Happy Halloween!

It seems to me that Guatemala really hasn't decided whether or not to celebrate Halloween.

Which is I understand completely, since I also have mixed feelings on the issue.

On the one hand, I support the idea of celebrating Halloween because:

1. It's fun to dress up in costumes... for kids and adults alike.

2. There's lots of candy

3. Certain conservative evangelical fringe groups shriek that Halloween should be banned because it glorifies Satan and witchcraft. (To which I'd like to reply: "BOO!", which is a doubly appropriate response today.)

On the other hand, I oppose the idea of celebrating Halloween because:

1. It's not part of Guatemala's historical culture, but rather a holiday imported from "El Norte".

2. As in the States, it's all geared towards consuming more: buy the costumes, buy the decorations, buy the candy.

3. Most importantly: it runs the risk of overshadowing All Saints Day on November 1st, a profoundly important Guatemalan holiday where families gather in cemeteries to adorn the grave sites and remember loved ones who have passed away.

Families also come together in their homes to eat fiambre - a delicious cold dish containing, well, darn near everything (ham, all sorts of sausages, beets, carrots, lettuce, eggs, chicken, asparagus, onions, sardines, cheese, capers, olives, tongue, pickles, beans, etc. etc. etc.) It's basically a Thanksgiving-style celebration, with all the generations gathered around the dinner table, stuffing themselves silly.

Well... if Guatemala, as a nation, remains undecided about Halloween, then I guess I'll hold off on passing judgment, too. For now, then, let me share with you two photos of my family members who did enjoy their day trick-or-treating back home in New York!

My nephew Andy, dressed as a dapper Dracula

And my niece Sarah, as a sparkly unicorn.

(Cute as they both might be, I should add that neither of them seemed very enthusiastic about my suggestion that they mail some of their Halloween candy to their Uncle Rob in Guatemala.)

Tags: Guatemala, Halloween, Fiambre

Blog de mi Guatemala anniversary

Here's an invitation for the Spanish-speaking readers out there: "El blog de mi Guatemala" is celebrating it's 2nd anniversary online today. It's an excellent site which provides daily updates about Guatemalan news, culture, sports, and more.

For the Spanish-challenged amongst us (ie: me before coffee) they also have a terrific photo section organized by Guatemalan regions and themes. Make sure you check out their way-cool section of 360° panoramic photographs.

Congratulations and continued success to the "blog de mi Guatemala" team!

Tags: Guatemala, Blog, Photographs

McPresidente

Guatemalan President Oscar Berger poses in an ill-advised photo-op with U.S. Fast Food Ambassador, the Honorable Ronald McDonald. (Frightening photo courtesy of Juan Carlos Torres, El Periódico)

Seriously though, doesn't President Burger... I mean, President Berger... have a single advisor who could tell him that standing next a freakishly tall clown from a greasy, fast food restaurant might seem somewhat less than... presidential?

Maybe Berger was hoping that Ronald would "supersize" his popularity rating.

Tags: Guatemala, Berger, McDonalds

Tech stuff

No Need to Click Here - I'm just claiming my feed at Feedster feedster:72ed208633c756df6618eef88864b3d8

No speaka de english

I'm exhausted. And I have fried my bilingual brain.

The news summary and analysis that we do here at Incidencia Democratica is written in 100% español. During an office meeting though, not too long ago, someone said that it would be a great idea if we could translate at least some of our materials into English, and thereby reach an even larger audience.

I was not that person.

Oh sure, I thought it was a wonderful idea. It made plenty of sense. After all, many of the people who are interested in Guatemalan current events don't actually speak Spanish. The problem was that, as I carefully looked around the room, I realized that the "we" of "we could translate" meant... me.

It was kinda obvious, what with me being the only English-speaker in the room.

The good news, I was told (once my sobbing had subsided), is that we'd be purchasing a state-of-the-art translation program from Systran Technologies to do most of the "dirty work".

Well, the program arrived and we decided that our six-page "Week in Review" should be the first document that I englishize. (I know that's not a real word. But it should be.)

I installed the program, pasted in the Spanish text, and hit the translate button.

My coworkers, gathered around my computer screen, waited in eager anticipation as the cutting edge translation software worked it's idiomatical miracle. It reached into that Spanish text and grabbed ideas, questions, criticisms, quotes, proverbs, and deeply profound (ahem) thoughts, and turned them into....

"Well?!?!" asked my anxious workmates.

"The English translation is perfect" I exclaimed, to much applause and shouts of satisfaction. "If," I interrupted, "you define 'perfect' as 'the way that Yoda of Star Wars speaks'".

Sure enough, the translation was not very bueno.

My mind reeled as I read the line: "Reasons for the fears it has, and very well."

For comparison's sake, here is a Yoda quote: "Named must your fear be before banish it you can."

Uncanny, no? Instead of englishizing, the software Yodasized our Weekly Report!

(The actual translation of "Razones para los temores hay, y de sobra" is more along the lines of "there are plenty of reasons for concern".)

The program also had a nasty habit of translating proper nouns, such as names. The governing party GANA, through some x-rated word play, became "DESIRE". Ex President and current fugitive Alfonso Portillo became "Alfonso Opening". The Minister of Economy, Marcio Cuevas, became "Caves"; and columnist Marielos Monzón turned into a "Monsoon."

And finally, there were some simply bizarre translations such as: "an elect deputy by divided X does not change large stone bench so easily."

Hmmm.

(The original phrase: "... un diputado electo por equis partido no se cambie bancada tan fácilmente" refers to a new law proposal that would keep "members of Congress from switching party alliances so easily.")

So, in the end, this first translation has been brutally grueling and very time-consuming. In all fairness to Systran, the out-of-the-box software is really just a starting point. As I work with the program, I'll be adding words and phrases to the dictionary so that future translations will closer to perfect.

And looking forward to that day I am.

Tags: Guatemala, Translation, English, Spanish, Systran

Article: 20 Inmates Escape

Guess who's sleeping with the door locked tonight?

20 Inmates Escape From Guatemala Prison

By Rodrigo Abd
Associated Press Writer

Guatemala City (AP) - At least 20 Guatemalan inmates considered to be extremely dangerous escaped from a high-security prison through a tunnel Saturday, authorities said.

Those escaping included convicts accused of kidnapping, murder, and rape, Interior Secretary Minister Carlos Vielman said.

It was the latest embarrassment for the Guatemalan prison system, following deadly riots at other facilities that left 35 people dead.

The escape took place in a prison known as "Little Hell'', 50 miles south of Guatemala City.

The prisoners dug the 390-feet long tunnel, which Vielman said probably took several months to finish. It was unclear how the prisoners hid the dirt taken from the tunnel, which was ventilated with a fan. The tunnel opening outside the prison was hidden in a corn field.

The prison's director and several guards were detained under suspicion they helped in the escape. Francisco de la Pena, the director of Guatemala's prison system, was also fired.

Officials offered a $6,500 reward for information leading to the capture of the escaped prisoners.

The prisoners left several messages for officials, including one that read: "They gave us only an hour for visits, and that's why I left, because I never could hug my children."

Another complained about 50- to 100-year sentences, while the last said: "My wife left me for another man and I escaped to see if God will give me a chance to take back my family."

In 2001, 78 other prisoners staged an escape from the same prison that left two people dead.

Tags: Guatemala, Escape, Prison, Inmates

Article: Guatemala's Murdered Women

An urgent reminder from the New York Times that it's not just natural disasters that cause suffering and loss in Guatemala...

