Huelga de todos los dolores

As I've already mentioned, Xela does something different every weekend for the Cuaresma. Last Friday, Kate and I stumbled upon a student protest in the parque central. This protest is called the Huelga de todos los dolores, or the strike of all sorrows. It's a tradition that started 113 years ago in which the students of the public university of Xela - the University San Carlos of the Centro Universitario del Occidente, USAC/CUNOC - dress up in ku klux klan looking robes and hats, set up a stage in front of the town hall building, and shout in a microphone denouncing all the wrongs done by politicians and all the malaises of guatemalan society. They passed out pamphlets with the title Living to fight and fighting to denounce, in which the committee of the strike basically curses out politicians, namely the mayor of Xela and the presidential couple, in vehement rhyming propaganda prose and expresses the woes of the guatemalan people. It also includes a proposal as to what should be done to improve the city of Xela and denounces the passivity and stagnation of the current municipal government. Traditionally, the Huelga lasts a week, and the students are known to ask for money to local businesses to support their cause and help them finance their strike, and deface those businesses that won't collaborate and give in to the extortion by throwing motor oil all over their facade. The collected money is supposed to go to funding the costs of the event but has been rumored to ending up funding big parties for the students. Business owners have complained so the police is active in controlling this vandalism, which is also condemned by the director of the USAC and many students because it gives a bad name to the institution. This year the committee in charge of organizing it was not elected properly, which has added further polemic to the event.
Here are some of the denouncements of the municipalities' deficiencies and the proposals by the students:

- It should be known that it's already been 8 years that Jorge Rolando Barrientos has been mayor of the Quetzalteca community, and let's remember that in each of his electoral campaigns he's offered the city's development, starting with an adequate trash collection, public lighting, electric energy, coordination for better service of the Water Company of Xela (EMAX), street pavement, regulate the price, system and service of urban transport, the good performance of transit municipal police, and the project of traffic lights in the city. Now we wonder if during his 8 years as mayor he has accomplished what he has promised. We also wonder if transport in our city lives up to the expectations requested by the population of Xela. Definitely today is the time to think about the action of this mayor. He didn't carry out these projects in the last 8 years, so he won't implement them in the next period, so we urge the people of Xela to think and reason their vote in the next elections and to not let themselves be manipulated and coerced. We need to make the best decision and not lament ourselves for four more years.

-For all the traffic lights the mayor put, the streets are converting into a great vehicular congestion.
Suggestion: We recommend to the Transport and Transit Committee that they not experiment with the vehicular system by implementing traffic lights in transit zones but do a real study to fix the problem, because all they've achieved is to create a vial chaos within the city.

-For all the smoke the buses are firing, it's evident the suprvisors aren't doing their job and affecting people's health.
Suggestion: Require the Transport and Transit Committee to carry out the dispositions within the law and rules of transit in order to provide an efficient and quality transport service, and to sanction those that aren't following the law.

-For all the goals being scored against the Xelaju soccer team, the support is waning, and the board of directors should be fining many players and only leaving the ones really playing for the love of the sport.
Suggestion: Ask the directors of the team to fire the players that don't want to be in the institution because their salaries are real high compared to the performance on the field, completely disappointing the supporters.

-For all the uncensored pornography airing on cable TV, many kids are being perverted.
Suggestion: Suggest to the TV company owners that they incorporate channels within their programs that are useful to the Quetzalteca society - already our city has been characterized as the cradle of culture - as well as warn parents about the hours of these types of programs to care for the mental health of children and adolescents.

- Solicit the departmental governor that he coordinate with the national civil police to implement a security plan to counter the growing delinquency which keeps the people of Quetzaltenango in fear.

- For all the trash vendors in the Calvario are leaving, 17 truckloads of waste have been gathered, and passage in neighboring streets has been blocked.
Suggestion: Educate the vendors so that they deposit their garbage in the designated areas, because we don't want a city full of toxic waste that cause pulmonary diseases and infections, which is harmful to all.


Yesterday at lunch, Hansi, the spanish school's guide for expeditions and a friend of the family, was over for lunch and Hugo, him and I talked about politics. Apparently, Alvaro and Sandra de Colom have announced their divorce, making her a "legitimate" presidential candidate. Colom spent 130 million queztales, about $17 million, on his campaign and his monthly salary is of Q50 000, a little under $7,000. The campaign for running for mayor only costs Q1 million. The mayor of Xela makes Q8000 a month, or $1,050. The annual budget in Xela's municipality is Q80 million, or about $10.5 million, which gives a mayor a budget of Q320 million over his term. Hansi asked Hugo whether he had considered entering politics, since he's always talking about what should be done and how, if he was mayor what would he do, and what would he do with Q320 million. Hugo has considered entering politics by creating his own socialist party but didn't have funding to do it, and has turned down offers to enter government because he'd rather live tranquilo with his family. He also says that many things could be changed pretty easily, but that he'd be killed within a year if he was president by narcos or CIA people. If he had the Q320 million, he could create his own political party, gain support etc but that wouldn't actually help people; he'd rather create a foundation that brings education to communities and water and electricity, or a no-interest microcredit organization. Here, he repeats, people go into the presidential or mayor position poor and come out rich, blatantly stealing tax and budget money. The people in government aren't creative or innovative and don't actually love their country and their people; they just want power for money. Many people have many ideas that could actually help change the country and provide just development, but those people would get killed in no time by the deeply corrupt system in place. For the last elections, Hugo voted for Rigoberta Menchu, like Eunice, but many say she's ignorant, intellectually limited, and even illiterate; that she betrayed her own people in her lust for power and social climbing, and unfit to govern a country. Rigoberta Menchu won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1992 and has dedicated her life to publicizing the plight of indigenous discrimination during and after the Guatemalan civil war and fighting for indigenous rights in the country. Hugo voted for her because of the powerful international backing she possesses, which he believes would be extremely useful for funding just sustainability and human rights projects that are currently neglected to the benefit of megaprojects and enriching the elite. Another thing that has to change is the general mentality of guatemalans according to Hugo. However, that's a long process that government policies can't immediately instigate. This mentality is one of complacency, one in which people ask "why should I do this, why should I get up, why should I try if there are no jobs or opportunities anyways?", one that fosters the idea that it's easier and better to head North than stay in Guatemala to make money and find opportunities. 90% of people living in rural areas of Guatemala have been to or have family in the States.