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CENTRAL AMERICA |
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Guatemalan Funeral Homes Compete For Corpses
GUATEMALA (AP) - They're called "calaqueros"
— skullmongers — and they make a living off
Guatemala City's infamously high murder
rate.
They chase ambulances, wait outside morgues
or speed to crime scenes, trying to be the
first to reach family members of the dead
and sell their coffin-wake-funeral packages
for as little as $150.
These mobile morticians constitute a
completely unregulated — and growing —
business that caters to inner city poor.
Competition is fierce. Some even pay police
and firefighters to tip them off when a
murder happens.
They offer everything from embalming to help
with the red tape of acquiring a death
certificate or burial permit.
And they operate from any location.
One funeral home is run out of a former
mechanics garage. Caskets are sold in the
front of the garage. In the back, among the
old gaskets and engine blocks, the corpses
are disemboweled, cleaned, embalmed and
dressed for burial.
With its gang warfare and drug trafficking,
Guatemala has one of the world's highest
murder rates. The capital, Guatemala City,
often makes the top 10 in various rankings
of the world's most dangerous cities. |
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