Paramilitary Groups – 1997

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Paramilitary Groups – 1997

1997

Intermediate Implementation Intermediate implementation

The Comprehensive Agreement on Human Rights of 1996 stipulated that the Government of Guatemala must distance itself from the Voluntary Civil Defense Committees (CVDC), which were implicated in many of the human rights violations committed during the decades-long armed conflict. The Agreement on the Strengthening of Civilian Power and on the Role of the Armed Forces in a Democratic Society of 1996 required that the CVDC be fully divorced from the Armed Forces of Guatemala, demobilized and disarmed. This process indeed began even before the signing of the final Agreement on a Firm and Lasting Peace at the end of 1996. On 28 November, the Congress repealed the decree that initially established the CVDC. A total of 270,906 CVDC members in 2,643 committees were demobilized, and 14,000 weapons were recovered. However, many former CVDC members retained light firearms and ammunition without legally registering them. In addition, the Armed Forces supported new alternative community defense organizations with direct ties to former CVDC, both in form and membership.1

A total of 2,421 members of the Mobile Military Police (PMA) were demobilized—699 members of the Ordinary Mobile Military Police in March 1997, and 1,722 members of the Extraordinary Mobile Military Police in December 1997. Before the demobilization was complete, some PMA members protested, refusing to abandon their barracks and holding some military officers hostage. Heavily armed military forces surrounded the protesters and they surrendered.2

  1. “Verification Report: Status of the Commitments of the Peace Agreements Relating to the Armed Forces,” United Nations Verification Mission in Guatemala (MINUGUA), May 2002; “United Nations Verification Mission in Guatemala: Report of the Secretary-General,” United Nations General Assembly (A/51/936), June 30, 1997.
  2. “Verification Report: Status of the Commitments of the Peace Agreements Relating to the Armed Forces,” United Nations Verification Mission in Guatemala (MINUGUA), May 2002.