Guatemala: Protest Leaves 6 Dead
Source: Associated Press
Guatemala: Protest Leaves 6 Dead
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: October 5, 2012
Thousands of grieving Guatemalans demanded justice on Friday at the funerals for six people slain when shots were fired during a protest on Thursday over electrical power prices and educational policies in a rural area. The government said protesters were blockading a highway near the town of Totonicapán, about 90 miles west of Guatemala City, when soldiers arrived to help the police who had been ordered to evict the demonstrators. Gunfire erupted, killing 6 people and wounding 34, officials said. On Friday, President Otto Pérez Molina acknowledged that the security forces had opened fire.
Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/06/world/americas/guatemala-protest-leaves-6-dead.html?ref=americas&_r=0
Guatemala's right-wing President was involved in Guatemala's long-running civil war, during which he has been believed to have taken part in many atrocities concerning suspected leftists.
Judi Lynn
(160,545 posts)Rage in Guatemala over killings of 7 protesters
October 6, 2012
Associated Press
TOTONICAPAN, Guatemala (AP) Thousands of indigenous Guatemalans shouted in anger Friday and some threw themselves at the coffins of six local people who were shot to death during a protest over electricity prices and educational reform in a poor rural area.
A seventh victim died later at a hospital in the western city of Quezaltenango.
President Otto Perez Molina acknowledged that government forces had opened fire during the protest Thursday, after saying earlier that police and troops on the scene had been unarmed and the protesters had provoked the clash.
Human rights groups condemned the government's actions and charged they were part of a pattern of excessive use of force against protesters.
~snip~
He said seven soldiers injured in the confrontation had said they only fired into the air to protect themselves from what they considered to be a threatening crowd.
More:
http://www.tribtoday.com/page/content.detail/id/256123/Rage-in-Guatemala-over-killings-of-7-protesters--.html?isap=1&nav=5030
Judi Lynn
(160,545 posts)because THAT President is a massive human rights violator, and a fellow RIGHT-WINGER. So it's more than fitting he just slaughters MORE of the indigenous Guatemalans, of whom Guatemala has ALREADY murdered more than 200,000 since the U.S. overthrew their beloved leftist President Jacob Arbenz in 1954, even using U.S. Marines to get the job done, after United Fruit (now Chiquita) started bitching about the way he ran his government to U.S. government officials, like Eisenhower's CIA Director, Allen Dulles.
From the United Fruit Company (Chiquita) Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Fruit_Company
formercia
(18,479 posts)Guatemala gets a lot of Revenue from Tourism and sweat-shop manufacturing.