Letters to the Editor

• Article
• Comments ()
• Click-2-Listen
• Videos

By

A few minor details

An article on Guatemala, "Despot's return stirs up violence" (World, Oct. 18), is incomplete at best and inaccurate at worst. It states that Guatemala's constitution "prohibits those who participated in coups from seeking the presidency." This is true, but it is equally true that the 1986 constitution bars retroactive application of its provisions save to mitigate prison sentences. Gen. Efrain Rios Montt's coup occurred in 1982.

The Constitutional Court did not lift the ban in response to July mob action. The ban was lifted previously, reinstated and then lifted again on successful appeal to the Constitutional Court.

While one can charitably leave aside the unsupported assertion that the level of political violence is "unusually high," one cannot ignore the simply erroneous statement that Guatemala has a population of 14 million. This overstates the accepted figure (United Nations Development Programme, U.S. Embassy) of 11.2 million by 25 percent, and that wide an error casts into doubt the accuracy of the entire article. The 14 million figure apparently comes from an AP story, and The Washington Times can do better when reporting on an already deplorable situation.

CARLISLE JOHNSON

ABC Radio International

Guatemala City, Guatemala