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 (el 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 again on Tuesday with the blockade campaign. It was one of these blockades that we encountered. At approximately 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. We stayed out front, two of us taking cover behind the tractor trailer that was jackknifed in the intersection. We stepped out to get a better angle and quickly retreated back towards the cliffs when bullets started whizzing by us. At this point other protesters (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 taking shelter next to nearby buildings. The barrage of tear gas intensified 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 protesters that were stationed there.

At this point several of the police officers near the buildings in front of us had removed their side arms. One of them fired two shots in the air and then leveled his pistol in our direction.* The effect was dramatic. Many of the protesters fled. Others dropped to the pavement to lessen their personal targetability. Within seconds 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 and one of us did his best to treat his gunshot wound, put a bandage on it and sent the man 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 protesters 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 yet another campesino had had been shot, and many thought he died from his wounds (this was a false report; he continues in critical condition as of 3/16/05). As far as we understand, 9 people were wounded on the 15th and one killed, none of who 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 protesters, 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.


* 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.