Rio Dulce Chisme Vindicator

[Scoop]

The total number of North American, European and other nationality boaters and residents of the Rio Dulce – commonly grouped together (like it or not) as “gringos” – is most likely equal to the population of a small to mid-sized apartment complex in a large city. Or about the same size as a small bedroom suburban community nestled on the outskirts of a major city.

Hmm. Probably smaller.

In other words, this is not a very large group of people.

As a result, the news of the death of Dan Dryden of the s/v Sunday’s Child and the serious injury to his wife Nancy at the hands of four macheteros (in plain English, machete swinging pendejo punks who deserve to die, according to my personal translation) Sunday, Aug. 10 affects all of us in a real right-in-your-face personal way.

We’re not what you might call a close-knit community due to logistics of marinas and anchorages and interests and social inclinations and perhaps even political persuasions.

But a tragedy of this magnitude – the absolutely unnecessary horrible death of a fellow boater and cruiser and the attack on his wife – hurts all of us deeply. And it scares us.

Seriously.

Tonight, Nancy Dryden is in a room at Bethesda Hospital in Morales, Guatemala where she’s being treated for a puncture wound to her lung, inflicted by the same pendejo machetero punks who killed her husband, right before her eyes. Just for a handful of money and some jewelry.

S’cuse me. Pendejo is a vulgar term. It means a “pubic hair”.

The thought of the attack on Sunday’s Child saddens me .. infuriates me .. causes my blood pressure to zoom upwards .. and makes me hope that the doctors have given Nancy enough analgesics and tranquilizers to not have to relive that scenario every 10 minutes or so.

Pendejos.

Our hearts and prayers are with you Nancy.

Last night , my wife Jane asked me to teach her how to lock ‘n load our flare gun with the 12 gauge distress projectiles (no, we don’t have any guns aboard, just a rattling assortment of knives and a rusty hatchet and a 1876 Spanish Naval officer’s sword). She learned quickly and can now have the flare gun armed and ready for use in about 3.5 seconds.

And, if you know Jane, you’d probably agree that she absolutely would not hesitate to pull the trigger to protect herself and her loved ones. Her nickname is “Calamity” and she deserves it. Her only regret last night was that I’d given away all of my shotguns (yes, even that cute-but-deadly sawed off 12-gauge snake killer) and rifles and pistols when we decided to go full-time cruising.

My attitude at that time was that if you declare the guns on board when you enter a foreign port, they will be confiscated and subsequently of no use to you. If you don’t declare them .. and happen to use them to protect yourself from a late-night fisherman trying to sell you some mojarro or camarones .. you’ll end up possibly losing your boat and spending some time in an uncomfortable jail cell for an indeterminate amount of time. But I’m now revising my attitude on that.

“I wish this was loaded with some kick-ass 2-0 buckshot instead of these silly flare thingies,” she said, giving me a reproving glare for the lack of adequate armaments. Someone who comes on Jane’s boat unannounced .. is going to have a problem.

Sigh.

That’s Jane.

Don’t mess with her.

Today we had a Guatemalan couple (Marisol and Eli) with their two sons to spend the day with us .. to swim and play dominoes and eat bowls of ceviche. They are part of our family .. the two boys consider Jane and I to be their “abuelos” .. their grandparents. And they are our “nietos” de Guatemala.

When I told Marisol about the death of Dan and the injury to Nancy, she thought about it for a while then told me that in the village where she was raised, there were no “ladrones” (thieves) because “when a ladron was caught, he was taken in front of the community and covered with phosphoro .. and burned .. alive.”

I asked her why she wouldn’t go to the police.

She shrugged her shoulders and said they were “useless”. They exist only to protect the rich Guatemalans who are part of the government and take money from the people, she said.

The Navy is better, she said. But not by much.

Ok, I won’t pursue that topic. Well, not now, anyway. The United States Embassy is reported to be sending a support group to Rio Dulce to help. I hope they’ll do more than issue traveler’s advisory warnings. And I’ve heard the Department of Interior is sending a SWAT team which, it is rumored, to be comprised of some serious bad ass guys who can and will line folks up and take names. There are a lot of rich Guatemalans who’ve invested some serious money in tourism here and I doubt that they’re impressed with this sort of news from the Rio Dulce.

Anyway, I asked Marisol what the “gringo” boaters should do in a situation like this.

She said, “Offer their families and friends a “recompensa” .. a reward for their identity .. then, when you discover their identities, kill the macheteros with machetes.”

And she didn’t flinch or blink, her eyes stayed level with mine.

And she was serious.

Deadly serious.

“Kill them … with machetes,” she said, again.

Ok, Marisol, but how do you find them?

First problem, they might not be on the Rio anymore.

It’s very possible that these particular macheteros aren’t locals .. they might have drifted in from another city or even another country, somehow heard from boat cleaners or workers or perhaps relatives that the people on s/v Sunday’s Child had a large stash of money and jewelry hidden in a particular location. And, the really big question is .. how did the macheteros know exactly where the money was hidden?


And, after Dan and Nancy were disabled, they went straight for the stash. They weren’t interested in petty theft .. taking an outboard engine or dinghy to try to resell. They were interested in the stash of money and jewels and were not going to be scared off by the owners, no matter how much protest they made.

