Power Struggle in Indian Creek Ends in Violence

What started as a peaceful protest quickly spiraled into chaos in Indian Creek Village. On Saturday, residents gathered to challenge charges brought by the first alcalde against three community members, including the village council chairman and his secretary. But instead of resolving the issue calmly, the meeting took a violent turn. Here’s what sparked it all: A few weeks ago, a resident was accused of hosting guests at his home without notifying village leaders, a serious breach of Maya customs. At a community meeting, he was cleared of wrongdoing and demanded his accuser step forward. That accuser was later brought before the first alcalde, who reversed the earlier decision, ruling that the resident had violated protocol. The chairman was then slapped with an eighty-dollar fine for alleged abuse of power, defamation, and skipping due process. His secretary was fined thirty dollars. And the resident at the center of it all? He’s now facing charges too. We spoke with Vice Chairman Alfredo Cucul, who shared more on how the village is handling the unrest and what this means for local governance moving forward.

 

On the Phone: Alfredo Cucul, Vice Chairman, Indian Creek Village

“The community were unsatisfied, concerned, they are not happy with what happened. Some are saying, the alcalde should refund the money, the alcalde is not doing well, the alcalde is not doing the right thing and should be removed. The alcalde stood up and asked for the moment to speak. He came to the crowd and almost to the crowd and start to defend himself. He said it looks like the village council has not had enough charges, they need more charges. So what we told the community is that the chairman went further to seek legal advice. During the legal advice they told us that the village alcalde, the first alcalde went beyond his jurisdiction to give those charges. It is not for him to give those charges but for the higher court to give those charges. So he was wrong and that was what the village chairman was informing or giving out to community that we are trying to solve the issue. But this is how far we reached and we are asking what will the public say. Should we go and take the first alcalde to the court and not. And the community said no because it will cause the community funds. So now he asked the community police officer to arrest the village member during the public meeting and now the deputy alcalde asked the village police not to do so. And that is when the first alcalde turned to the deputy alcalde and demanded his arrest and that is when everything went into chaos.”