Tensions still strong in rural Guatemala 25 Sep 03

(25 Sep 03) Another violent confrontation during a Rios Montt political rally in a remote Guatemala town pitted survivors of the civil war against machette-wielding Montt supporters. Surviors and family members of victims of the bloodiest years of Guatemala's civil war threw rocks at those gathered to hear ex-dictator and now presidential candidtate Rios Montt speak in Playa Grande. Playa Grande is in the department of Quiché where many massacres occured during the "scorched earth" years of the civil war. Moments later, a group of Rios Montt supporters attacked reporters and photographers taking pictures and interviewing witnesses of the confrontation. Threatening to lynch the journalists, the angry mob serverely injured four and smashed their cameras. The beatings ended only after a police car arrived and drove the journalists to safety. Rios Montt ruled Guatemala after seizing power in a 1982 coup. Observors say some of the civil war's worst atrociites were carried out by security forces during Montt's 18-month reign. (Information gathered from Prensa Libre and The Times of India.)

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