A UN investigation concluded that a slain Guatemalan lawyer hired a hit man to stage his own murder, despite a video alleging the country's president was behind the killing.
Women’s rights have improved in the past 50 years, but women are still not well represented in judicial systems.
Obstacles still block indigenous communities’ access to justice. States must do more.
Human rights groups must work with states to improve law enforcement.
Police aren't the problem, they're the solution. They just need to be better paid and better trained.
President Álvaro Colom of Guatemala meets with his U.S. counterpart this week. The Central American leader hopes to decrease Guatemalan poverty, despite the challenge of global economic insecurity. "With decisive action, and international assistance," writes COA Vice President Eric Farnsworth, "the new president has the opportunity to regenerate a broader growth agenda."
Guatemalans elected Alvaro Colom president in Sunday's run-off vote. With the country's rampant crime rate a focus of the election, Colom won on an anti-poverty platform over pledges by his opponent, a retired general, to use the military for a fierce crackdown. AS/COA produced a July 2007 report on the rule of law in the Americas.
