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
/
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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
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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.”
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