Columnist Mario Antonio Sandoval of Guatemala’s Prensa Libre has a suggestion for how the United States could help compensate Guatemalans for the experiments U.S. doctors and scientists performed on unwilling Guatemalan subjects in the 1940s.
In George W. Bush’s time in office, Guatemala President Alvaro Colom pushed hard for ‘Temporary Protected Status’ for Guatemalans in the U.S. illegally. TPS is granted to nationals of designated countries who can’t return home because of a crisis in their home country. The U.S. never agreed. Now, it seems, some Guatemalans are seeking a new strategy.
For Prensa Libre, Mario Antonio Sandoval writes in part:
THE TYPE OF COMPENSATION provided by the United States should not be an easy price to bear. Surely there are no files, nor can anyone know, for example, what happened to the children who were carried by the people who were infected. Therefore, the government of Guatemala must proceed with the goal of obtaining a benefit for Guatemalans living today, and the theme is simple: negotiate with Washington, where there now seems to be a political will to do something – something for those who reside in the United States. It’s a negotiation based on how to achieve tangible relief – an action through which you can begin talking of forgiving and forgetting, or forgetting and forgiving. The door is open. It’s a matter of crossing the threshold.
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