You are cordially invited to
attend the monthly meeting of the
============================
THE POTLUCK FOR PROGRESSIVES
============================
Friday, January 28, 2004
6:30 - 9:00 pm
(Doors open @ 6:00 pm)
Unitarian Church of Orange County
511 South Harbor Blvd.
Anaheim, California
(Located on the Southwest corner
of Harbor Blvd. and Santa Ana Street)
(714) 758-1050
www.uuchurchoc.org
"The Potluck for Progressives" is a group being
organized for the purpose of bringing together
likeminded people on a monthly basis to break
bread and talk about crucial issues affecting the
community and the world.
At each meeting, people interested in peace,
social justice, labor, and the environment gather
to exchange ideas, talk about successes, plan
actions, or just engage in a friendly discussion
with one another.
Please join us! Bring a dish to share! Enjoy
the bounty that others bring as well! The potluck
will start at 6:30 P.M. with a speaker and
discussion to follow.
On the Agenda:
Progressive Potluck
6:30 - 7:30 P.M.
Bring along your favorite dish
of food, chips, dips, or soft
drinks, and spend an hour mingling
with progressive people from all
over Orange County.
Featured Speaker:
7:30 - 8:30 P.M.
Julio Fernando Revolorio Illescas,
organizer and co-founder of Asociacion
Tierra y Paz, a Guatemalan-based
group organized to defend the land
rights of indigenous peoples, will
talk about the 1980 massacre of peasants
and others who peacefully occupied
the Spanish Embassy to draw attention
to their issues. (see text below)
He will also give us an update on the
human rights situation currently existing
within that country.
Open Forum
8:30 - 9:00 P.M.
Open discussion, announcements,
and other news of interest.
"The Potluck for Progressives" is sponsored
by the Unitarian Church of Orange County
and is free and open to the general public.
Although a small donation might be requested
to help pay for facility costs, nobody will
be turned away due to a lack of funds.
Please email [EMAIL PROTECTED] if
you need additional information.
---
25th Year Anniversary of the Massacre in the Spanish
Embassy in Guatemala
31 of January of 1980-2005
At eleven in the morning on January 31 of 1980, a
total of twenty-seven peasants, students, and other
perceptive individuals entered the Spanish embassy in
Guatemala City. After shutting the doors at the
entrance, they announced their intention for a
peaceful occupation to attract attention to the issues
that had been neglected by the government,
authorities, news media, et cetera. They also
demanded the absence of the Guatemalan police -- or
any other armed group -- and for the immediate
presence of Augusto Bauer Arz�, president of the Red
Cross in Guatemala. After allowing for some of the
most vulnerable individuals to leave, the occupants
allowed for ambassador M�ximo Cajal to make phone
calls to notify the Guatemalan governmental officials
of the situation.
The ambassador was unable to make contact with any of
the officers, save one, Alfonso A. Lima. After the
Guatemalan government became aware of the situation an
order was given by president General Lucas Garcia to
get the occupants "out of there by any means
necessary." That order was communicated from top to
bottom, and within minutes the Guatemalan National
Police, detectives, Comando Seis (SWAT), G2 (Army
Intelligence), and other well armed groups surrounded
the embassy.
As the authorities began to push to get in to the
embassy, some of the occupants used a megaphone and
begged them to leave from a window. Next, ambassador
Cajal held the megaphone and equally asked the
authorities to leave the embassy�s ground. The
response by some of the armed forces was, "we are
following orders." When the authorities broke in
through the main entrance of the embassy, the
occupants had ran upstairs inside the ambassador�s
office, shut the doors, and put all the furniture they
could to block the entrance to the office. The
Guatemalan police and others began to break through
the wooden doors with digging tools.
This began to make the occupants feel nervous and the
fear for the threat to their lives increased. About
four or five of the occupants took out hand weapons,
and others took out some Molotov cocktails. However,
when the occupants tried to light up some of the
Molotov cocktails, the ambassador turned off their
matches -- even after this, the occupants actions were
never hostile to the ambassador. When a hole was
pierced into the doors, the authorities attempted to
introduce a red artifact through the orifice, but it
was intercepted by ambassador Cajal and pushed back
out. When the door gave in, inert gas and a
flamethrower were used on everyone in the office --
occupant or not.
The ambassador�s reaction was a quick one, passing
through the flames, he ran through the door and got
outside, where members of the Guatemalan police
attempted to "finish him off" by claiming that he was
one of the occupants. Thanks to the intervention from
the staff of the embassy and the president of the Red
Cross he was released. While all this was going on
outside, hell broke loose inside the embassy. The
embassy went up in flames; screams from the people
being burnt alive were heard, as well as outside
pleads to rescue the people inside. No one did
anything -- not even the firefighters at the scene --
until about thirteen minutes later when the bodies
where taken out of the embassy. Out of the 39
individuals that were in the office, two survived,
ambassador Cajal, and Gregorio Yuj� Xona -- one of the
peasant occupants.
The autopsy revealed that Gregorio survived because
when the gas and flames were used the bodies fell
backwards one on top of each other, and Gregorio was
the last one in that line -- however, Gregorio still
suffered third degree burns. The two survivors were
then taken to Herrera Llerandi Hospital where 20 armed
individuals came in and kidnapped Gregorio --
ambassador Cajal was protected by the ambassodor of
Costa Rica and other important individuals, and family
members. Gregorio is found dead -- and tortured in
spite of his critical condition -- on the second day
of February.
The Guatemalan authorities deliberately approached
this "investigation" with utmost torpor and till this
day no one has been punished for the crimes -- that
forced the people to occupy the embassy or the violent
events of genocide that followed the occupation. The
people of el Quiche were the ones who had been
persecuted by the finqueros (small farm owners)
Guatemalan government, and Army. The persecution began
when the peasants decided to organize protests for
better wages and working conditions.
They were accused of being members of the guerrillas.
This lead to the kidnapping of 9 peasants by the army
in Uspant�n. Two managed to escape, and the other
seven were dressed in guerrilla outfits and massacred.
Amongst this seven was Rigoberta Mench��s brother
Patrocinio Mench�. This is when some of the peasants
began to seek help in the capital city of Guatemala
and only found it in the University of San Carlos with
the Robin Garcia Student Front (FERG) and other
Christian and worker groups.
In the massacre in the Spanish embassy Rigoberta
Mench��s father was one of the occupants who were
murdered. After this event Mench��s mother placed an
accusation for the actions of the authorities, and due
to this she was kidnapped and never found. The
Guatemalan government and Army considered the
Indigenous population the "natural allies" of the
guerrillas and thus conducted the atrocities to
diagnose Guatemala�s condition with genocide. In
Guatemala about 250,000 individuals were murdered.
Fifty thousand of those were disappeared -- which
amounts to fifty percent of the total disappeared in
Latin America. This is what gives the energy for many
to continue to demand justice in Guatemala.
__________________________________________________
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