Archive for Justice
Vigilante Justice Update
Posted by: | CommentsThis website is reporting that a lynch mob burned a man alive for allegedly raping his nine year-old daughter. What’s interesting is it reportedly happened in ‘San Juan, Sacatepequez’. There is a San Juan del Obispo only a mile or so up the road, but I’m sure there are dozens of San Juans in this state.
If you’re anything like me, your first thought might be ‘Good riddance’. Of course, as I’ve pointed out before, vigilante justice is fraught with problems. God forbid your son or daughter is angry at you and starts telling people you’ve abused her; you might end up crispy even if there is no truth to it.
Consider another scenario, not very far-fetched; a visiting college kid from the US manages to persuade some local girl to share some love, an accomplishment not appreciated by Mom and Dad who raise the alarm in town and claim the gringo raped their daughter. (A little better for the family honor than admitting she’s a hussy). Said gringo gets roasted.
It seems to me that if the society fails at justice, it is a fundamental failure of the state. However, this solution is seriously defective. Can’t these lynch mobs come up with a form of corporal punishment that’s a little less…permanent? How about tying him up in the public square for a month, and letting passerbys whip him at will. Or branding him with a big ‘R’ on his forehead.
What do you think?
Do You Use Protection?
Posted by: | CommentsOne of the things some visitors to Guatemala have difficulty adjusting to is the ever-present armed guards. Hailing from the south and southwest of the US, my family and I are accustomed to being around guns, and don’t find anything odd about it. In fact, the more guns, the safer I feel. To borrow a phrase often used in a different context, “I think everyone ought to own one”.
When we were in Mexico City, there were heavily armed guards on almost every street corner. People would write me and ask, “Aren’t you scared of all those guys with guns?!” and I could honestly reply that I felt safer standing next to one of those guys than I did at a ballgame in Phoenix.
The Washington Post had a recent article on the proliferation of private security here in Guatemala that reminded me of a few of these things. The writer points out that virtually anyone can get a gun here and that many of the armed guards have little training and may have been farmers just a few days or weeks before. This reveals, of course, the writer’s bias against both agrarian workers and gun owners, something not likely confined to his opinion of Guatemalans.
The article explains how some private security guards are a threat and end up robbing or assaulting the businesses they’ve been hired to protect. This is inevitable; my friends in law enforcement and DA offices in the US admit off the record that there are a lot of cops working the street who have things other than law and order on their minds. It’s nothing against cops, it’s human nature we’re talking about here, but I share the opinion of many others who say that there are certain types who get a thrill out of carrying a gun and a badge. (Ask me about official immunity sometime).
The reality is that perception is as important as reality. I live in an extremely safe, gated neighborhood that is protected by an armed guard by day and two guards at night, one with a fully automatic weapon. (According to my 14 year-old, if you ask to see their weapons, they happily oblige, ejecting the ammo and handing the gun over.)
The neighborhood has steel gates, cameras, high walls with concertina wire, and I have my own gate and walls, and yet on top of all this my house has steel bars over all the windows and doors. I don’t know that the bars provide any additional protection, but if the house had none, locals would deem it less safe than the house next door, which has them. Who wants to own a house that is perceived as being less safe? Thus, the windows and doors are barred.
This is the conundrum of security in Guatemala; because of perception there is a constant cycle of increasing the perception of security in order to demonstrate to everyone that you are safe. In reality, it would take almost no effort to take down any of these guards, even unarmed; they’ve clearly not been trained in close combat or even proper handling of their weapons. Surely the narco traffickers and skilled criminals understand this, and yet by all accounts the businesses without guards are easier targets; even the criminals want to avoid trouble.
Perhaps this is one more symptom of a failing justice system, because if people feared the consequences, perhaps crime would be less. Maybe some readers have an opinion on the phenomenom.
Twit and Go to Jail
Posted by: | CommentsIn the interest of full disclosure, let me say that my Spanish is pretty poor and so I may have missed some nuance in this article in Prensa Libre. However, it appears to me that a Guatemalan man has been arrested for urging people (via Twitter) to withdraw funds from BanRural as a punitive action for their alleged corruption and ties to the murder of the attorney and his clients which have been at the center of the recent scandal.
