Civil War in Nahuala
First off, Mom and Dad, no worries, I am not in any kind of danger!!BUT, we do have a civil war going on in my town which has slightly interfered with both my work and who I socialize with…
The two towns, Nahuala and Ixtahuacan, go WAAAY back. They used to be one, but Ixtahuacan split off after an argument took place over ‘who knows what’…there are many explanations for the split (my favorite is that the town mayor stole another man’s wife) but not one version can be verified. The people in both towns speak the same language, wear the same traje, practice the same religions, have the same professions, etc. However, there has been standing tension between the two towns for as long as anyone can remember. Ixtahuacan is only about ten minutes down the road from Nahuala, but is recognized as a separate municipality. And there are many small villages that back right up to Nahuala, but are considered Ixtahuacan territories. Confused yet??
Now let me take you back to the beginning of the current dispute between the two towns…
It all started last November during Hurricane Stan. Many villages of both Nahuala and Ixtahuacan had to be evacuated because of intense flooding. Guatemalan NGOs and international aid organizations helped relocate these people to higher land – an area on the top of our mountain chain called ‘Alaska’. (I’ve mentioned this area before in my posts.) These people built up their communities and made this land their new home. There are currently about 3 Nahuala communities and maybe 10 Ixtahuacan communities residing there. Which was all fine and dandy until…?
Ixtahuacan discovered (a year later mind you) that the Nahuala communities are actually on their lawfully owned land. And as a bonus, this land comes with potable water (a US AID project that was completed after the hurricane). Therefore, Ixtahuacan wants the land back, and is planning to kick the Nahuala community out from underneath.
Well, about a month ago, some men from Ixtahuacan decided to venture into one of the Nahuala communities for water…and ended up getting a machete to the throat. I heard that about three men were murdered that night. This became the last straw between the two towns!
Supposedly, a fight ensued the next night in which 30 or so men were injured. And following this occurrence, there have been other reports of miscellaneous murders spread over all the villages. To make matters worse, pickup trucks with loud speakers circulate through the streets to warn the townsfolk and update them on the current situation….which basically means they bash the other town and spread even more terror within the communities. (FYI – The US organization that I work for, that will remain nameless, did call to advise me of the state of affairs. They recommended that I stay in my site, which was kinda comical since I was in Guatemala City that day.)
There have been a number of town meetings with our mayor and the governor of our department since these unfortunate events took place. (My friend Eric attended one of these meetings, and was actually asked to leave by one of the town’s people because he was not considered part of the Nahuala family. Ouch…and we’ve been living here for almost a year. Just shows that they don’t trust any outsiders!) I am told that Ixtahuacan has also had multiple town meetings to discuss what’s going on. In fact, in one of my previous posts, I mentioned that Ixtahuacan had kicked the local police out of town…and now it seems that they have invited them back because of the quarrel with Nahuala.
Right now, things seem to be at a standstill, and I am hoping that they stay that way. But this whole drama has put me in an awkward situation. I live in Nahuala, but I work with several groups that are in Ixtahuacan. So at times, I feel like they want me to choose sides. If I have a meeting in Ixtahuacan, I typically lie and tell people from Nahuala that I am going somewhere else. And there have been a couple of times that my women from Ixtahuacan have needed to come to Nahuala…but refuse because they are too scared to pass through enemy lines. (Just this week, I attempted to sell a group from Ixtahuacan on entering microcredit with Grameen…but they refused when I told them that the bank office was located in Nahuala. This was very upsetting to me because this is one of the poorest towns in our area, and yet they deny help because of the bank’s association with a town name.)
Anyways, it really comes down to having a major catastrophe in the country, having to think quickly about what to do with all of those people that were affected, randomly plopping them down somewhere, and then once they start to pick up their lives again and revamp, you get crazies fighting over what’s mine and what’s yours. Can’t we all just get along??
Peace Out,
Carin
posted by Carin Robinson @ 4:58 PM
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