By Brandon Cottrell
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

GUATEMALA CITY, Guatemala – A group of unidentified men shot 29 people in the mountain town of San Jose Nacahuil just outside of Guatemala City this past Saturday.  The shooting left 11 dead and many of the wounded are in critical condition.  The majority of the victims were shot near the street as they patronized the local cantinas.

A local newspaper reported that prior to the shooting, a group of individuals were dismissed from one of the liquor stores that was attacked.  The individuals left but returned shortly wearing balaclavas and carrying guns.  They then began shooting at the people in the cantina, in the liquor store and in the street.

Guatemalan officials say that gang violence was the cause of the shooting and suggest that when the shooters could not buy alcohol from the cantinas, they opened fire in retaliation   Local residents, however, blame the shooting on the corrupted National Civil Police and cite the minimal gang presence in their town.  The NCP, which is frequently accused of corruption, extortion and is linked to local gangs, arrived Saturday night after receiving several anonymous calls reporting that an attack was imminent.  The NCP determined that no attack was imminent and left, but within an hour of their departure, the attack occurred.

Santos Peinado, a 28-year-old construction worker whose cousin, Santos Suret, was killed thinks that the NCP “had something to do with it, because they showed up and 20 minutes after they left there was the attack; why didn’t they stay and why didn’t they arrest the attackers?”  Another Guatemalan told reporters that the NCP threatened to shut a cantina down if the owner did not pay them a $60 bribe.  That owner, who was killed in the shooting, refused to pay.

Six years ago, San Jose Nacahuil residents who were dissatisfied with the NCP, set up a community police force to patrol the town with machetes.  The residents then expelled the NCP by burning down their police station. The community police force proved effective, as the town had some of the lowest crime rates in Guatemala, despite no official police force being present.

Though no arrests have yet been made and a motive remains unclear, the shooters get away car was found abandoned just outside of the town.

 

For more information, please see:

BBC News – Guatemalan Bar Attack Leaves 11 People Dead– 8 September 2013

Global News – Gunmen Kill 11, Wound 18 In Poor Guatemala Town– 8 September 2013

Global Post – Drive-By Shooting Kills At Least 11 In A Rural Town In Guatemala – 8 September 2013

Washington Post – Gunmen Attack 2 Cantinas In Rural Guatemala Two, Killing 11 People And Wounding 18 More – 8 September 2013