University of Minnesota




Report on the Situation of Human Rights in Guatemala, Inter-Am. C.H.R.,
OEA/Ser.L/V/II.111,
Doc. 21 rev. (2001).



 

 

CHAPTER III: ECONOMIC, SOCIAL, AND CULTURAL RIGHTS

A. Introduction

1. The Preamble to the American Convention states that: “The ideal of free men enjoying freedom from fear and want can be achieved only if conditions are created whereby everyone may enjoy his economic, social, and cultural rights, as well as his civil and political rights.”

2. In addition, the Preamble to the Protocol of San Salvador underscores the close relationship that exists between economic, social, and cultural rights and civil and political rights, in that the different categories of rights constitute an indivisible whole based on the recognition of the dignity of the human person; this is the reason why both require permanent protection and promotion if they are to be fully realized, and why the violation of some rights in favor of the realization of others can never be justified.[1]

3. An analysis of the present state of economic, social, and cultural rights in Guatemala needs to be approached from a historic perspective in order to understand both the current problems and the progress that has been made as well as the challenges that the future holds. In this regard, we refer to the conclusions of the Commission for Historical Clarification (CEH), which indicated that:

[T]he structure and nature of economic, cultural and social relations in Guatemala are marked by profound exclusion, antagonism and conflict — a reflection of its colonial history.[2] ….

The anti-democratic nature of the Guatemalan political tradition has its roots in an economic structure, which is marked by the concentration of productive wealth in the hands of a minority. This established the foundations of a system of multiple exclusions, including elements of racism, which is, in turn, the most profound manifestation of a violent and dehumanising social system. The State gradually evolved as an instrument for the protection of this structure, guaranteeing the continuation of exclusion and injustice.[3]

The absence of an effective state social policy, with the exception of the period from 1944 to 1955, accentuated this historical dynamic of exclusion. In many cases, more recent State policy has produced inequality, or, at the very least, endemic institutional weaknesses have accentuated it. Proof of this can be seen in the fact that, during the twenty years of Guatemala’s most rapid economic growth (1960-1980), state social spending and taxation were the lowest in Central America.

Due to its exclusionary nature, the State was incapable of achieving social consensus around a national project able to unite the whole population. Concomitantly, it abandoned its role as mediator between divergent social and economic interests, thus creating a gulf which made direct confrontation between them more likely.[4] ….

Thus a vicious circle was created in which social injustice led to protest and subsequently political instability, to which there were always only two responses: repression or military coups. Faced with movements proposing economic, political, social or cultural change, the State increasingly resorted to violence and terror in order to maintain social control. Political violence was thus a direct expression of structural violence.[5] ….

[O]ther parallel phenomena, such as structural injustice, the closing of political spaces, racism, the increasing exclusionary and anti-democratic nature of institutions, as well as the reluctance to promote substantive reforms that could have reduced structural conflicts, are the underlying factors which determined the origin and subsequent outbreak of the armed confrontation.[6]

4. As a result of this situation, whereby the economic development of the vast majority of Guatemalan society has been historically delayed, the Agreement on Social and Economic Aspects and Agrarian Situation was signed as part of the 1996 peace accords. This agreement states that: “A firm and lasting peace must be consolidated on the basis of social and economic development directed towards the common good, meeting the needs of the whole population. This is necessary in order to overcome the poverty, extreme poverty, discrimination and social and political margination which have impeded and distorted the country's social, economic, cultural and political development and have represented a source of conflict and instability.”

5. In this report the Commission will study only some of the social, cultural, and economic rights set forth in the Additional Protocol to the American Convention on Human Rights in the Area of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the “Protocol of San Salvador.” This analysis will be conducted in light of the provisions of the Protocol of San Salvador and the terms of the Agreement on Social and Economic Aspects and Agrarian Situation. It will also strive to pay due attention to the country’s indigenous inhabitants, who account for more than 50 percent of the population, and to rural areas, in that Guatemala is essentially a rural country, with some 60 percent of the population inhabiting rural areas and most of the country’s foreign currency being earned from the land.[7],[8] Against this backdrop, the Commission will first analyze Guatemala’s Human Development Index (HDI) from a comparative perspective. It will then analyze the country’s health and education provisions, including as they apply to persons with disabilities. Further, it will describe the terms of the Fiscal Pact, one the main tools being used to bring about sustainable social development in Guatemala. Finally, it will offer its conclusions and recommendations.

