Research in contemporary social movements: a case study of Guatemala 2015
Generals: the UN human development report
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- March April
- May 20 th
- September October
- December 18 th
- A report from Insight Crime argues that public works contracts have done more to incite the creation of a mafia state than almost any other public project
- This also marks one of the important shifts in the corrupt practices in GT
- January February February 5 th
- February 27 th
- October November
2013Generals: the UN human development report (UN HDR) ranks Guatemala as
2014Generals: resentment towards the Vice President, Baldetti, has already started building on the basis of her ‘stupidity’ on the basis of various cases. Many rumors circulated about the Vice President, but often times resentment against her was directed towards her statements that were regarded as incredibly stupid. This is most clearly expressed in the hashtag #frasesbaldetti that circulated widely on Twitter, citing ‘stupid or ignorant phrases’ of Roxana Baldetti. By 2014 this hashtag had already been circulated extensively and did not cease to gain momentum222. Military expenditures of the state has decline to an official number of 0.4% of GDP according to insight crime223. A report from Insight Crime argues that public works contracts have done more to incite the creation of a mafia state than almost any other public project224. The argument is extensive, but it can be summed up in short that public projects handled by the state and municipalities are usually used to buy influence and power in various ways. Public contracts have become a lucrative business, which is realized by private businesses and persons alike. Because of this, corruption centers around these contracts both in terms of illicit campaign financing (corrupt forces paying for campaigns to receive public contracts in return) as well as for private enrichment and to use as ‘favors’ for friends, families, and other ends. The report correctly states that this is evident in the amount of cases brought to trial focusing on this exact issue ‘inside dealings’ with public contracts. Hence these contracts have become a means in and of themselves for corruption. They balance power to a large extent as they have become almost like a market place for corrupt forces to buy into. In the words of Insight Crime, public works have become like ‘quotas of power’. This also marks one of the important shifts in the corrupt practices in GT: a turn towards ‘business-like’ practices, in which illicit forces compete over what was to be democratic, legal, and official means of the state. Whereas former illicit networks were more ‘crude’ in their clandestine operations, today’s crime syndicates (at least to a considerable extent) base themselves around businesslike appearances and representations. In other words, they are represented by what appear to be formal and legal structures, blurring the demarcation between legal and illegal entities and their respective territories and modes of operation. According to the report, this blend between political and corrupt organizations is also what keeps most political parties afloat. The political system of GT having been described as more of a market place for corrupt interests to buy influence than a real political system with parties shaped by ideology and values. Poverty: Has increased to 59.3% according to the World Bank, which is an increase from about 50% in 2006225, though ECLAC reported the figures of 2006 at 60% poverty and 30% indigence. Latin America average is 28% according to ECLAC. This is a continuation of a slow decrease that has persisted in LA from around 1990. Indigence (extreme poverty) has seen a slow but regular increase since 2012, now reaching 12%. In nominal numbers this means the amount of poor people has increased from 164 million in 2012 to 167 million and an increase in indigence from 66 million in 2012 to 71 million in 2014. ECLAC further includes a multi-dimensional poverty study (including other factors than economic income) to assess the levels of poverty across LA using a different methodology (numbers here are from 2000 to 2006 based on ECLAC’s available data but published in 2014). Guatemala ranks 3rd last (only beating Nicaragua and Honduras) with 70% of the population living in multi-dimensional poverty (down from 79% in 2005)226. Poverty in Guatemala is most prevalent in the rural areas; 86% but also accounts for more than half the urban populations; 53%. The tendency is uniform across LA where poverty, in all countries included, are prevalent in the rural areas. Income distribution: Bipolarization of income is measured in accordance with the Wolfson index in ECLAC’s panorama of LA. Guatemala ranks 2nd lowest seeing a very slight increase and is only above Honduras. Income polarization measures the extent to which income groups are distributed around specific ranges of income. By mathematically modeling group polarization, ECLAC argues that the higher the degree of polarization in a society, the more likely segregation, discrimination and other societal conflicts are. This does not seem to be out of line with empirical observations from GT. Employment: Guatemala’s youth employment and employment rates are doing well according to ECLAC numbers. Youth employment is lower than overall unemployment, but both are low and comparing with other countries of LA faring better. Wage discrimination remains significant with women earning less than men for comparable work with a statistically significant discrimination against women227. Crime: Guatemala has a fairly high level of crime incidents according to ECLAC but only slightly above the LA average. However this average is pretty high with more about 43% having experienced violent or non-violent crime in the last 12 months. Sexual assault increased from 120 (2009) to 640 (2014) according to OSAC228 (reported incidents – primarily targeted at women travelling