Editorial, NY Times
21 October 2005

For the last five years, Guatemala has suffered an epidemic of gruesome killings of women that are as mysterious as they are brutal. Typically a young woman in Guatemala City vanishes, and her body turns up a few days later in a garbage bag or in an open field. Many of the women's faces and bodies have been mutilated, and many have been tortured sexually or otherwise. Some of the bodies have messages, like "death to bitches," scrawled on them.

In Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, a pattern of hundreds of killings of this type has drawn international condemnation. But aside from reports by Amnesty International and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, the Guatemalan women's deaths have gotten very little attention. At least a thousand women have been victims in the past five years, and only three killers are in prison. The police do not even investigate a vast majority of cases.

Guatemala does not keep reliable statistics. But it is clear that a pattern of these killings was first seen in 2000, and the reported numbers have risen since then. Last year, there were 590 such killings of women, and the murders have grown more grisly. Many of the women were victims of gang warfare. Others were killed by husbands or boyfriends. But there are also cases of college students or shop workers who had no links to crime and simply disappeared - until their bodies were found.

What the women have in common is that their cases go nowhere. Overwhelmingly, victims' families report that the response of the authorities is a lack of interest. The police assure them that a missing daughter, for example, has run off with a boyfriend. When the body turns up, the crime is often dismissed with comments that the dead woman must have been a gang member or a prostitute, or killed by her partner - as if these were justifications for failing to investigate.

Guatemala has recently signed several international conventions protecting women, and it has established such new organizations as the office of the special prosecutor for crimes against women. But this progress is largely on paper. Laws are not enforced, and there is no money to finance the new offices. Guatemala is still a country where a rapist can escape charges by marrying the victim, and domestic violence cases can be prosecuted only if the victim can still show bruises 10 days later. Sexual harassment is not illegal.

When such outdated attitudes toward women prevail, it is easy for the local authorities to justify taking no action when young women are murdered. Their inaction gives an official green light to the killers of women.

Tags: Guatemala, Women, Murders

¡Viva el 20 de Octubre!

Today Guatemala celebrates el Día de la Revolución..."Day of the Revolution".

On October 20, 1944 a coalition of democratic force in Guatemala overthrew the government of General Frederico Ponce, the front man for a cruel dictator named General Jorge Ubico Castañeda.

Democratic elections were subsequently held, and Doctor Juan José Arévelo Bermeja was elected the first President of the Revolution, ushering in ten years of peace and progress known as "The Springtime of Democracy".

Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán, the second President of the Revolution, was overthrown in 1954 by a CIA-backed coup because his land reform efforts affected powerful U.S. agricultural interests.

Guatemala was then thrown into nearly four decades of military dictatorships, massacres, and civil war.

The following article shows how the brutal end to the October Revolution still impacts current events today.

Guatemalans wary of military aid
By Jill Replogle
Contributor to The Christian Science Monitor

Panabaj, Guatemala – Two graveyards are nearly all that is left of this Maya Indian village in the highlands - and they frame locals' views of the Guatemalan military.

Authorities declared an entire hillside a graveyard last week when they gave up the search for dozens of poor villagers buried in a mudslide triggered by hurricane Stan's rains. The other cemetary, whose gravestones stick out of the mud, contains the bodies of 13 locals killed in a 1990 massacre perpetrated by the Guatemalan army.

This and numerous other abuses committed here during the country's 36-year long armed conflict has left locals with an acute distrust for government security forces. So they were wary when troops showed up after the mudslides to offer assistance to the victims.

People are scared because of what the army did here in the past," said Manuel Sisay Sapalu, former mayor of Santiago Atitlán, the municipality that includes Panabaj.

A UN-sponsored truth commission found the army responsible for 85% of human rights violations committed during the country's bloody civil war. More than 200,000 people were killed in the war, which pitted leftist guerrillas against a repressive military state backed by the US. The vast majority of the victims were poor and indigenous.

Read the entire article

Read more on the Revolution of October

Tags: Guatemala, Revolution, October

Wi-Fried

From the "wacky world" files:

It seems that Pollo Campero, which is to fried chicken in Guatemala what Starbucks is to coffee in the U.S., is now offering free wireless internet access at many of their restaurants.

I have to admit that my initial reaction was : "Hmmm, is mixing fried chicken and laptop computers really such a good idea?"

But now that I think about it, I'm actually quite impressed. When I'm back in the suburbs of NY I have to catch a bus for a 25 minute ride to the nearest free Wi-Fi spot, at the Peekskill Coffee House. Whereas here, the nearest Pollo Campero is a mere five-minute walk away.

Now if I could only convince them to start selling cappuccinos...

Tags: Guatemala, Pollo, Campero, Wi-Fi

Rob goes for broke

Ok, I guess it's finally time to explain why I've been winging back and forth between NY and Guatemala lately.

It didn't have anything to do with bagel cravings, the abundance of pre-Halloween candy, or the autumn leaves exploding in color... it had to do with poverty.

Mine, to be precise.

Yesterday a new Bankruptcy Law went into effect in the United States. In short, it makes it very difficult to have your debt completely forgiven by the courts. The process now involves massive paperwork, higher lawyer's fees and court costs, mandatory credit counseling, and the likelihood that you will still be required to make payments toward your debt.

In other words... the Bush administration, with the help of Congress, just cut a huge hole in the safety net. And the banking, credit card, and retailing industries provided the scissors.

So I, like thousands of others, rushed to declare myself 100%, extremely, absolutely, and utterly broke.

The truth is that my $500 monthly salary wasn't cutting it... even here in Guatemala. Payments to my credit card barely covered the interest. I suddenly realized that having nothing would actually be a step up from the negative financial hole I was in. (You know that things are pretty bad when you yearn for zero.)

I filled out my paperwork in August and made my court appearance on October 6th. The pre-Republican bankruptcy process was fairly easy and mostly painless (well, except for the lawyer's fee.)

Now I'm debt-free and able to do wild and wacky things with my money like buy health insurance and open a savings account. Call me crazy.

I guess that's what most infuriates me about this new law. Declaring bankruptcy was the last hope for many like myself who found themselves behind the financial eight ball. If this new legislation had placed a cap on the interest rates that credit card companies charge, or took a step towards (and I know I'm entering into fantasy-land here) guaranteeing universal health care coverage, I'd be less likely to see it as just another way of screwing the poor.

But as Tamara Draut, Director of the Economic Opportunity Program at Demos affirms:

"This is a dark day for American families. New research shows that low- and-middle income households in the United States face explosive increases in living expenses such as housing, medical care and education, and have turned to high-cost credit cards to make ends meet. The new bankruptcy law will prevent these families—many of whom are the victims of a medical illness, job loss or divorce—from ever reaching financial stability.

This legislation was aggressively lobbied for by the credit card industry, whose abusive practices make it nearly impossible for families to climb out of debt. The credit card companies are the only winners here. Everybody else loses."

So to George Bush & Co. I'd just like to say: I'm not proud of having to admit in court that I was unable to pay my debts. But all things considered, I would rather be declared "financially bankrupt" than "morally bankrupt".

Tags: Bankruptcy, Law, Bush

How corrupt is your country?

"Corruption isn't a natural disaster: it is the cold, calculated theft of opportunity from the men, women and children who are least able to protect themselves."

