Mass Murders Guatemala

The massacre of 10 peasants by soldiers endangers the return of thousands of refugees, a refugee leader said Friday. Soldiers threw grenades and fired at a refugee settlement community about 80 miles north of the capital Thursday, killing 10 people, including two children. At least 18 others were injured. "We believe this puts the peace process at grave risk and shows the lack of willingness on the army's part to sign an eventual peace agreement," Ricardo Curtz said.

A court convicted 25 soldiers on homicide charges in the first trial of troops accused of massacring civilians during Guatemala's civil war. Prosecutors sought a murder conviction for the 1995 slayings of 11 war refugees in the village of Xaman, 40 miles north of Coban. That charge could carry the death penalty. But the three-judge panel delivered the less severe homicide verdict, with a sentence of up to five years in jail.

Six armed men stormed into a home in a remote village in Guatemala's western highlands and fatally shot five people as they were eating dinner, police said Tuesday. The national police chief, Capt. Romeo Guevara, said that four men and a woman were killed in the shooting Sunday night in the town of Chimanzana in Solola province, about 80 miles west of Guatemala City. Two women were also wounded in the attack, which Guevara said appeared to be a result of personal differences.

The massacre of 10 peasants by soldiers endangers the return of thousands of refugees, a refugee leader said Friday. Soldiers threw grenades and fired at a refugee settlement community about 80 miles north of the capital Thursday, killing 10 people, including two children. At least 18 others were injured. "We believe this puts the peace process at grave risk and shows the lack of willingness on the army's part to sign an eventual peace agreement," Ricardo Curtz said.

A court convicted 25 soldiers on homicide charges in the first trial of troops accused of massacring civilians during Guatemala's civil war. Prosecutors sought a murder conviction for the 1995 slayings of 11 war refugees in the village of Xaman, 40 miles north of Coban. That charge could carry the death penalty. But the three-judge panel delivered the less severe homicide verdict, with a sentence of up to five years in jail.

"WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN YOUR CHILD disappears in a foreign country?" Kathryn Shelton asks. The question has consumed her for a decade, the 10 years since she last saw her eldest son, Jack. Jack was brilliant and introspective, a man who'd graduated from college with honors in philosophy only to join the Marines when jobs were hard to come by.

"WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN YOUR CHILD disappears in a foreign country?" Kathryn Shelton asks. The question has consumed her for a decade, the 10 years since she last saw her eldest son, Jack. Jack was brilliant and introspective, a man who'd graduated from college with honors in philosophy only to join the Marines when jobs were hard to come by.

Six armed men stormed into a home in a remote village in Guatemala's western highlands and fatally shot five people as they were eating dinner, police said Tuesday. The national police chief, Capt. Romeo Guevara, said that four men and a woman were killed in the shooting Sunday night in the town of Chimanzana in Solola province, about 80 miles west of Guatemala City. Two women were also wounded in the attack, which Guevara said appeared to be a result of personal differences.