A town in turmoil

SOLOLÁ — After a pleasant Saturday afternoon picnicking in the mountains, we returned to a town in turbulence. A crowd of several hundred people stood in front of the town police station, ready to administer their own brand of justice against four alleged kidnappers.

Before the day was out, the crowd burned three cars and at least one motorscooter. Any intentions to lynch four alleged kidnappers, captured that same day, failed. The violence made national news, as the two largest newspapers gave extended coverage continuing even days later.

Saturday’s events merely exacerbated already tense feelings here after a series of kidnappings for ransom in the past couple of weeks. National newspapers indicate there have been as many as 10 kidnappings over the past year. Apparently there have been several around town and also down the hill in Panajachel, a tourist town adjacent to the magnificent Lake Atitlan.

When four men kidnapped a Panajachel hotel owner Saturday, the businessman’s friends and local police responded quickly. The four were captured and the business owner released within an hour. Locals quickly learned that the four accused kidnappers had been taken to the local jail in Solola, where I’m living now.

Unfortunately, Guatemalans do not trust the police or the courts to deliver justice; no doubt they have their reasons. Sadly, it’s not uncommon for Guatemalans to respond with vigilantism to accusations of theft, baby snatching, organ harvesting and other hideous crimes.

My friend JC and I walked a couple of blocks to a street corner Saturday, from which we could see the crowd around the police station. Most people were merely curious, wanting to witness events as they unfolded. We stood with our backs to a grocery store, whose guards stood by, ready to close the metal doors in case things got out of hand. Cars and buses, which normally passed in front of the station, now had to make a tight corner one block early, sometimes having to back up and inch ahead to make the corner. Men around the police station would occasionally begin whistling to draw attention and to express their discontent.

At one point, the men began shoving a small red pickup back and forth (supposedly owned by the kidnappers), at times trying to tip it over. They failed at first this effort. Once, a Kakchiquel man in a white cowboy hat climbed aboard the pickup, waving his arms to try to quiet the crowd and prevent damage to it. The crowd quickly whistled its opposition to his efforts, and he retreated just as rapidly.

Shortly before 5 p.m. or so, riot police began massing up the street. My friend JC urged me to leave. He said it would get worse. I was reluctant, but I decided I didn’t really want to get in the middle of violence so I left after he did.

As I walked around the block, a strange scene greeted me. The walls of city hall had been spray painted “Ricardo N** secuestrador (kidnapper) y Lic. Amilca Q*******.” Even more curious, at the same time the crowd around the block kept up their excitement, young men atop a flatbed truck were preparing sound equipment for a church service. Already, they had filled the street with plastic chairs. More graffiti in front of city hall: “Banda de secuestradores los N**” (Translation: “The N** family is a band of kidnappers”). Apparently, during a recent kidnapping, the victim managed to escape. Once free, the person began identifying their captors, and an attorney who is apparently linked to them.

Later, I learned the crowd had indeed set fire to about three vehicles, one belonging to a market vendor of churrascos (roasted beef), which sell for a little more than a dollar. One vehicle belonged to local police, another to the kidnappers. I’m not sure about the motorscooter that was burned near the park.

Riot police fired tear gas to disperse the crowd. Many people, feeling the effects, had gone running every direction. Gas entered windows of homes adjacent to the street. My friend said his three children were huddled in one room, trying to avoid the gas and acrid smell. About a dozen were taken to the hospital.