It seems to me extraordinary that someone could be jailed for merely urging others to make withdrawals from a bank. After all, if the bank is fully solvent, as the government claims, the withdrawals will not bring about panic. How is this different from demonstrating in front of the bank, alleging ties to conspiracy and murder?
On the other hand, this is nowhere near as offensive as some of the other comments I have seen under the Twitter search of these events, which you can read under #escandalogt. I’m reminded that people will write things online they would never say to another person or in front of a group. The need for responsibility in speech is regrettably paired to a online generation that mostly has yet to develop much self discipline or good judgment.
I don’t know whether these things are prudent or not. I don’t know whether elected officials are responsive to their constituents and whether calls and emails to them might be more effective than demonstrating in the streets and urging customers to take punitive actions against their bank. People who are interested in justice need to keep all this in mind before they speak out, because the pen is indeed mightier than the sword.
Our words and actions can have unintended consequences and as an observer from the sidelines, I fear that long pent-up frustration with the level of violence, corruption and general breakdown within this society might lead people into a revolutionary spirit with disastrous consequences. How would the interests of the society be advanced if this left-of-center democrat is replaced by a far-left tyrant? Is Guatemala ready to become the next Venezuela (with hyperinflation, food shortages and rampant official abuse), or worse, that former paradise and free-market success story turned into a prison camp we know as Cuba?
Update: One of my readers was kind enough to call me and bring something to my attention that sheds some light on this topic. Apparently within the last few months a law was passed which criminalizes the publication of rumors about local banks. This legislation stems from widespread rumors which led to a run on several banks. Whether just or not, this gets to the prudence of the public comments by the aforementioned Twitter user. If any of my Guatemalan readers can shed additional light on this, it is appreciated.
Update 2: jeanfer has been bailed out and is at home under house arrest.
Why This Worries Me
Posted by: | CommentsThe article in Latin American Herald Tribune stopped me in my tracks. It’s not that violence is rare here (it’s not), or that I wasn’t aware of it before moving here (I was), but rather, the details that struck me:
An alleged thief was killed Wednesday in the capital suburb of Mixco by angry residents who accused him of committing robberies, emergency personnel said.
According to firefighters, the man – who was said to be 28 years old but still has not been identified – was detained by enraged residents who beat him, doused him with gasoline and set him on fire, causing his death.
Mixco is a suburb of Guatemala City. It’s supposed to be nice, safe place. I looked at a house there, and while the neighborhood didn’t compare to Antigua, it sat on a ridge overlooking the city and felt safe. Several local families that I’ve come to know live in Mixco, and they’re all professionals or generally educated people.
If you heard a story like this, you would think it happened in some obscure Mayan village, not in a sophisticated suburb of the capital. Additionally, the excessive response concerns me-who in their right mind sets someone on fire for stealing?
If the guy raped your daughter or assaulted your wife or killed someone, I would expect Read More→
The Morality of Vigilante Justice
Posted by: | CommentsI found a blog last week that I really enjoy. It belongs to BJ Murrey and he’s doing a great job. One of his more interesting posts (if you’re a nerd, like me), is his question regarding the morality of vigilante justice. He was referring to a recent incident in Guatemala City where citizens beat to death a man who had just participated in a shooting.
In a civilized society we must uphold the rule of law and punish vigilantes. If we do not, anarchy results and it is inevitably the weakest among us who suffer the most. The argument in this case might be that the lack of an effective justice system has compelled the citizens to take ‘justice’ in their own hands.
The problem with this argument, as evidenced by the story I linked to before, is that the mob lynching of the assailant can’t be classified as ‘justice’. There was no presentation of the evidence, no witnesses to reconcile their stories with the defendant, no impartial judge or jury to weigh the evidence and decide guilt or innocence and proclaim a penalty.
In short, the killing of the alleged assailant is not much different than the murder he is alleged to have committed. The intent may be different, but we don’t know what precipitated the original crime. The original shooting may have itself been retaliatory, just as the mob’s actions were. Acting on presumption and ignorance is an inherent problem with vigilante justice.
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