But then again, perhaps the macheteros were locals. Quien sabe?

The upper end of the Monkey Bay anchorage is known for being a dangerous place to anchor for the night due to its easy access from a local village, according to veteran Rio Dulce boater Don Hutson on s/v Anon.

And, Don noted, if four guys appeared on his boat armed with machetes, he dang sure wouldn’t try to fight them. He’d welcome them aboard and hold a flashlight for them to make sure they didn’t miss anything then wave goodbye when they left.

“There’s not a single thing on our boat that’s worth risking our lives for,” he noted. “We can replace just about anything the next morning.”

Of course, if and when they’re caught, Don said “I’d enjoy seeing them hang from the bridge until they rot.”

And either Don Gato or Calamity Jane would appreciate the opportunity to take that photo.

[Captain John]

This is how they used to deal with Pirates


The body was left hanging until it decomposed to nothing

Maybe somebody can make this a direct link

Linked by Gato
_________________
I have been asked...what do you old folks do now that you're retired? Well..I'm fortunate to have a chemical engineering background, and one of the things I enjoy most is turning beer, wine, Scotch , and margaritas into urine.

[DonGato]

I live with a Guatemalan lady and she basically has the same philosophy. I guess it comes natural when you are native to a country that basically has no law enforcement.

She tells me that there are no thieves in Fronteras. When I question this statement she tells me there are no thieves because if people get caught stealing they are killed.

I know this to be true because I have been here for over 6 years and I have heard news almost weekly of a thief being shot or burned, or both. I have also personally witnessed the extreme form of execution by premature cremation and it is not pretty, however it seems to be effective.

There is a slight discrepancy here though. Most of us were raised in "so called civilized countries" where taking the law into your own hands is considered just as much a crime as whatever the criminal may have done.

Coming from this kind of culture I doubt that many Gringos would have the stomach to summarily execute or burn someone to death. So the local vigilante justice works well for the locals who have learned this is the way it is done, but I don't see this system of justice working for us.

So, the Embassy is sending a support group to help us. Who are they going to send? A grief counselor? Department of Interior sending a SWAT Team? What are they going to do? Line up every citizen in Fronteras and waterboard them until they give up some information?

It is nice to see that our Country is taking some action, but in my opinion it will probably not bear any fruit.

The people here are poor, money talks and there are definitely people here who know who did this. The reward for information is a good idea. I hope it works. If it does, I would rather let the locals handle the punishment phase. I will happily attend with my camera and several bags of marshmallows for the celebration.

What would an American SWAT team do if they caught these guys anyway? Send them to Gitmo? Too bad the bar is only 6 feet. Dubbya could send an aircraft carrier!

[elpolvo]

chisme vindicator readers and staff-

very sad to hear of the robbery and murder on board Sunday's Child.

besides the grief and shock felt upon hearing of an unprovoked attack
like this, revenge, instant justice, hatred and fear are some of the bad
karma pitfalls that surface at times like these. to feed and fan the flames
of those base emotions does everyone a disservice.

macho-man-talk of lynchings, assassinations, burning alive and hacking with
machetes is understandable but counterproductive.

the most productive thing for the boating community to do at this time
is to meet and talk with government and law enforcement officials. this
incident does not appear to be the work of any organized faction of
criminals or vigilantes. the perpetrators will have no support from anyone
in defense of their actions. police and government officials will have
no fear or hesitation in aggressively pursuing the macheteros responsible
for this crime.

it's extremely important for the boating community AND the indigenous
community to come together NOW in sharing their distaste for such unprovoked
violence. an opportunity exists for the two communities to work together as one
integrated community in solving this crime and helping to prevent a similar recurrence.

it is important to honor jurisdiction at this time. guatemalan officials are
in charge in this matter, and rightly so. my guess is that they are very
seriously pursuing this case and can use any and all help they can
get from the boating community as eyes and ears and communicators
and reward offerors.

on the other hand, i believe the guatemalan officials owe it to the boating
community to keep them informed about progress in this case and to
assure them that any perpetrator of this kind of crime will always be
aggressively pursued, apprehended and brought to justice.

that said, remember that the police are not journalists or educators.
it's important that the media (Rio Dulce Chisme Vindicator) help out in this regard...
interviews with local officials should be conducted and published.
a community meeting like the one conducted at Crow Bar last year
over dinghy theft would be very helpful and reassure both the
boating community and the locals that everyone is on the same
side of this issue and working together through the guatemalan
law enforcement and justice system.



ABOVE PHOTO: Security meeting at the Crow Bar in October 2007 (click on photo for link to story)

Forget the US Embassy, this is Guatemala. The people to talk to and work
with on this are the Guatemalan government officials, police and Navy.

Below is a link to the contact page on the website of Guatemalan
President Álvaro Colom.

http://www.landelinofranco.com/une/contact.htm

...here is the number for the local police in Fronteras:

7930-5406

and here is the number for the Navy on the Rio Dulce:


7979-9369

would someone please post a contact for the reward fund here on this thread?

thanks.


-elpolvo