In Guatemala, the dead eat cold cuts
By Aurelio Pedroso
GUATEMALA CITY – His name was Antonio Ceballos Ortiz. He was Cuban-born, 54, and died when two armed men burst into a bar where he was drinking a cold beer and riddled him with bullets.
It happened in the barrio Tres Cruces, Poptun, province of Petén, the cradle of Mayan civilization, a place where drug trafficking can be felt in the air. The day I arrived at La Aurora Airport in Guatemala City, relatives were waking Ceballos’ body so they could later give it Christian burial.
While the beauty and climate of this Central American nation can seduce the most demanding traveler, it may happen that – at the most unexpected moment – that traveler will buy a one-way ticket to a cemetery or ravine, or be kidnapped, extorted or mugged.
According to United Nations data, Ciudad de Guatemala is the world’s seventh most dangerous city, with a homicide index of 106 for every 100,000 inhabitants. But that’s not all. Of the 10 most feared cities in the world, seven are in Central America.
That’s a real challenge for former general Otto Pérez Molina, the current president, whose campaign slogan was “a strong hand.” Almost one year into his term, some are criticizing his inefficiency in the face of something more than a wave of crime, an authentic tsunami of mostly innocent blood.
On Nov. 1 (significantly, the Day of the Dead), a reader of the newspaper Prensa Libre wrote to the president, asking, “How is it possible that we live in a lawless land? We can’t even go to the corner store without fearing that we’ll become victims of delinquency and violence. What happened to your promises of a strong hand against crime?”
Many Cubans, of all types and classes, have set up residence in Guatemala City. The National Register of Persons (RENAP) has no reliable data of how many there are.
They range from the newly arrived doctors who are replacing other members of the Cuban medical mission (like the ophthalmologists at the clinic in Villanueva) to Cubans who have lived in Guatemala since 1959, when the specter of communism prompted them to pack their bags and emigrate.
In addition to the deadly illnesses that plague every country in the world, corruption, organized or disorganized crime and drug trafficking can be the prime causes for extinction in Guatemala.
This All Saints Day, the population poured into the nation’s cemeteries carrying “fiambre,” a traditional plate with cold meats and salad, in a ritual whose origin goes back to the Spanish colonization. There, accompanying the dead, arranging flowers, drinking rum and listening to mariachis they spent the day remembering their dear departed ones.
A plate of cold cuts was left on each tomb. The rest was consumed by the mourners, who earlier had conducted the burial in a spirit reminiscent of Carnaval.
The press showed up to cover the singular commemoration, which did not lack for food stands that sold the mandatory “fiambre.” An announcement was made that, because the general cemeteries were overfilled (as was the case with Chimaltenango Cemetery, for example), City Hall had purchased a private cemetery owned by a Korean immigrant, where only three people lay buried.
Meanwhile, Guatemala City police announced special conditions of security for the capital’s six cemeteries, which expected to welcome 2 million visitors that day. The police warned citizens to be protective of their children, lest they be kidnapped. The children should always carry the names, addresses and telephone numbers of their parents, police said.
To mark the day, one newspaper published a list of famous epitaphs. The one for the French playwright and actor Molière is an eye-catcher: “Here lies Molière, the king of actors. At this time, he’s playing a dead man. In truth, he plays him well.”
Violent death is so common that the Cubans who live in Guatemala are accepting it as daily routine.
Perhaps someone has placed a plate of cold cuts on our compatriot Ceballos’ tomb. It’s a tradition that Cubans on the island have never been fond of.
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