NEWS & VIEWS
from a CATHOLIC perspective

      WASHINGTON, DC (CWNews.com) - Two independent groups released a report on Monday that charges that the Guatemalan military was responsible for the majority of deaths in that country's 36-year civil war, the same charges that may have led to the murder of a Guatemalan bishop last year.

      The American Association for the Advancement of Science and the International Center for Human Rights Research said they used the latest scientific methods to determine who was responsible for the deaths of an estimated 150,000 people, mostly civilians, during the war, which ended in 1996. "The evidence is clear -- tens of thousands have died at the hands of the state," Patrick Ball of the AAAS, who led the study, said in a statement. The researchers used all available documentation and analysis to determine that of 37,255 killings the government was responsible for 97 percent.

      Last April, Auxiliary Bishop Juan Gerardi Conedera released a report by the Catholic Human Rights Office in Guatemala that also blamed the military for most of the killings. He was murdered three days later. Although a priest who lived with the bishop was arrested and charged with the crime, many human rights groups and Catholic leaders have publicly stated they believe the people connected to the military were responsible.