Key developments since May 2005: On 15 December 2005, Guatemala completed its National Demining Program and declared that it had fulfilled its obligations under Article 5 of the Mine Ban Treaty. A mobile demining unit was created to respond to reports of residual mines and explosive remnants of war. In 2005, 23 mines were discovered in clearance operations, 114,479 people in 495 mine-affected communities received mine risk education, and there were at least two people killed and seven injured by unexploded ordnance. In December 2005, Guatemala became co-chair of the Standing Committee on General Status and Operation of the Mine Ban Treaty.
The Republic of Guatemala signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 3 December 1997, ratified on 26 March 1999, and became a State Party on 1 September 1999. In 1997, Guatemala passed Legislative Decree 106-97, which comprehensively prohibits antipersonnel mines and their composite parts.[1]
On 3 May 2006, Guatemala submitted its sixth Article 7 transparency report, for the period from March 2005 to March 2006.[2]
Guatemala attended the Sixth Meeting of States Parties in Zagreb, Croatia in November-December 2005, where it announced completion of its mine clearance obligations. At the meeting, Guatemala was named co-chair of the Standing Committee on General Status and Operation of the Convention.[3] It had served as co-rapporteur of the committee since December 2004.
During the intersessional Standing Committee meetings in May 2006, a Guatemalan official told Landmine Monitor that Guatemala supports the interpretations of the ICBL and many States Parties regarding Articles 2 and 3, that antivehicle mines with sensitive fuzes or sensitive antihandling devices that function like antipersonnel mines are prohibited by the treaty, and mines retained for training should number in the hundreds or thousands or less, and not tens of thousands.[4]
Guatemala is party to Amended Protocol II of the Convention on Conventional Weapons. It attended the annual meeting of States Parties to the protocol in November 2005 and submitted its annual report required by Article 13 of the protocol.
Guatemala has reported that it never produced, imported, stockpiled or used antipersonnel mines, and that it has no antipersonnel mines for training or development purposes.[5] No use of antipersonnel mines or improvised explosive devices has been recorded since the 36-year internal armed conflict concluded in December 1996.
As a result of an internal conflict that spanned 36 years, Guatemala was contaminated with a limited number of mines and a larger quantity of explosive remnants of war (ERW),[6] mostly unexploded ordnance (UXO).[7] The only minefield registered in Guatemala was laid around the Tajumulco Volcano by the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Union (Unidad Revolucionaria Nacional Guatemalteca, URNG) to protect their radio station. It was cleared in 1996 by the URNG, the UN and the Army, before Guatemala signed the Mine Ban Treaty.[8]
At the end of 2005, Guatemala declared that it had completed clearance of all known antipersonnel mines and claimed that no mined areas remained on its territory.[9] A ceremony was organized to mark the event on 15 December 2005 and was attended by representatives of the Organization of American States (OAS), the Inter-American Defense Board (IADB), the Army Engineer Corps (Cuerpo de Ingenieros del Ejército Guatemalteco, CIEG), the Volunteer Firefighters Corps (Cuerpo de Bomberos Voluntarios), reintegrated former guerrillas of the URNG, the ambassadors of Norway, El Salvador and Ecuador, other government authorities and the Landmine Monitor researcher for Guatemala.
