Guatemalan president optimistic on settlement

We don’t usually get excited about reports in the notoriously sensationalist Guatemalan press, but a story appearing on the website of the newspaper Prensa Libre would have us believe that a settlement of the Guatemalan claim is just around the corner. The newspaper quotes President Alfonso Portillo, having concluded a Saturday meeting with Prime Minister Said Musa, as saying that an agreement will be concluded within sixty days. Declining to offer any details of the settlement, Portillo noted that the solution would be a comprehensive one that would set an example for the resolution of similar problems in Central America. Over-optimistic or not, assuming that the two governments agree to the proposals, which are due from its O.A.S. facilitators in May, the voters of each nation will have to approve the final outcome in simultaneous referenda.