Perilous
Times
Six killed by lynch mob in Guatemala
* From: AFP
* July 03, 2011 7:32AM
VIGILANTE townspeople rounded up and killed six suspected thieves
in a small town in Guatemala, authorities in the violence-plagued
Central American nation say.
The five men and a woman were killed on Friday in San Pedro
Carcha, in Alta Verapaz department near the border with Mexico.
A fire brigade spokesman, who did not wish to be named out of fear
of reprisals, said the six were thought to have been involved in
the robbery of a shop and the killing of its owner.
In many isolated areas of Guatemala, where the reach of government
authorities is limited, local people frequently take the law into
their own hands.
In this case, without hearing or trial, townspeople grabbed the
six and took them to a cornfield, where they were blindfolded and
shot dead. Their bodies were taken to a local morgue, officials
said.
A human rights report released last week by Guatemala's Rights
Prosecutor said that just in the first half of 2011, 25 people
have been executed by lynch mobs in small towns, and another 66
injured.