Guatemala reported completing clearance of antipersonnel mines nearly three years ahead of its treaty-mandated deadline of 1 September 2009. However, in its Article 7 report of May 2006, Guatemala noted the risk that mines and other explosive devices might be found in areas that were not originally programmed for clearance within the National Demining Program or in the areas where clearance operations were carried out.[10]
National Mine Action Authority: Before Guatemala’s completion of the National Demining Program, the Demining Coordination Commission (Comisión Coordinadora del Desminado, CCD), established by decree in August 1995, was responsible for the program’s coordination, approval of the annual budget and management of national and international funding. The CCD included representatives of the Army Engineer Corps, Volunteer Firefighters Corps, reintegrated former URNG guerrillas and the OAS.[11]
In 1995, Congress approved by legislative decree the Law for the Reduction of Risks to Inhabitants of Zones affected by the Armed Conflict through the Identification and Destruction of Mines and other Explosive Devices, in order to respond to the humanitarian problem resulting from the resettlement of refugees in former battle areas. With this decree, the CCD was established.[12] When the OAS decided to support the National Demining Program, the decree was derogated by Congress and replaced by decree 46-9 which led to the establishment of the Executive Coordinating Unit (Unidad de Coordinación Ejectiva, UCE). In addition, it was decided that an annual contribution of 1 million Quetzals[13] would be included in the government’s budget and would be administered by the Volunteer Firefighters Corps.[14]
Mine Action Center: Until the completion of the National Demining Program, the UCE was in charge of its implementation and management, and reported to the National Congress and the CCD.[15] It included an Executive Coordinator, a representative of the former URNG, a representative of the Army Engineer Corps and a representative of the Volunteer Firefighters Corps.[16]
A mobile demining unit (grupo de reacción) was created in December 2005 as a residual capacity to deal with mines and ERW that may still be discovered after completion of demining. The unit, which is coordinated by the UCE, is expected to be operational until March 2007 and consists of 10 army engineers, four former URNG members and four members of the Volunteer Firefighter Corps, all existing personnel from Guatemala’s demining teams. The Commission of Peace and Demining will provide US$60,000 to cover the unit’s costs.[17]
The UCE planned to start reducing staff numbers in mid-2006 and start operating from the offices of the Volunteer Firefighters Corps. In October 2007, the CCD and UCE may be disbanded; the Volunteer Firefighters Corps and the National Police would then function as a channel of information from the civilian population to the Army Engineer Corps, who will maintain equipment for the clearance and destruction of mines and ERW.[18]
Mine and ERW-related information is collected by the UCE and stored within the Information Management System for Mine Action (IMSMA) database. Guatemala received training on the latest version of IMSMA but due to the completion of the National Demining Program does not plan to install it.[19]
In 1997, the UCE prepared a National Demining Program which listed 13 departments with a high risk of contamination which were to be cleared in a first phase, by 2004, and two departments at a lower risk level to be cleared in a second phase, by 2005.[20] The departments were classified according to the intensity of armed conflicts which took place. Clearance priorities were based on the need for land for resettlement and the level of danger to the civilian population.[21] Other considerations in tasking included the extent to which the population would accept intervention by the Army, UNRG and the Volunteer Firefighters Corps, based on experiences during the years of conflict.[22]
The department of Sacatepéquez was initially not considered as mine/ERW-affected and therefore was not included in the list of priorities of the National Demining Program. However, Sacatepéquez was later added to the list of affected departments after local people reported finding UXO.[23]
Between the beginning of Guatemala’s National Demining Program in 1998 and 2005, 4,234 mines and ERW were destroyed. This figure includes 79 mines,[24] 48 bombs, one cluster bomb, 273 grenades, 705 missiles, 62 rockets, 440 cartridges of dynamite and 2,627 other unidentified items of explosive ordnance.[25] In addition, 326 antipersonnel mines and two grenades had been cleared from the Tajumulco Volcano area before the drafting of the National Demining Program.[26] According to the US Department of State, the clearance of mines and UXO through the National Demining Program restored land to productive use for the benefit of 1,800 affected communities.[27]
Due to the scattered nature of mine/UXO contamination, only manual clearance techniques have been used.[28] Clearance was based on IADB procedures for humanitarian demining (Manual de procedimientos operativos de desminado humanitario), which are based on International Mine Action Standards (IMAS).[29]
In May 2006, Guatemala declared that clearance efforts had allowed the resettlement of war-affected communities, access to agricultural areas, as well as enabling tourism and economic development to take place.[30] The Coordinator of the OAS Mine Action Program added that Guatemala’s National Demining Program “provides an example of mainstreaming of mine action into national development,” demonstrating an integration of mine action into resettlement processes, agricultural development and integration of civil society into mine action.[31]