David Nussbaum, Transparency International CEO

"Corruption is a major cause of poverty as well as a barrier to overcoming it. The two scourges feed off each other, locking their populations in a cycle of misery. Corruption must be vigorously addressed if aid is to make a real difference in freeing people from poverty."

Peter Eigen, Transparency International Chairman

Transparency International today released their "Corruption Perceptions Index 2005" which surveys business people, academics, and public officials to "provide a snapshot of perceived levels of corruption around the globe".

Among the conclusions:

* On a scale of one to 10, Bangladesh and Chad both scored 1.7, meaning that graft is perceived as being rampant. The least corrupt country, Iceland, scored 9.7.

* Seventy countries - nearly half of those included in the Index - scored less than 3 on the CPI, indicating a severe corruption problem. Corruption is perceived as most rampant in Chad, Bangladesh, Turkmenistan, Myanmar and Haiti – also among the poorest countries in the world.

* Corruption hampers achievement of the Millennium Development Goals by undermining the economic growth and sustainable development that would free millions from the poverty trap.

* Foreign investment is lower in countries perceived to be corrupt, which further thwarts their chance to prosper. When countries improve governance and reduce corruption, they reap a “development dividend” that can include improved child mortality rates, higher per capita income and greater literacy.

Here are how some of the countries ranked:

1. Iceland (9.7)
2. Finland (9.6) and New Zealand (9.6)
3. Denmark (9.5)
...
11. United Kingdom (8.6)
14. Canada (8.4)
17. USA (7.6)
...
51. Costa Rica and El Salvador (4.2)
59. Cuba (3.8)
65. Mexico (3.5)
...
117. Guatemala (2.5)
...
155. Haiti (1.8)
158. Bangladesh and Chad (1.7)

See the complete ranking of all countries.

Tags: Guatemala, Transparency, Corruption

Canadian Solidarity with Guatemala

Long story short: I'm back in Guatemala.

Some of you might be wondering why I've been spending so much time in the States lately. Well the explanation is fairly simple: I did what I had to do before I could no longer do it.

To keep you in suspense (well, actually, because I'm about to go to bed) I'm going to untangle that bewildering riddle tomorrow.

For now, though, let me share with you two invitations that I just received from Guatemalan Solidarity organizations in Canada:

Join the "All for Guatemala" solidarity campaign.

Attend a Guatemalan Dinner and Dance to support the communities affected by Hurricane Stan.

For more information please visit: www.gcnetwork.ca

Tags: Guatemala, Solidarity, Canada, Hurricane

Please help this family

Hey everyone.

I received the following email today and need your help.

I'll be returning to Guatemala tomorrow, and will try my best to assist this family from there. But if anyone else has any suggestions please post them here, or email her directly.

Thanks for caring!

Rob

I am writing to you in desperation. My son in law, Jesus Alvarado, has father, mother, sister, brother, and nieces and nephews that live in a remote area near Tacana, San Marcos. They are actually in Comunidad el Nuevo Eden closer to Municipio Nuevo Progreso. We cannot get in contact, and the few people we know there sent word out early this week that their (his family's) village was hit very badly and they are missing.

We have listed them with Red Cross, but do not hear anything at all, and don't where to turn. We have tried Guatemalan Consulate, Catholic Charities (they are Catholic), etc. We get nothing. My daughter is 30 weeks pregnant, and the stress is very hard on her.

If there is any assistance, or direction, or even how we can help, we would be so very grateful. The not knowing is so hard.

The missing: Mario Alvarado, Mercedes Alvarado Lopez, Juana Alvarado, Domingo Alvarado...and all the Alvarado children.

Sincerely,
Gretchen Wynegar
gwynhar(at)yahoo.com

Tags: Guatemala, Tacana, San, Marcos, Missing, Aid

Survivor: Guatemala Relief website (UPDATED)

CBS has opened a "Guatemala - Central America Relief" page on the Survivor: Guatemala website to raise funds to "help the victims of Tropical Storm Stan."

Which is a good thing, right?

Well, yes... but there are some bizarre aspects to the site. For example:

* There is no link to the Relief page from the Survivor: Guatemala page.

* Instead of providing information about the disaster and its many victims, the only commentary CBS makes is:

"The FBI warns people donating to hurricane relief over the Internet to beware: Agents have reviewed 2,100 sites claiming to be relief funds and found 60 percent were foreign and more likely to be bogus. At least eight criminal investigations are under way."

Not exactly a motivational plea for assistance, is it?

* Finally, of the eight charities listed on the page, at least half don't appear to be in any way involved in relief efforts in Guatemala: the Salvation Army USA, the United Way, Islamic Relief, and the Louisiana Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals!!!

It seems that the Survivor: Guatemala website is about as likely to assist Guatemalan victims as the t.v. show is to reflect Guatemalan reality.

Don't believe me? Here's the link!

UPDATE: It seems that your emails to CBS worked! The new webpage, while still short on information about the tragedy, at least provides links to aid organizations that are actually working in Guatemala. Nicely done, folks.

For those of you who didn't get a chance to see the original, dismal web page... here's a screenshot.

(Note to CBS executives: I'll make the screenshot go away if you make a sizeable donation to one of the aid organizations. Hehe.)

Tags: Guatemala, Survivor, Survivor: Guatemala, Relief, Website

More photos from Guatemala

The Netscape News - CNN page offers many, many photographs of the disaster and subsequent relief efforts in Guatemala. The images, unfortunately, are rather small... but the captions are well worth reading.

[See the pictures]

(Thanks to Cesar A. Orantes for this link!)

Tags: Guatemala, Photos, relief

Audio - Guatemala: Land of Bad Luck?

Guatemala: Land of Bad Luck?

by Francisco Goldman

NPR. All Things Considered, October 13, 2005 • In the wake of Hurricane Stan, friends and relatives in Guatemala have been in touch with Guatemalan-American commentator Francisco Goldman. He says they are wondering why bad luck keeps coming their way. Goldman is author of The Divine Husband and The Long Night of White Chickens. [Listen to the story.]

(Thanks to Susan Goins-Eplee for this link!)

Tags: Guatemala, Maximon, Goldman

Mass Grave Uncovered

The following article from Cerigua describes how a storm that caused entire villages to become mass graves also unearthed a man-made mass grave.

Hurricane Stan unearths clandestine cementary in Quetzaltenango

By Vinicio Contreras

A clandestine grave filled with dozens of victims of Guatemala's internal armed conflict, was unearthed in the village of Las Nubes, San Martin Sacatepéquez, Quetzaltenango, by mudslides caused by hurricane Stan.

The information was confirmed by Rudy Castillo, the regional representative of the Human Rights Ombudsman’s Office (PDH), who examined the scene and prepared an official report after being contacted by local residents.

Castillo went to the Public Ministry offices on October 10th to formally denounce the mass grave, so that an investigation may be opened to determine the names of the victims and those responsible for committing the massacre.

Residents of Las Nubes, fearful of possible retaliation for having contacted authorities regarding this find, requested that human rights organizations pursue this case to clarify the facts and to dignify the memory of the victims.

Tags: Guatemala, Stan, Mudslides, Floods, Massacre, Grave

Article - Survivor: Guatemala Aid?

Inside Move: 'Survivor' carries torch for Guatemala

By Michael Schneider, Variety Magazine

[Survivor: Guatemala]

Survivor producers are trying to decide how to best address their host country's recent devastating mudslides.

