PAC HOLD GUATEMALA'S FEET TO FIRE; THEY WANT THEIR MONEY.
Organized former members of the Patrullas de Autodefensa Civil (PAC) have coerced, threatened, and agitated to be paid for their service during the 36-year internal war that ended with the signing of Peace Accords in Guatemala in December 1996. The state of Guatemala signed the accords as an obligation. But, while the documents spell out how others, including former guerrillas, are to be recompensed, there were no provisions for the PAC.
Despite the lack of obligation, the administration of former President Alfonso Portillo (2000-2004) negotiated payments to the former patrollers, many of whom served under coercion. Others made careers in the PAC, amassing local power, serving as the eyes and ears of the Army, and sometimes substituting for judges, police, tax collectors, and otherwise generally embodying the state.
When the Portillo administration left office in January, however, it left its debt to the PAC largely unpaid and left President Oscar Berger to deal with the fallout. Berger's opening gambit was to cast his lot with the Corte de Constitucionalidad (CC). If the CC found Portillo's deal constitutional and the debt legal, he said, he would pay.
But the day after Berger said that, Vice President Eduardo Stein said that, considering the fiscal crisis the government finds itself in, there would be no money to pay them. "I don't believe there are resources, certainly not this year, with which to make good on this commitment," said the vice president. Published estimates indicate it would take about US$212.5 million to discharge the debt.
Pay up or shut down
The ex-PAC, disciplined and aggressively led, have shown an ability to bring the country to a standstill by blocking roads, entering and disrupting cities and towns, taking hostages, and resorting to violence against property and persons (see NotiCen, 2003-04-10). They also vote. They have substantial support in the Legislature. Both the Gran Alianza Nacional (GANA), the coalesced governing party, and the Unidad Nacional de Esperanza (UNE) told the PAC that they would support their claims with two checks of about US$200 for each ex-PAC member. Rosenda Perez, the firebrand PAC leader who is now a deputy of Efrain Rios Montt's Frente Republicano Guatemalteco (FRG), assured them she would do what she could to get them paid, even if the CC declared the payment unconstitutional.
But the Partido de Avanzada Nacional (PAN) was against the idea. Said Deputy Mario Taracena, "The people would...
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