U.S. Warns Against Guatemala Travel
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WASHINGTON — The State Department on Thursday warned Americans against traveling to Guatemala, where U.S. citizens have been attacked in recent days by mobs angry at rumors of child-stealing.
In the latest incident, June Weinstock, 52, a magazine editor from Alaska, was in a coma after being attacked by hundreds of Guatemalan peasants in the northern town of San Cristobal Verapaz on Tuesday when she tried to take photographs of some children.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Mike McCurry said the incidents are the result of media-inspired rumors. Local newspapers have reported sightings of “long-haired foreigners” driving around remote Guatemalan villages in jeeps with tinted windows, allegedly searching for children to steal.
Guatemalan Interior Minister Danilo Parinello said in a statement that the government is studying what action to take.
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