You are cordially invited to

attend the monthly meeting of the



============================

THE POTLUCK FOR PROGRESSIVES

============================

Friday, January 28, 2005

6:30 - 9:00 pm

(Doors open @ 6:00 pm)

Unitarian Church of Orange County

511 South Harbor Blvd.

Anaheim, California

(Located on the Southwest corner

of Harbor Blvd. and Santa Ana Street)

(714) 758-1050

www.uuchurchoc.org

"The Potluck for Progressives" is a group being

organized for the purpose of bringing together

likeminded people on a monthly basis to break

bread and talk about crucial issues affecting the

community and the world.

At each meeting, people interested in peace,

social justice, labor, and the environment gather

to exchange ideas, talk about successes, plan

actions, or just engage in a friendly discussion

with one another.

Please join us! Bring a dish to share! Enjoy

the bounty that others bring as well! The potluck

will start at 6:30 P.M. with a speaker and

discussion to follow.

On the Agenda:

Progressive Potluck

6:30 - 7:30 P.M.

Bring along your favorite dish

of food, chips, dips, or soft

drinks, and spend an hour mingling

with progressive people from all

over Orange County.

Featured Speaker:

7:30 - 8:30 P.M.

Julio Fernando Revolorio Illescas,

organizer and co-founder of Asociacion

Tierra y Paz, a Guatemalan-based

group organized to defend the land

rights of indigenous peoples, will

speak about the 1980 massacre of peasants

and others who peacefully occupied

the Spanish Embassy to draw attention

to their issues. (see text below)

He will also give us an update on the

human rights situation currently existing

within that country.

Open Forum

8:30 - 9:00 P.M.

Open discussion, announcements,

and other news of interest.

"The Potluck for Progressives" is sponsored

by the Unitarian Church of Orange County

and is free and open to the general public.

Although a small donation might be requested

to help pay for facility costs, nobody will

be turned away due to a lack of funds.

Please email duaneroberts92804@yahoo.com if

you need additional information.

---

25th Year Anniversary of the Massacre in the Spanish

Embassy in Guatemala

31 of January of 1980-2005

At eleven in the morning on January 31 of 1980, a

total of twenty-seven peasants, students, and other

perceptive individuals entered the Spanish embassy in

Guatemala City. After shutting the doors at the

entrance, they announced their intention for a

peaceful occupation to attract attention to the issues

that had been neglected by the government,

authorities, news media, et cetera. They also

demanded the absence of the Guatemalan police -- or

any other armed group -- and for the immediate

presence of Augusto Bauer Arzú, president of the Red

Cross in Guatemala. After allowing for some of the

most vulnerable individuals to leave, the occupants

allowed for ambassador Máximo Cajal to make phone

calls to notify the Guatemalan governmental officials

of the situation.

The ambassador was unable to make contact with any of

the officers, save one, Alfonso A. Lima. After the

Guatemalan government became aware of the situation an

order was given by president General Lucas Garcia to

get the occupants "out of there by any means

necessary." That order was communicated from top to

bottom, and within minutes the Guatemalan National

Police, detectives, Comando Seis (SWAT), G2 (Army

Intelligence), and other well armed groups surrounded

the embassy.

As the authorities began to push to get in to the

embassy, some of the occupants used a megaphone and

begged them to leave from a window. Next, ambassador

Cajal held the megaphone and equally asked the

authorities to leave the embassy’s ground. The

response by some of the armed forces was, "we are

following orders." When the authorities broke in

through the main entrance of the embassy, the

occupants had ran upstairs inside the ambassador’s

office, shut the doors, and put all the furniture they

could to block the entrance to the office. The

Guatemalan police and others began to break through

the wooden doors with digging tools.

This began to make the occupants feel nervous and the

fear for the threat to their lives increased. About

four or five of the occupants took out hand weapons,

and others took out some Molotov cocktails. However,

when the occupants tried to light up some of the

Molotov cocktails, the ambassador turned off their

matches -- even after this, the occupants actions were

never hostile to the ambassador. When a hole was

pierced into the doors, the authorities attempted to

introduce a red artifact through the orifice, but it

was intercepted by ambassador Cajal and pushed back

out. When the door gave in, inert gas and a

flamethrower were used on everyone in the office --

occupant or not.



The ambassador’s reaction was a quick one, passing

through the flames, he ran through the door and got

outside, where members of the Guatemalan police

attempted to "finish him off" by claiming that he was

one of the occupants. Thanks to the intervention from

the staff of the embassy and the president of the Red

Cross he was released. While all this was going on

outside, hell broke loose inside the embassy. The

embassy went up in flames; screams from the people

being burnt alive were heard, as well as outside

pleads to rescue the people inside. No one did

anything -- not even the firefighters at the scene --

until about thirteen minutes later when the bodies

where taken out of the embassy. Out of the 39

individuals that were in the office, two survived,

ambassador Cajal, and Gregorio Yujá Xona -- one of the

peasant occupants.

The autopsy revealed that Gregorio survived because

when the gas and flames were used the bodies fell

backwards one on top of each other, and Gregorio was

the last one in that line -- however, Gregorio still

suffered third degree burns. The two survivors were

then taken to Herrera Llerandi Hospital where 20 armed

individuals came in and kidnapped Gregorio --

ambassador Cajal was protected by the ambassodor of

Costa Rica and other important individuals, and family

members. Gregorio is found dead -- and tortured in

spite of his critical condition -- on the second day

of February.

The Guatemalan authorities deliberately approached

this "investigation" with utmost torpor and till this

day no one has been punished for the crimes -- that

forced the people to occupy the embassy or the violent

events of genocide that followed the occupation. The

people of el Quiche were the ones who had been

persecuted by the finqueros (small farm owners)

Guatemalan government, and Army. The persecution began

when the peasants decided to organize protests for

better wages and working conditions.

They were accused of being members of the guerrillas.

This lead to the kidnapping of 9 peasants by the army

in Uspantán. Two managed to escape, and the other

seven were dressed in guerrilla outfits and massacred.

Amongst this seven was Rigoberta Menchú’s brother

Patrocinio Menchú. This is when some of the peasants

began to seek help in the capital city of Guatemala

and only found it in the University of San Carlos with

the Robin Garcia Student Front (FERG) and other

Christian and worker groups.

In the massacre in the Spanish embassy Rigoberta

Menchú’s father was one of the occupants who were

murdered. After this event Menchú’s mother placed an

accusation for the actions of the authorities, and due

to this she was kidnapped and never found. The

Guatemalan government and Army considered the

Indigenous population the "natural allies" of the

guerrillas and thus conducted the atrocities to

diagnose Guatemala’s condition with genocide. In

Guatemala about 250,000 individuals were murdered.

Fifty thousand of those were disappeared -- which

amounts to fifty percent of the total disappeared in

Latin America. This is what gives the energy for many

to continue to demand justice in Guatemala.