B. Overview

6. On October 6, 2000, Guatemala deposited its ratification of the Additional Protocol to the American Convention on Human Rights in the Area of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the “Protocol of San Salvador,” with the General Secretariat of the Organization of American States. The Commission values this initiative by the Guatemalan State, and hopes that the Protocol of San Salvador will be fully implemented and serve to promote and ensure greater social justice in Guatemala.

7. Guatemala has the hemisphere’s second most unequal distribution of income: the richest fifth of the population receives 63 percent of the country’s total income, while the poorest fifth receives only 2.1 percent. In addition, 39.8 percent of the population earn less than one U.S. dollar a day. It is estimated that 57 percent of the country’s inhabitants live below the poverty line.[9]

8. Sustained economic development is essential for ensuring public investment and achieving social goals. Recognizing the importance of this, the Agreement on Social and Economic Aspects stated that “the country’s accelerated growth is necessary to create jobs and social development.” Thus, in the peace accords, the Government agreed to adopt economic policies that would bring about the sustained growth of the gross domestic product (GDP) at rates no less than 6 percent per annum, so that an advanced social policy could be pursued. The growth in Guatemala’s GDP in recent years has been as follows: 1997, 4.3%; 1998, 5.1%; 1999, 3.6%; and 2000, 3.6% (estimated).

9. We can thus see that in 1997 and 1998, the Guatemalan economy reported growth rates in accordance with the targets set in the peace accords. These increased figures were essentially due to higher public investment and greater macroeconomic stability. However, the 1999 result and the estimated figure for 2000 are well below the 6 percent goal, which means lower job creation rates and lower income levels for the population.[10]

C. Human Development Index (HDI)[11]

10. In the year 2000 HDI survey, Guatemala’s ranked 120th out of a total of 174 countries. This meant that Guatemala had the hemisphere’s second lowest HDI, after Haiti.[12]

11. Breaking down the Human Development Index by geographical regions, the metropolitan region (Department of Guatemala) had the highest HDI figure. In contrast, the northern and northwestern regions, which have the highest proportions of indigenous inhabitants, reported the lowest figures. Thus, the income of the metropolitan region rose from 1.6 times the national average in 1989 to 2.1 times the average in 1994; the figure then stabilized at 2.0 in 1998. In contrast, the corresponding figure for northwestern region, where incomes are lowest, fell from slightly more than half the national average in 1989 (0.6 times) to about half in 1994 (0.5) and less than half in 1998 (0.4).[13],[14] A regional breakdown of Guatemala’s HDI figures appears in the following table.

Table 1
Human Development Index by Region

1989, 1994, 1998

Region 1989 1994 1998

Difference
94/89

98/94

Metropolitan

0.62

0.68

0.70

0.06

0.02

Northern

0.42

0.43

0.53

0.01

0.10

Northeastern

0.52

0.53

0.56

0.01

0.03
Southeastern

0.50

0.52

0.57

0.02

0.05

Central

0.48

0.54

0.58

0.06

0.04
Southwestern

0.47

0.51

0.54

0.04 0.03
Northwestern

0.42

0.46

0.49

0.04

0.03
Petén

0.53

0.53

0.55

0.00

0.02
Nationwide

0.51

0.55

0.59

0.04

0.04

 

Source: UNDP 1999 Report.

That report was based on internal calculations, using figures provided by the INE National Sociodemographic Survey of 1989, the 10th Population Census and 5th Housing Census of 1994, and the 1998/99 National Survey of Family Income and Expenditure.

