Violence in Guatemala: Daniel LeClair's story
Photographer Daniel LeClair works for Reuters and has been based in Central America since 1999, but is now facing the possibility that he will have to leave. The ongoing bus war and violence in Guatemala City, where he and his family have been living, has forced some changes. Here is the story in his own words:
"I can clearly remember the day the bus war escalated. It was 4 February 2008. Two extortionists were shot and killed while trying to collect a payment on a bus in downtown Guatemala City. Drivers, tired of paying thousands of dollars in extortion, had hired the assassins.
"As I photographed the scene, I overheard police telling each other this was a declaration of war. The response from gang members was brutal. Fifteen drivers and eight assistants were killed over the next three days. I would spend my whole day going from one bus driver's murder to another, then to a funeral for the drivers killed the day before.
"The scenes were chaotic and similar. A driver would be on his route, his bus full of passengers. Suddenly a young man would stand up, approach the driver shooting him at close range in the head, then jump off the moving bus to a waiting motorcycle. The bus would career down the street, crashing into anything in its path. It was out of control, even drivers who made their payments were being killed. It wasn't just the gangs doing the killing now. Drivers confessed privately that those who didn't pay were also being targeted by their own peers, as one non-compliant driver on a route would inevitably make all of them a target.
"Gangs began to take hold in the 1990s, attracting impoverished and uneducated young men and women. Now they've become organized money-making enterprises, extorting businesses, including bus companies, for regular payments and assaulting people on the streets for cash. Narco traffickers have cemented their presence in Guatemala, taking advantage of the authorities' inability to cope
"Three years on and drivers still get up every day to go to work, despite the knowledge that 450 of their colleagues have been killed. Sometimes when I photograph them on some of the most dangerous routes, I can sense the fear and tension. More than once they've dangerously cut off a suspicious motorcycle. Passengers seemed to trust no-one, not even me. Tactics have changed somewhat since the authorities have beefed up security on the buses and extortionists have responded by spraying whole vehicles with gunfire, killing many innocent passengers in the process.
"Once in March 2009, a woman, so stressed from witnessing a driver's murder, spent 45 minutes trying to calm her crying baby at home before realizing the baby had been struck in the stomach by a deflected bullet. The baby died in the hospital.
"A new, modern, city-owned bus system has started to come online, with pre-paid tickets, assigned bus stops and better security but the violence has not abated. The old privately-owned buses continue to be attacked at a rate of two per week. As I wrote this, a driver from the 40R route has been attacked.
"I've been covering Central America for a decade - coups, riots, hurricanes and so on - but never seen violence like this. I have never seen so many innocent people caught in the middle. The tragedy is that Guatemala has so much to offer. It's so beautiful and so full of wonderful people. As much as I love this place, I've already sent my family away, the future here is very uncertain."
~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~18~RS~)
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I hate to see my beautiful country like this. Not even the press wants to stay there. But please don't forget all the innocent people caught up in a war of drugs traffickers and the weapon industry. We need to create more awareness about all the women and children from Guatemala facing daily exposure to disproportionate criminality. At the same time we need to show our sorrow and solidarity with the victims and their relatives.
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My wife (who is Guatemalan) and I married in 1978 and we lived there together until 1984. During this time the internal conflict was at its height - there were two military coups. Since our return we have regularly returned, but now we are both beginning to feel very wary.
During the time I lived there I travelled evrywhere. I never felt a fear of the insurgents as I do of the gangs that now wreak daily havoc upon Guatemalan society. Until recently if you took advice and did not stick your nose where you should not it was unlikely that you'd come to any harm.
This has all changed and it breaks my heart. Guatemala is a wonderful country and it is so sad that the country has fallen so low. I can assure you that Guatemalans are not like this and would ask anyone who reads the news to bear this in mind. The day when ordinary people can go about their legitimate business cannot come too soon.
Keith
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Can a parallel be draw between this violence in Guatemala and the drug violence in Mexico? Is this some new phenomenon, a dystopian response to globalisation for life's economic losers? Or is it the age old human condition, Just another cycle in man’s inhumanity to man? Then if so why has Latin America been cursed to suffer disproportionally?
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And the trade in drugs and weapons goes on as there's a profit to be made out of human pain and suffering. Terribly sad.
