Guatemalan Women Move Against Violence
A diverse group of Guatemalan organizations are discussing creation of a common front against the wave of murders of women in Guatemala that claimed 235 victims in 2006, and a total of 2, 000 since police began to keep records in 2001.

Lorena Robles, coordinator of the Non Violence Against Women Program, expressed special concern about the obvious marks of torture and brutality on many of the bodies.

Robles announced the beginning of an awareness drive focused on the multiple origins of the phenomena: inequality and the patriarchal system.

The Guatemala Foundation said these crimes effectively ban women from assuming their social role, and the organization lamented official unconcern and failure to secure safety and the right to life, especially of women.

Giving particular recent examples, Robles mentioned the 12-year-old girl whose body was riddled with bullets in a car today in the capital.