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Paramilitary Groups – 2000

Illegal security forces and clandestine armed groups remained active in the country, with very little Government action to combat them. MINUGUA identified three types of illegal armed groups: (1) those linked to the PNC; (2) those operating at the behest of agro-industrial companies (which were particularly violent); and (3) those tied to military detachments, with local hired assassins carrying out the orders.¹ Some demobilized PMA members formed the Association of Former PMA Members, which pressured the Government to give them more compensation. The modified agreement on the timetable for compliance with the Peace Agreements, which extended the ultimate deadline to 2004, included provisions to give additional compensation to ex-PMA members in 2001.²

1. “Eleventh Report on Human Rights of the United Nations Verification Mission in Guatemala,” United Nations General Assembly (A/55/174), July 26, 2000.
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.