[Black Hawk over the Flores iglesia]
During the recent "Arab Spring" uprisings, I was introduced to CNN's live coverage blog. As events like the Cairo riots unfolded, this page was updated with a twitter-esque blurb hourly, or whenever something of note happened. Since I was at work, and didn't feel like I should spend too much time watching CNN videos on company bandwidth, I appreciated the text version of breaking news. What I appreciated even more was the accuracy of the reports. Whoever was posting these things wasn't spouting their opinion, or making forecasts. They simply stated the observable facts.
I envied and respected that ability last week. During the first few days after the massacre, we had a very limited view of what was going on. Had I had access to twitter, and been required to make hourly updates, my timeline for the first few days would have looked something like this:
Apparently there was a massacre yesterday?
Stumbled on a police raid - I wonder how far ricocheting bullets fly?
State of siege declared!?!
What does that mean? I'm stuck on Flores and nothing seems different.
No wait, the docks are empty - all the tourists have buggered off.
General sense of uncertainty.
General sense of uncertainty.
Specific sense of uncertainty regarding the viability of my research project under a state of siege.
General sense of uncertainty.
Boredom.
Monday night, I stayed at Terry's house in Flores with Gabriel and Rosie, and we sat around and hit [refresh] on various news sites all evening. Around 9pm, President Colóm declared a state of siege over Petén. A similar state of siege had been in effect in Altaverapaz, a state south of Petén, when I arrived here in January, in response to drug-related violence. It was lifted after two months, and I can't say I've heard people singing praises of it's effectiveness. During the following days, Petén's situation shared national headlines with the election campaign.
We had a team meeting Tuesday morning at ProPetén, to share information and make a plan of action. The state of siege - while falling short of martial law and curfew - imposed a military presence in Petén for 30 days, and suspended certain rights. Most pertinent to our organization were the suspension of freedom of action, association and mobility. Traveling to a community (while dangerous in itself) and holding a meeting over our gardens project could be considered illegal. Furthermore, the government reserved the right to dissolve any organization it considered a threat or a problem, at once, without appeal. Thus, as ProPetén staff, we had to be particularly careful to protect our organization.
As things unfolded, the news became much less speculative. The owner of Los Cocos farm was the stepson of a man with ties to drug gangs. Apparently this gutsy father-in-law had stolen over 2,000 kilos of cocaine from the Zetas, a militarized arm of the mexican drug cartels, who have been increasing their activity in Guatemala as the US and Mexican governments increase anti-drug efforts from the north.
The massacre at Los Cocos was in direct response to this. Most of the violence was initially directed at the thief and his family. His stepson and daughter were kidnapped. When ransom was sent with two other family members, all four were killed. The 27 farm hands working on his ranch were beheaded, and a threatening message was written on the farmhouse wall in their blood, signed Zeta 200. The raid in Santa Elena was in response to the massacre, and resulted in the deaths of two presumed Zetas, and the capture of one man who turned out to be innocent (his bad luck to live next door to the other two).
In the following days, a bit of controversy emerged over the state of siege and the election. With rights like movement and association curtailed, there was significant fear that the election campaign would be effected, and the Congress considered repealing the state of siege. Eventually however, certain modifications were made to protect political parties and gatherings, and the siege stayed.
The Baldizon family (most famous now for the red billboards promoting Dr Baldizon for president) left Petén after receiving threatening calls, and wednesday and thursday there were bomb scares at two schools, though nothing came of them. I couldn't say what the situation in communities farther away (where threats and kidnappings for ransom most likely aren't anything that started just last week), but in the places where reporters go, this week things are more settled, though not yet tranquillo.
During the recent "Arab Spring" uprisings, I was introduced to CNN's live coverage blog. As events like the Cairo riots unfolded, this page was updated with a twitter-esque blurb hourly, or whenever something of note happened. Since I was at work, and didn't feel like I should spend too much time watching CNN videos on company bandwidth, I appreciated the text version of breaking news. What I appreciated even more was the accuracy of the reports. Whoever was posting these things wasn't spouting their opinion, or making forecasts. They simply stated the observable facts.
I envied and respected that ability last week. During the first few days after the massacre, we had a very limited view of what was going on. Had I had access to twitter, and been required to make hourly updates, my timeline for the first few days would have looked something like this:
Apparently there was a massacre yesterday?
Stumbled on a police raid - I wonder how far ricocheting bullets fly?
State of siege declared!?!
What does that mean? I'm stuck on Flores and nothing seems different.
No wait, the docks are empty - all the tourists have buggered off.
General sense of uncertainty.
General sense of uncertainty.
Specific sense of uncertainty regarding the viability of my research project under a state of siege.
General sense of uncertainty.
Boredom.
Monday night, I stayed at Terry's house in Flores with Gabriel and Rosie, and we sat around and hit [refresh] on various news sites all evening. Around 9pm, President Colóm declared a state of siege over Petén. A similar state of siege had been in effect in Altaverapaz, a state south of Petén, when I arrived here in January, in response to drug-related violence. It was lifted after two months, and I can't say I've heard people singing praises of it's effectiveness. During the following days, Petén's situation shared national headlines with the election campaign.
We had a team meeting Tuesday morning at ProPetén, to share information and make a plan of action. The state of siege - while falling short of martial law and curfew - imposed a military presence in Petén for 30 days, and suspended certain rights. Most pertinent to our organization were the suspension of freedom of action, association and mobility. Traveling to a community (while dangerous in itself) and holding a meeting over our gardens project could be considered illegal. Furthermore, the government reserved the right to dissolve any organization it considered a threat or a problem, at once, without appeal. Thus, as ProPetén staff, we had to be particularly careful to protect our organization.
As things unfolded, the news became much less speculative. The owner of Los Cocos farm was the stepson of a man with ties to drug gangs. Apparently this gutsy father-in-law had stolen over 2,000 kilos of cocaine from the Zetas, a militarized arm of the mexican drug cartels, who have been increasing their activity in Guatemala as the US and Mexican governments increase anti-drug efforts from the north.
The massacre at Los Cocos was in direct response to this. Most of the violence was initially directed at the thief and his family. His stepson and daughter were kidnapped. When ransom was sent with two other family members, all four were killed. The 27 farm hands working on his ranch were beheaded, and a threatening message was written on the farmhouse wall in their blood, signed Zeta 200. The raid in Santa Elena was in response to the massacre, and resulted in the deaths of two presumed Zetas, and the capture of one man who turned out to be innocent (his bad luck to live next door to the other two).
In the following days, a bit of controversy emerged over the state of siege and the election. With rights like movement and association curtailed, there was significant fear that the election campaign would be effected, and the Congress considered repealing the state of siege. Eventually however, certain modifications were made to protect political parties and gatherings, and the siege stayed.
The Baldizon family (most famous now for the red billboards promoting Dr Baldizon for president) left Petén after receiving threatening calls, and wednesday and thursday there were bomb scares at two schools, though nothing came of them. I couldn't say what the situation in communities farther away (where threats and kidnappings for ransom most likely aren't anything that started just last week), but in the places where reporters go, this week things are more settled, though not yet tranquillo.
I've been up to Santa Elena a few times this week (for the joyous purpose of fighting with a cell phone company). The streets still bustle and people are still friendly. Tomorrow I'm driving south, with Carlos and Gabriel, to a town called Compuerta that I visited several weeks ago. They have a fantastic cave down there, and hopefully the ride will be interesting, informative - and safe. It is very good to get out of Flores and San Miguel.
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