Clearance operations also had an integrating effect on civil society, by involving Volunteer Firefighters and former URNG members who carried out mine risk education and gathered information on suspected mine and UXO-affected zones from local inhabitants, while the Army Engineer Corps conducted survey and clearance, with technical assistance from the Assistance Mission for Mine Clearance in Central America (Misión de Asistencia para la Remoción de Minas en Centro América, MARMINCA) and logistical assistance from the OAS.[32]
The OAS assisted implementation of the National Demining Program since September 1998, through its Assistance Program for Demining in Central America (Programa de Asistencia al Desminado en Centro América, PADCA) and MARMINCA with the technical support of the IADB.[33] MARMINCA provided international supervisors for training and certification of the destruction of mines and UXO in Guatemala. In 2005, four supervisors (from Honduras, Venezuela and Brazil) participated in Guatemala’s clearance operations.[34]
Following completion of the demining program, the MARMINCA/OAS staff left the country. If supervision is required in the future, Guatemala will use nationals who previously served with MARMINCA.[35]
If supervision is required in the future, MARMINCA will send staff from its headquarters in Nicaragua, on a case-by-case basis.[36]
As of December 2005, the team responsible for clearance and mine risk education consisted of 80 staff, including Army engineers, members of the Volunteer Firefighters Corps, former URNG members and MARMINCA supervisors.[37]
By May 2006, Guatemala was in the process of developing a program to retrain former members of the URNG and Volunteer Firefighters Corps that had previously worked with the National Demining Program, in order to facilitate their reintegration into civilian life. Guatemala also stated its willingness to share its demining experience and send its trained deminers to other mine-affected countries.[38]
The identification of mined areas in Guatemala was conducted by the Volunteer Firefighters Corps through awareness campaigns, visits made to the population where conflict had been registered and through information provided by the URNG.[39] Visits were first made to high-risk areas, followed by lower risk areas. Maps were created by the Volunteer Firefighters Corps based on the information collected.[40]
The mine/UXO-affected areas were marked with posters or fenced following international standards.[41]
In the first half of 2005, demining operations were conducted in Peten and Chimaltenango departments. In the second half, operations were carried out in the departments of Escuintla, Sacatepéquez, Suchitepéquez and Sololá.[42] These operations concluded in November 2005.[43] In 2005, 23 mines (including both antipersonnel and antivehicle mines), nine bombs, 35 grenades, 11 missiles, 10 rockets, one unknown device and 440 dynamite cartridges were discovered during clearance operations.[44] As a consequence of the scattered nature of the mine/UXO contamination in Guatemala, demining operations do not measure the quantity of land cleared.[45]
In September 2005, the OAS reported that completion of mine clearance might be delayed if necessary funds were not received.[46] Norway provided $288,000 the same month to enable demining in the country to be completed.[47]
Previously, clearance operations were reported to have been completed in the departments of Huehuetenango, Alta Verapaz and Baja Verapaz in December 2004; in Quetzaltenango, Retalhuleu and Totonicapán in October 2003; in San Marcos in December 2002; in El Quiché department in June 2001. According to the UCE, clearance operations in Jutiapa and Santa Rosa, two lower-risk areas, were completed in 2004.[48]
Following completion of clearance, MARMINCA proceeded to conduct quality assurance in order to certify that no mines or UXO remained.[49] Since Guatemala announced the completion of the National Demining Program in December 2005, three 81-millimeter grenades were discovered in Quetzaltenango and destroyed by the UCE mobile unit in April 2006.[50]
No accidents during clearance operations in 2005 were reported.[51]
In 2005, mine risk education (MRE) reached an estimated 114,479 people in 495 communities in the departments of Escluintla, Suchitepequez, Solola, Chimaltenango and Peten.[52] Between 1997 and 2006, the total number of people who received MRE throughout Guatemala’s demining process was half a million in 2,010 communities.[53] MRE efforts were particularly focused on children in high risk sectors.[54]
Jhony Cabrera, UCE coordinator, stated that in the last seven years of mine action, approximately 500 people have given information to the Volunteer Firefighters Corps, army and reintegrated URNG members about places where UXO could possibly be located. The general opinion of the communities that have received MRE is very positive; the involvement of the Volunteer Firefighters Corps and reintegrated URNG members is considered to have been crucial for the success of the MRE and clearance process.[55]
Following completion of the National Demining Plan, the Volunteer Firefighters Corps and former URNG will continue to provide MRE to local authorities and teachers so that they can transmit this information to their respective communities.[56]
