After more than 40 hours of blockade on the Inter-American highwayspecifically at kilometer 157.5, in the jurisdiction of Nahualá, Sololá, it has been announced that this demonstration will continue until tomorrow, Wednesday, April 12.
The residents of Nahualá do not back down from their intention to continue blocking the vehicular passage in that place, on the contrary, it has been announced that the protests will continue.
In a latest report from the Directorate General for Road Protection and Safety (Provial), it was reported that in the aforementioned kilometer the blockades continued in both lanes, which had started at 6:30 a.m. on Tuesday.
They demand security
The requests of the residents of Nahualá remain the same, to make themselves heard by the Government so that they can count on security since, despite the fact that a court order indicates that 3,500 agents of the National Civil Police (PNC) had to be deployed on site, this has not yet occurred.
Manuel Itzep, mayor of Nahualá, said that they decided to take to the streets to speak out in this regard. He explained that on March 23, only 211 elements arrived.
The mayor chief explained that as a result of this situation, in at least the last four years the inhabitants have not been able to maintain their crops. He assured that the lack of harvests has worsened the situation of poverty and extreme poverty.
In this context, they requested the Ministry of the Interior and the Human Rights Ombudsman (PDH) to arrange a dialogue with the representatives of Santa Catarina Ixtahuacán to seek solutions.
Residents of the municipality of Nahualá, do not back down until the request for the following documents is fulfilled.#EUXela pic.twitter.com/qfak7UcmYB
— EUXela 91.1 (@EU_Xela) April 12, 2023
They go to the place
The Human Rights Ombudsman (PDH), Alejandro Córdova, went to Sololá to try to establish a dialogue for the release of the road, but this did not bear fruit.
Córdova listened to the requests of the residents and promised to carry out follow-up actions.
He @PDHgt, Dr. Alejandro Córdova talks with residents of #Nahualá derived from the territorial conflict with #SantaCatarinaIxtahuacánat kilometer 157, Inter-American Highway. pic.twitter.com/q3GYGaASQx
— PDH Guatemala (@PDHgt) April 11, 2023
Even the same Minister of the Interior, David Napoleón Barrientos, also came to the place to establish a dialogue table but the results were the same.
Today I attended the conflict area in Nahualá, Sololá, to establish a dialogue table with the people who keep the Inter-American highway blocked. pic.twitter.com/H4QlXJIObb
— David Napoleon Barrientos (@NapoleonBG_) April 11, 2023