U.S. embassy in Guatemala closes temporarily after threats

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Reuters

World News Fri Dec 30, 2016 7:54pm EST

The United States embassy in Guatemala closed early on Friday after it received threats, a representative said, without giving further details.

The embassy said on its Facebook page that it closed at 11 a.m. local time (1700 GMT), earlier than planned, and will reopen on Jan. 3.

"Everything is normal and nothing grave happened. We just take seriously the security of our workers and the people that go to the embassy," said an embassy representative, who declined to be named.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-guatemala-idUSKBN14K00G?rpc=401&

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(Very short article, no more at link.)

[Judi Lynn]

1. US Embassy Closes in Guatemala

US Embassy Closes in Guatemala

Guatemala, Dec 30 (Prensa Latina) A supposed threat motivated the closing of the offices of the Embassy of the United States in Guatemala today, one day before the year 2016 ended.

'Due to a precaution plenty, the Embassy of the United States in the City of Guatemala closed ... after having received a threat', points out a note expressed by the authorities of this head office and published in social networks.

The text does not offer major details about the supposed intimidating action, although officials of this mission made sure journalists that it is a question of a threat that has to be take seriously.

They also informed in an unofficial way that the Guatemalan authorities initiated an investigation of the case, by virtue of which the Embassy of the alone United States will attend to emergency consultations telephone route.

http://www.plenglish.com/index.php?o=rn&id=7576&SEO=us-embassy-closes-in-guatemala

[Judi Lynn]

2. Why you need to know about Guatemala's civil war

Why you need to know about Guatemala's civil war

PRI's The World

December 29, 2016 · 11:45 AM EST

By Amy Bracken




Today is the 20th anniversary of the signing of the peace accord that ended Guatemala’s civil war.

Most Americans don’t know much about this 36-year conflict. We should. It’s one of the most brutal in Latin American history. According to a truth commission report, more than 200,000 people were killed — most of them indigenous, more than half a million were driven from their homes, and many more were raped and tortured.

We should know about it also because the US was an important actor in almost every stage of that war, including the bloodiest.

In 1954, the CIA helped overthrow Guatemala’s democratically elected president, who supported land reform to benefit the largely indigenous peasantry (at the expense of the US-based United Fruit Company and other private interests). Six years later, a rebellion to overthrow the military regime kicked off the war.

More:
http://www.pri.org/stories/2016-12-29/why-you-need-know-about-guatemalas-civil-war