The villagers of Cristo Rey in the Corozal District say that their once peaceful village, with a population of about 700 people, is being taken over by an organized gang of eight members, ranging in age from 16-20, who are responsible for various criminal activities, including a maiming incident on Saturday.
On Saturday, March 12, village councilor Marino Uh’s foot was chopped off during a violent altercation between him and a group of men. In the recorded history of the village, such a thing had never happened before.
Uh, with his severed foot, was transported to the Northern Regional Hospital in Orange Walk Town, where a doctor was able to reattach it. He is currently recovering at the Northern Regional Hospital, and amazingly, he has regained mobility and is able to move his toes.
Police say that at around 12:45 a.m. on Saturday, Uh had gotten into an argument with four men, including a minor, 17, who were all socializing in front of a bar.
Uh and another man had arrived on bicycles, armed with machetes, police said. It was during the violent confrontation that one of the men chopped Uh, causing the amputation. Police did not say from where he got his machete, to chop Uh.
According to the police, they had arrested the men, but today when we travelled to Cristo Rey, we learned that the men had been released from custody, and that there was more to the story than what the police had reported.
According to eyewitnesses, the chopping took place in front of the football field. They said that Uh’s attackers were the members of the same gang which has been terrorizing the village for the past two years.
According to one witness, who wished to remain anonymous, Uh was unarmed, and it was the men who carried the machetes.
The witness said the gang members all jumped upon Uh, some beating him, another crushing a rum bottle on his head, while one did the chopping.
The witness said Uh was helpless against the men.
Uh told us that he was never armed with a machete, as police had reported. According to him, he was walking that night when the group attacked him. First, he says, they began throwing large rocks and pint bottles at him. He says all he really remembers is the painful chop to his foot, and then later waking up in the hospital.
According to Uh, he was attacked because, being a member of the Village Council, he had told the men to stop vandalizing the community center, and that apparently made them angry.
But it would appear that Uh is not the only victim; a woman, who also wished to remain anonymous, told us that the same gang had almost killed her son when they badly beat him up about two years ago.
We were referred to yet another victim, who had also been beaten by the gang, but he preferred not to speak. In fact, we are told that, fearing for his life, he chose not to report the incident to the police.
Apart from terrorizing and attacking the villagers and vandalizing the community center and park, the gang, we are told, has brazenly taken over the school as their “weekend hangout spot.”
On the weekend nights, they go to the school’s compound and drink there, and then they leave broken pint bottles scattered on the school verandah.
School principal Carmita Chan told Amandala that when classes resume on Monday, the teachers need to remove the shattered pieces of glass, cups, and empty pint bottles ( rum and beer0 because these could injure the children.
According to Chan, at times she is fearful, but most of all, she is saddened by the situation, because these boys were past students of the school.
The villagers said they have approached their chairman, and have asked him to intervene, because they feel that the police are not doing anything to stop the gang’s lawless activities.
According to Anastacio Che, chairman of the Village Council, a meeting was held on Tuesday, March 15, to discuss the situation and possible remedies. The major issue discussed was the absence of a policeman in the village.
The villagers suggested that the village needed a police substation, in addition to the policeman.
Uh says he is lucky to be alive, and he is grateful to the doctor who saved his foot, but amidst the relief, his family, like the villagers, fear that another incident similar to Saturday’s will occur, but worse, they fear that the gang’s violence might one day result in a death.
With the gang behaving so brutishly, the village can never be peaceful again, they say.