The producers behind CBS' "Survivor: Guatemala -- The Maya Empire" were mulling Monday how to acknowledge on-air their host country's suffering in the wake of devastating mudslides.

Production on "Survivor: Guatemala" wrapped months ago. But with the show shining a spotlight on the Central American country, a message or tag at the end of the show could help jumpstart relief efforts for the ailing nation -- particularly as most news orgs focus on the earthquake devastation in Pakistan.

A CBS spokeswoman said plans were still in the "discussion stage" over how "Survivor: Guatemala" may handle the news.

Almost 700 are already confirmed dead in Guatemala; local officials expect the toll to rise to more than 1,500 as mudslides triggered by Hurricane Stan caused widespread damage and wiped out the entire village of Panabaj.

Coincidentally, part of this week's "Survivor: Guatemala" deals with torrential rain. Although the show is available only on cable or satellite in the nation, the "Survivor" presence in Guatemala was well documented locally, with the country hoping to see a tourism boost as a result.

Now, according to Daily Variety's Bill Higgins -- who's in the country, close to where the mudslides occurred -- there's a dark joke making the rounds locally: "Everybody's now a 'Survivor' in Guatemala."

Tags: Guatemala, Survivor, Survivor: Guatemala

Guatemala Flood and Mudslide Updates

It took a while, but it seems the floods and mudslides in Guatemala have finally begun to register on the radar of the US news organizations. I guess the number of deaths and the dramatic images were tragic enough to break through the invisible barrier that usually keeps news from Guatemala out of the mainstream media.

Obviously a disaster of this magnitude generates a countless number of stories, most of which will never be published. And, outside of Guatemala, attention will soon turn to other happenings. In fact, with the even more horrific (at least in purely numerical terms) earthquake in Pakistan, it will not be long before Guatemala once again fades from CNN and Yahoo news.

With that in mind, here are some of the Guatemalan stories currently capturing the world's attention:

Hurricane Stan toll hits 2000

By Edgar Calderon, The Courier Mail News

Guatemala City. The death toll from devastating mudslides in Guatemala topped 2000 overnight, as rescuers called off their search for hundreds of people buried for six days under solidifying mud.

The decision brought the death toll from the mudslide and accompanying heavy rains and flooding to 2052 in Guatemala alone. Some 652 people had previously been confirmed dead in Guatemala, and 1400 had been listed as missing. Forty-two others were killed in Mexico, 72 in El Salvador and 11 in Nicaragua.

Guatemalan and Spanish firefighters had little hope of finding survivors as they searched with sniffer dogs after a mudslide on the San Lucas volcano, triggered by the relentless rains unleashed by Tropical Storm Stan, ploughed into the towns of Panabaj and Tzanchaj.

The local mayor had asked the central government earlier to declare the devastated area a mass grave.

Panabaj was declared an "area of high (health) risk" by the Guatemalan Red Cross, meaning the town was off-limits to everybody, including its inhabitants, and that its surroundings were to be evacuated, a spokesman said.

The mudslides not only affected the Panabaj area but also Tacana, a town near the Mexican border. The racial aspect of poverty in Guatemala was also exposed by this tragedy:

Guatemala's Maya Indians hit hard in new tragedy

By Catherine Bremer

Tacana, Guatemala (Reuters) - Villagers mourned their dead on Tuesday and sprinkled lime over the mass graves of hundreds buried in huge mudslides, putting a seal on the latest tragedy to hit Guatemala's Maya Indians.

At the edge of this town in the high mountains of western Guatemala, rescuers in the hamlet of Cua called off attempts to recover more victims from the mudslide that swallowed two churches, a school and a communal dining room on Thursday.

"We pulled the dead out without any help. One came out without a head. It was horrible. There were a lot of children," said Mario Ortiz, a 34-year-old father of five who said he now has trouble sleeping.

Forty-eight bodies were recovered but 32 others who disappeared in the muck will now stay there forever.

"They are very deep. There is too much mud and they are way inside there, they are too deeply buried," said rescue worker Oscar Mendez.

Corn fields and homes were ruined, so the survivors of the rains face even deeper poverty in what was already a depressing town of half-built homes with poor basic services and tenuous road links to the outside world.

Eulalio Bravo, 29, stood clutching a child in his arms and mourned the friends and neighbors sucked away in the mud.

"We are all of the same blood," he said, adding that the government had again left rural Indians to die alone with little or no help. "We are very forgotten. They don't even talk about us in the city."

Once the region's dominant culture, Maya Indians fell under Spanish rule around 500 years ago and have remained isolated and impoverished ever since, even though they still make up 60 percent of Guatemala's population.

During a 36-year war that ended only in 1996, Mayans bore the brunt of brutal army-led campaigns that razed entire villages. An estimated 200,000 people were killed in the war, most of them Indians.

Mayan villages have the highest levels of malnutrition, illiteracy and poverty, and the lowest levels of government spending on health, education and infrastructure.

Read the entire article

The disaster also had political and historical overtones...

Guatemala's Indians Refuse Soldiers' Help

By Mark Stevenson, AP

Santiago Atitlan, Guatemala - A Guatemalan Indigenous community, haunted by a government-sponsored massacre during the country's brutal civil war, refused soldiers' help Monday in recovering those killed in a week of flooding and mudslides and conducted its own searches instead.

In Panabaj, a community on the outskirts of Santiago Atitlan buried by a mudflow a half-mile wide and up to 20 feet thick, residents on Sunday blocked troops who had come to help dig out victims.

"The people don't want soldiers to come in here. They won't accept it," said Panabaj Mayor Diego Esquina, who said memories are still too vivid of a 1990 army massacre of 13 villagers. In all, tens of thousands died in Guatemala at the hands of soldiers and death squads in the 1960-96 civil war.

"There is a very strong resistance in the name of maintaining their culture," said Rodolfo Pocop, 35, a Santiago Atitlan resident who represents a national Indian rights group.

Read the entire article

Thankfully the U.S. and other countries are responding to the call for aid:

Guatemala Relies on Aid After Floods

By Mark Stevenson, AP

Santiago Atitlan, Guatemala - Authorities abandoned efforts Tuesday to recover bodies from a deadly landslide and turned to international agencies to help feed, clothe and treat the tens of thousands of residents who lost everything in a week of deadly rains and floods.

The government Monday night issued an urgent call to the United Nations , seeking $21.5 million in aid because its own emergency response funds would not be enough to cope with the crisis.

The United States has delivered 5,000 hygiene kits, 5,000 blankets, 15,000 gallons of drinking water and 11,000 gallons of fuel to victims in Guatemala, officials said. U.S. helicopters shuttled food and water to isolated villages and a medical unit from the Arkansas National Guard also was preparing to go to the region.

"There are so few of these kinds of problems that any one (country) can handle alone," Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Tuesday while en route to meetings in Florida with security leaders from seven Central American countries. "It looks like it‘s a terrible natural disaster. It‘s heartbreaking."

UNICEF said Tuesday that more than a third of storm victims were children and that it was rushing emergency relief supplies to communities both in Central America and southern Mexico.

Read the entire article

Breaking news: I'm saddened to say that, according to a Cerigua news bulletin, Dominga Vásquez Julajuj, the indigenous mayor of Sololá and member of the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity (URNG) political party, was just denied a visa to the United States.

Dominga was invited to Ireland to participate in a Human Rights workshop, to raise awareness of the natural disaster, and to seek aid for the victims. Now she will have to choose a flight which does not have a layover in the United States.

