Thugs and Buses

Well it's been nearly three months since we arrived here in Antigua and while our Spanish still stinks, at least we can muscle our way through the daily papers here. One item I've been following with equal parts horror and fascination is the saga of blood and violence that plays out routinely on the public bus system in Guatemala City.

Not surprisingly, after enduring a 36-year old civil war, the country suffers from a rash of problems that affect developing nations: extreme poverty, corruption, and crime. But while a certain amount of street crime can be expected anywhere, the delinquency here is at its worst in history. The police force is undermanned, underpaid, and according to most people you talk to, thoroughly corrupt. When locals encounter cops here on the street, they cross to the other side. Frequently, police are paid by gangs so that they can continue robbing folks in the street. It is very rare that criminals are brought to justice. Guatemala has a per capita murder rate roughly eight times that of the US, a figure that in and of itself is difficult to conceptualize in a concrete manner. But of the roughly 6,000 murders reported each year, roughly 2% result in jail time, showing that criminals are rarely brought to justice.

The best example of how crime infects the daily existence of Guatemaltecans is the public bus system in Guatemala City. According to the Association of Urban Transport Companies here, an average of 8,000 people get robbed everyday in the city transit system. With a daily ridership of 1,000,000, this suggests that if you ride the bus to work everyday, say 240 times a year, statistically speaking, you can expect to be robbed approximately 1.9 times annually. When discussing this figure with locals, they actually feel like it may be low.

Typically three to four kids will board and demand that the vehicle drive around until all money, cell phones and anything of value from all passengers is handed over. This occurs between 200 and 300 times daily in the capital, or at least one incident for every 15 buses in the city (If you count only the buses operating on a daily basis, the figure is even higher). Of course some bus routes are better than others, but in general people just don't wear jewelry, use cheap cell phones and obviously carry as little cash as possible. What cash they do carry is often hidden in different places all over their body.

And the next time you complain about your daily commute, think of the poor passengers who got robbed twice on the same bus. I'm not sure how often this happens, but I saw an article about an incident two years back when everyone was robbed at gunpoint and then were robbed again seven blocks later by a another group of thugs. Of course they didn't have anything left to give away so the kids just insulted the passengers for an hour or so and threatened to rape a couple people but finally ended up leaving empty-handed.

Armed robberies occur with such frequency that they rarely make the news unless a gunfight breaks out, or if someone is stabbed or raped, which thankfully doesn't happen as often, but still does occur with alarming frequency.

But even worse than being a passenger, driving a bus in the city has turned into one of the most dangerous occupations in the country. This year, the nation has had 255 drivers and fare collectors murdered while working (buses here are a two-man team, with a driver and 'ayudante' or fare collector). 40 drivers have been gunned down in the city, meaning that statistically speaking, 1 out of every 73 buses in the capital have had a driver murdered on the job in first nine and a half months of the year. Like the vast majority of businesses in Guatemala City, buses are forced to pay gang taxes in order to operate. This tax varies depending on the route but ranges generally between 50 and 100 quetzales per diem, or between roughly $7 and $14. If a drivers fails to pay, he risks a bullet to the head. This is also true for the fare collectors, who are routinely shot as well. Certain companies have threatened to stop service until a police officer is assigned full time to each bus. (Note that the buses here, while publicly accessible, are run by private companies). Other companies have had their buses strafed by moto-riding gunmen when failing to pay their taxes and other forms of extortion.

With the authorities powerless against the wave of crime here, folks have been taking things into their own hands. One incident that illustrates with vivid clarity the dramatic manner in which justice can play out occurred a couple of weeks ago in the town of San Pedro Yepocapa, which is about two hours from where we're staying. One evening, a bus was robbed by four gunmen, which isn't that unusual, but four women were also taken from the bus and raped in a coffee plantation. Two of the victims were minors.

Not surprisingly, the neighborhood was in an uproar and gathered to seek revenge on the perpetrators. But when they sought help from the police, they found that the personnel on duty were all drunk. In frustration, they burned down the police station. Afterwards, they found one of the robber/rapists and beat him until he revealed the identities of his accomplices. While being clubbed, he also admitted that the guns were borrowed from the police (many of whom are widely reputed to moonlight as criminals or rent out their weapons). Then the kid was given a final beating and killed in front of an audience of hundreds in the town square.

Public lynching is not super common in Guatemala, but there is a little more than one occurrence every other week or so. In the latest incident, two teenagers were clubbed and burned to death, while yesterday, two kids who had just shot a tuk-tuk driver were beaten and doused with gasoline before the authorities rescued them from certain doom.

While Agnes and I have ventured into the city only a handful of times (Guatemala City is about 45 mins. from Antigua) – once to the city's fantastic zoo, we generally take taxis once we're there. Not surprisingly, the locals we know generally take buses in the city as a last resort as well. The absence of security manifests itself in a zillion other ways even in tourist friendly Antigua, but it basically just comes down to people taking measures to protect themselves (armed guards in front of retail establishments, security bars everywhere (even sometimes between you and the server in an ice cream shop)). But until really getting into it, I sort of thought that all the advice we got about avoiding the city bus system were exaggerated warnings of the type all tourists get at one time or another, but after doing a little digging, I think this counsel is well worth heeding.

While I will concede an almost morbid fascination with the violence on the bus system, what would really be something to witness is the manner in which the epidemic of crime is finally contained, if ever. The nation faces so many other grim realities that are intertwined with delinquency that it's hard to see things truly improving for some time.

The chief of Police was recently replaced (by the first woman to ever hold the position) and she fired hundreds of officers and department heads for corruption. And if she can be successful in eradicating the culture of corruption and laziness in the national police force, it will be a great first step. And the current president is promising to nearly triple the size of the police department. But since the end of the civil war in 1996, Guatemala has never had confidence in the honesty of its national police.

There are frequent calls to employ the army to reinforce the nation's efforts against crime but they are undermanned and ill-equipped to handle such a task in a comprehensive manner either, since the size of the army was radically reduced as part of the peace accords to end the war. The army was responsible for a tremendous number of human rights abuses and atrocities during the conflict. And while an improved economy and increased opportunity for the poor would do wonders for the security situation, this is virtually impossible to achieve when people are so fearful for their physical safety. So while I tell my teachers here that I'd love to come back someday and safely ride a city bus, I'm not sure when that will be.