Guatemala News Roundup

Here are links to a few Guatemala stories from the last week or so:

Guatemalan Police Make More Arrests in Jailbreak: Sixteen people have so far been arrested in last week's jailbreak in Malacatan.  The prison break freed Elmer Celada Galdamez who was accused of having taken part in the abduction and subsequent murder of Carlos Mercedes Vasquez, a professional soccer player.  Celada has not yet been found.  The police believe that the accused are members of the Zetas.

Guatemala has 1st Female Attorney General: Claudia Paz, a 54-year lawyer, plans to start her four-year office evaluating her staff and maintaining co-operation with the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (Cicig).  Paz replaces Conrado Reyes who was rejected by the Constitutional Court. for supposed links with powerful groups involved in drug trafficking and for acting in their favour in the Ministry of Justice.

Guatemala passes property seizure law to fight gangs: Congress finally passed a bill that would allow the government to confiscate property from convicted criminals so that it can better target the wealth of powerful drug traffickers. The bill, which was passed after months of debate during which some lawmakers allegedly were threatened, will allow the state to use, donate or auction goods seized from convicted criminals, according to lawmaker Mariano Rayo.  The URNG posted a list of those deputies who voted agains the law on Facebook.

Forgotten Promises Leave Indigenous Peoples Poorer and Hungrier: "The situation of the native peoples may be even worse than before. Poverty has increased, the quality of education is very poor, and there is no intercultural perspective in health services," Eduardo Sacayón, director of the Interethnic Studies Institute at Guatemala's University of San Carlos, told IPS.

Anthropologist Slain in Guatemala: Emilia Margarita Quan Staackmann was a young anthropologist working with the the independent Center for Research and Documentation on the Western Border of Guatemala.  Last Tuesday Quan and her driver were intercepted while traveling to Todos Santos from the city of Huehuetenango.  He was released a few hours later.  However, Quan was killed and her body was recovered on Wednesday.  Two of the alleged murderers were lynched by residents of Todos Santos Cuchumatan.  WOLA sent out a press release condemning her murder on Monday.

Extradition request filed for former Guatemalan minister: Last week the Foreign Ministry filed an extradition request with Spain so that former interior minister Carlos Vielmann may face charges of alleged extrajudicial killings.  Vielmann had been released a few weeks ago after Guatemalan authorities failed to properly request his extradition from Spain.

14 Killed in Bus Accident in Guatemala: Fourteen people were killed in a bus accident when their bus plunged into a 984 foot ravine after the the driver lost control on a curve.  The accident occurred last Monday in Yoltzicap, located about 252 miles west of Guatemala City.  This accident follws the November 28 accident that killed ninteen coffee workers in Zunil.

Legal Battle Over Wetland Oil Drilling: Danilo Valladares has an important write-up on the fifteen-year extension of an oil-drilling controct in Laguna del Tigre National Park.

Guatemalan journalism increasingly threatened by organized crime: The Knight Center's blog has links to several recent stories concerning the threat to Guatemalan journalists in this post.

UN commission finds irregularities still exist in Guatemalan adoptions despite tougher law: CICIG reported that it found cases where children were given to foreigners who were listed as their "foster parents" to circumvent a ban on international adoptions.