Huelga de Dolores

The week before Semana Santa in Guatemala is the week that university students protest the ills of the country. Goes by the name of "Huelga de Dolores" (Strike of Pain). Each day of the week is dedicated to a different aspect of the protest, which culminates on Friday with a parade of the lewd, crude and rude of anti-government sentiments.  I took notes, but I can't read them, so if (right, "if") I get this wrong or you're interested in the truth, you can look it up "on the internet".  Believe me, this is the short version:

Back in 1898 there was a huge protest against the persecution and living conditions in Guatemala.  The protest was repeated annually, and over the years the government cracked down by suggesting "with extreme predjudice*" (see below) to the protest leaders that they might find healthier pursuits elsewhere.  And as usual the government was right because the leaders seemed to be dying in great numbers of lead poisoning.  So over the years, the students (the protests were driven by the public university) started to wear hoods to cover their identity, thereby increasing their resistance to lead allergies.  Well, the government spies started keeping track of the clothes worn by the leaders, which of course broke down their resistance to the disease, and they kept dying off.  It seemed the only true immunization was a full robe to complement the hood.  OK there´s that.  THEN, there was this poet, went by the name of Otto Renè Castillo, wrote a poem, which I will loosely paraphrase (because I never actually read it) aqui.  The poem said something along the lines of: "I will join you and walk with you.  You can be my eyes; you can be my voice, etc."  So the government invites him over and asks him to have a seat, and they read him his own poem, and when they get to the part where he says, "You can be my eyes", they say, well I guess you won´t be needing these anymore", so they pop out his eyeballs.  Then they read the part about, "You can be my voice", and they say to him they say, well I guess you won´t be needing this anymore, and they cut out his tongue.  And on went the poem and off went the body parts until just for fun they killed him.  There are more stories to tell, but you´ll have to buy me coffee when I get back to hear them.  Early on, the students collected money to give to the poor.  They still collect money, and a portion still goes to the poor, but there are parties to be had, and the beer has to be paid for, so . . . . Anyway nobody has been killed since (I think) 2002, and now the protest is at most accepted, at least tolerated by the government.  The different colored robes and hoods signify the area of study, por ejemplo: white for med students, green for agriculture, etc.  Black is for the group that organizes the demonstrations.

So any-hoo, on the Friday of Juelga de Dolores we wandered up to see the protest/parade.  What is it that all of the State Department warnings say about avoiding political demonstrations?  I forget.  So any-hoo, we just happen to park our behinds (unknowingly) in front of the house of one of the presidential candidates (this is an election year), so all of the floats that pass by stop in front of the house to ahhmmm, "express their displeasure" so to speak.  Right place at the right time.  Or the antithesis depending on your outlook on life.

* meaning, they popped extreme caps in there asses.