GUATEMALAN WOMEN COOK TO CELEBRATE THE DAY OF THE VIRGIN OF THE ASSUMPTION IN GUAYABO GUATEMALA,...

Guatemalan famine victims line up as women cook a corn meal called "Atole", the only food they have to celebrate that their village will host the local statue of the Virgin of the Assumption for the day, in the isolated village of Guayabo, 160 miles west of Guatemala City, October 3, 2001. Eastern Guatemala has been the area hardest hit by the drought-triggered famine which has left over 50 dead from malnutrition. According to the World Food Program there are 17,000 starving families in the country. Central American nations fear that their plight will be ignored in the wake of the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon as international attention shifts away from them. REUTERS/Jorge Silva JS