Word: guatemala
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Another potential consequence of the Administration's heated rhetoric is that the region could eventually be divided along ideological lines, provoking a general war pitting the military establishments of El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala against Nicaragua and the region's leftist insurgents. Ironically, that possibility is further strengthened by widespread talk about a negotiated settlement, one consequence of which would be to drive the right into even more desperate acts. On balance, by leaping voice first into an anti-Soviet showdown in Central America, the Administration may well have alienated many of the moderate elements it hoped...
...armed repression and political turmoil, a fitting symbol for the upheaval of the decade. Staccato bursts of gunfire echoed through the streets. Clouds of tear gas hung in the air. A phalanx of blue-shirted policemen, equipped with gas masks and steel helmets, blocked the avenue in downtown Guatemala City. They trained their rifles on the six unarmed men who were advancing, like prisoners of war, with their arms held high. One of them clutched a large manila folder. Its contents: a letter to Guatemala's outgoing President, General Fernando Romeo Lucas García, charging fraud in last week...
...struggle in the streets of Guatemala City was symptomatic of the chaos that was churning through Central America last week. Throughout the isthmus, a fight for power is evolving between extremists on the far right and on the far left that is leaving leaders who are even vaguely in the middle in an increasingly exposed and perilous position. For the Reagan Administration, the whirlwind of revolt and repression poses special and hazardous problems as it tries to find ways of helping the moderates and of bringing stability to a region that is in America's backyard...
...have little chance of persuading right-wing elements to agree to a settlement that would include the guerrillas. More important, even the attempt could be dangerous. The rightists in El Salvador see negotiations as being a prelude to their political defeat and possible extermination. The rightist-military coalition in Guatemala is also feeling embattled and vulnerable. U.S. experts who have been studying the increasing frustration, belligerence and obstinacy of the right in Central America fear the ultraconservatives might join in an alliance against the left, creating an international ideological war in Central America...
...Guatemala, the U.S. has influence it can use to encourage the government to reform. For one thing, the country's economy needs American investment. Second, the military is going to become desperate for U.S. arms to fight the guerrillas. As a condition for aid, the U.S. should insist that the generals who run the country stop repressing political opponents and start sharing power more widely and genuinely. Costa Rica's Monge believes that there are young officers in the Guatemalan army who realize that their country has to be more democratic to survive. Monge's advice to the U.S.: identify...