U.N. To Study Alleged Cover-Up Of Rebel Leader’s Murder

The United Nations said Wednesday that it was sending a team to Guatemala to investigate allegations that U.N. observers helped cover up the killing of a rebel commander.

Guatemalan newspapers and human rights groups recently suggested that the U.N. mission had withheld information that the army’s presidential guard had killed the guerrilla when they freed a hostage he was holding.

The mission, which is charged with monitoring human rights abuses, followed with a report May 20 saying there was evidence the presidential guard had indeed shot Jose Cabrera Rodas. Cabrera was allegedly involved in the kidnapping of 86-year-old Olga Alvarado de Novella. She was freed in by government forces on Oct. 19, 1996.