o f the proposed policy w ill bring ten sions between Chicanos and Anglo- Am ericans who believe Mexicans are taking their jobs. Racism will in crease, harassment o f Hispanics by im m igration officials will increase, and “ we will be harassed and inimi- dated because o f our skin color and our language.” Subscribe Today! 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