World Notes Guatemala

The government insisted that everything was normal, but Guatemalans were noticeably jittery late last week. The country was bracing itself for a weekend march by relatives of the thousands of people who have disappeared over the past 20 years and are presumed to have been kidnaped and killed by pro-government forces. Two human-rights activists have been killed in the past month alone.

A second source of unrest was the harsh new economic measures promised by the government of General Oscar Humberto Mejia Victores, including tax increases ranging from 15% to 50% on imported goods and new tariffs on most domestic products. When protests broke out in Guatemala City, the capital, Mejia Victores, who came to power in a 1983 coup, suspended the new taxes and called off the trip he had planned to take to the Vatican and the Middle East.

The government's last-minute action on taxes eased the rising tension but left Guatemala's worst economic crisis in 50 years unresolved. As rumors of a coup swept the country, Guatemalans reacted in the customary fashion, stocking up on food, gasoline and other supplies.