THE GUATEMALAN REFUGEES AND HUMAN RIGHTS

The refugees settled in Campeche and Quintana Roo –the only places where México had land available- moved slowly towards self sufficiency through tilling the land. With money coming from the international community. townships were built streets and plots marked out, rustic dwellings, piped water, electricity, primary schools, rural clinics, carpenter’s shops and bakeries: in others words, they achieved a standard of living equal to that of the peasants in the area.

During 1989, two new townships were built-Kesté in Campeche, for 550 families, and La Laguna in Quintana Roo, for 232 families. In 1991 Los Laureles was built in Campeche for 550 families.

For their part, the 23 000 Guatemalans who did not agree to be relocated, for fear of losing their chance to return, remained in very precarious conditions in Chiapas, settled on common-farm land with the ever-present fear of being expelled, they were scattered into 123 settlements, receiving support from the World Food Program through COMAR and enjoying inevitably inferior health and education services. In 1989, it was decided to set up productive programs, in order to promote self-sufficiency by guaranteeing safe settlement. Hence, agreement was reached with the UNHCR to pass from the aid program to that of self-sufficiency for Chiapas.

These projects took into account the great difference from Campeche and Quintana Roo, which led to two focuses-salaried work and backyard cottage industries.

The salaried work, also with international money –above all with international money, and, more specifically, with money from the European Community and Sweden- supported the repair of rural roads, reforestation, rehabilitation and rescue of the 6 000 hectares of the Laguna’s de Montebello National Park, rehabilitation and cleaning up of the San Gregorio irrigation district and restoration of the El Lagartero ruins. These projects contributed to the regional development of the eight municipalities of the Chiapas Vertex, in return for hospitality received.

The other focus is relative self-sufficiency, for same 80 days a year, which should be achieved via cottage-industry activities for self consumption: horticulture, domestic fowl, bee-keeping, rabbit and pig breeding, fish ponds-all basically located on the family lots. Given the great economic and political limitations of land in Chiapas, the lots on the new settlements offered the only possibility of self-cultivation. In this respect, it is worth mentioning that the Guatemalan peasants are excellent horticulturists. However, above all, there desire a safe settlement from which nobody will expel them.

Within the framework of the International Conference on Central American Refugees, it was announced that, in order to bring Mexican legislation up to date with new international migratory procedures, the Government would send a initiative to Congress to add, to Article 42 of the General Population Law the migratory status of refugee, as a different legal entity than that of political –asylum recipient. The reform took effect oh the 18^th of July 1992, and contemplates the incorporation of the international principle of Non-returnement and Voluntary Repatriation, not expressly included among our constitutional guarantees.

Meanwhile, COMAR, in conjunction with the Secretariat of the Interior, decided to grant all the Chiapas refuges the FM 3 non-immigrant permit, as in Chiapas and Quintana Roo, thus authorizing them to engage in paid labor, given that they had previously held the FM 8 permit issued to temporary visitors. This work incorporated more than 6 800 refugees who were scattered, without documents, among the 8 municipalities.

In Campeche and Quintana Roo, the refugees generated important surpluses of saleable agricultural products. In Quintana Roo, the refugees contributed to improving the state’s development, producing significant surpluses of fruit and other agricultural products (corn, beans, bananas, pineapple and vegetables) to the benefits of the hotel industry in Cancun.

In the field of education, primary education studies were certified, formally incorporating them into the National Educational System. Free text books were distributed, to make valid the International criterion that refugee children should have the same educational opportunities as the children of citizens.

In the Xth Meeting of CEAR (the Special Commission for Attention to Returnees, Refugees and Displaced) and COMAR, in which the UNCHR also took part, held in Guatemala in march 1990 to evaluate repatriations, the Government of that country announced that it “recognizes the land-holding rights of the Guatemalan refugees who were grantees of the agrarian transformation.

With the passage of time, the moment has come to bring up the matter of the refugees’ integration into Mexico or their return to their country. Their incorporation into the Mexican nation evidently calls for a process of raising the living standards of the refugee population, until they have, at least, reached the average level of the Mexican communities in the region.

Guadalajara, Jalisco, February of 1999

Esteban Garaiz. COMAR Associate Coordinator General, 1989-1991.

Presently Representative of the Jalisco Federal Electoral Commission.