Guatemalan farmers seize police

[Robbien]

Source: Guardian

Some 1,500 angry farmers in Guatemala have taken about 30 police officers hostage and demanded that an arrested leader be released.

. . .

The farm leader, Ramiro Choc, was arrested on 14 February and accused of robbery and illegal detention.

The farmers disarmed the officers at the police station in Livingston and took them by boat to the remote jungle village of Maya Creek, police said.

Among those being held were the police station head, a police district head and four other commanders, local media reported.

Mr Choc has also been accused of inciting residents to take over land, including nature reserves.

Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7259659.stm

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Amnesty International made this statement:

Amnesty International believes that the attack on Ramiro Choc was related to his legitimate activities as a human rights and land activist, and that the landowner and his supporters acted with the complicity or acquiescence of the local authorities.

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from this site
http://gerryantics.blogspot.com/

It would appear that despite the recent change in government here in Guatemala some issues are far from being over. It is said that the charges against Choc have been made by the owner of a property that he claims should have been returned to the indigenous peoples under the terms of the peace agreement signed at the end of the Civil war in 1996.

One can certainly see that the property here on the Rio Dulce has become a valuable commodity. the influx of foreigners and rich Guatemalans from the city is pushing up prices and of course where there is money to be made there will also be shady dealings.

Last night the Agrarian Platform (PA) said that the arrests and reprisals against peasant leaders who demand the regularization of the land they inhabit are clear examples of the beginning of a mismanagement of the government.

One of the most representative cases is that of Ramiro Choc, quekchí leader, who was arrested last Thursday in Zacapa by the National Civil Police accusing him of the charges of aggravated robbery, aggravated theft and remarks that in the opinion of the PA are a clear demonstration of state repression.

[Mnemosyne]

1. More people tired of the same old

shit. :applause:

Me too.

[Mnemosyne]

2. Oops!

I should avoid PWH. :blush::hi:

[OKthatsIT]

3. I hear the Intel-Contra BoyZ are back in Central America

...and they've been training police forces and military, again.

When the GLOBALISTS say they mean to have their ONE WORLD GOVT, that's exactly what they mean.

[Voice for Peace]

4. wow -- don't know much about the story but love the headline

people seizing police for a change, instead of the other way around.