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This Just In: From the foreign desk

Guatemala, genocide, and the Globe

By Dan Kennedy

The Boston Globe got caught flat-footed last Friday, leading with a story on genocide against Mayan Indians in Guatemala that played down the heavy US involvement that made it possible. By Tuesday, though, the Globe had gotten with the program. Here's how it unfolded.

Friday, February 26. The New York Times leads with the findings of a UN truth commission, which "concluded that the United States gave money and training to a Guatemalan military that committed 'acts of genocide' against the Mayans during the most brutal armed conflict in Central America, Guatemala's 36-year civil war." The Globe leads with a Los Angeles Times story that places the blame for atrocities squarely on the Guatemalan army, and makes only a passing reference to the "direct roles" played by the US, American companies doing business in Guatemala, and Cuba. Scott Shuger, who writes Slate's "Today's Papers" column, notes the disparity between the accounts of the two Timeses and takes a whack at the LA Times. Not that the Globe could have chosen a better story to run: even though the paper is owned by the New York Times Company, it does not subscribe to the NY Times' news service. And though the Globe also subscribes to the Washington Post's service, the Post missed the story entirely.

Saturday, February 27. The backfilling starts. The lead editorial in the Globe begins, "It is important that the US government not brush off the report by the truth commission in Guatemala. The United States had a powerful role in the creation and maintenance of the security apparatus responsible for the bulk of deaths in the 36-year-old civil war."

Tuesday, March 2. The Globe leads with a follow-up by its own reporter, Colum Lynch, who writes that Christian Tomuschat, the head of the UN truth commission, "denounced the United States yesterday for training the Central American country's forces in the arts of terror, and then turning a blind eye as the Guatemalans conducted a genocidal campaign against the indigenous population." The "news" isn't new, and, indeed, the Times doesn't even mention Tomuschat's remarks. But it does give the Globe another shot at finally getting it right.