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Parliament Under Siege For 10 Hours
Protesting against Parliament’s haste to pass bills on free trade and mining, representatives of Guatemalan civil society occupied the entrance and exit doors of Parliament for 10 hours.
By Lone Hvass, MS Guatemala02. March 2005
Unhappy with the ways of Parliament? Well, just block the openings. And so they did. Protesting against Parliament’s haste to pass bills on free trade and mining, various representatives of Guatemalan civil society occupied the entrance and exit doors of Parliament for about 10 hours. Several MPs, journalists and the Ministers of Health and Finance who were taking questions from the plenary were held in the building of Parliament against their will. Reportedly, there was no use of violence.
The Parliamentary Committee on Finance has treated a draft bill on free trade between the USA, Central America and the Dominican Republic, DR-CAFTA, and was expected to pass it yesterday. Also, there had been reasoned expectations for a reformed bill on mining to be passed. However, things did not happen quite that way. Peasants, unionists and ex paramilitaries demanded that the bills be withdrawn as they had been drafted by a very small and exclusive circle group of people while they would have far-reaching implications for various sectors the Guatemalan population. The bill on mining in particular for peasants of Mayan descent in the Central Highlands, and the free trade agreeement for consumers as well as small and medium agricultural producers.
The protests led the Chairman of Parliament, Jorge Mendez Herbruger, to promise a public hearing about DR-CAFTA which took place today in a hotel in the capital city of Guatemala. Thursday this week, according to plans, there will be another hearing on the reformed bill om mining.
True to tradition, the ex paramilitaries also used the occasion to request the intervention of Parliament to push their demands for reparations related to forced services rendered during the armed conflict from 1960-96. These demands have figured permanently on the public agenda since 2002 when the ex paramilitaries first mounted road blocks to paralyze traffic around Guatemala City. Now at least they are barking up a tree somewhat closer to real political power.