In June 2006, the Commission of Peace and Demining was scheduled to start a public communication campaign to announce that Guatemala is officially free of landmines and UXO, but that there may be isolated explosive devices that have not been identified. The campaign will explain the process for informing the authorities in case an explosive item is found.[57]
Two donors reported providing $382,436 to OAS for mine action Guatemala in 2005. Canada reported contributing C$200,000 ($165,085),[58] and Norway contributed NOK1,400,000 ($217,351).[59]
For 2005, government expenditure on clearance was estimated at $120,000 and annual OAS financial support was estimated at $630,000.[60]
According to the UCE, approximately $8 million was spent in seven years on mine action through the National Demining Program. Norway is reported to have provided 80 percent of the funding and the remainder was contributed by Guatemala, Canada, Italy, Taiwan and the United States.[61]
Since 1993, Guatemala has contributed 20 military mine action supervisors to the IADB; in 2005, two Guatemalan supervisors participated in clearance operations in Nicaragua.[62]
In 2006, OAS reported that it no longer needs mine clearance funds for Guatemala and available resources would be redistributed to priority areas in the region.[63]
No mine casualties have been reported in Guatemala since the cease-fire was signed in December 1996.[64] However, UXO incidents caused at least nine casualties in 2005, including two people killed and seven injured. This is an increase compared to 2004, when two children were killed by a grenade found in a garbage dump.[65]
On 13 June 2005, two young men, aged 17 and 18 years, were killed and five children under 10 years were injured when a grenade found near a military base in Jutiapa department exploded.[66] On 17 June 2005, two soldiers were injured in an explosion in a military munitions storage facility.[67]
There are no reports of casualties as of May 2006.
Few efforts have been made to comprehensively identify people with disabilities, including landmine survivors. Although there are no formal registers of landmine survivors in Guatemala, officials have indicated that Guatemala is taking steps to identify both the number of survivors and their rehabilitation and reintegration needs.[68]
At the Sixth Meeting of States Parties, the Guatemalan delegation reiterated the country’s commitment to develop physical rehabilitation and psychosocial reintegration programs for survivors and their families, in cooperation with the National Demining Program. This commitment would only be possible with the technical and financial support of the international community.[69]
Despite the existence of 23 disability organizations, disability legislation and programs for disabled people, very few of them have comprehensive access to rehabilitation services and employment opportunities. Most healthcare centers assisting the disabled are in the capital and disabled people from rural areas are required to travel long distances, often at their own expense, to receive assistance. [70]
The Ministry of Health operates the Programa Nacional de Atención a Personas con Discapacidad, which has healthcare, rehabilitation and micro-enterprise support programs designed specifically for people with disabilities caused by the armed conflict. In 2005, 72 workshops were provided for 410 people.[71]
UNICEF, in cooperation with the Asociación de Capacitación y Asistencia Técnica en Educación y Discapacidad (ASCATED) and the University of Valle, supported community-based rehabilitation and socioeconomic reintegration of mine/UXO survivors through five centers.[72]
The Guatemalan NGO Transitions provides rehabilitation services, education programs, job training and sports training for persons with disabilities.[73]
Guatemala’s legislation includes provisions to ensure accessibility to public buildings; however they are not enforced. Although the Council for the Disabled, which includes institutions and agencies working on disability, met on a regular basis, the government did not allocate funds to implement the council’s recommendations.[74]
In April 2006, it was reported that, “The Commission of Peace and Demining has agreed to request a meeting with the Vice-president of the Republic to find ways to respond more rapidly to the national compensation program [for disabled ex-combatants].” The compensation program was approved three years earlier and is under the management of the Presidency. Reportedly, ex-combatants have not received compensations from this program in 2005 or up to April 2006. [75]
In 2006, representatives of several disabled people’s organizations presented draft legislation (the Law for Pension and Social Assistance for Disabled Civilians and ex-Combatants Displaced or not Displaced as Result of the Internal Armed Conflict). This would benefit URNG ex-combatants, as well as civilians with physical disabilities and their children. The draft law was presented by the Guatemalan Association of Persons with Disabilities (Asociación Guatemalteca de Personas con Discapacidad, AGPD), the Disabled Association of the North and Quiche (Asociación del Norte y Quiche, ADCNG), the Association of Integral Development of Persons with Disabilities of East and South Guatemala (Asociación de Desarrollo Integral de personas con discapacidad de Oriente y Sur de Guatemala, AIDOS), and the Association of Disabled in War in the Ixil Region (Asociación de Discapacitados de Guerra de la Región Ixil, ADDEGRI). As of April 2006, Congress was reviewing the draft law.[76]
[1] The decree is annexed to Article 7 Report, 2 May 2005. Penal sanctions under the law include imprisonment for up to six years.
