Guerrillas Arrive in Guatemala City for Signing of Treaty

Four rebel leaders stepped off a jet called “The Wings of Peace” here Saturday, returning from exile to a city they once hoped to capture.

A military band played a popular tune, and hundreds of rebel supporters cheered as aging guerrilla commanders Pablo Monsanto, Rolando Moran, Carlos Gonzalez and Jorge Rosal arrived at Guatemala’s international airport.

“We are thrilled to return to Guatemala and to finally achieve peace,” Monsanto said. “I hope we will have a country with justice.”

Tears welled up in some of the rebel commanders’ eyes as they waved to hundreds of supporters at the airport.

A boy in a straw hat held a blue flag with the letters “URNG,” the Spanish initials of the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity group--the coalition of four rebel groups that is to wage peace after 35 years of war.

Outside, rebels wearing blue kerchiefs to hide their identities set off fireworks in celebration.

The four commanders returned from Mexico City where, for six years, they and Guatemalan government officials painstakingly crafted a peace accord that they are to sign today.

The agreement will end Central America’s last and longest civil war in which at least 140,000 people died and 100,000 more fled.

A new national reconciliation law protecting rebels from arrest took effect Saturday.

The law forgives many crimes committed by both sides during the conflict, but it excludes torture, genocide and forced disappearances. Human rights advocates have criticized the law, saying vagueness in its language could foil prosecution of government agents accused of atrocities.