Despite bad weather (thick fog and rain), kilometer 171 in Cumbre de Alaska, Solola Department, remains closed, after a makeshift platform was set up in this very same spot on Monday to receive the bodies of the 13 victims of the most recent massacre due to a land dispute since 1865.
The families had a wake for their dead on the road, including some children, and called on authorities to do something to end clashes, which bring about a spiral of violence in the area.
The demonstrations and closures are taking place a few hours before the Congress of the Republic analyzes the state of siege proposed on Monday by President Alejandro Giammattei in order to, he said, regain control of the situation after last Friday’s loathsome incidents.
Both Ixtahuacan residents and analysts agree on the fact that this measure, the second one this year, does not contribute to the solution of this problem, so they will keep on demonstrating for at least three days, the same number of days deputies could take to ratify or dismiss the Governmental Decree.
In October, 2020, the High-Level Negotiation Commission, presided over Vice President Guillermo Castillo, started an agrological and measurement study of the El Alto estate, the presumed origin of the core conflict between the residents of Santa Catarina Ixtahuacan and Nahuala.
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