Caribbean & Central America - November 2012 (ISSN 1741-4458)

On 4 October as many as 20,000 indigenous demonstrators from the western Guatemalan department of Totonicapán peacefully blocked off part of the Pan-American Highway to protest escalating energy prices, proposed amendments to the constitution and a controversial teacher training reform. Police and soldiers were deployed to respond to the demonstration. Disregarding the ministry of interior’s order to maintain a distance, a military contingent advanced and opened fire on the demonstrators, killing six protesters (on official figures) and left more than 30 injured.  Fanning existing human rights concerns over President Otto Pérez Molina, a former head of military intelligence (D-2), the violence had particular resonance given Guatemala’s 1960-1996 civil war, which left more than 200,000 (mainly indigenous) people dead and saw the State (chiefly the military) accused of 93% of human rights violations committed. It also serves more generally as one of the starkest reminders of the dangers of using the military for citizen security, a policy increasingly rolled out across the region.

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