Democracy came to Guatemala in 1986 and, at the same time, violence against journalists began to recede. But it has returned with a vengeance, according to the Canadian Committee to Protect Journalists, which sent a mission to the country this spring. The mission was prompted by the murders of two journalists in October 1990 -- one a prominent radio station director, the other the founder of the Association of Guatemalan Journalists -- as well as an attack that same month on Byron Barrera, who was on his way to work at his independent news agency when two men on a motorcycle fired six shots into his car, killing his wife. (Barrera, now in exile in Costa Rica, had run the liberal newspaper La Epoca until it was bombed out of existence in 1989.)

According to the committee's report on the mission, "anonymous threats against journalists are commonplace and continue to this day. Virtually every journalist we spoke to had a story to tell."

One of those who had a particularly frightening story was Hugo Arce, a columnist for Siglo XXI, a respected mainstream daily.

Arce had criticized Guatemala's second elected president in recent history, Jorge Serrano Elias, and was subsequently arrested and charged with possession of drugs and explosives.

The following is taken from the committee's report:

From the start, Arce claimed that the police planted the drugs and explosives in his automobile. Arce reported that, while detained, he was beaten, robbed, deprived of food and water, and interrogated in the middle of the night.

After seventeen days he was released, the judge finding police reports not credible and no reason to suspect Arce of the possession charges. This decision thus points to the national police force, acting with some political motive.

Prior to his arrest, Hugo Arce had written columns critical of President Serrano and human rights violations by the army. Two days before his arrest, the interior minister personally let Arce's editor know that the president was upset with Arce's columns.

Arce claims that through private sources he learned that the president, in the presence of acquaintances, had threatened to "crush Arce like a cockroach." Other sources confirm a widely held analysis that President Serrano is personally intolerant of criticism. . . . The government has failed to take any steps to clarify the incident.

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