Word: guatemala
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...women and children stream into a Catholic church in the northeastern Iowa town of Postville that has served as their refuge since May 12, when 389 workers were arrested during an immigration raid at the Agriprocessors Inc. meatpacking plant. The women are among 26 former Agriprocessors workers, most from Guatemala and Mexico, charged with immigration violations and fighting deportation. Released on humanitarian grounds but required to wear electronic ankle bracelets, the women, as well as about 59 children, now depend on the community, especially St. Bridget's church, which operates a Hispanic ministry from a worn brick house...
Though Cuban cigars are perhaps the world's most revered, the stogie probably didn't originate on the island. Cigar smoking first took hold elsewhere in the Americas-exactly where and when remains uncertain. A ceramic pot discovered in Guatemala that dates at least as far back as the 10th century depicts a Mayan puffing on tobacco leaves bound up with string. (The Mayans may also have handed down the object's name: their term for smoking, sikar, likely led to the Spanish cigarro, from which the cigar takes its name.) When Columbus stumbled upon the Americas...
Experts say Guatemala is no longer a mere drug corridor, but rather an essential and highly lucrative pit stop on the road north. One Guatemalan columnist likened the country's new role to a "privateering port." Julio Godoy, former vice-minister of security in Guatemala's interior department, called Guatemala "one big warehouse" for drugs. More and more Mexicans with suspected drug links are turning up in Guatemala. "They're clearly here essentially to establish themselves and to take on rivals," says ambassador McFarland...
...most recent drug battle broke out during a horse race in the tiny village of Agua Zarca, less than an hour's drive from the busy Mexico-Guatemala border crossing at La Mesilla. Authorities found nearby what appeared to be an improvised hospital for the wounded, including an impromptu helicopter pad with evidence of use. Six people have been arrested in connection with the incident, four of them Mexican and at least one a Guatemalan, with an outstanding arrest warrant for drug-related crimes...
Corruption, impunity, the backdrop of violence since the country's brutal civil war that stretched from the 1960s into the '90s and a well-entrenched organized crime network make Guatemala fertile ground for the narcotics business. A series of weak, infiltrated governments have been unable or unwilling to reverse the tide. "People perceive a breakdown of authority and really the authorities are the traffickers," says ambassador McFarland. In areas of high drug activity, the population has little choice but to align itself with the traffickers, says Godoy, the former Guatemalan Interior Ministry official. Plus, in a country where some...