Information on the Omega Five Security Team and on the situation facing former military officers returning to the country could not be found among the sources currently available to the DIRB.

According to a 1993 Americas Watch report, the Estado Mayor Precidencial (EMP) is a presidential intelligence unit within the Presidential Guard (News from Americas Watch Mar. 1993, 14). The report indicates that the organization played a part in coordinating the government's program of "disappearances" and "political murder" (ibid.). For further information on the Presidential Guard and the Estado Mayor Precidencial, please refer to Responses to Information Requests GTM12501 of 18 December 1992, GTM14872.E of 27 September 1993 and GTM10774 of 4 June 1992, all available at your Regional Documentation Centre, and to the attached documents.

This response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the DIRB within time constraints. This response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum.

News from Americas Watch [New York]. March 1993. Vol. 5, No. 2. "Clandestine Detention in Guatemala."

The Associated Press (AP) 4 December 1991. AM Cycle. "U.S. Hands Over Murder Suspect to Guatemalans." (NEXIS)

BBC Summary of World Broadcasts. 7 August 1993. "Guatemala; President Announces Reorganisation of Presidential Command Staff." (NEXIS)

. 5 September 1985. "Disturbances in Guatemala." (NEXIS)

Defense and Foreign Affairs' Strategic Policy. March 1991. "Guatemala." (NEXIS)

Defense and Foreign Affairs. September 1983. "Guatemala." (NEXIS)

Human Rights Watch, Washington. 8 June 1994. fax of pages 7-9 of Amnesty International's 1981 report Guatemala: A Government Program of Political Murder sent to the DIRB in Ottawa.

Inter Press Service. 17 August 1993. Fabiana Frayssinet. "Guatemala: Ombudsman-Turned-President Disappoints His Supporters." (NEXIS)

. 18 March 1993. "Guatemala: Americas Watch Condemns Clandestine Detentions." (NEXIS)

Latin America Regional Reports: Caribbean and Central America [London]. 26 August 1993. "Top Brass Accept Need for Changes." (NEXIS)

Latin America Weekly Report [London]. 19 August 1993. "De Leon Moves on Pre-Emptive Reform." (NEXIS)

News from Americas Watch [New York]. March 1993. Vol. 5, No. 2. "Clandestine Detention in Guatemala," pp. 13-17.

The United Press International (UPI). 24 September 1993. BC Cycle. Amafredo Castellanos. "Guatemalan Authorities Capture Six More of 37 Jail Escapees." (NEXIS)

World Encyclopedia of Police Forces and Penal Systems. 1989. Edited by George Thomas Kurian. New York: Facts on File, pp. 155-56.

Keesing's Record of World Events. Monthly.

Latinamerica Press.: Weekly.

Indexed Media Review (IMR).

Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) Daily.

Oral Sources.