Word: quezaltenango
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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John Paul traveled by helicopter to Quezaltenango, some 100 miles northwest of the capital, for a meeting with Guatemala's Indians, hundreds of whom are believed to have been killed during the past year in a government crackdown on leftist insurgents. Demanding legislation to protect the Indians, John Paul told a crowd dressed in bright colored handwoven outfits that "the church is aware of the discrimination you suffer and the injustices you must put up with, the serious difficulties you have in defending your lands and your rights, the frequent lack of respect for your culture and customs...
...army first launched its new style of campaign in the Guatemalan departments of Chimaltenango, Sololá and Quezaltenango, major tourist and agricultural areas west of the capital. After resisting briefly, most of the guerrillas quickly moved elsewhere. Now the army is massing its forces in the northwest department of El Quiché, a mountainous jungle area that is considered to be one of the guerrillas' major strongholds. The rugged terrain favors the insurgents, who are surprisingly well equipped. At one fortification discovered in the earlier sweep, the soldiers found networks of tunnels and supplies of M16 rifles...