12. These figures also reveal that in 1998 the HDI was higher than in both 1994 and 1989, with improvements at both the regional and nationwide levels. As stated by the United Nations Development Programme, “the improved indices were chiefly the result of increased life expectancy, followed by higher income levels. Improvements in education, while considerable over the period, did not lead to a greater level of participation in education in the 1994-1998 period.”[15]

13. Because around 60 percent of Guatemala’s population lives in rural areas, analyzing HDI evolution in both urban and rural regions is essential. For the country as a whole, rural HDI was 14 percentage points lower than its urban counterpart.[16] Similarly, as indicated by the following figures, the lowest urban HDI (0.60, in the northwestern region) was higher than the highest rural HDI (0.55, in the central region), with the exception of the metropolitan region (where the figure was 0.64).[17] The table below contains a breakdown of Guatemala’s rural and urban HDI figures:[18]


Table 2
Human Development Index by Region and Area Type

1998

Region Total Urban Rural Difference
Metropolitan

0.70

0.736

0.638

0.098

Northern

0.53

0.602

0.513

0.089

Northeastern

0.56

0.647

0.542

0.105

Southeastern

0.57

0.632

0.543

0.089

Central

0.58

0.608

0.553

0.055

Southwestern

0.54

0.624

0.509

0.115

Northwestern

0.49

0.6

0.469

0.131

Petén

0.55

0.666

0.505

0.161

Nationwide 0.59

0.672

0.536

0.136

 

14. These figures show how necessary it is that the actions taken to promote human development and social equality cover both rural and urban areas and involve criteria other than the merely geographical; all the more so because Guatemala’s population is predominantly rural. That requires that any actions upon which the State embarks must truly benefit the community as a whole and not just those areas with the highest levels of development.[19]

D. Education

15. Article 13 of the Protocol of San Salvador contains the following provisions regarding the right to an education:

1. Everyone has the right to education.

2. The States Parties to this Protocol agree that education should be directed towards the full development of the human personality and human dignity and should strengthen respect for human rights, ideological pluralism, fundamental freedoms, justice and peace. They further agree that education ought to enable everyone to participate effectively in a democratic and pluralistic society and achieve a decent existence and should foster understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations and all racial, ethnic or religious groups and promote activities for the maintenance of peace.

3. The States Parties to this Protocol recognize that in order to achieve the full exercise of the right to education:

a. Primary education should be compulsory and accessible to all without cost;

b. Secondary education in its different forms, including technical and vocational secondary education, should be made generally available and accessible to all by every appropriate means, and in particular, by the progressive introduction of free education;

c. Higher education should be made equally accessible to all, on the basis of individual capacity, by every appropriate means, and in particular, by the progressive introduction of free education;

d. Basic education should be encouraged or intensified as far as possible for those persons who have not received or completed the whole cycle of primary instruction;

e. Programs of special education should be established for the handicapped, so as to provide special instruction and training to persons with physical disabilities or mental deficiencies.

4. In conformity with the domestic legislation of the States Parties, parents should have the right to select the type of education to be given to their children, provided that it conforms to the principles set forth above.

5. Nothing in this Protocol shall be interpreted as a restriction of the freedom of individuals and entities to establish and direct educational institutions in accordance with the domestic legislation of the States Parties.

16. At no time in Guatemalan history has education been a priority area for the State. The proportion of GDP spent on education has always been minimal, traditionally the lowest in the Central American region.[20] Moreover, access to education was restricted for the poorest segments of society and the inhabitants of rural areas. “In 1998, according to projections based on the most recent census data, 61 percent of men and 67 percent of women aged over seven had total schooling levels of less than three years of primary education, and almost 30 percent of men and 40 percent of women had never attended school.”[21] The National Statistics Institute (INE) calculates that the average schooling level in Guatemala totals no more than 2.3 years.

17. The Agreement on Social and Economic Aspects refers specifically to education, saying that it plays a key role in Guatemala’s economic, cultural, social, and political development.

18. In the peace accords, the Government agreed to implement “significant increases in the resources allocated to education. By the year 2000, the Government proposes to step up public spending on education as a proportion of gross domestic product by at least 50 percent over its 1995 level.”

19. Since 1995, overall funding for education has increased; however, as a proportion of GDP, it is still among the lowest in Latin America. Between 1994 and 1998, overall spending on education was as follows:

Table 3

Education Spending: Targets and Actual Spending
(thousands of quetzals and percentages)

1994–1998

Year GDP Education Sector Spending Education Sector Spending
as a
% of GDP
Target Set in Peace Accords Target as a % of GDP Difference Between Actual Spending and Target National Budget Education Budget
as a % of
Total Budget
1994
74,669.70
1,156.60
1.55 - - - 8,447.40
13.69
1995
85,156.70
1,411.90 1.66 - - - 8,928.70
15.81
1996
95,748.60
1,504.60 1.58
1,747.60
1.83
-0.25
9,886.50
15.22
1997 107,942.90 1,900
1.76
2,060.40
1.91
-0.15
13,840.90
13.73

 

Sources: Central Bank of Guatemala, MINUGUA, and Ministry of Finance.

