Sergio Palencia Frener writes in NACLA about those who were killed during the Alaska (La Cumbre de Alaska) massacre in 2012.

In the Mayan highlands of Guatemala there is a summit called Alaska. Known locally as Chuipatán, it is located in K’iche’ territory at 3,015 meters (9,891 feet) above sea level. On Thursday, October 4, 2012, the cantones (districts) of Totonicapán occupied this and two other points on the Pan-American Highway to protest the high cost of electricity and the closure of the teacher’s college. No one imagined that the day would end with what many have called the first massacre by state forces since the signing of the Peace Accords in 1996. In a country that suffered one of the worst military campaigns against Indigenous peoples on the continent between 1981 and 1984, the Alaska Massacre brought back bitter memories.

Around 2:30 in the afternoon, two trucks and a pickup from the Guatemalan Army parked half a kilometer from the 5,000 protesters. They were carrying military riot gear and soldiers armed with Galil rifles. Community leaders, with their staff of authority or ch’ami’y, approached to dialogue with the troops but were greeted with tear gas. The soldiers began to fire their weapons. The unequal confrontation left six Indigenous men dead and 34 wounded that day. Subsequently a case was brought against a colonel and several soldiers, but it was later delayed due to various impediments. Each of the protesters had family and a place in their community. Their widows and orphans reclaim their lives and memory; these are some of the stories they told me.

You can read the full piece, with photos, here, The Lives of Those Who Died.

Categories: Guatemala, Human Rights, Impunity, Indigenous peoples, Justice, Land, Military, Poverty, Violence

Tags: La Cumbre de Alaska, NACLA