Eleven people were shot and killed on Saturday night, September 7th in San José Nacahuil, a small Kaqchikel community of San Pedro Ayampuc, just outside of Guatemala City, Guatemala. Eleven others were injured. The circumstances of the shooting are still unclear, as reports from local news sources and government investigations tell a story of a drug related gang violence, but community members suspect foul-play by the national police.
The shootings took place along the main street of the town, in a bar, and outside a small store, before the group of six masked shooters fled the scene in a car stolen from outside the locale. About an hour beforehand, a police patrole had driven through the town making rounds, asking for liquor licenses and whether the owners of the local bars were selling alcohol to minors. Felipe Pixtun, a cousin of one of the store owners, told the Diario newspaper that the police asked for a bribe of Q500 from the owner, which he refused to pay. A neighbor in the area commented that the assailants acted as “professionals". Early investigations have shown that they carried sub-machine guns as well as pistols and revolvers.
Minister of the Interior Mauricio Lopez Bonilla declared that they consider the crime to be gang-related, pointing specifically to the MS 18 gang. He announced an explanation that the owner of the bar refused to sell alcohol to supposed gang-members, which caused them to open fire on the owner and the other patrons. Many local community members find this story unbelievable and are rejecting that official theory. They have announced they will continue to organize to demand further investigation.“We are strongly opposed to the statement of the Minister of the Interior that blamed gangs, which is completely false. It is premature to make statements without having initiated an investigation.” reported a group of grassroots organizations in a statement released September 9th.
They continue: "Interestingly the route that the killers took is the same that the police patrol followed minutes earlier, for this reason the population wonders: where were the police when these events occurred? Or did they just create the conditions for the massacre and verify that there were no armed people in the area?”
Nacahuil is an organized Mayan community that since 2005, has rejected the presence of the national police forces in their community. Instead, traditional indigenous authorities have formed their own justice system and intervention by the national police is unwelcomed. According to locals, crime rates actually decreased while the police were not present in the area. Lopez Bonnilla also agrees; “The crime rate has been very low in this sector, because the community is so well organized. It hasn’t been necessary to have police installed in the area.”
Some groups in the community have also been active in a peaceful resistance movement known as La Puya together with the community of San Jose del Golfo. The movement is organized against an American-owned mining company, Kappes Cassidy and Associates, who have a license for exploitation in the Tambor mountain region. In July of 2012, two out spoken activists were shot and one was killed due to their opposition to the mine.
It is unclear if Saturday’s shooting was related to the community’s anti-mining activism, but community groups theorize that it could have been orchestrated as an excuse to militarize their community, to intimidate anti-mining resistance.
On Monday, the 9th, Lopez Bonnilla announced they are considering re-establishing a police base in San José Nacahuil.