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It's just sad that this happens in a beautiful country like Guatemala. I think historically this is been progressively getting worst after the some so call human rights movements have been indirectly protect the bad guys. Well, there is hope that some day the most vulnerable people say "hasta aqui, vasta"
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I am a Guatemalan living in London and it really breaks my heart to see what's happening at the moment in my country but at the same time I can assure you not everything is bad. Guatemala is an amazing paradise with beautiful places and with the kindest and nicest people. I never lose faith that things will change one day and soon we will have justice and the Guatemalan government will one day do something to change the situation and stop the killings of so many innocent people. Guatemalans deserve to live without fear, to feel free in their own country and dream of a better future.
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This is so sad. I found the people in Guatemala to be some of the friendliest I've ever met. One woman opened up her house and family to me because I was stranded at the airport overnight.
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Reuters as a new agency sends its employees to funerals? This is disgusting. A funeral is about honouring the dead whether it be from friends, family or well wishers not for uncouth jorno hacks. What is there to gain?(OT) Dispicable, shame on reuters and shame on the BBC for printing this paraphrase.Unfortunately "bus wars" happen all over Central and South America, Africa and Asia not just Guatemala. A good opurtunity for an awarness blog done by the BBC's own journalists perhaps and not just "copy and paste" from some well paid voyeuristic funeral goer.
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I was in Guatemala earlier this year for around 8 or 9 days, and none of it (except a brief coach pass through) was spent in Guatemala City so I cannot comment on it's violence.
However, I loved everything else I saw about Guatemala, be in the Tikal forest, Antigua or Lanquin, it was all incredibly beautiful, so I just hope that it doesn't put people off going there. I saw NO violence, heard NO horror stories, and EVERYONE i have spoken to who has been there said it as incredible. The locals who spoke no english on the Colectivos treated us like family, and would go back in a heart beat.
Viva Guatemala! x x x x
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Hey..Cubanheel, your don't know a thing about journalist, I don't see any pic from funerals in this blog, what do you know??? nothing.
I Lived in many countries and did not see somenthing like this before.
I live in Guate for 10 years and I had to move becouse I was threaten and I live with fear. Guate it is such a beautiful country and I love that place, but I know about fear living ther too, we know that bad thing hapend in other countries but in this case they focus in that specific subject.
I hope in my heart that will change some day, and I can come back with no fear anymore, it is diferent to go there as a tourist and to live there.
I give my applause to Reuters and BBC for this blog... me as are so many other people understand this situation, specially if you live there.
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I got back from Guatemala last night after an incredible adventure around this glorious, naturally and historically beautiful country. I found the people to be welcoming, caring, with a real sense of "joi de vivre" Despite being stranded in Guate City for 3 days and exploring further afar than the main squares, I didn't have reason to feel personally threatened at any time. This did mean averting the barrels of the various machine and shot guns that uniformed security guards held outside numerous banks, pharmacies, cafes, corner shops etc...For good reason, I did not ride a "Chicken Bus", but the new safer buses work well - they have an armed guard too.
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I had planned on leaving on January 4th with three girl friends to travel in Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador until the 20th. We are all very aware of the on-going safety issues in Central America, (having traveled there before,) but are wondering if the recent escalation warrants serious consideration of postponing our trip. Please Advise.
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Terrible, tragic, stupid, pointless; and look at the 'In Pictures' shots, of youngsters continuing to play next to the tarpaulin-covered body of a secondary schoolgirl shot to death for not handing over her mobile phone, and of the 15-year old who murdered a bus driver for $25 (£15 maybe).
Where did the maras start? In the USA.
Where do the guns come from? The USA.
Where do the drugs go to? The USA.
I cannot understand the USA putting thousands of troops into Iraq and Afghanistan while most of neighbouring Central America is very rapidly sliding into anarchy.
One day, far too late, they will have to deal with it as it was they who helped this situation to come about, and only they have the resources. There can be no true freedom without responsibility.
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I spent several weeks in Guatemala and found it to be a beautiful place and the people were so friendly, but unfortunately there is an undercurrent of violence and I was mugged by a taxi driver on the way to the airport in Guatemala City, and my friend was mugged waiting for a bus. Beware and keep on your guard.
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