Diplomatic Briefing
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Newsline: Guatemala charges former police official Spanish embassy fire
A Guatemalan judge has ordered a former national police official to stand trial in the deaths of 37 people killed by a fire at the Spanish Embassy in Guatemala in 1980. Indian demonstrators had taken over the embassy to call attention to rights abuses during Guatemala’s 1960-1996 civil war. Security forces attacked and set fire to the embassy. The charges claim former police official Pedro Garcia Arredondo refused requests by the Spanish ambassador to withdraw police from the embassy and allow firefighters in to extinguish the blaze. Among those killed in the fire was the father of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Rigoberta Menchu.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/guatemala-charges-former-police-official-in-1980-spanish-embassy-fire/2012/04/30/gIQAg28ksT_story.html
Newsline: Maya Artifacts Returned to Guatemalan Embassy
Federal authorities are returning eight ceramic artifacts to the people of Guatemala that were illegally exported. The Maya artifacts that date from 600 to 900 AD were returned during a repatriation ceremony at the Guatemalan Embassy on Friday. Two artifacts were recovered during an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement of items being auctioned in Massachusetts last year. Six more of the returned artifacts were seized by Customs and Border Protection at Houston Intercontinental Airport in 2009 when a passenger declared figurines he said he bought while touring Maya ruins in Guatemala, thinking it was legal.
http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/8-Artifacts-Returned-to-Guatemala-140384353.html
Newsline: US Embassy in Guatemala criticizes president’s proposal to legalize drugs
The U.S. Embassy in Guatemala is criticizing President Otto Perez Molina’s proposal to legalize drugs in Central America. The embassy says Washington opposes such measures because “the evidence shows our shared drug problem is a threat to public health and safety.” An embassy statement on Sunday said that legalizing drugs wouldn’t stop transnational gangs. Perez Molina on Saturday said he will propose legalizing drugs in Central America in an upcoming meeting with the region’s leaders.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/americas/us-embassy-in-guatemala-criticizes-presidents-proposal-to-legalize-drugs/2012/02/12/gIQAToif9Q_story.html
Newsline: Taiwan diplomat narrowly escapes being taken hostage
An official with Taiwan’s embassy in Guatemala was taken hostage at gunpoint in the country’s capital but managed to escape after drawing out the situation and getting help from local police, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA). Lin Shyo-shiun, deputy director of Taiwan’s Technical Liaison Office in Guatemala, was abducted by a group of armed youths while he was driving to work. But he was later freed after police chased the kidnappers to an area just outside Guatemala City. MOFA spokesman James Chang said at a press briefing that the incident was a random kidnapping case and that Lin was not hurt and appeared to be in good condition. An spokesman from Taiwan’s embassy in Guatemala, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the Central News Agency by phone that Lin helped his cause by not upsetting the armed men. According to the spokesman and details released by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the two kidnappers sat in the front seat and ordered Lin to sit in the back, setting off the car’s alarm. Fearing that the noise would irritate the gunmen and make them trigger-happy, Lin offered to move behind the wheel so he could silence the alarm. Just as the men were changing positions in the vehicle, a police car passed by. The officers were alerted by the strange movement in Lin’s car and ordered it to pull over, according to the spokesman, who did not specify if there was a chase as reported. Fearing that if the police discovered they had interrupted a kidnapping, a gunfight would be unavoidable, Lin told the police that the two men were his friends, according to the spokesman. The police remained suspicious, however, and asked the three men to step out of the car. The police searched them and found that all was clear — the gunmen having left their guns in the car — but Lin whispered to the police that he was kidnapped, leading them to arrest the kidnappers and allow him to escape. Sun Ta-cheng, Taiwan’s ambassador to Guatemala, expressed admiration for Lin’s poise in dealing with the situation, which could have ended up in disaster, the embassy spokesman said. According to the AFP report, the two men arrested were Jorge Isaac Garcia, 27, and Nestor Juarez Perez, 24, and two pistols were confiscated at the scene.
http://focustaiwan.tw/ShowNews/WebNews_Detail.aspx?ID=201006010022&Type=aSOC
