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 In recent months, however, the UNESCO World Heritage Site has seen
the troubles of the outside world threaten its backpacker charm.
Vehicle and home burglaries are up, and once-reliable public
services such as water and trash collection have been left
unattended across whole blocks.
Many blame political turmoil for the troubles in this city of about
53,000 people. Antigua hasn't had an elected mayor since September
2012 when Adolfo Vivar and several relatives and members of his
administration were charged with establishing a criminal network
that stole nearly $3 million from the city's treasury. Although an
interim mayor was named, electoral authorities haven't yet said how
Vivar and the council members will be permanently replaced.
That's left Antigua unable to attend to basic business and spooked
some longtime townspeople, who say they're afraid their charming
niche amid the volcanoes could see vital tourism revenue plummet.
Jose Reyes, a restaurant cashier, said robbers stole the phone and
iPad of his English teacher, an American, who responded by leaving
town.
"She lived here, but after that she left because she was really
frightened," Reyes said.
Another resident, Magali Mendez, said that both her son and daughter
have been robbed, and that her son almost died after his attacker
stabbed him.
"You hear your family, your neighbors and tourists alike complain of
robberies happening in touristy, popular places during the day,"
Mendez said. "The police and city governments are failing to provide
security and enforce the law."
Government figures show the number of crimes have spiked this fall
in Sacatepequez department, where Antigua sits, jumping from 148 in
the Sept. 1-Nov. 16 period of last year to 181 in the same span this
year. Antigua reported the most crimes in both totals.
Because of the jailing of the mayor and other officials, city
budgets are awaiting approval and the government has come to a
standstill, said Maria Eugenia Contreras, legal adviser to interim
Mayor Edgar Ruiz.
"Antigua's administration continues working — the collection of
taxes, police, water services — but everything still depends on
budgets," Contreras said. "At the end of the year, it's always
necessary to allocate budget funds, and who authorizes that is the
city council. So it's likely that there are going to be more
problems providing services, especially at the end of the year."
That comes on top of a wave of extortions and other crimes that have
hit the region. According to the latest data from the U.N. Office on Drugs and
Crime, Guatemala's homicide rate came in at 38.5 per 100,000
residents, with 5,685 people slain in 2011, making it the seventh
deadliest country in the world.
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Deputy Interior Minister Arkel Benitez acknowledged the rise in
crime in still largely safe Antigua but said the government is
pushing back in Sacatepequez department. Hoteliers and other
business owners in the city have donated security cameras, and more
police commanders have been assigned to the area, Benitez said.
"From January to July, we reduced crimes in Antigua's historic
district by 41 percent," he said. "We had a security plan in place
but the police commander in charge of the program died and crime
increased again."
Antigua, about 30 miles (50 kilometers) west of Guatemala City,
attracts tourists from all over the world with its crumbling
colonial charm and an elaborate procession that winds through the
city's streets around Lent. Hundreds of thousands of Americans visit
Antigua every year, among the more than 1 million tourists who come.
So far, the town's ills don't appear to have seriously touched
hotels and other tourist areas, and its special tourist police force
has been operating normally.
Yet Antigua residents are feeling the problems. Early in November,
hundreds marched to demand the appointment of a new city
administration, saying they were tired of water being cut off, trash
not being picked up and stoppages on public transportation.
Bus drivers went on strike after one colleague was killed and
another wounded in separate attacks because they refused to pay
extortion money. The drivers didn't fully re-establish service until
the government pledged to crack down on the extortions.
Despite such promises, some Antigua residents said they have already
adjusted their daily lives to the new reality.
Paul Phillips, a 70-year-old retiree from Chicago who runs a bed and
breakfast in the city, said he has heard about robberies, but has so
far managed to avoid them.
"We haven't been affected, because we don't go out at night," he
said.
[Associated
Press; SONIA PEREZ D]
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