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CENTRAL AMERICA |
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Union
Members, Peasants Block Roads to Gain
Response to Demands
GUATEMALA CITY – Hundreds of union members
and peasants grouped into the so-called
National Front for Struggle, or FNL, on
Tuesday blocked at least nine important
roadways in Guatemala to demand that the
government, among other things, provide
solutions to the problems of finding work
for landless peasants and Indians.
About 1,200 people, according to what an
Interior Ministry spokesman told Efe,
paralyzed vehicular traffic at different
points along the highways leading to the
country’s ports and borders, but no violent
incidents were reported.
One of the FNL leaders, Roberto Madrid, told
reporters that the protests have the support
of the health care and education unions as
well as the country’s youth and peasant
organizations.
“We want a quick response on the part of the
government to the requests we put together
last July, to which we have received no
reaction,” Madrid said.
In July, the FNL presented a list of
requests to the government of Alvaro Colom
in which it demanded solutions to the
problems confronting thousands of peasants
and Indians who have no land to work.
In addition, they asked the government not
to set up any more military camps in the
country’s interior, to authorize more
financial resources for health and education
and to nationalize the electricity services.
The blockades did not affect the traffic
inflow or outflow from the capital.
A small group of union activists also
demonstrated outside Congress, where they
publicly presented their demands.
The government has not made any statement
with regard to the protests, and the
security forces, although they were deployed
at the roadway blockade sites, did not try
to disperse the demonstrators. EFE |
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