The Assassinations of Indigenous Leaders in Guatemala Trigger Fear as Political Cycle Begins
By all accounts on the morning of May 9, 2018, Luis Arturo Marroquín did not know he was being followed when he left his home to travel to a meeting in San Luis Jilotepeque, Jalapa, Guatemala. The 56-year-old was a community leader and member of the coordinating committee of the Guatemalan Campesino Development Committee (CODECA). Founded in 1992 on Guatemala’s southern coast, CODECA is a human rights organization focused on improving the conditions of the rural poor, advocating for land reform, the nationalization of energy, and the improvement of wages for both Indigenous and non-Indigenous rural workers and farmers.
Marroquín was traveling to a meeting with other members from the organization. He stopped at a small store to make a few copies before his meeting, but he would not leave alive. Shortly after his arrival, a black Toyota Hilux pickup also arrived at the store. Two men got out, entered the store and opened fire, killing Marroquín. Concerned onlookers wrote down the license plate of the vehicle, which was later identified as belonging to José Manuel Mendez Alonzo, the mayor of the nearby municipality of San Pedro Pinula, Jalapa. Mendez Alonzo is also known to be an ally of the embattled administration of President Jimmy Morales.
“The strongest hypothesis of this investigation right now is that Mr. Marroquín had intended to participate in the upcoming election, [and] that this was the primary motivation of the crime,” Pineda told Truthout. “We believe this was a politically motivated crime.”
Luis Arturo Marroquín was killed in what many within the movement of small farmers, known in Spanish as campesinos, see as a campaign of terror against them. Since May 9, seven campesino leaders from CODECA and the Campesino Committee of the Highlands (CCDA) have been murdered.