20. As can be seen from these figures, a major increase in annual education spending will be needed to resolve Guatemala’s education problems.

21. Regarding literacy rates, around 31.7 percent of the Guatemalan population are unable to read or write. Over the past decade (1989 to 1999), illiteracy has been reduced by 8.9 percent. In rural areas, illiteracy can be as high as 40 percent, with rates of 39.4 percent among women and 29.7 percent among men. In urban areas, it stands at 15 percent, with significant differences between the figures for men (10.3%) and women (18.8%).[22] The Commission has received information indicating that by law, one percent of the state budget must be spent on fighting illiteracy. The following tables offer a general overview of illiteracy in Guatemala:

ILLITERACY

  1996

1997

1998 1999
  36.2
34.5
31.7
29.8
MEN 29.2
27.8
26.3
24.8
WOMEN 43.5
41.4
39.8
34.9


Table 4

Illiteracy
(in percentage terms)

1994–1998

Department 1994
1998
Difference
Depts. between 75% and 100% indigenous 62.8 52.2 -10.6
Depts. between 50% & 74.9% indigenous 46.7 36.7 -10.0
Depts. between 25% & 49.9% indigenous 40.7 33.1 -7.6
Depts. between 0% & 24.9% indigenous 38.6 29.0 -9.6
Guatemala 13.8 11.2 -2.6
Totonicapán 52.1

44.0

-8.1
Sololá 58.0
49.8
-8.2
Alta Verapaz 72.7
58.2
-14.5
Quiché 68.4
56.6 -11.8
Chimaltenango 44.1
31.7
-12.4
Huehuetenango 56.5
45.9
-10.6
Quetzaltenango 34.5
26.5
-8.0
Suchitepéquez 44.4
35.3
-9.2
Baja Verapaz 54.2
44.1
-10.1
San Marcos 43.5
34.4
-9.1
Sacatepéquez 23.0
18.6
-4.4
Jalapa 46.8
38.9
-7.9
Retalhuleu 35.9 29.1
-6.8
Chiquimula 51.2
41.7 -9.6
Petén 44.0
35.8
-8.2
Izabal 39.0 31.7
-7.3
Escuintla 36.9
25.9
-11.0
Jutiapa 39.5 32.1
-7.4
Zacapa 36.0
29.2
-6.8
Santa Rosa 37.6
28.9
-8.7
El Progreso 42.5
26.4
-16.1
Nationwide 38.8
31.7
-7.1

Sources: CONALFA, and internal processing of indigenous inhabitant figures.

22. In spite of the progress that has been made, Guatemala has Latin America’s second highest illiteracy rate, surpassed only by Haiti.[23] It is fundamental that efforts to reduce illiteracy in Guatemala continue.

23. Access to education in Guatemala is still characterized by restrictions and exclusion: only 55 percent of children attend primary school, 19.5 percent attend secondary school, and only 4.8 percent go on to higher education.[24] The following table shows net attendance rates by regions and academic levels for the years 1989, 1994, and 1998.

Table 5

Net School Attendance Rates by Educational Levels and Regions
(percentages)

1989, 1994, 1998

    1989     1994     1998  
Region Primary Secondary Higher Primary Secondary Higher Primary Secondary Higher
Metropolitan 62.6
33.3
10.0
75.0
40.1
9.5
71.0
40.0
12.3
Northern 34.0
8.5
1.2
34.2
7.1
0.6
45.9
10.6
0.9
Northeastern
53.8
15.1
0.7 56.5
16.7
0.8
46.0
16.2
1.2

Southeastern

51.5
13.9
0.8
57.8
12.1
0.5 60.8 17.8
0.9
Central 50.2
16.2
1.7
62.5
17.6
1.4
59.8
15.2
3.6
Southwestern 42.9
13.6

1.1

53.2
13.4
1.4
54.3
15.3
3.4
Northwestern
33.2
4.5
0.0
41.5
6.7
0.4
44.5
7.7
0.5
Petén 45.1
13.9
0.0
49.4 10.7
0.3 55.8
18.0
0.3
Nationwide 47.0
16.6
3.2
55.4
18.2 3.1
55.5
19.5
4.8

Source: Drawn up using data from the National Sociodemographic Survey (1989), the 5th Population and Housing Census (1994), and the National Survey of Family Income and Expenditure (1998/99).

