Reporter Ignores Threats, Covers Rights Abuses

[Judi Lynn]

Reporter Ignores Threats, Covers Rights Abuses
By George Gedda Associated Press Writer
Published: Oct 17, 2003




WASHINGTON (AP) - Guatemala is not an easy place to be an independent journalist. Marielos Monzon knows firsthand.
Since 1998, when she began to expose the abuses of the military and allied groups, Monzon has received threatening phone calls. Her home has been broken into three times. (snip)

(snip) In an interview, Monzon said not much has changed in Guatemala since a 36-year civil war ended in 1996 with the negotiation of as peace agreement between the government and rebel forces.

The war is believed to have killed some 200,000 Guatemalans, the great majority at the hand of the military, according to an independent commission that examined the conflict.
Monzon's assessment of the postwar situation is shared by a U.N. mission in Guatemala. (snip)

(snip) The blame, she says, rests with the country's military, its oligarchs and, lastly, the United States.
She sees as a major turning point a CIA-led coup in 1954 against a leftist president and the installation of a rightist colonel.(snip)

(snip) In a report issued a year ago, the mission documented assassination threats to human rights activists, church workers, judges, witnesses, journalists, political activists and labor unionists. (snip/...)

http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGANSIWUVLD.html