Guatemala in the UK News...
by
Patrick
on Sun 07 Jan 2007 10:44 AM GMT
Guatemala gets several mentions in the UK press- well mainly the Guardian via the wire services. There's a interesting article '
Guatemalan Files Renew Hope of Justice' by Will Weissart and Juan Carlos Llorca that ties together the issues of the secret police files, the pending extradition appeals, and the continuing quest by victims to find out more about the fate of loved ones. It quotes two current Government officials which seem to downplay this effort to punish past crimes:
"Easier said than done, Vice President Eduardo Stein told The Associated Press in an interview. Resolving the murders of today is hard enough, let alone atrocities from decades ago, he said.
"During the war years, the justice system became so debilitated that we haven't been able to strengthen it,'' he said. "We are trying our very best, but there has not been much progress.''
It will likely take a year to convert the documents into a searchable database.
Interior Minister Carlos Vielman, whose National Civil Police replaced the National Police in 1997, said the priority is to tackle today's drug trafficking and street gangs, and suggested the importance of the archive is overstated.
The government supports the search for secrets in the files, he said, but "a certain mystique has been created around them, a myth-like status.''"
There's also an article in
The Guardian from AP on international adoptions which says this about adoptions between the US and Guatemala:
"The only major country of origin to increase U.S. adoptions in 2006 was Guatemala; with 4,135 adoptions. It overtook Russia in the No. 2 spot.
However, that status is expected to change later this year when the United States ratifies the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoptions, a pact setting tough standards which Guatemala's corruption-prone adoption system doesn't meet. Adoptions may be suspended while Guatemala tries to make required changes; some experts doubt the number will ever return to last year's level."
And finally
Jamie Theakston says this about Guatemala City in
The Observer today:
"I'll never go back to... Guatemala City. It has very little going for it. There's nothing to see, it's ugly and there's every chance you'll get shot."
Hmm, that's a huge loss for Guate. No more Jamie. I wonder how many hours he was there for? For the record,
this is what I think of Guatemala City critics :-)
This is a really interesting interview with Ann Wright on Radio 4's Saturday Live programme, who accompanied in Colombia with Peace Brigades International. She gives a really great explanation about what accompaniment is and what you can get out of it as a volunteer. She's taking in the context of Colombia, but it's equally applicable to accompaniment in Guatemala. You can listen to it here. Here's the intro from the BBC Saturday Live blog (shame they couldn't spell Colombia :-)).