24. These are alarming figures for the future of Guatemala, particularly as there is an “inability to provide the majority of its population with a minimum of learning, even though they represent the nation’s future.”[25] The Guatemalan State must make great efforts to expand the coverage of education, which is the key to sustainable development.[26]

25. The Commission would like to make specific reference to one item in the Agreement on Social and Economic Aspects: the Government’s commitment to design and implement a national civic education program for democracy and peace that would promote the protection of human rights, the renewal of political culture, and the peaceful resolution of conflicts. The Commission has received information indicating that the funds allocated to this Civic Education Program have been minimal and, as a result, its development has been limited.

E. Health

26. Article 10 of the Protocol of San Salvador contains the following provisions regarding the right to health:

Right to Health

1. Everyone shall have the right to health, understood to mean the enjoyment of the highest level of physical, mental and social well-being.

2. In order to ensure the exercise of the right to health, the States Parties agree to recognize health as a public good and, particularly, to adopt the following measures to ensure that right:

a. Primary health care, that is, essential health care made available to all individuals and families in the community;

b. Extension of the benefits of health services to all individuals subject to the State's jurisdiction;

c. Universal immunization against the principal infectious diseases;

d. Prevention and treatment of endemic, occupational and other diseases;

e. Education of the population on the prevention and treatment of health problems, and,

f. Satisfaction of the health needs of the highest risk groups and of those whose poverty makes them the most vulnerable.

27. Traditionally, Guatemalan state spending on health care provisions has been very low.[27] As a result, as shall be seen below, Guatemala’s health standards are among the lowest in Latin America.

28. The Agreement on Social and Economic Aspects makes particular mention of health. It says that the health sector must undertake a process of reform aimed at ensuring effective exercise of this right “by the population,” based on an integrated approach to health (including prevention, promotion, recovery, and rehabilitation).

29. In 1997, the Ministry of Health began work on reforming the health sector, with the stated goals of extending health service coverage, increasing its ability to resolve problems, and improving service capacity. In mid-1997 the Integral Health Care System (SIAS) was created, with the goal of expanding primary health care through agreements with local-area health NGOs that provide specific individuals with attention in exchange for a per-person fee. Preliminary figures available to the Commission indicate that the SIAS has brought about increased health care coverage, but that the system suffers from certain shortages of materials and services.[28]

30. In the peace accords the Government agreed to increase public spending on health, as a percentage of GDP, by at least 50 percent compared with the 1995 level. Overall funding for health care and social assistance over the period 1995-1999 was as follows:

HEALTH CARE AND SOCIAL ASSISTANCE: BUDGETARY TARGETS SET IN THE PEACE ACCORDS

(Percentages of GDP)

1995
1996
  1997   1998   1999  
Actual Target Actual Target Actual Target Actual Target Actual Target
0.88 0.88

0.86

 

1.05
1.01 1.09 1.10

1.40

1.19

Source: Report on Human Development – Guatemala 2000. UNDP.

 

Notes Ch. III_____________________

1 “All human rights are universal, indivisible and interdependent and interrelated. The international community must treat human rights globally in a fair and equal manner, on the same footing, and with the same emphasis. While the significance of national and regional particularities and various historical, cultural and religious backgrounds must be borne in mind, it is the duty of States, regardless of their political, economic and cultural systems, to promote and protect all human rights and fundamental freedoms.” Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action (part I, paragraph 5), adopted by the World Conference on Human Rights, Vienna, June 25, 1993 (A/CONF.157/24(Part I), cap.III).

[2] Report of the Commission for Historical Clarification, Guatemala: Memory of Silence, Volume V, Conclusions and Recommendations, p. 21.

[3] Id., pp. 21-22.

[4] Id.

[5] Id.

[6] Id., p. 24.

