Guatemala

Last month, The Times carried “A Hellish Life in ‘Democratic’ Guatemala” (Commentary, Nov. 11) which noted that “on Sept. 11 the anthropologist Myrna Mack was stabbed to death outside her office . . . and on Oct. 25, gunmen opened fire on the journalist Byron Barrera, gravely wounding him and killing his wife. His newspaper, La Epoca, was fire-bombed into submission in 1988.”

These two events led author George Black to conclude that Guatemala is “a state bent on extinguishing the breath of civil society.”

On Dec. 3 The Times carried a news brief about members of the military garrison at Santiago Atitlan firing on a crowd of 1,500 people who were protesting the harassment of civilians. There were confirmed reports of 11 dead (including two children) and 19 wounded. Other sources claim 26 dead and 71 wounded.

In response to the petitions of the villagers, President Vinicio Cerezo Arevalo has agreed to have the military garrison closed. This is the first time there has been official acknowledgement that the military is out of control. But this is not enough. Those who did the killing will just be moved to another community and continue their criminal behavior. There must be a trial of those charged.

When we are told that U.S. tax dollars are sent to countries as “aid,” we get warm feelings that we are helping those in need. Too often that aid is used for destructive purposes and further imbalances societies run by oligarchies and dominated by the military. Such is the case in Guatemala.

All U.S. aid should be stopped until true democracy is restored. But at the very least U.S. aid should be held back until those responsible for the Atitlan massacre are prosecuted and punished.

MARY BRENT WEHRLI

Executive Director

Southern California Ecumenical Council

Interfaith Taskforce on Central America