Two men, Feliciano Pedro Bol and Julian Esquivel are suffering from machete wounds after they were chopped in two separate incidents, in Toledo and Cayo.

Feliciano Pedro Bol, 35, a farmer of San Antonio, Toledo, was chopped on his hand; his thumb was damaged and his right middle finger was amputated as a result.

Bol told police that he was walking home from his farm in San Antonio about 9:00 Friday morning, when he met a man whom he knew, who is also a resident of the same village. He said that the man was armed with a machete, and as he approached, the man took out his machete and swung it at him.

Bol put up his hand to protect his head, causing his hand to be chopped. The man then ran away. Bol then went to the San Antonio Polyclinic, and afterwards he was taken to the Punta Gorda Police Station, where he made a formal report.

Julian Esquivel, 28, for his part, was walking to his farm in Bella Vista about 6:00 Tuesday morning when a man he knew chopped him in his back with a machete, and shot him in the chest with a gun. He is now in a critical condition at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital.

Esquivel told police that the man was lay-waiting him on the road, and accused him of stealing his bicycle, and when he replied that he did not know about the bicycle, the man attacked him. The man then ran from the area, leaving Esquivel in the bushes to die, but Esquivel managed to crawl out of the bushes onto the roadside.

A Mennonite who was traveling on the road saw Esquivel, who was blood-soaked and bleeding, crawling on the side of the road, and stopped to render assistance. An ambulance came shortly after and took Esquivel to the Belmopan Hospital (Western Regional), and he was later transferred to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital.

At press time tonight, the assailant has not been captured.