REMEMBERING GUATEMALA
Those of you familiar with this site know I've spent several years in Central America, some of the most interesting in Guatemala on the Rio Dulce. The American Embassy stationed in Guatemala City periodically holds meetings for American citizens at the Catamaran Hotel on this river. At one of those meetings I filled out a card with personal information so they could notify my children in the U.S. if something happened to me and subsequently I receive various notices from the embassy relating to safety matters. The following just arrived this evening, July 3, 2007, almost prophetically on the eve of Independence Day here in Cape Coral Florida where I was thinking only of the fireworks display scheduled for tomorrow night and ice cream, here where I live, here in the United States, the home of the brave and the land of the free. Read on to see how the other half lives.
El Golfete mentioned below was only a mile or so seaward of where Nereis and I resided in the little community of La Bacadilla. I think that's the correct spelling or maybe its just my phonetic version. I'll leave it to the word police to decide. I've traveled through those waters many times and often waved to fishermen in their cayucos (canoes hollowed out of a single log.) Often those fishermen were boys, sometimes families with tiny Mayan children sitting patiently while their parents toiled. Perhaps I waved to some of those mentioned below. Sometimes things just come home to roost in your brain. Go back to my first entry in this series to learn a bit of my personal opinion of "world affairs" and perhaps peruse the Guatemalan chapters in TILLER TALES, particularly RIO DULCE DICHOTOMY, REVELATIONS OF X, MUERTE EN EL RIO DULCE and others. I was just about to dive into that half pint of decadent chocolate raspberry ice cream but find myself once again on the keyboard grinding out my thoughts, reliving old times, looking back. I can see the magnificent river basin now in visual memory, something I've developed with decreasing eyesight due to an unfortunately final malady that will eventually erase all sight. When first learning of this I made a point of really looking at the world around me and consciously storing those scenes away. Look, there's a cayuco now, the mountains partially obscured by cloud above. How such vistas can contain the sins of man is almost impossible to believe.
Thanks for listening,
JB
Embassy of the United States of America
Guatemala City, Guatemala
July 3, 2007
Dear American Citizen:
The following is a warden message concerning rumors of child stealing. Please contact the American Citizen Services section via e-mail (amcitsguatemala@state.gov), fax (2326-4655), or telephone (2326-4405) if you have any questions.Particularly virulent rumors of child stealing and of murder for organ harvesting have recently surfaced in two separate areas of Guatemala frequented by American tourists. On June 15, 2007, a Guatemalan child from Camotan, Chiquimula (near the border with Honduras, on the main road leading from Guatemala to the Copan Mayan ruins) was found dead and mutilated. Three local women who allegedly acted as go-betweens for foreign adoptions were accused by a mob of kidnapping and killing the girl. One of these women was killed by the mob and the other two were severely injured. Locals burned a police car in nearby Jocotan, and forced the police out of Jocotan and Camotan.
Since late May 2007, rumors have been circulating in the El Golfete area of the Rio Dulce near Livingston, Izabal of babies being stolen from neighboring villages by armed men. Local authorities did respond to villagers' reports, but were not able to confirm any such cases. Despite that response, residents of small villages in the area remain mobilized and suspicious of all outsiders, including foreigners.
Another incident in Cunen, Quiche resulted in a local riot with travel on the road from Cunen to Santa Maria Nebaj temporarily interrupted while the PNC re-establishes control. Americans are advised to exercise caution in these areas.
Rumors of child stealing have resulted in the lynching deaths of several Guatemalan citizens this year. Although no foreigners have been reported to be the victim of such attacks recently, Americans are reminded to avoid gatherings of agitated people. Avoid close contact with children, including taking photographs, especially in rural areas. Such contact can be viewed with deep alarm and may provoke panic and violence.
Americans traveling abroad should regularly monitor the Department's web site at http://travel.state.gov where the current Worldwide Caution Public Announcement, Travel Warnings and Public Announcements can be found. The U.S. Embassy in Guatemala City can be reached at (502) 2326-4405 and is located at Avenida Reforma 7-01, Zone 10.
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