GUATEMALA: POOR COFFEE WORKERS SORT THROUGH REMAINS OF VILLAGE AFTER RIOT BY FORMER PARAMILITARIES DEMANDING BACK PAY FROM CIVIL WAR

Record ID: 649245

  • Title: GUATEMALA: POOR COFFEE WORKERS SORT THROUGH REMAINS OF VILLAGE AFTER RIOT BY FORMER PARAMILITARIES DEMANDING BACK PAY FROM CIVIL WAR
  • Date: 5th May 2003
  • Summary: (W2) CHICACAO, GUATEMALA (MAY 05, 2003) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. VARIOUS OF AMATEUR VIDEO OF BUILDINGS ON FIRE (3 SHOTS) 0.08 (W2) CHICACAO, GUATEMALA (MAY 06, 2003) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 2. VARIOUS, PEOPLE LOOKING AT BURNT OUT BUILDINGS (4 SHOTS) 0.43 3. VARIOUS, RESIDENTS CLEANING UP (2 SHOTS) 0.54 4. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) STORE OWNER, OSCAR PERDOMO, SAYING: "Supposedly the government had authorized the payment to a group of ex-pats and the money was supposed to be at the government building. The people came very early to the government building and there were only 200 names of over 2000." 1.25 5. VARIOUS OF PEOPLE CLEANING UP AFTER FIRE (2 SHOTS) 1.34 6. VARIOUS OF REMAINS OF BUILDINGS (2 SHOTS) 1.44 7. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) FORMER PARAMILITARY, JOSE TECU, SAYING: "Over 3000 people were waiting for their payment from the government, they didn't get paid so we burned everything." 2.02 8. VARIOUS OF BURNED BUILDINGS (2 SHOTS) 2.12 (W2) PANAN, GUATEMALA (MAY 06, 2003) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 9. WIDE OF FORMER PARAMILITARIES IN FRONT OF MUNICIPAL BUILDING 2.16 9. VARIOUS, FORMER PARAMILITARIES IN FRONT OF MUNICIPAL BUILDING (2 SHOTS) 2.25 11. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) MAYOR OF PANAN, JUAN COCHE, SAYING: "They are mad at me and they want me to resign they're talking about using gasoline." 2.51 12. WIDE OF FORMER PARAMILITARIES AT MUNICIPAL BUILDING 2.58 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 20th May 2003 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: CHICACAO AND PANAN, GUATEMALA
  • Country: Guatemala
  • Reuters ID: LVA5J6MOPQ9KY4ZQOHJ6A50CFMHQ
  • Story Text: Poor coffee workers have begun picking through the
    charred remains of their village after thousands of former
    paramilitary fighters in southern Guatemala rioted to demand
    pay for their service in the long civil war.



    Locals scooped smouldering timber into wheelbarrows on
    Tuesday (May 06) in a scene reminiscent of the 36-year war in
    this region where rebels often burned down the plantation
    houses of wealthy landowners.

    On Monday night (May 05), during a night of rioting,
    hundreds of former fighters took Mayor Juan Coche hostage.

    "They are mad at me and they want me to resign they're
    talking about using gasoline," a tired-looking Coche told
    Reuters at town hall, where he was guarded by some 200 unarmed
    ex-fighters wearing cowboy hats and sandals on Tuesday.

    The men were among former "civilian patrollers" across the
    province protesting against President Alfonso Portillo's plan
    to pay them 672(USD) each for their services during the war.

    Police said the ex-fighters rioted because only a fraction
    of those seeking payment were deemed entitled to compensation.

    "Over 3000 people were waiting for their payment from the
    government, they didn't get paid so we burned everything,"
    said Jose Tecu, a former paramilitary.

    The patrollers were often farmers forced by the army to
    hunt down leftist guerrillas during the 1960-1996 conflict.

    Most of the estimated 200,000 people killed in the war were
    Maya Indians, according to rights groups which say civilian
    patrollers took part in the massacres of thousands.

    In Chicacao, a medium-sized town of multicoloured
    wooden-fronted shops and houses, all that was left of the
    large municipal complex was a soccer-field-sized smouldering
    mass of twisted metal and melted plastic chairs.

    Papers documenting births and deaths lay scattered and
    charred as children and women, many barefoot, combed the
    smoking ash for anything of value.

    A market, a library and the Mayor's house were burned
    down. Five police men stood around helpless during the riots.

    Local authorities said many ex-fighters were fired from
    coffee farms as the price fell in recent years and saw the
    offer of cash as a godsend.

    But of about 7,000 ex-patrollers from town, 220 made the list for
    compensation.

    Critics say the compensation plan is a bid for votes by
    the ruling Guatemalan Republican Front party in November
    elections.

    Efrain Rios Montt -- the former military dictator
    who created the civilian patrols in 1982 -- plans to run for
    President.




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