alone). From 2009 to 2013 the numbers of missing persons increased by 207%. OSAC cites INACIF on an increasing in homicides reaching 6.072 (PNC reporting 4.998 - the two institutions differing on definitions over homicide). ‘Femicide’ and violence against women, similarly remains a serious issue. While the government has taken steps to combat this violence, it is still a serious issue for the country and the impunity on the area remains high (with some organizations also mentioning pointing out that punishments are not always in proportion to offences). GDP: Is increasing and the country remains the largest economy in the region (CA). Press: the freedom of press is argued as limited based on harassment, threats and violence against journalists covering organized crime, including its links to public officials. These acknowledged practicing ‘self-censorship’ in these cases because of these threats to their safety and well-being in covering the subjects. According to a US report on human rights practices from 2014, 77 complaints were filed at the PM for attacks or threats against journalism by the end of November. In 2013 this number was 64 complaints and 4 killings. Censorship and content restriction was implicit but present through attempted extortion of various newspapers in both direct and indirect ways. Public officials is especially singled out, somewhat in agreement with the private sector, on how independent media is treated and handled. Some cases involve pressure, favoring, attacks, etc. from government officials on media outlets because of their criticism of public affairs. Organized crime networks did the same thing, pressuring especially individuals (reporters and journalists) on their reporting. Corruption: there were several cases of corruption within the state system and various state institutions. On September 3rd, the CICIG unraveled a corruption scandal in the prison system where authorities received bribes to transfer inmates from one prison to another. On October 9th, the CICIG demanded an investigation into three curt magistrates for taking bribes to lower private company fines. On June 3rd the former mayor of San Miguel Petapa, Rafael Eduardo Gonzales Rosales and five others were arrested charged for fraud and money laundering of Q34 million. The case, however, was dismissed in October as well as the case against former mayor of Chinautla, Arnoldo Medrano. Both dismissals were criticized by civil society organizations and rule-of-law organisations229. Indigenous rights: the indigenous populations is estimated to make up approximately 44% of the total population (though it is believed to be higher by some230). Indigenous are entitled to equal opportunities and treatment by national law, however, in many cases indigenous consultancy and participation opportunities for indigenous communities have been lacking. For instance in cases over exploitation of natural resources in their areas (including timber, water and more), and indigenous communities have lacked effective mechanisms to resolve conflicts with the state. Many public services are lacking in indigenous areas such as schooling, infrastructure and access to political participation. In addition much concern has addressed the state’s failure to consult with the indigenous populations in relation to development projects that instead disproportionately benefitted corporations, government officials and their associated rather than the indigenous communities. While some members of the indigenous population participate in official politics, it is questioned whether this participation had any influence on the political party structures. Poverty, illiteracy and other associated maladies also very disproportionately affects the indigenous population. Lack of police officers native to indigenous communities was also an issue though the PNC opened 2 new police training schools (making the total 3) specializing in this area. Adequate access to legal proceedings in native languages is also thoroughly lacking. In many cases bilingual judges and lawyers were assigned to cases that did not match their language sets. Other human rights: The LGBT communities experienced a wide range of discrimination including police discrimination against the communities. Antidiscrimination laws exist, but they do not apply to LGBT individuals. The government has not taken adequate steps to address these issues. ‘Vigilante mobs’ were also reported to have killed 78 people in acts of ‘taking the law into one’s own hands’. The vigilante acts are usually attributed to the PNC’s and judicial system’s failure to provide adequate social security and justice in these cases. Strikes are not sufficiently provided for in national law as there are made some prohibitions to the formations of legal strikes. Labor law and rights of workers were also mitigated or not enforced in several other ways as a consequence of lack of government effort in these areas. Additionally, employers were rarely sanctioned adequately in labor law disputes. Often companies refused to acknowledge court decisions with little or no consequences. Human rights activists, labor union leaders and indigenous community leader’s safety remained an issue with many cases of threats, harassment and even murder reported against leaders. Authorities reported that they investigated five murder cases against union members reported during the year, but most cases remain uninvestigated. Several issues of labor law also continued about force labor and child labor, mainly associated with lacking government enforcement due to a lack of government inspectors of labor rights. Child labor therefore also remained a severe issue especially in rural sites in various agriculture and some other areas231. UDEFEGUA announced in a report that the attacks against human rights and indigenous rights defenders and leaders was at its highest since they began recording232 233 (a report titled ‘smaller than David’).
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