Lynchings and the Democratization of Terror in Postwar Guatemala: Implications for Human Rights
2002; Johns Hopkins University Press; Volume: 24; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1353/hrq.2002.0035
ISSN1085-794X
Autores Tópico(s)Cuban History and Society
ResumoOn 24 January 1999, an estimated three thousand people gathered in the remote rural community of El Afán, Quiché, in the highlands of Guatemala, to witness the execution of four men. Outraged by the robbery of a local merchant, a group of area residents had apprehended the suspects and conducted an impromptu investigation, discovering weapons and cash. They then summoned the population to participate in a hastily convened "Popular Tribunal" to decide the accused men's fate. Holding police and human rights authorities at bay, the crowd voted to execute the men by stoning. The sentence was carried out at once, and the victims' corpses were cast into the nearby Chixoy River—after being sliced open and stuffed with rocks, to prevent them from floating to the surface for easy recovery by the authorities.
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