GUATEMALA: Fears for safety of Indigenous leaders | Amnesty International Canada

22.3.13

GUATEMALA: Fears for safety of Indigenous leaders | Amnesty International Canada - On 17 March, four Xinca leaders – Encarnación Marcos, Rigoberto Aguilar, Rodolfo López and Roberto González – participated in a public event held in the El Volcancito hamlet, San Rafael Las Flores, where they acted as observers at a community-organized consultation on mining in the area. Following the event, the four men left El Volcancito at 8.30pm. At approximately 9.15pm, as they were approaching Mataquescuintla, approximately 12 men in two trucks stopped their vehicle. The heavily armed men, who were wearing balaclavas, forced them into the trucks. Rigoberto Aguílar and Rodolfo López were released at different times during the night. Rigoberto Aguílar had reportedly been beaten. In the early morning of 18 March, Encarnación Marcos was found dead. His body had been thrown into a ditch and his hands were tied. One of the pickup trucks had been left near the corpse. Initial press reports indicate Encarnación Marcos had been strangled to death.