When Nancy put her foot down last week, it was actually the beginning of a dance with the Guatemalan Gov’t. It seems like the judicial system that Nancy is dancing with does not have much experience leading, and being that Nancy has zero experience with this dance, a few toes may get stepped on.
Ours have been stepped on and now we have to stay down here for, yet again, “one more week.” So by the end of next week we will be hopefully on a plane back to AK. It seems that the suspect’s family has hired a good/sharp lawyer to stall the judicial system as much as possible, hoping that we will leave and the case will be dropped. Even though Nancy has given a testimony to the Public Ministry and the police, it counts for nothing and she has to give a declaration to a Judge and the defense lawyer can supposedly grill Nancy during the declaration. “What the heck?” Allowed to be grilled while giving a declaration of what happened? Sounds like an interrogation to me. I’m really trying to hold in my expletives right now. If Nancy leaves without giving a declaration, supposedly the case will be dropped even though the police may have fingerprints and other evidence. Nancy has not been allowed to see the suspects yet. On the two occasions the Gov’t has given her photos of the suspects, they have been the ones published in the newspaper and the suspects have covered their faces. Really high-class police work down here!
On behalf of the suspects or anyone suspected of anything down here, the Gov’t can hold you in jail for three months without any evidence or “real” reason. Not a very good system. We feel bad that if the suspects being held now are not the robbers/killers, their lawyer may be delaying their release by his stall tactics. Also, we have heard that the penalty for killing down here may be a mere 15 years. Hardly a sentence. I am beginning to despise this “system,” if you can even call it a system. The Lonely Planet has an interesting excerpt in their Guatemalan Guide Book: “Here’s a sticky one for you: take it as given that the Guatemalan justice system is broken, perhaps beyond repair. Lawyers get shot in broad daylight on downtown streets and nobody saw anything.”
Not very promising.
Yesterday we went for an inner-tube float down one of the local rivers. Quite serene except for the very short sections of class 3 mini-falls that end in sharp rocks. We all had a very good time until I led the way into the “toughest” section with scouting only being done by our “guide” and the only advice being to “stay left.” Well, I stayed “left”, but, my tube ripped on a sharp rock before I even entered the main drop. So, my floatation ceased and I (without helmet or lifejacket) used my skin to protect my innards from sharp rocks. It worked. In hindsight, I should have obeyed rule one and scouted on my own to “see” the rapids and sharp rocks for myself. I should have obeyed rule 2 and not run the rapids considering our guide didn’t even run them. Hmmm.
Besides the one incident, the float was perfect. Jessica did get pinned in her tube on a rock and became stranded in the middle of the river, but we were able to get her tube back to her and she was able to drop the last of the technical falls. Side Note: I would never have taken my pack raft down this river. The rocks were sharp (volcanic) and would have been perfect for rock-climbing, but we were trying to slide over them not stick to them. Oh, I had to sew a hole in my trunks after the trip.
Today we head for Tikal. A jungle Mayan pyramid exploration is in order. We’ll be staying with friends in Tikal and then back to Rio Dulce. We are all wanting to come home but feel that a statement is necessary to keep the case open. We know that nothing can be done for us, but maybe we can help others by stopping this kind of thing from happening again. With only 2% of all homicides being solved down here, it is kind of a Hail-Mary. Some of you may be under the impression that the killers were taken care of with “Village Justice,” as reported in some of the newspapers. We have no proof that the one’s killed down here were the attackers. We (the police too) do not even have photos of those “cleansed” by the locals. It’s a crazy “justice” system down here. I sure have a different and grateful view of our “ official judicial system” back home. At least it isn’t completely broken (except O.J.). But, there is always hope.
Love Us. (Brian, Nancy and Jessica)
