Family Alleges Cover-Up After Brutal Machete Assault in San Marcos Village

A violent machete attack in San Marcos Village is now raising troubling questions about justice and whether connections are getting in the way. The Makin family says a dispute turned brutal when their home was invaded and Orlando Makin was chopped during the altercation. But what’s fueling even greater concern is what hasn’t happened since, no arrests. The family claims one of the accused is linked to village leadership, and they believe that connection is the reason police have yet to act, despite multiple reports. Now, they say they’re living in fear, watching as the men they accuse remain free in the community.

 

On The Phone: Mario Makin, Brother of Victim

“On the fourteenth, a group of men entered my parents’ house and chopped my brother inside the house and tried to chop my mother as well. From the 16th, the police came and they didn’t arrest those guys. They only took my brother to the hospital. The police took my brother to the hospital and those people didn’t get arrested. Then the following day, my mom went to file a police report. She requested for court action, but since then, the police are not acting on my mother’s report. Up to now, the people that did all those and people that did the chopping, they’re still walking free on the road with the machete in their hand. We still see them around, walking with machetes. The police are not doing nothing about them. I don’t know if the police, they afraid to arrest those people, I don’t know. And now it is not safe for my mom to stay by herself at home because we doesn’t stay home. She’s the only one who stays home when her grandkids they go to school. So right now, it’s not safe for her to stay at home by herself. And I just went to check to the police station again and they told me that they will look into it again, but only like that, they’re saying they’re still investigating, they said.”

 

Village Leaders’ Silence Fuels Mystery as Secretary Reveals Diverging  Story

 

We tried reaching San Marcos Chairman Alberto Muku and Village Alcalde Marcos Choc for comment, but both were unavailable. However, we did speak with the alcalde’s secretary, Juan Caal, and his account of what happened paints a completely different picture of the incident.

 

On The Phone: Juan Caal, Secretary of the Alcalde

“And May 14th, around 4.30pm, whilst both leaders were attending a meeting, the Alcalde and the chairman received information or report that there was two individuals assaulting one of the chairman’s brothers on one of our backstreets in the community. From what we understand it was the person who was trying to attack him where he, it was  in self-defense where he was trying to defend himself. And what we understand is that the attacker with his own machete, I think he kind of like, in the middle of the struggle, like, you know, to try to take away the machete from him, I think he cut himself or something like that. The Alcalde then called the police in to come and intervene because, I believe there was an exchange of fists between, you know, the chairman’s brother trying to defend himself from his attackers. And so, when the village police under the Alcalde’s command tried to arrest these individuals, they all, like I said, they escaped. And so, later on, the Alcalde called the Punta Gorda police station to intervene and see how these individuals could be apprehended and they took over the entire case or like the investigation.”

 

Caal says the alcalde and the chairman are both committed to law, order and justice without any biases. No arrest has been made as yet.

 

Attention readers: This online newscast is a direct transcript of our evening television broadcast. When speakers use Kriol, we have carefully rendered their words using a standard spelling system.

 

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