[2] Guatemala previously submitted Article 7 reports on 2 May 2005, 12 May 2004, 3 September 2003, 5 June 2002 and 2 March 2001.
[3] Carlos Jose Arroyave-Prera of the Permanent Mission of Guatemala to the UN in Geneva carried out this responsibility at the May 2006 intersessional meetings.
[4] Interview with Carlos Jose Arroyave-Prera, First Secretary, Permanent Mission of Guatemala to the UN, Geneva, 8 May 2006. With respect to Article 1, he simply noted that Guatemala is not involved in any joint operations where mines are being used.
[5] Article 7 Report, Forms B, D and E, 12 May 2004. Guatemala first reported this information to Landmine Monitor in February 1999.
[6] Under Protocol V to the Convention on Conventional Weapons, explosive remnants of war are defined as UXO and abandoned explosive ordnance. Mines are explicitly excluded from the definition.
[7] Mines Action Canada, ActiongroupLandmine.de and Landmine Action, “Explosive Remnants of War and Mines Other Than Antipersonnel Mines, Global Survey 2003-2004,” p. 75; Landmine Monitor Report 2005, p. 370.
[8] Article 7 Report, Form F, 3 May 2006.
[9] Article 7 Report, Form C, 3 May 2006. The report claims that Guatemala is “free of antipersonnel mines.” It does not refer to antivehicle mines although it has reported finding and destroying antivehicle mines in the past.
[10] Article 7 Report, Form F, 3 May 2006; presentation by Guatemala, Standing Committee on Mine Clearance, Mine Risk Education and Mine Action Technologies, Geneva, 11 May 2006.
[11] Interview with Jhony Cabrera, Coordinator, Executive Coordinating Unit (UCE), Geneva, 15 June 2005.
[12] Congress of Guatemala, Legislative Decree 60-95, Diario de Centro America (Official Gazette), 11 September 1995, www.congreso.gob.gt, accessed 15 May 2006; Article 7 Report, Form F, 3 May 2006.
[13] Approximately US$138,000 based on the exchange rate of www.oanda.com, accessed on 15 May 2006.
[14] Congress of Guatemala, Legislative Decree 46-97, Diario de Centro America (Official Gazette), 9 July 1997, www.congreso.gob.gt, accessed 15 May 2006; Article 7 Report, Form F, 3 May 2006.
[15] Congress of Guatemala, Legislative Decree 60-95, Diario de Centro America (Official Gazette), 11 September 1995, www.congreso.gob.gt, accessed 15 May 2006; see also Legislative Decree 46-97, which derogates decree 60-95 and clarifies the CCD’s mandate, Diario de Centro America (Official Gazette), 9 July 1997, www.congreso.gob.gt.
[16] Interview with Jhony Cabrera, UCE, Guatemala, 14 February 2006.
[17] Interviews with Jhony Cabrera, UCE, Guatemala, 16 December 2005 and 9 January 2006.