Cuban doctors are already on the ground in Guatemala assisting the afflicted communities:

Cuba Sends Doctors to Guatemala and Offers Them to Pakistan

Havana. President Fidel Castro today offered the president of Pakistan, General Pervez Musharraf, the services of 200 doctors; a similar number of doctors, specialized in natural disasters, are already in Guatemala.

Yoandra Muro, leader of the Cuban permanent medical mission in Guatemala, confirmed that 200 members of Cuba's Henry Reeve International Contingent of Doctors Specialized in Disaster Situations and Serious Epidemics are already in Guatemala.

That medical force was established as a result of the Cuban offer to send experienced professionals to help victims of hurricane Katrina in southern areas of the US, which was turned down by the Bush administration.

As a symbolic coincidence, the first active members of the "Henry Reeve" contingent left Havana on October 8, the anniversary of the fall in combat of Commander Ernesto Che Guevara, a doctor and supreme example of internationalism.

Another 200 members of the Contingent, each one provided with two knapsacks with 24 kilograms of medicines, are getting ready to join in the humanitarian effort.

Read the entire article

And finally... an uplifting story amidst the sorrow:

Guatemalan sisters in miracle escape from mudslide

By Frank Jack Daniel

Panabaj, Guatemala (Reuters) - When a volcano slope above their home collapsed, sisters Rosa and Elena Quicain were swept from the bed they share into a raging torrent of mud and rocks that became a mass grave for hundreds.

Somehow, they survived it.

The giant landslide, which killed up to 1,400 Maya Indians in the Guatemalan village of Panabaj last Wednesday, shattered their home, killed their mother and five siblings, and carried them 100 yards downstream to the brink of death.

Rosa, 20, was sucked deep under the mud, pummeled by rocks and tree trunks, and says she felt herself starting to lose consciousness.

"That's when I reacted. I pulled myself out bit by bit, climbing to the surface using only one arm, supporting myself with logs that were under there," she said through swollen lips at the house of a distant relative, a nurse who has taken 16 landslide survivors into her home in a nearby town.

Elena, 18, said she finally came to a halt in the mudslide, buried up to her mouth with both arms trapped at her sides.

"When I heard voices, I did everything possible to free my arm. I dug the mud from my mouth with my fingers and started screaming for help," she said, her eyeballs shot with blood.

Her elder sister recognized her voice in the chaos.

Read the entire article

Tags: Guatemala, Stan, Mudslides, Floods, Disaster, Disaster

Article: Anger at slow aid

Anger at slow aid to Guatemala mudslide village

By Frank Jack Daniel

Panabaj, Guatemala (Reuters) - Aid trickled into a Guatemalan village devastated by a mudslide that killed some 1,400 people, and Maya Indian residents complained on Sunday the government was far too slow to react to the tragedy.

Peasants from neighboring villages brought clothing for the victims, rowing canoes across Lake Atitlan to Panabaj. The village was buried under a deadly slick of mud, rocks and trees that slid down a volcano after rains from Hurricane Stan.

A federal deputy from western Guatemala said 300 people had died in another mudslide in the town of Tacana, near the Mexican border, but that could not be confirmed.

In Panabaj, Spanish firemen arrived to look for bodies under a quagmire that is up to 40 feet deep in places and Guatemalan soldiers brought water in a truck.

But government help was little and late, local officials said. They were angry that President Oscar Berger had not visited the village four days after one of Latin America's biggest tragedies of recent years struck.

"I feel totally sad, morale is very low. We want to see the president, we want to see him here," said Diego Esquina, mayor of Santiago Atitlan municipality, which runs Panabaj.

Stan's rains triggered the mudslide as Panabaj's residents slept early on Wednesday. Mud-covered roads prevented rescuers from reaching the site for two days.

No senior government official went to the village and the mayor said racism against the Mayas might be to blame.

"It's like they are giving a message that it is because we are indigenous. That is the point. A lot of my people are saying it is because we are indigenous," Esquina said.

Santiago Atitlan was a hot spot during Guatemala's 36-year civil war, which ended in 1996. Years of abuses by soldiers helped leftist rebels recruit Indians in the town and tensions peaked in 1990 when drunken soldiers killed 13 locals.

BEAN SUPPLIES

A supply of beans, rice and pasta sent by the capital's city hall was handed out but peasants said the federal government was negligent.

"The government didn't send anything here. There is nothing," said Francisco Boron, 43, dressed in traditional calf-length white pants and carrying a machete.

Rescuers with hand tools struggled to find bodies in the brown grunge covering Panabaj and local officials said it would likely be left as a mass grave.

Firefighters poked long poles into the mud in search of victims but feared sinking into the quagmire themselves.

"It is very difficult. Most of the people are where the mud is thickest and we haven't been able to work there because of the danger," said firefighter Max Chiquito.

The fire department put the death toll at around 1,400 villagers and Esquina said between 1,000 and 1,500 had died. Only 76 bodies have been found.

The storm killed some 300 people elsewhere in Guatemala and 103 others in the rest of Central America and southern Mexico.

Julio Cesar Lopez, an opposition deputy from the western department of Huehuetenango, told Reuters some 300 people died on Thursday when a mudslide hit the town of Tacana, in the neighboring San Marcos region.

"I am in telephone contact with Tacana. People were using two churches as shelters but the hill fell down on top of them," said Lopez, of the Guatemalan Republican Front party.

Guatemalan newspaper reports said about 2,000 were missing in San Marcos and Defense Minister Carlos Aldana told Reuters the armed forces were trying to reach the stricken area.

"San Marcos is the place where, from today, we are giving most importance because it has not been dealt with at all due to the weather conditions and the road access." he said.

Pope Benedict offered condolences for the hurricane victims during his weekly blessing in St. Peter's Square. "I ask the Lord for the eternal rest of the dead," he said.

Tags: Guatemala, Stan, Mudslides, Floods, News, Panabaj

Article: Mayan village mass grave

Mayan village likely to be declared a mass grave

Panabaj, Guatemala (Reuters) -- A Guatemalan village buried under tons of dirt and debris may be declared a Mayan mass grave as rescuers give up digging for the remains of up to 1,400 people killed in a mudslide triggered by Hurricane Stan.

After days of heavy rain, mud, rocks and trees crashed down a volcano's slopes and into the Maya Indian village of Panabaj as people slept early on Wednesday, covering it in a quagmire up to 40 feet (12 meters) deep in places.

Some 1,400 people have disappeared and are dead according to the fire department, and a local official in charge of compiling death lists put the likely toll at about 1,000.

Foreign Minister Jorge Briz told Reuters the official toll was just over 500 dead but that was likely to at least double.

Rescuers dug for bodies in the stinking black mulch, choking on the smell of death. But they may have to abandon their search under a Guatemalan law that for health reasons puts a 72-hour limit on finding the dead.

Dozens of corpses have already been recovered and locals were drawing up names of the missing and dead, but with so many victims feared buried, authorities said they might abandon the search and declare the village a mass grave.

"We're more concerned with getting food to the people who are alive," said Ana Luisa Olmedo, a spokeswoman for Guatemala's civil protection agency.

Rescue workers stuffed herbs in their nostrils to block out the sickly odor of death. Others barked orders in the Mayan Tzutujil language as hundreds of men dug through the sludge with hoes, shovels and pick axes.

