Public outcry to the humiliating treatment was widespread. But Guatemala's Foreign Minister Eduardo Stein Barrillas did not echo the sentiments. Later, however, Stein promised to address the matter with Donald Planty, the U.S. ambassador here. Some 1,700 Guatemalans have been deported from the United States so far this year, according to Central American immigration officials cited by AFP news agency. Women Propose Affirmative Action Laws Guatemala City, July 14.
Women here have a new plan to break into the boys club of national politics.
They want a law to guarantee women half the spots in political organizations and on candidate lists. To help put these ideals into practice, the women recommend affirmative action for women in political parties and all elected posts. They call for changes to the electoral laws that would assign to women half the membership in all political parties and half the positions in all party structures. Currently in Guatemala women hold no cabinet positions, only 16 percent of Congress and only two out of 13 seats on the Supreme Court. Nonetheless, the two groups said that Guatemalan women have made great inroads, considering that they were only recognized as citizens in 1945.