[18] Interview with Jhony Cabrera, UCE, Guatemala, 14 February 2006.
[19] Interview with Jhony Cabrera, UCE, and Carlos Jose Arroyave-Prera, Permanent Mission of Guatemala to the UN, Geneva, 8 May 2006.
[20] Congreso de la Republica, Comisión Coordinadora del Desminado, Unidad de Coordinacion Ejecutiva UCE, “Program Nacional de Desminado,” annexed to the Article 7 report of June 2002.
[21] Presentation by Guatemala, Standing Committee on Mine Clearance, Mine Risk Education and Mine Action Technologies, Geneva, 11 May 2006.
[22] Article 7 Report, Form F, 3 May 2006.
[23] Interview with Jhony Cabrera, UCE, Geneva, 16 June 2005.
[24] This figure includes home-made mines, antivehicle mines and antipersonnel Claymore mines. Article 7 Report, Form G, 3 May 2006.
[25] Article 7 Report, Form G, 3 May 2006.
[26] Article 7 Report, Form F, 3 May 2006.
[27] US Department of State, “Guatemala completes clearance,” Media Note, 15 December 2005.
[28] Interview with Jhony Cabrera, UCE, Geneva, 16 June 2005.
[29] Presentation by Guatemala, Standing Committee on Mine Clearance, Mine Risk Education and Mine Action Technologies, Geneva, 11 May 2006; email from William McDonough, Coordinator, OAS Mine Action Program, 7 June 2006.
[30] Presentation by Guatemala, Standing Committee on Mine Clearance, Mine Risk Education and Mine Action Technologies, Geneva, 11 May 2006.
[31] Statement by William McDonough, Director of Mine Action OAS, Standing Committee on Mine Clearance, Mine Risk Education and Mine Action Technologies, Geneva, 11 May 2006.
[32] Interview with Jhony Cabrera, UCE, Geneva, 16 June 2005.
[33] See Landmine Monitor Report 2005, p. 371.
[34] Interview with Jhony Cabrera, UCE, Guatemala, 14 February 2006.
[35] Interview with Jhony Cabrera, Coordinator, UCE, and Carlos Jose Arroyave-Prera, First Secretary, Permanent Mission to the UN, Geneva, 8 May 2006.
[36] Interview with Jhony Cabrera, UCE, and Carlos Jose Arroyave-Prera, Permanent Mission of Guatemala to the UN, Geneva, 8 May 2006.
[37] Interview with Sandino Asturias, former URNG member, Guatemala, 17 May 2005; interview with Jhony Cabrera, UCE, and Carlos Jose Arroyave-Prera, Permanent Mission of Guatemala to the UN, Geneva, 8 May 2006.
[38] Interview with Jhony Cabrera, UCE, and Carlos Jose Arroyave-Prera, Permanent Mission of Guatemala to the UN, Geneva, 8 May 2006.
[39] The Cease-fire Agreement signed in Oslo on 4 December 1996 stated that the URNG was to provide the UN with detailed information on all military equipment used and in their possession, as well as the location of mines and minefields.
[40] Article 7 Report, Form F, 3 May 2006.
[41] The mines were reportedly marked using “explosive foam” and a “mine marker PSS/12”; presentation by Guatemala, Standing Committee on Mine Clearance, Mine Risk Education and Mine Action Technologies, Geneva, 12 May 2006.
[42] See Landmine Monitor Report 2005, p. 373.
[43] Interview with Jhony Cabrera, UCE, Guatemala, 15 November 2005.
[44] Interview with Col. Augusto Castillo, Representative, Army Engineer Corps, Guatemala, 8 December 2005.
[45] Interview with Col. Luis Ramos, CIEG, Guatemala, 13 May 2005.
[46] OAS/AICMA, “Report to the OAS Hemispheric Security Commission,” Washington DC, 21 September 2005.
[47] Article 7 Report, Form F, 3 May 2006; interview with Jhony Cabrera, Coordinator, UCE, Guatemala, 9 January 2006.
