13/07/18 Resident-authority divides over crime and public security

This divide between residents and authorities is perhaps most tangible when it comes to crime and public security. Guatemala seems to be in the grip of petty and organized crime, ranging from ordinary street robbery and burglary to extortion by urban youth gangs and the operations of large scale drug cartels. This situation has been generating moral panics and largely ineffective responses. My endeavor is to search for examples of ‘commoning’ in this minefield. Bottom-up initiatives from urban residents try to counter the crime wave and the widespread sense of insecurity. After the municipal meeting I talked to a small assembly of concerned middle class citizens living in Zona 1, the historical center of Quetzaltenango. Their aim is to establish a formal Community Development Committee to deal with the security problem. The coordinator of the group, a senior citizen and journalist, evoked memories of the city’s past when Xela was safe and peaceful and the town center home to quiet cantinas, poets and bohemians. In contrast, he told me, Xela today is the stage for crime. In particular, the rise of gangs (maras, pandillas) troubles the residents.

Encroaching from the poor periphery upon the city center, the gangs’ main ‘business’ is extortion of local shops and residents. Only through unity and joint efforts the residents feel that they stand a chance to turn the tide. What struck me as positive was that this group of decent citizens abhorred the methods of many so-called ‘neighbors organized against crime’ who put up banners to warn criminals and gangsters (mareros) to stay away or face the ‘popular justice’ of lynching (see picture). While this practice can be seen as a perverse form of ‘commoning’, my spokespersons rejected it as futile: it is immoral and only provokes the reprisal of the criminals. You cannot fight fire with fire, they seem to imply. But peaceful neighbors by themselves are unlikely to put out the fire just by themselves. To them, it ultimately comes down to the state which brings me to the sticky question of policing in Quetzaltenango. To be continued…

Kees Koonings