Shift in Guatemala's Justice System

After a 8 demonstrators were killed and 34 wounded on October 4 when they went to the streets to protest rising energy prices, the government looked into the violence and the way it was handled by the soldiers that took action. The country's attorney general had investigators and prosecutors to investigate the scene and interview the wounded at hospitals. After the investigations, they were able to charge eight army privates and a colonel for extrajudicial assignation and can face minimum of 320 years in prison since they were not supposed to be near the protest. The president worked to end the ban on U.S. Military aid in which now he has approved the opening of two new military bases and signed a treaty to allow for U.S. Marines to patrol Guatemala. From this event, he has said he will agree with the actions of the attorney general and will not use the military in the future when dealing with such issues. This goes to show how President Perez is more willing to work to reform his country, considering the amount of corruption and violence it is used to. It talked about how the Attorney General Paz, is well respected in the international world is the one of the few in Guatemala that have gotten to meet with Hillary Clinton. Her professionalism is helping to change the way the issues like this have been handled in the past. According to others they said it was one of the guards to shoot first and the soldiers shot in the air and then to protect themselves. It also shows how the Public Ministry is doing positive things in the country and will hopefully continue to reform the system the country has been dealing with for many years. http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/soldiers-arrest-marks-shift-in-guatemalas-justice-system-amid-civil-war-legacy/2012/10/21/d6463ae4-1bab-11e2-8817-41b9a7aaabc7_story.html Michele Dobbs