August 30, 2010

By Mark Kendall

Mile: 8,278 

 

Guatemala City - The weekend was great – no filming was scheduled and, instead, we took two full days to ourselves to enjoy doing absolutely nothing but hanging out and partying with friends. We'd been planning to have some sort of cast party/wrap party since we first got here and have been mentioning it to folks along the way in hopes that we'd be giving enough notice that they could make it.

It promised to be a totally random and potentially awkward night. We'd invited pretty much everyone that we'd met, befriended, or had filmed during our time here - mechanics, taxi drivers, bus drivers, junkyard workers, journalists, activists, friends from the States, and even our real estate agent that helped us find the apartment we've been staying in for the past month. Needless to say, we didn't get much sleep.

We woke at 5:00AM and slept most of the cab ride into the capital. It was a huge relief that, once we got to Guatevision's office, there was no immediate rush to head out – there was time for some breakfast and to gather my thoughts. After a little while, Alberto came through with his cameraman and we headed down into the parking garage. On the way there he told us the latest news – yesterday, 26 leaders of the MS-18 had been arrested and some of them might be where we're headed. Also, a group of Los Zetas was scheduled to have the opening proceedings of their trial up on the 13th floor.

We pull into the basement parking garage of the Torre de Tribunales and are immediately struck by the huge number of armed guards everywhere. The parking garage spirals downwards, and with each corner we pull around, a group of gang members is revealed, handcuffed, watching and waiting. Our guide stopped as we pulled in front of one of the leaders of the MS-18, Daniel Rodriguez, and says hey. It seems that they've known each other for a little while, as he casually says he wants to speak with him for a few minutes before he heads upstairs.

I had asked as many questions as I could on the way over, to get a sense of what might happen and how, but I still really had no idea what to expect. After his interview, our guide said a few words of confidence to Daniel and he agreed to talk to us. We had ten minutes, max. I decided not to hesitate and to just jump right in and give him the floor - “Tell me how you see things, man,” was more-or-less my approach.

He opened up to me a bit, but didn't really talk about bus drivers or extortion issues. After a few minutes, he was taken away in chains. One of the leaders of the MS-13 (one of their main rival gangs) was standing in chains across the way, waiting for Daniel to be on his way. As Daniel walked away, he started cursing him and tried coming after him but was held back by a group of armed guards. All he managed to do was throw his half-empty Poland Spring water bottle in Daniel's general direction. Daniel turned the corner and we didn't see him again.

In the Torre de Tribunales (Tribunal Tower), the higher up you go, the more serious the cases are that are being held. I didn't get an exact count, but there are probably 15 stories in the building. When we got into the elevator, our guide asked the attendant to press number 13. As we enter into the courtroom, nine men are sitting in chains (hands and feet) along a bench, their backs to the courtroom window that looks out onto the traffic circle and fountain below (which happens to have a sculpture of two human hands opening to give flight to a dove of peace). Another two men are visible on a low-quality projection screen displayed over the shoulder of one of the judges. They are watching and participating in the proceedings remotely from an even higher-security area upstairs. Five armed guards with masks over their faces stand behind them with folded arms. I'm pretty sure they weren't tech support.

The Zetas is a criminal organization that was originally founded by a group of ex-members of the Mexican Army Special Forces that deserted the Army to create their own security group. As elite paratroopers and intelligence operatives, they began as the private mercenary army for Mexico's Gulf Cartel. More recently, its members include corrupt ex-police officers, as well as ex-Kaibiles from Guatemala.

The Kaibiles are the Guatemalan Special Forces responsible for many of the counter-insurgency massacres that took place during Guatemala's internal armed conflict (1960-1996). Their motto is “If I advance, follow me. If I stop, urge me on. If I retreat, kill me.” As of this past February, the Zetas split from the Gulf Cartel and are now operating as their own drug cartel and organized crime unit. They are considered by the United States DEA to be the most violent paramilitary enforcement group in Mexico.

This particular group of Zetas had been arrested, their weapons had been seized, and they now stood on trial. Aside from the comedy show that some of the Zetas were putting on amongst each other, the proceedings were insanely boring. After almost an hour of listening to someone read off a list of the thousands of pieces of evidence being introduced from a huge binder that sat on the desk before him, we walked out.

Maybe some climactic moment would come, but we'll take our chances and come back later. Besides, despite the connections to the weapons trade and world of narcotrafficking in Central America, this case doesn't specifically have anything to do with our story. It'd be foolish to hang on every word.

Instead, we called and reconnected with Carmen Aida from the Movimiento Pro Justicia and went in search of a quiet place to shoot an interview with her later this afternoon. Once again, we didn't have much luck. Remaining hopeful, we grab a bite to eat and wait for her to arrive. We meet in the Supreme Court building, which is adjacent to the Torre de Tribunales and connects to it through a series of underground tunnels.

After some difficulty finding a place to talk, we managed to find a few minutes to interview her as the building was closing up. The guards were kind enough to not interrupt us, and even used subtle hand gestures to help try to quell some of the noise from the legal teams that were walking the hallways after the day's end.

I wish I could have had more time talking with Daniel, but I'm probably lucky to have had the chance to speak with him at all. Maybe we'll see if there's another way to come back sometime...