The Sun is to be commended for providing front-page coverage of the
Guatemalan truth commission report and for emphasizing the report's
conclusions about U.S. responsibility, through military and CIA aid,
for human rights violations ("Guatemalan truth panel details U.S. role
in war," Feb. 26).

To prevent deaths, torture and disappearances, informed people in the
United States will have to stop their government from complicity in
human rights abuses. The Sun made a significant contribution to such
information with its series about human rights abuses in Honduras and
the shameful role of the United States.

However, the Guatemalan truth commission report and The Sun's Honduras
series focused on past events. How much information did the mainstream
media give while the violations were occurring? We must take the
lessons of these reports and look at what is happening now.

For example, we need to learn how U.S. military aid, arms sales and
training to Mexico and Colombia are being used. The Guatemalan truth
commission reported that "American companies and government officials
exercised pressure to maintain the country's archaic and unjust
socioeconomic structure and that the CIA supported illegal
counterinsurgency operations." Investigative reporting needs to
determine if this is continuing in other countries under the guise of
the drug war.

By reporting on human rights in countries supported by the United
States and by examining the nature of U.S. support of other
governments, the media can provide the information we need to ensure
that our tax dollars support respect for human rights and justice.

Lynn M. Yellott
Columbia

Note: The writer is a member of the steering committee of Howard County
Friends of Latin America.