US tourist hacked to death in Guatemala

Be careful folks. Just a heads up for all you folks (including me) who love visiting Guatemala.

Lovely, headed there next month.

Don't forget your machete
'Never leave home with out it'

Headed or be-headed, there Mr Backley?

Went up there once - could not wait to get out. Bad juju in the air.
You do need to be armed up there - but why bother going.

I don't think this is an occasion for attempts at humour.

I hear it is beautiful and listened to several amazing reports. I only hope the situation improves.

Last year my aunt and uncle finished a 3 year stint with the Peace Corps in Guatemala. They fell in love with the country and the people and are planning their second return trip. They never had a problem and said they were welcomed by the locals from the outset.
Headlines like this can be found in virtually any American city's newspaper on an almost daily basis. Life doesn't come with any guarantees.

I have done a lot a sailing in the Caribbean and several of my friends have been up the Rio Dulce to Lake Izabal. They all liked it but you have to be very careful especially in remote areas. We where always armed. When you cruise remote and some not so remote areas, it is just the way it is.

They are poor and your sitting on a yacht worth more than they will ever see in a life time. Some times that is a bad combination. Soon there will be a full story, I bet, in either the Blue Water Sailing Mag. or Cruising World.

2 years ago they kept me at the Guatemala/El Salvador border for 5 hrs...The reason was that I looked like a gringo criminal that was making his way down from Belize to El Salvador...Now I can laugh about it.... =)

I was shot once by the Guatemalan Police, long story, while crossing the border. I knew I shouldn't have listed to my friends at the time!

Yeah, if you'd listed to the left instead of towards your friends, things may have turned out differently.

Here is the rest of the story. Some what late, I missed it because I expected to find it else where, but I knew I would eventually find out the details. At least these two won't be chopin on any one again.

A "Cleansing" in the Rio Dulce
August 20, 2008 – Rio Dulce, Lake Izabal, Guatemala

Roy McNett, editor of the Rio Dulce Chisme-Vindicator, reports the latest on the events following the murder of Anchorage-based cruiser Daniel Dryden:

"Local justice — it's not a pretty word — may have been served on the night of August 14, when two men were killed in a shooting in the small town of Seja, about five miles from Fronteras and the Rio Dulce. The two men are believed to have been involved in the August 9 robbery and murder of Daniel Dryden on the Southern Cross 39 Sunday's Child. Nancy, Dryden's wife, was seriously injured in the attack, but is recovering in a hospital.


Daniel Dryden was an avid sailor in his younger days.
Photo Courtesy The Dryden Family
© 2008 Latitude 38 Publishing Co., Inc. / danieldryden.blogspot.com



"Four men were reportedly involved in the attack on Drydens' boat, which was anchored a short distance offshore. Two of those were reported arrested on August 14 in the village of Esmeralda, and are now in the custody of Guatemalan police. The remaining two were believed to have been killed last night in the Seja shooting. Their identities have not been made available, but several sources of the Rio Dulce Chisme-Vindicator indicate this was a 'cleansing' of the Dryden murder."

We're not positive what "cleansing" means in this context, but we assume it means the police, or somebody acting for the police, acted as an on-the-spot judge, jury, and executioner for the suspects. From start to finish, what a horrible, senseless chain of events.

- latitude / rs



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