Behind a makeshift rope barrier, dozens of women dressed in the village's traditional purple blouses embroidered with birds and animals awaited news of missing kin.

Jose Tacaxoy, 28, sat in the mud near one of several trenches being dug in the quagmire, clutching a tattered photograph of his brother's wife with her three children.

"My brother is a salesman and was away when it happened, the rest are dead," he said choking back tears.

On a list he carried of 11 missing cousins was a cross through the name of the only one whose body had been found.

Digging for the dead is tragically common in Guatemala.

Forensic anthropologists are exhuming mass graves of some of the 200,000 victims of a 1960-1996 civil war, hoping to prove army responsibility for many of the killings.

The deaths in Panabaj may triple earlier estimates of the toll of fatalities from Hurricane Stan in the poor, Central American nation. The storm claimed another 67 lives in El Salvador, 20 in Mexico, 10 in Nicaragua and four in Honduras.

Large swathes of land in Central America and Mexico were flooded and dozens of mountain villages were hit by mudslides after days of downpours.

Relief came to some 300 inhabitants of Isla San Sebastian, a small island off the coast of southeastern El Salvador whose houses had been smashed by Stan's winds and rains, when boats came ashore loaded with United Nations World Food Program aid.

"It's tough dealing with things you don't expect," 64-year old Dionisio Chavarria said, waiting by an island shack with his nine children. "With the rain coming down and the sea churning at your side ... you put yourself in God's hands."

Tags: Guatemala, Stan, Mudslides, Floods, News, Panabaj

Article: Desperate search for survivors

Desperate search for survivors in devastated Guatemala town

Panajab, Guatemala (AFP) - Hundreds of Mayans armed with hoes, picks and shovels tried to find the remains of their loved ones in western Guatemala under tons of mud, pouring rain and the penetrating stench of dead bodies.

Tropical Storm Stan's rains triggered a mudslide that buried Panajab and neighboring Tzanchaj, located 180 kilometers (110 miles) west of the capital, when it slammed Central America this week, leaving 1,400 feared dead in the two small towns.

Through rain, fog, and the threat of new mudslides, the searchers were helped by neighbors and volunteer firefighters.

"I don't believe there are survivors. Already 36 hours have passed. According to estimates we have, 1,400 people were trapped there," Mario Cruz, a firefighters' spokesman, told AFP.

The bodies are likely buried under tons of mud in a four square kilometer (1.5 square mile) area at the foot of the San Lucas volcano, once home to some 70 dwellings, Cruz believes.

"Others may have been swept into the Lake Atitlan, about one kilometer from here," he said. "Bodies might be floating in the lake tomorrow."

Stan slammed the region Tuesday as a hurricane before being downgraded to a tropical storm. It unleashed relentless rains from October 1 in Guatemala, where at least 508 people have been confirmed dead.

Of those, 208 perished in Panabaj and Tzanchaj alone, Guatemalan President Oscar Berger said.

Damian Gonzales, a taxi driver, recalled how the area was covered by the mudslide early Wednesday.

"We were all sleeping," Gonzales said. "I don't think many escaped."

Cruz said the search and rescue effort would last several days.

"We don't have the machines here, because roads collapsed," Cruz said. "It's hard to recover bodies with just a shovel and a pick."

Hundreds of people gathered early Saturday to start digging for bodies. By midday, they had found 71, most of them children.

The bodies were immediately placed in makeshift coffins and put in a communal grave in a nearby cemetery, without religious service.

Many of the workers shot angry looks when a firefighter blew a whistle to ask them to leave the area.

"We blow the whistle when the rain gets bad and fog gets thicker, because we fear another mudslide," Cruz said.

"This is difficult due to the bad weather, we're working in pure mud," he said. "I don't know how many days we'll be doing this."

Scarcity of food, potable water and fuel in the devastated region could cut short the search for bodies. Aid from the Guatemalan government has yet to appear.

At a private beach in Santiago Atitlan, the largest town on the lake, local officials and soldiers loaded food, water and blankets donated by private citizens into motor boats and discussed how best to distribute it to 12 communities at the foot of the volcano.

But most of the donations could stay on the beach due to a shortage of fuel.

"Probably this is the only day we'll be able to deliver the aid from good-hearted Guatemalans, because we're almost out of fuel," one of the sailors said. The nearest place to buy more is 40 kilometers (25 miles) away, he said.

Tags: Guatemala, Stan, Mudslides, Floods, News, Panabaj

Guatemala: 1,400 dead

I pray that these numbers are wrong.

My heart breaks, and breaks again, each time I read an updated news article from Guatemala. What a horrendous, brutal, and cruel tragedy.

1,400 dead in one Guatemala village

Last Updated Sat, 08 Oct 2005 13:29:27 EDT
CBC News

Hurricane Stan has had a devastating impact on the central american country of Guatemala. A mudslide from torrential rains from Stan killed 1,400 people in the highland village of Panabaj.

Search and rescue workers said there were no survivors. The landslide engulfed the village on Wednesday, burying 1,400 people in the mud, in places more than 40 feet (12 metres) thick.

The landslide that buried several communities near the popular tourist destination of Lake Atitlan was believed to be the worst single disaster in several days of flooding that has hit central america and Mexico.

Rafael Estrada, 63, was working as a custodian on the second floor of a school in Panabaj, one of eight Mayan towns that ring the lake, when the mudslide began. "There was a noise that would scare anyone, a roar," said Estrada, who lost his sister, two nephews and at least two other relatives. "I thought the volcano had erupted. I thought 'it's already taken my family' and I could only wait for it to take me too."

Ramon Noj, a 31 year old farmer, spent Friday digging for his niece, 4-year-old Ana Castro. "We can't allow her to remain here," he said in halting Spanish. "No one must be left behind. Everyone should be together in the cemetery."

Domingo Ramirez, 31, was among a small army of volunteers who grabbed poles, picks or anything else they could get their hands on and joined the search. "These are our brothers, our friends," he said. "And they're dead."

More than 270 Guatemalan communities have been affected by the floods and landslides and at least 30,000 people have moved to shelters.

Many of the poorest communities are carved into coffee-growing regions on the sides of steep volcanoes.

El Salvador

In neighboring El Salvador, 67 people were killed and more than 62,000 had been evacuated because of flooding and landslides.

Mexico

Heavy rains that were already battering southern Mexico last week were exacerbated by Hurricane Stan, which came ashore along that country's Gulf Coast early Tuesday and moved over the states of Veracruz, Chiapas and Oaxaca before dissipating.

Mexican President Vicente Fox traveled to Chiapas, on his country's border with Guatemala, where officials raised the death toll to 10 late Friday.

"It's hard, it's so hard," Fox said in a live television interview from the city of Tapachula, where the power was still out. "I can understand why the people are crying. Why they yell for help."

Shelters in Tapachula and throughout Chiapas were packed with families who begged officials for food, water and clothing. Many were forced to sleep on the floor of schools and government buildings.

Tags: Guatemala, Stan, Mudslides, Floods, News, Panabaj

508 Dead in Guatemala

Death toll from Tropical Storm Stan surges to 610

Guatemala City (AFP) - Mudslides and floods sparked by Tropical Storm Stan have killed 508 people in Guatemala alone, a Guatemalan official said, bringing to 610 the number killed when the storm lashed Central America and Mexico with heavy, unrelenting rains.

