A few miles away...

In Guatemala, Officers' Killings Echo Dirty War, reads the headline, as if it happened this morning. My sister, who's on a Fullbright in Guatemala, working for the UN, and teaching elementary school children, told me about this a while ago.

Last month, 3 Salvadoran congressmen were killed on a road in Guatemala, "It did not take the authorities long to find the culprits: they were Guatemalan police officers, and their unmarked police car had a tracking device that proved they were at the scene."

They confessed and claimed to have thought their victims were drug dealers and were sent to a maximum-security prison. Four days later they were found dead. The police publicly accuse rioting gang members, though inmate witnesses say the assassins were military personnel who went through seven locked doors to where the imprisoned officers were kept and killed them unfettered by prison guards.

"The whole episode has exposed to the world the rampant police corruption, lawlessness and drug trafficking that plagues much of Central America, and Guatemala in particular."

Bush will arrive next week. The article makes it sound like he's going to address the corruption and trafficking, but my sister said it has to do with free trade. How diplomatic. Having just finished watching Hotel Rwanda before reading this article, I have less faith than usual that our administration is capable of doing anything moral or militarily effective.

Pictures above were taken by Orlando Sierra/Agence France-Presse - Getty Images

Those below were sent by my sister last week - above is Antiqua Congreso, below are the Quirigua Ruins