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SEEKING THE SECRETS OF GUATEMALA''S MYSTERY BONDS.

Article Excerpt
A plan to offer US$700 million worth of government bonds on European markets has become shrouded in mystery as several sectors of Guatemalan society have begun to ask exactly where the proceeds will go. Strangely, there seems to be no coherent answer.

Notification that the bonds were to be issued first emerged following demonstrations by former members of the notorious Patrullas Autodefensas Civiles (PAC) demanding compensation for their service during the country's internal war, which ended in December 1996 (see NotiCen 2002-09-05). The bonds were advertised by the government as a solution to the problem of how to pay the demand, after President Alfonso Portillo committed himself to doing so.

But now, opposition political parties, the business community, administration officials, and even legislators in the ruling party, who will have to approve the initiative, do not...