The previous death toll in Guatemala was set at 176 on Friday, when rescuers discovered 36 bodies in Solola Department west of the capital, President Oscar Berger said, noting that hundreds of Guatemalans were still missing.

The storm has also killed 67 people in El Salvador, 24 in Mexico and 11 in Nicaragua, authorities in those countries said.

Tens of thousands were left homeless across the region.

Stan slammed ashore as a hurricane in the Mexican state of Veracruz early Tuesday but began pounding northern Central America with rain on October 1, with Guatemala taking the hardest blow.

Berger had warned Guatemalans on Friday to prepare for greater losses.

"We are going to have unpleasant surprises. There are many missing, many landslides, towns cut off," he said.

Most of those killed in Guatemala were indigenous people who lived along the banks of Lake Atitlan, in the west of the country. The area was buried in massive mudslides, as tons of mud poured down the sides of the mountains surrounding the lake.

Tags: Guatemala, Stan, Mudslides, Floods

Article: Mudslide Tragedy

Guatemala village devastated in mudslide tragedy

By Frank Jack Daniel

Panabaj, Guatemala (Reuters) - Maya Indians and rescue teams pulled 64 bodies from a mudslide in a Guatemalan village, the worst single tragedy from flooding that killed 275 people in Central America and Mexico.

Firemen in muddied, red uniforms carried a child's corpse covered only by a banana plant leaf on a makeshift stretcher of tree branches in the village of Panabaj, in remote highlands next to the lakeside town of Santiago Atitlan.

Another rescue worker, his face contorted with grief, carried away a dead toddler wrapped in a plastic bag.

"There are no words for this. I have only tears left," said teacher Manuel Gonzalez, whose school was destroyed.

Hundreds of homes at the village were swallowed up when a hillside collapsed under heavy rains dumped by Hurricane Stan in the early hours of Wednesday.

Outside emergency teams only reached Panabaj on Friday, and they said as many as 200 people may have died in the town.

Villagers and rescuers dug with spades in search of more victims but it was difficult to find bodies under mud that was 40 feet thick in places. They were considering abandoning the search and declaring the area a mass grave.

Hills sodden with rain gave way throughout Central America, burying flimsy homes made of wood and tin. Floodwaters covered huge swathes of land in the region and in southern Mexico.

Guatemala, where at least 179 people died, was worst hit. At least 67 people were killed in El Salvador, 15 in Mexico, 10 in Nicaragua and four in Honduras.

A Mexican Navy helicopter took time off from rescue efforts around the flooded southern city of Tapachula to fly into Guatemala to airlift 44 people stuck in the town of Malacatan just across the border.

Central America is particularly vulnerable to rain because so many people live in precarious, improvised dwellings dangerously close to river beds and on mountainsides.

Hurricane Mitch killed some 10,000 people in the region, mostly in mudslides in 1998.

PRECARIOUS HOMES
The tops of lampposts and trees poked through a river of mud that had flowed down the slopes of a volcano straight into Panabaj.

"There were only houses here, for as far as you could see. ... It makes you lose hope," said Gonzalez, his voice cracking. "There are no children left, there are no people left."

Some families were awakened in the middle of the night by rumblings from the volcano's slopes and managed to escape, but others were buried alive when a wall of mud crushed their homes a few hours later.

"If somebody had told us to leave, maybe the people would have got out. But they said nothing. Nothing," screamed Marta Tzoc, who grabbed her five children from their home and fled in time.

The area is popular with U.S. and European tourists visiting the nearby Lake Atitlan, a collapsed volcanic cone filled with turquoise waters.

Cut off from the outside world, it took rescuers three days to get here, hacking their way through debris from landslides as more earth tumbled from sodden mountainsides.

Across the region, mud-coated bodies piled up in morgues while survivors sobbed and said they needed food and water. Many did not know what had happened to relatives and were desperate for news.

Though Hurricane Stan fizzled out after hitting Mexico early this week, rain is forecast to continue into the weekend.

In Tapachula, Mexico -- a normally bustling town on the Guatemalan border that has been cut off since a raging wall of water tore through its center -- 72-year-old Luciano Aguilar stood guard with his dog by his destroyed riverside shantytown.

"This has never happened before," he said, surveying the pile of corrugated iron and smashed furniture that used to be his home. "I don't think they're going to let us keep living here."

Some 2,500 homes were destroyed in Tapachula and food was running short.

(Additional reporting by Eduardo Garcia and Herbert Hernandez in Guatemala and Noel Randewich in Tapachula, Mexico)

Tags: Guatemala, Mudslide, Disaster

And an earthquake, too

As if the hurricane, merciless rains, and tragic mudslides weren't enough...

Earthquake Rocks El Salvador, Guatemala

[AP] A moderate earthquake rocked Central America on Friday, causing the collapse of a rain-damaged highway bridge in Guatemala and sending thousands of frightened Salvadoran residents into the streets.

There were no immediate reports of other damage or injuries from the magnitude 5.8 quake in either of the two countries.

The death toll throughout Central America from flooding and landslides already has reached 277, with Guatemala bearing the brunt of the damage and deaths. A total of 177 people have been confirmed killed in Guatemala, but Benedicto Giron, a spokesman for the National Agency for Disaster Reduction, said villagers reported "200 or 300 people buried."

With food and water running out, governments in Central America and Mexico scrambled Friday to reach isolated areas devastated by a week of intense rain, with residents saying panic was starting to grow among survivors.

Tags: Guatemala, CAFTA, Rain

Guatemala Flood Photos

The fine folks at Incidencia Democratica (where I work) asked me to put some of the Guatemala flood photographs, currently circulating via the internet, on our homepage. Unfortunately I don't know who the photographers are, or where the photos were originally published... but one thing is certain: they are powerful and moving images.

Here's the link:

http://www.i-dem.org/images/fotos/inundaciones/index.htm

Tags: Guatemala, Landslides, Floods, Photographs

Surviving in Guatemala

The fact that "Survivor: Guatemala" continues to play out in this moment of real-life suffering is beyond ironic.

And... is it just me, or has this heartbreaking news story been all-but-overlooked by the U.S. media?

(Oh right, I forgot: it takes place outside of the U.S., and doesn't feature any young women with washboard abs competing for a million dollars.)

Even Reuters, who actually did cover the disaster, was quick to point out (in the third sentence of their article) that "there were no immediate reports of foreigners killed."

Well then... it really isn't a tragedy, is it?

Guatemala Death Toll Rises

[AP] Rescue workers in Guatemala said they pulled at least 40 bodies from a massive mudslide and found 20 more dead in a swollen river Thursday, raising to at least 246 the number of people killed from five days of pounding rains in Central America and Mexico.

Officials expected the death to toll to climb as they searched for more than 150 others who were missing following the landslide in Solola, a town close to Lake Atitlan, 60 miles west of the capital, Guatemala City.

Along the country's Pacific coast, the Nahualate River broke from its banks, creating a new outlet to the sea and killing at least 20 people from a small, seaside village, navy officials said.

There was joy amid the tragedy. Claudio Manchinel, from Iztapa in coastal, southern Guatemala, was forced to walk for hours through rain and mud with his pregnant wife, Leticia. Upon reaching a highway, the couple stopped an ambulance, which took them to a naval base, where their son Claudio was born Wednesday.

Manchinel said the flooding reminded him of Hurricane Mitch, which killed at least 9,000 people throughout Central America in 1998.

