The World - News from April 24, 1986

The Roman Catholic Church will set up a human rights office in Guatemala “to protect the people, above all the poor people, the Indians and those who are illiterate--those who have no defense,” Archbishop Prospero Penados del Barrio said. During Guatemala’s years of military rule, thousands of people were killed or disappeared, and the nation has one of the worst human rights records in the Western Hemisphere, rights groups have charged. The archbishop said that rights abuses have diminished since the return to civilian rule under President Vinicio Cerezo in January, although “it is clear that not all is working well.”