JOHN LANNON,
Sir, - The other day I read that a 15-year-old girl called Alejandra Paola Palma, who lived on the streets of Guatemala City, was killed when two men threw two 50- lb rocks down on her while she tried to sleep in a bus station, early on the morning of August 15th.
Alejandra will never again appear on the streets. Who cares? This horrific event came five days after the occupants of a white, four-door vehicle opened fire on five street children in the city, seriously wounding three.
It came a month after the massacre of three street children and the wounding of another three by armed men, again from a moving car, in another area of the city.
To date the police have not identified any of the killers and, if history is anything to go by, they probably never will.
Impunity for perpetrators of violence against street children in Guatemala City is a rampant and serious problem. It is one which the Government and MEPs have a part to play in addressing.
Guatemala continues to be an important beneficiary of European Union aid (the EU is Guatemala's most important multilateral donor in grants), and a recent EU country strategy paper for co-operation with Guatemala from 2002 to 2006 includes "good governance, consolidation of the rule of law and protection of human rights" as "focal co-operation sectors".
It is time for our politicians to ensure that these are more than just words on a page. - Yours, etc.
JOHN LANNON,
Ballyneety,
Co Limerick.