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Posts Tagged ‘weapons’

Día del Ejército Holiday

Tuesday, June 30th, 2009

Día del Ejército Holiday

Mañana martes es día del ejército. No sé que nuevo nombre tiene ahora esta “celebración” luego de los acuerdos de Paz. Como les cambiaron a los existentes tanto e intrujeron otra docena de días festivos, seguramente es algo así como “Día del martirologio contra el sistema asesino”, o a lo mejor se puede conocer dentro de los círculos internos castrenses como “Día en que celebramos la moronguiza que les dimos a los guerrilleros”. O para los escépticos como yo “Día de feriado oficial tan importante como el día del lápiz”. Descansen, marchen o lloren. Lo que les haga feliz. (Ya, ya… se celebra el 30 de junio día en que J.R. Barrios entra triunfante a Guate luego de ganarle a Cerna la guerra.) —Juan Pablo Dardón / Continue reading… at Fe de Rata.

I am having trouble deciding whether it was serendipity, synchronicity, destiny or simply chaos that brought the chance encounter with Juan Pablo Dardón a few weeks after coming back to Guatemala years ago. Whatever the label, I am glad it happened because I gained a distant friendly voice which often times echoes exactly how I feel. The very same day, Juan Pablo Dardón also introduced me to Javier Payeras another brilliant and crystal-clear voice of our generation; the post-war generation. From there it was only a matter of time until I met all The Loud Voices of the Guatemalan Writers of the Post-War. Lucky me! ;-)

So, today is observed the Día del Ejército (Army Day holiday) in Guatemala, and tomorrow’s the Día del empleado bancario (Guatemalan Banker’s holiday); which really all it amounts to is that the banks will be closed for two days (as reported through a twitpic a few days ago).

AntiguaDailyPhoto.Com News Aside: Tomorrow is Theme day again for the City Daily Photo Community. AntiguaDailyPhoto.Com will be participating once again in Theme day, which is “Empty” for July 2009.

Also, starting in from July 2nd, AntiguaDailyPhoto.Com will be presenting the first guest collaborations. I am sure all of us will benefit from the new voices and perspectives from the guest contributors. Don’t forget to contact me if you would like to send your guest contributions.

Color Palette: Yellow and Green

Saturday, May 9th, 2009

Yellow and Green

It’s been a while since I last updated the color palette category. What do you think of the new colors?

El Señor Presidente in La Antigua Guatemala

Tuesday, November 25th, 2008

El Señor Presidente in La Antigua Guatemala

Central Park and the streets nearby were militarized for about 10 hours, beginning around 5 a.m. because El Señor Presidente of Guatemala decided to have a meeting with the municipality majors of Sacatepéquez (that’s the name of Departamento or State to which La Antigua Guatemala is the capital).

As I walked into Central Park I was amazed by the large numbers of police men, secret service agents, army, tourist police, motorcycle police and bodyguards around Central Park. I have never seen so many armed forces in La Antigua Guatemala. As began to inquire why there were so many army and police agents, I was told that El Señor Presidente was having a meeting inside the Municipalidad (City Hall). Some local police men shared with me that they wish the general population receive a fraction of this security.

My pure chance I was there when motorcades were about to leave the area and just then I realized that the vice-president and Marlene Blanco, Director of the National Police, were also present. Marlene Blanco is the first woman ever to head the National Civil Police; that the equivalent of the Federal Police or FBI in other countries.

Glancing a note at elPeriodico newspaper, I found out the meeting was about the security in the 16 municipalities in which the Departamento of Sacatepéquez is divided and that’s why the Director of the National Police was present. On unrelated note, Prensa Libre newspaper reported that Guatemala is the fourth most violent country in Latin America with a homicide rate of 28,5 per 100 thousand people. I don’t know the homicides rates for other countries, but for sure Guatemala is trying to win the first position. :-(

Can you share with us the homicide rate for the country you live in?

Militarization of Central Park Militarized Central Park

The Naked Gun

Friday, December 29th, 2006

Naked gun

Too bad this photo is not about a comedy movie. It is the reality of Guatemala; which it seems to drowning under guns. As I said yesterday, Guatemala does not need guns on the streets; or anywhere for the matter. I don’t mean to scare you, but on May 1st, I set myself to tell and show the good, the bad and the ugly about La Antigua Guatemala. In other words, to be as honest as possible about this country and the things that I see and experience. I wanted my eyes to become windows for you to see through and my mind a big black board for you to read.