[48] Telephone interview with Jhony Cabrera, UCE, Guatemala, 5 October 2004, and interview, Guatemala, 19 May 2005; see Landmine Monitor Report 2005, p. 372.
[49] Presentation by Guatemala, Standing Committee on Mine Clearance, Mine Risk Education and Mine Action Technologies, Geneva, 11 May 2006.
[50] Interview with Jhony Cabrera, UCE, and Carlos Jose Arroyave-Prera, First Secretary, Permanent Mission of Guatemala to the UN, Geneva, 8 May 2006.
[51] Interview with Col. Augusto Castillo, Army Engineer Corps, Guatemala, 8 December 2005.
[52] Interview with Jhony Cabrera, UCE, Guatemala, 24 February 2006.
[53] Presentation by Guatemala, Standing Committee on Mine Clearance, Mine Risk Education and Mine Action Technologies, Geneva, 11 May 2006; interview with Jhony Cabrera, UCE, Guatemala, 24 February 2006.
[54] “Guatemala quinto país libre de minas en América,” EFE Agence Press, 15 December 2005.
[55] Interview with Jhony Cabrera, UCE, Guatemala, 12 May 2006.
[56] Telephone interview with Jhony Cabrera, UCE, Guatemala, 21 March 2006.
[57] Interview with Jhony Cabrera, UCE, and Carlos Jose Arroyave-Prera, Permanent Mission of Guatemala to the UN, Geneva, 8 May 2006.
[58] Email from Carly Volkes, DFAIT, 14 June 2006. Average exchange rate for 2005: US$1 = C$1.2115. US Federal Reserve, “List of Exchange Rates (Annual),” 3 January 2006.
[59] Email from Annette A. Landell-Mills, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 21 June 2006. Average exchange rate for 2005: US$1 = NOK6.4412. US Federal Reserve, “List of Exchange Rates (Annual),” 3 January 2006.
[60] Interview with Miguel Barahona, OAS AICMA Guatemala, 20 May 2005; see Landmine Monitor 2005, p. 373. These estimates have not been confirmed as expended amounts.
[61] Interview with Jhony Cabrera, UCE, Guatemala, 9 January 2006.
[62] Interview with Jhony Cabrera, UCE, Guatemala, 14 February 2006.
[63] Email from William McDonough, 31 May 2006.
[64] Statement by Victor Sales, President, Commission of Peace and Demining, during the completion ceremony at the National Palace, Guatemala, 15 December 2005; see Landmine Monitor Report 2005, p. 373.
[65] See Landmine Monitor Report 2005, p. 374.
[66] Interview with William de Leon and Mario Cruz, Volunteer Firefighters Corps, Guatemala, 14 June 2005.
[67] Julio Lara, “Vuelve la calma a brigade Mariscal Zavala Cientos de familias fueron evacuadas en las zones 17 y 18,” La Prensa Libre, 19 June 2005
[68] Interview with Jhony Cabrera, UCE, and Carlos Jose Arroyave-Prera, Permanent Mission of Guatemala of the UN, Geneva, 8 May 2006.
[69] Statement by Guatemala, Sixth Meeting of State Parties, Zagreb, 29 November 2005.
[70] See Landmine Monitor Report 2005, p. 374.
[71] Interview with Jhony Cabrera, UCE, Geneva, 16 June 2005.
[72] See Landmine Monitor Report 2005, p. 374.
[73] Ibid, p. 375.
[74] US Department of State, “Country Report on Human Right Practices–2005: Guatemala,” 8 March 2006.
[75] “Comisión de la Paz y Desminado solicitarán reunión con el Vicepresidente Stein” (“Comission of Peace and Demining will request meeting with Vice-president Stein”), Congress of Guatemala, www.congreso.gob.gt, accessed 15 May 2006.
[76] Centros de Estudios de Guatemala, “Personas con Discapacidad a Causa del Conflicto Armando Presentan Iniciativa de Ley de Pensiones” (“Persons with disabilities due to arm conflict present draft law of pensions”), Guatemala Hoy, www.c.net.gt, accessed 15 May 2006.