A thought experiment...

In this scenario Guatemala remains seriously p'd off about Mexico's 'occupation' of Chiapas (not entirely untrue, but also not exactly frothing at the mouth) and this has resulted in a permanent, largely low-level conflict and a closing of the border (and not just with Mexico, but also with El Salvador, Belize and Honduras, who worry about possible contamination from dangerous mind viruses.)

Guatemala itself is an authoritarian entity run by corrupt crazies. (not so far fetched!). These guys receive more foreign by area than any other territory, but it is mostly stolen or put to other uses. They spend a lot of time firing rockets at Tapachula with help from Cuba, an international meddler and poster boy for craziness, of which Guatemala has become a kind of a client or proxy.

Meanwhile, I am an international aid worker or UN/WHO employee at the National hospital here in Antigua. I am aware that this sits atop a military complex and that the crazies are often present and use the hospital as a shield for their activities.

Perhaps I have never suspected how the war would seriously heat up after the crazies break out suddenly into Chiapas and rape, murder and kidnap thousands of Mexicans, but I must be aware of the illegality and immorality of using babies and sick people as potential shields. And I cannot just assume that the worst won't happen.

Mexico now finds itself positioned like the US after Pearl Harbor. There may be a range of possible responses, but not responding is not one of them, as the crazies have no obvious rational motives or plan and have declared an intention to continue with similar attacks. War it is.

Mexico decides to bite the bullet and invade Guatemala, knowing that the crazies have long planned for this to be a nightmare for them on a media-coverage/humanitarian basis and that elements of global opinion will start counting the human shield casualties almost before Mexico has dropped its first bomb.

My own 'international' organisation remains inside the hospital and still not coming clean about our complicity over at least a decade. We have watched how civilian infrastructure including water pipes have been misappropriated for military uses and how fuel has been stolen. We have said and done, nothing.

This is a moral minefield for sure, but the internationals that just shrugged and carried on must surely shoulder their fair share of the blame?