Demonstrators blocked the road to demand a dialogue on the rising price of electricity in the area, and the education and constitutional reforms proposed by the government of President Otto Pérez Molina.
The demonstrators were representatives from indigenous communities from Totonicapan, an exceptional, mostly indigenous (90%) community in the Guatemalan highlands.
While demonstrations are common in the area, the number of persons killed and injured is highly unusual. There is evidence that members of the Guatemalan Army were carrying guns, although the Minister of Interior has denied it, arguing that the peasants killed each other, as Mario Rodríguez explains in his blog post “Declarations full of cynicism” [es].President Perez also said that civilians fired upon an army truck. There's still much that we don't know about yesterday's events.
Among other things, the community has been concerned about the president's proposed constitutional reforms, education reforms, and the rising costs of electricity.
