The riot police took up their positions early in the morning, with ten black uniformed troopers on the steps of Antigua's City Hall. Two had shot-guns fitted with gas canisters and one carried an AK-47. A block away, north on 4th Calle, four more took up their positions. They wore new fiberglass shin guards, into which they stuffed their shiny new crowd control batons (billyclubs). Several were women, and all were dressed in the black uniforms of the PNC, the Policia Nacional Civil. The central park was cordoned off with yellow plastic tape and the favored black crew-cab Toyota pickups of the PNC covered all angles. The chop-chop sounds of Huey's…(Hughes helicopters) echoed off the facades of the main cathedral and the Palacio de los Capitanes Generales to the south of the park. No one seemed to know what was going on, scheduled or about to happen: plain-clothes officers in their LL Bean fishing vests (covers the Beretta 9mm), short haircuts and dark glasses moved through the plaza, some with ear-buds, some not. About an hour later, it all became clear as to what was coming.
A dark colored pickup, draped with a bright yellow plastic tarp over the rear, slowly drove from the west, were the central market is. Behind the truck came a large band of marchers, some waving the FNL black and red flags, emblazoned with two large yellow stars in the corners. This was a labor protest, a right to work and a right to organize rally. Gautemala's labor record is a lot like their war on drugs, crime and corruption: a lot of talk and no action except suppression and sanctioned murders of the union leaders. Sixteen labor leaders were killed in 2009 and many more were roughed up, beaten and jailed. The United Nation's refugee agency, the UNHCR, issued a scathing report this month, which will probably be consigned to the usual round receptacle in the corner of the office.
The marchers gathered and stopped in front of City Hall. A battery-powered bull-horn and a speaker exhorted the band to fight, struggle and condemn the government's lack of action. Banners waved, native Maya women in their colorful huipiles and hand-embroidered blouses stoically stood . The police watched warily, with nervous fingers on the trigger of whatever weapon they carried. This wasn't like shaking down a taxi driver or a blonde tourist. There were witnesses and many were gringos: this would not be good PR for Antigua or Gautemala if something went wrong.
At last, the final exclamations and demands for justice were made. The bull-horn was put away, the pickup reversed itself in the broad calle and the band of protesters slowly walked away, in the direction from where they came. Did they go directly to the bus station and board their rides to their villages? Some might have gone on to the traveling circus, at the rear of the market. If they got on the merry-go-round, that's just about what they'll get from the government. It was just another day in Antigua. FLN? It stands for the Frente Lucha Nacional or National Struggle Front: they've got their work cut out for them and there aren't any benefits, except a bruise, a scrape or a cheap funeral.
Source: Guatemala News-El
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