07 March 2011

GUATEMALA: 8 MAR UPDATE: Amnesty Intl. Calls Out Government For Failure To Stop Femicides; PBS' Suarez On Brutality Towards Women.

CNN /
   Some 717 women were killed there in 2009, many raped and mutilated.
   The UN reports that nearly 45 percent of women have suffered some kind of violence in their lifetimes.
    It has not changed recently.
   More than 685 women were reported killed in 2010.
   Now Amnesty International is chiding the government for its failure to curb the violence.
  "Women in Guatemala are dying as a consequence of the state's failure to protect them," said Sebastian Elgueta. "High levels of violence and a lack of political will, along with a track record of impunity, mean authorities are both unable to pursue perpetrators, or just don't care. Perpetrators know they will not be punished."
   "The gender of the woman is often a determining factor in the motive of the crime, the way in which the authorities respond to the case and the way women are killed," said A.I.
 AND... NEW!:  10:19 Video report with Transcript:
  In the first of 2 reports, Ray Suarez details Guatemala's history of violence against women
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/world/jan-june11/guatemala_03-07.html