The recovery of the bodies pushed the number killed in the region to 246, including 14 victims earlier this week in Nicaragua, Honduras and Costa Rica, and 13 victims who died in three southern Mexican states.

President Oscar Berger said Thursday night that 134 people had been killed across Guatemala and nearly 31,500 residents evacuated. Emergency response officials said the president's tally did not include the 20 or more people killed by the overflowing Nahualate, meaning the total figure in Guatemala had climbed to at least 154.

For the first time in five days, rains let up Thursday, allowing Berger to fly over devastated areas and evaluate damage.

He asked Congress to declare a state of emergency as rescue workers in Solola reported that two other villages had been buried by landslides, including Las Giraldas, 55 miles west of Guatemala City. There, more than a dozen people were working to dig out houses buried when a second hillside collapsed.

In Quetzaltenango, Guatemala's second largest city 125 miles west of the capital, flood waters rose up 6.5 feet high, destroying hundreds of homes, businesses and public buildings, firefighters said.

More than 24,000 people from 270 communities took refuge in shelters throughout Guatemala, but were suffering from cold and a lack of food and water, according to Guatemalan radio reports. Quetzaltenango residents reported a similarly critical situation.

"It was complicated arriving with new shipments of food" because of the bad weather, said Agriculture Minister Alvaro Aguilar. "Today, we are making an effort" to reach the areas by air.

Guatemalan rescue workers also were trying to restore access to 300 roadways blocked by fallen trees, flooding and landslides.

In El Salvador, where the heavy rains have left 65 dead, rescuers also stepped up aid flights and flyovers as the sun emerged from behind the clouds.

Read the entire article

Tags: Guatemala, Landslides, Flooding, Hurricane Stan

Article: Hurrican Stan

Hurricane Stan kills 162 in Mexico, Central America

Tecpan, Guatemala (Reuters) - Huge mudslides, flooding and torrential rains from Hurricane Stan have killed at least 162 people in Central America and southern Mexico, rescue workers said on Wednesday.

Relentless rain pounded mountain villages and urban shanty towns across the impoverished region, and hillsides collapsed under four days of downpours.

The death toll more than doubled on Wednesday when rivers burst their banks in southern Mexico, and emergency teams found dozens more victims buried under banks of mud in remote Guatemalan towns.

By the evening, the death toll in Guatemala stood at 79 people, but the government said that figure could rise. Unconfirmed reports said hundreds may have been killed in an isolated region in the west of the country.

Entire families were missing after a river of mud, trees and rocks descended on the hill town of Tecpan, west of the capital, destroying more than 30 flimsy homes.

"A lot of people could not get out," said Samuel Cif, a local peasant.

Two dead children were found and villagers were too scared of more landslides to dig for other victims. Clothing, trees and the roofs of houses were strewn around and heavy rain still pounded the area.

The tragedy brought back memories of Hurricane Mitch, which killed some 10,000 people in 1998 in Central America, mainly in Honduras and Nicaragua, with mudslides and flooding.

Stan dumped half the amount of water on Guatemala in five days that Mitch brought in only three, meteorologists said.

HEARD CRIES

"I was like a worm sliding around in the mud," said Alexander Flores, whose home on the edge of San Salvador was buried under six feet of dirt and rocks.

"I just heard two shouts from my mother, saying, 'Alex, Alex,' maybe for me to help her or her trying to save me," he said. His mother and five children, including a newborn baby, all died, he said.

Along with the 79 dead in Guatemala, 62 people have been killed in El Salvador and another 21 total in Mexico, Nicaragua and Honduras, authorities said.

Coffee production was likely to be hit in Guatemala and Honduras just as the harvest is beginning, producers said.

Swollen rivers washed away three large concrete bridges and ripped apart houses and buildings when they burst their banks at the city of Tapachula, in Mexico's Chiapas state.

"My house was here," said Dr. Rosenberg Arias, pointing into the Coatan River. "And that was my grandmother's house, and that was my neighbor's house. Now there is nothing."

Looters carried away office equipment and radios from a damaged hotel. Tree trunks lay beside cars, a refrigerator and dead fish by the riverside.

Tens of thousands of people fled their homes in Chiapas and the neighboring state of Veracruz after Stan, now reduced to a tropical depression, swept in from the Atlantic this week.

It came ashore on Tuesday near the city of Veracruz as a Category 1 hurricane with winds of nearly 80 mph (128 kph).

"There is flooding, in some communities mudslides; there is no access by road, no telephone communication," said Jordan Jimenez of Mexico's civil protection agency in Chiapas. "There are people missing, some in shelters."

Greenpeace said the flooding in Mexico was made worse by deforestation, as water rushed down bare hillsides.

"Once again, this underlines the importance of conserving ecosystems, particularly forests and mangroves, to prevent the impact of hurricanes," the environmental group said.

Mexico's three main oil exporting ports, on the Gulf of Mexico, reopened after closing as Stan approached.

(Additional reporting by Kieran Murray, Miguel Angel Gutierrez and Noel Randewich in Mexico and Herbert Hernandez in Guatemala)

Tags: Guatemala, Hurricane, Stan

Maryknoll: Withdraw Troops from Iraq

Here is a passionate plea for an immediate end to the war in Iraq from the Maryknoll community, men and women renowned for their dedication to service and social justice.

Maryknoll, N.Y. – The following is a joint statement issued by the leadership of the Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers, Sisters and Lay Missioners:

Maryknoll missioners live and work in communities around the world torn apart by conflict and war. We know too well the intense suffering and destruction that war brings. As followers of Jesus we are committed personally and institutionally to reverence and affirm the dignity of each person and the whole community of life of which we are a part. We seek to participate actively in the transformation of the world, pursuing social justice, the integrity of creation, and – with even greater intensity in these times - peace.

(Statement of Maryknoll Joint Leadership, 2003)

Two and a half years after the U.S. toppled Saddam Hussein from power, Iraq seems more unstable and insecure than ever. The country is ravaged by growing violence. Water supplies, electricity and oil production remain below pre-war levels. Prospects for returning to normalcy seem bleak as long as U.S. military forces, seen as occupiers and not as liberators, remain in the country.

The U.S. war in Iraq was morally unacceptable from the beginning; we opposed it formally in 2003 and we oppose it now with even greater vigor. Much of what we feared has come to pass:

1. The cost of war in terms of human life and suffering for the people of Iraq, for our own service people and their families, and for others involved in the conflict has been unconscionable

2. War in Iraq has destabilized the Middle East, causing more death and destruction in the region and increasing the threat of terrorist attacks throughout the world

3. The ecological damage is tremendous

4. The burden of war has been carried by the poor and vulnerable as military expenditures steal funds from social programs in the U.S. and around the world.

Now it is time for:

1. Withdrawal: The U.S. should begin quickly withdrawing its military troops, bases and secret prisons from Iraq.

2. Reparations: The U.S. should pay for reconstruction in Iraq, repairing damage caused by the invasion, occupation and years of U.S. led sanctions.

3. Reconstruction: Reconstruction projects should not provide another windfall for U.S. firms. Contracts should provide jobs for Iraqi workers and companies.

We the people can help by beseeching Congress that monies allocated to Iraq arrive there, that we cease the establishment of permanent bases, and that troops are withdrawn quickly yet in a manner conducive to the well-being of the people of Iraq.

The Leadership of the Maryknoll Fathers & Brothers, Maryknoll Sisters and Maryknoll Lay Missioners

Tags: Iraq, War, Maryknoll