CAFTA news: 2 dead, 9 wounded in violent repression by police & military in Guat

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Wed, 16 Mar 2005 15:51:40 -0800 (PST)

CAFTA news: 2 dead, 9 wounded in violent repression by police

& military in Guatemala

 

 

 

 

www.freedomsojourn.com/naranjales.htm

 

Tuesday 3-15-05

7:30pm

While leaving Guatemala for Mexico, we (three friends

traveling on motorcycle throughout Latin America

together) encountered a roadblock at approximately

9:30am at Puente Naranjales in Colotenango, Guatemala

(in the Department of Huehuetenango). We stopped short

of the roadblock to wait until we were allowed to

pass. All remained relatively quiet. We made ourselves

busy talking to the people to find out more about the

protest and they informed us that they were protesting

the ratification of the international free trade

agreement known locally as the TLC (Trato de Libre

Comercio). The treaty was ratified last Thursday by

the Guatemalan congress, and the people have been

taking to the streets since then in anger. On Monday,

the people began a nationwide campaign of roadblocks

and demonstrations. We've been told that nearly 30,000

people turned out to protest the TLC ratification

within Guatemala city alone, and the roadblocks

throughout the country have effectively halted the

country's commerce. The people were demanding the

attention of the government.

 

Unsatisfied with the government's response, the people

rallied to create more blockades on Tuesday. It was

one of these blockades that we encountered. At

aproximately 2:00pm people started milling around and

saying that the police and the army were coming. After

a few minutes of this, one of the organizers came up

to us and told us that we could pass. He stressed that

it might get rough, and that we should hurry. We

quickly repacked our bikes and made our way through

the line. At the word of another of the organizers we

were let through without any problem.

 

After moving our bikes to what we thought would be a

safe distance away, we returned on foot to the site of

the demonstration. Our watches read 2:21pm. They were

surprised that we had returned and told us to leave.

They said that the police were coming and that we

should go. We told them that we knew that police were

coming and we wondered if we could help in any way,

that we had cameras and could take pictures. After

some convincing, they agreed and we advanced to the

front lines, cameras in hand.

 

At around 2:30pm we saw the police --some with riot

gear and shields-- advancing slowly, firing smoke

bombs and tear gas in all directions every few feet.

It wasn't long before the smoke bombs started landing

among the demonstrators. Everyone fell back, and the

police continued towards us. At this point other

protestors (stationed above the advancing police on

the cliffs to the northeast, overlooking our location

from the left) started to throw rocks down on the

heads of the advancing police. This caused the police

to split ranks, some falling back and others to taking

shelter next to nearby buildings. The barrage of tear

gas intesified and word came back through the crowd

that there were police up on the cliffs, engaging the

people who were stationed above. People were also

sighting armed troops making their way along an

adjoining mountainside (on our right, the southwest

side of the valley) in order to attack the protestors

that were stationed there.

 

At this point several of the police officers near the

buildings in front of us had removed their sidearms.

One of them fired two shots in the air and then

leveled his pistol in our direction.* The effect was

dramatic. Many of the protestors fled. Others dropped

to the pavement to lessen their personal

targetability. Within minutes the entire crowd had all

but disappeared from the center of the roadblock site,

many fleeing to the other side of the bridge. We saw a

group of people pulling themselves away and shouting

that someone had been shot. We have EMT training, so

we made our way to the injured man, did our best to

treat his gunshot wound, put a bandage on it and sent

him to the hospital. Moments after the car left, tear

gas landed next to us and the group dispersed again.

 

The people started to regroup and we advanced with

them. The police were trying to maintain their

position despite a hail of rocks from above and an

advancing mob to the front. Four of them seemed

trapped in an alley, but as we moved towards them,

they broke and ran. They retreated under cover of a

barrage of smoke bombs and tear gas from their

colleagues further up the road.

 

Shouts rose all around us that the police were fleeing

and the crowd surged forward. Even angrier voices

filtered over to us from the police's former position

in the alley, so after chasing the police back around

the corner, we went to investigate. We found that one

of the locals (Juan Lopez Velásquez) had been killed

by the police and lay with bullet shells scattered

around his body. One spent 9mm cartridge sat in the

crease of the dead man's pants. At the request of some

of the people standing around, we took many photos and

interviewed some of the witnesses.

 

Another wave of teargas and smoke bombs sent us back

again. The deep boom of the teargas launcher was

punctuated by the staccato CRACK of small arms fire.

Most of the protestors were fleeing over the bridge

(now on our left) but the three of us fled to the

right in order to maintain a pathway to our

motorcycles. We retreated, taking photos. The fray now

extended beyond where the original roadblock had been.

We decided that it would be wise to move the bikes

further away.

 

As we were returning from the bikes, we heard from the

people that one more campesino had died in the

hospital. He, too, had been shot by the police. That

brought the total casualties of the day to 2 deaths

and 9 wounded**, none of whom were police or military,

and none of whom were armed with guns. We hurried back

to the front lines and found that the police (now all

in full riot gear) had joined forces with the military

to form a line facing the crowd of protestors, who

were singing and chanting their dismay. Organizers of

the protest were both cheering the crowd on and

keeping them from moving towards the police.

 

At this point we divided up; one on the computer

copying evidential photos from five different digital

cameras that had been present throughout the

demonstration, one taking more photos at the request

of one of the organizers, and one assisting with crowd

control and conducting more interviews.

 

We heard that the people of some neighboring towns, in

response to the reported deaths of their comrades

here, had burned several of the local police stations

to the ground. We are still awaiting confirmation of

these reports.

 

The photos and videos that accompany this summary of

the events that took place today can be found at the

following link:

http://www.freedomsojourn.com/naranjales.htm

.. We appologize for the reduced resolution of the

videos. Due to time and technology issues we were

unable to upload the videos in their full sizes.

 

 

* According to the peace accords signed on November

23, 1996 in Guatemala City, the government may not use

firearms against the Guatemalan people except in cases

where national sovereignty is in jeopardy. Had the

police acted within the confines of this law, no one

would have died today.

 

**Dateline 3/16/05, 10:30am: We have since heard (but

not confirmed) news that the man we treated, who was

shot in the back, passed during the night due to

complications from a punctured lung, bringing the

death toll to 3, all civilians. We also understand

some of the other wounded are in critical condition.