When the earth shakes and so do the people
Ah, Santa María de Jesús, a place so picturesque that even justice is administered with stones and fire. Five people decided that, in the midst of the seismic apocalypse that is shaking Guatemala, it was the perfect time to loot abandoned houses. Spoiler: it wasn’t. The neighbors, tired of nature and thieves ruining their day, organized to give them a warm (literally) farewell.
Express justice: no lawyers, no trial, just stones
The Ministry of the Interior, with that bureaucratic serenity that we love so much, explained that the five men were intercepted between Thursday and Friday. The procedure? First, a rain of stones to soften them; then a final touch with fire to make sure the message was clear. All this in a town without electricity or water, because nothing says “we are in crisis” like lynching someone in the dark.
In videos spread on social networks (because, of course, if there is no electricity, at least there is mobile data), men armed with sticks were seen doing their thing. The National Civil Police tried to intervene, but the neighbors, in an act of community solidarity, told them: “No, thank you, we’ll take care of it.” And so, without legal procedures, the accused went from suspects to ashes in record time.
Earthquakes, robberies and a president counting dead
Meanwhile, President Bernardo Arévalo updated the number of deaths from the earthquakes to seven. But, surprise, it turns out that the tremors are not the fault of the volcanoes, as everyone thought, but of tectonic faults. What a relief, because nothing is more reassuring than knowing that the ground moves for geological reasons and not because a volcano is in a bad mood.
Since Tuesday, Insivumeh has recorded more than 425 earthquakes, which is equivalent to one tremor every half hour. The result? Isolated towns, landslides and, apparently, citizens taking the law into their own hands because, well, who has time for courts when the world is falling apart?
Moral? If you are going to steal, it may not be the best time during a natural disaster. And if you’re a town in crisis, maybe taking justice into your own hands isn’t the solution… but hey, we already knew that, right?
Share this story and reflect: what would you do if the ground shakes and the thieves do too? Explore more about how crises bring out the worst (and sometimes the worst) in humanity.