[7] Guatemala’s population in the year 2000 was estimated at 11.385 million. Of these, 60.6 percent lived in rural areas, with the remaining 39.4 percent in urban areas. The average figure for rural populations across Latin America is 23 percent. See Reports of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).

[8] In 1997 farm produce accounted for 57.4 percent of Guatemala’s total exports. This is significant in comparison with the corresponding figures for other countries with large indigenous, rural populations: in Bolivia, for example, farm exports account for 3.1 percent of total export volume; in Peru the figure is 8.8 percent and, in Ecuador, 31.9 percent.

[9] “Extreme poverty is a denial of all human rights. Extreme poverty thus establishes an indissoluble link between each of the rights accorded to the individual. States bear the primary responsibility for giving effect to all the rights of the extremely poor....

Extreme poverty thwarts the exercise of the right to an adequate standard of living (art. 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights), and because all aspects of life are interdependent the extremely poor are deprived of all their rights. Most of the time they have no civil existence, are excluded from economic and social life, and cannot exercise their rights, especially the ones relating to their most vital needs. Extreme poverty therefore constitutes the most vivid example of the indissoluble link which binds the various human rights to each other.” UN Commission on Human Rights, Human Rights and Extreme Poverty, Report by Ms. A.-M. Lizin, independent expert, document E/CN.4/2000/52, February 25, 2000, paragraphs 2, 6, and 14.

[10] Among the main causes noted for the slower GDP growth over 1999 and 2000 are the following: (a) the destruction wrought by Hurricane Mitch; (b) falling world prices for coffee, bananas, and sugar cane, and higher international oil prices; (c) the increased budget deficit; and (d) the bankruptcy of a number of financial institutions.

[11] The Human Development Index is a tool used by the United Nations to measure countries’ development, using their income levels, life expectancy figures, and education levels.

[12] United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Guatemala: el rostro rural del desarrollo humano, 1999 (subsequently referred to as the “UNDP Report on Guatemala, 1999”).

[13] Id.

[14] For the method used to calculate the HDI, see the end of this chapter.

[15] Id.

[16] Id.

[17] Id.

[18] See UNDP Report on Guatemala, 1999.

[19] In this regard, Guatemala has reported that major efforts are being made to significantly improve the country’s highway network. Thus, work is underway to improve existing highways and to construct new roads. For example, by 2001 it is expected that 75 percent of the Cobán (Alta Verapaz) to San Benito (Petén) highway will have been resurfaced.

[20] In 1995, for example, Guatemala’s social spending on education was equal to 1.8 percent of GDP. The corresponding figures for the other Central American countries were as follows: El Salvador, 2%; Honduras, 3.7%; Nicaragua, 4.3%; Costa Rica, 5.3%; and Panama, 4.9%. Across the whole of Latin America, only Haiti allocates a lower proportion of its budget to education than Guatemala. See UNDP Report on Guatemala, 1999.

[21] Id.

[22] Id.

[23] In the Agreement on Social and Economic Aspects, the Government agreed to conduct literacy programs in all those languages in which it was technically possible and to increase the literacy rate to 70 percent by the year 2000.

[24] The peace accords established a commitment under which, by the year 2000, all children aged under 12 would complete their first three years of primary education.

[25] Id.

[26] The Commission received information from the Guatemalan State indicating that the Ministry of Education has been carrying out a series of complementary programs intended to benefit school populations, particularly in rural areas. These efforts include the Comprehensive Health Care Project for Children Under Six (PAIN), the Intercultural Bilingual Education program, and Community Preschool Education Readiness Centers (CENACEPs).

[27] In 1994, for example, Guatemala’s state spending on the health sector was equal to 0.9 percent of GDP, compared with 1.4% in El Salvador, 2.7% in Honduras, 4.2% in Nicaragua, 7.4% in Costa Rica, and 6.2% in Panama. See ECLAC Reports, 1998.

[28] MINUGUA has said, for example, that its checks revealed that no women had received iron sulfate or folic acid, and that only half of them had been inoculated against tetanus. Among children, vaccination coverage has reached a high level; however, very few under-sixes were being monitored for growth control and none had received iron sulfate, vitamin A, or antiparasitic agents. Most seriously, 75 percent of the community centers visited had no stocks of oral serum, even though it is known to be of great importance in treating diarrhea. See MINUGUA, Fifth Report.

 

 



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