Hundreds of Guatemalan military veterans forcibly entered the Guatemalan Congress on Tuesday to demand the approval of a bill that grants them financial compensation for their participation in the internal armed conflict (1960-1996).
The soldiers entered through the parking lot of the Legislative Organism’s facilities, located in the center of Guatemala City, and entered some offices. “The situation is complicated because we are being held,” said the Minister of Energy and Mines, Alberto Pimentel, to local media inside the hemicycle, where he was for a subpoena. Deputy Luis Fernando Pineda asked for help on his social networks by pointing out that the ex-military had entered with “machetes.” The protesters, according to Pineda, broke down the entrance gate to the facilities of the Guatemalan Congress. The Guatemalan police reported, so far, that it was possible to protect the integrity of the people who remained in Congress.
Pineda, from the Semilla opposition group, added that the ex-military destroyed vehicles and burned offices. More than a dozen members of Congress security tried to stop the ex-military from entering Parliament at another point of access to the place with wooden sticks.
The ex-combatants of the internal armed conflict had demonstrated on several days during the last two weeks, with roadblocks, and finally this Tuesday they decided to take action against Congress.
The initiative requested by the veterans of the internal war is under analysis by the Defense, Finance and Human Rights commissions of Congress and proposes a payment of 120,000 quetzals (about 15,500 dollars) for each of the ex-military personnel or their relatives if they already died, awarded in four annual payments. Financial compensation to veterans of the internal war was one of the campaign promises of the Guatemalan President, Alejandro Giammattei, in his election campaign in 2019.
The internal war ended on December 29, 1996 with the signing of the Peace Accords between the Government and the guerrillas composed of the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unit (URNG). The armed conflict left more than 250,000 dead and missing in the 36 years of confrontation, more than 90% at the hands of the Guatemalan Army according to reports from international organizations.
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