220 Women Killed in Guatemala This Year

GUATEMALA CITY (AFP) – Threewomen were assassinated south of thecapital Monday morning, bringing thegrim total of women murdered here thisyear to 220, according to police statistics.The bodies of two of the women werefound knifed to death and stuffed insidesealed bags in the municipality of Palin,Escuintla, 45 kilometers south of GuatemalaCity. The bags had been thrown outof a moving car, according to police.The other woman killed Monday wasshot to death in San Miguel Petapa, 15kilometers south of the capital.Police are blaming gangs for thealarming number of female victims thisyear. Rights groups are refuting thepolice’s hypothesis.The government two months agoformed a special command unit to investigateviolent crimes against women, andtwo weeks ago police managed to capturefour men who are believed to be behindsome of the killings.