Mortal Doubt. Anthony W. Fontes

      MORTAL DOUBT

      ATELIER: ETHNOGRAPHIC INQUIRY IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY

      Kevin Lewis O’Neill, Series Editor

      1. Mortal Doubt: Transnational Gangs and Social Order in Guatemala City, by Anthony W. Fontes

      MORTAL DOUBT

      TRANSNATIONAL GANGS AND

      SOCIAL ORDER IN GUATEMALA CITY

      Anthony W. Fontes

       UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS

      University of California Press, one of the most distinguished university presses in the United States, enriches lives around the world by advancing scholarship in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. Its activities are supported by the UC Press Foundation and by philanthropic contributions from individuals and institutions. For more information, visit www.ucpress.edu.

      University of California Press

      Oakland, California

      © 2018 by Anthony W. Fontes

      Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

      Names: Fontes, Anthony W., author.

      Title: Mortal doubt : transnational gangs and social order in Guatemala City / Anthony W. Fontes.

      Description: Oakland, California : University of California Press, [2018] | Series: Atelier: ethnographic inquiry in the twenty-first century ; 1 | Includes bibliographical references and index. |

      Identifiers: LCCN 2018014806 (print) | LCCN 2018018645 (ebook) | ISBN 9780520969599 (ebook) | ISBN 9780520297081 (cloth : alk. paper) | ISBN 9780520297098 (pbk. : alk. paper)

      Subjects: LCSH: Gangs—Guatemala—Guatemala. | Violence—Guatemala—Guatemala. | Guatemala (Guatemala)—Social conditions.

      Classification: LCC HV6439.G92 (ebook) | LCC HV6439.G92 F66 2018 (print) | DDC 364.106/60972811—dc23

      LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018014806

      Manufactured in the United States of America

      26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18

      10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

       For Gwendolyn, Norah, and Audrey Alabama

      They think they can burn the devil out, but wouldn’t that mean setting fire to the whole world?

      —Juande, former member of the Mara Salvatrucha, Pavón prison, Guatemala

      Contents

       List of Illustrations

       Introduction

       PART ONE. Truths and Fictions

       Bring Out the Dead

      1. Portrait of a “Real” Marero

       Brother’s Bones

      2. Emissaries of the Violent Peace

       PART TWO. Worlds and Underworlds

       The Road to Prison

      3. Porous Prisons

       The Prisoners and the Cascabel

      4. Extorted Life

       PART THREE. Spectacle, Structure, and Agency

       Make It a Global

      5. Made-for-Media Murder

       Farewell, Guatemala City

      6. Liminal Redemption

       Epilogue: Of Violent Others and Orders of Violence

       Acknowledgments

       Appendix: Notes on Methodology

       Notes

       Bibliography

       Index

Illustrations

      FIGURES

      1. Portraits of the disappeared plastered around zone 1 of Guatemala City

      2. Marero in isolation lockdown, Canada prison, Escuintla, Guatemala

      3. Former Barrio18 member in his quarters in Canada prison, Escuintla, Guatemala

      4. Where city and cemetery meet

      5. Children and puppy playing in the Guatemala City General Cemetery

      6. A mass grave in the Guatemala City General Cemetery

      7. Andy, protected witness for the Guatemalan government, May 11, 2012

      8. Andy, June 20, 2012

      9. El Soldado and his son in front of their home in Ciudad del Sol, Villa Nueva, in 2003

      10. Sepulchers in the Guatemala City General Cemetery

      11. Tenements for the dead, Guatemala City General Cemetery

      12. Mara Salvatrucha graffiti on gravestone, Guatemala City General Cemetery

      13. Child’s doll strung up on the outer fence of Canada prison, Escuintla, Guatemala

      14. “Gate of the Hopeless. One Suffers and It Is Hard.”

      15. Newspaper article on the fire at Comayagua prison

      16. A prisoner and his family on visiting day, Canada prison, Escuintla, Guatemala

      17. Ex-marero inmates preparing for la visita

      18. Byron Lima presidential campaign poster

      19. Marero in the isolation block of Canada prison, Escuintla, Guatemala

      20. Mouse (RIP) in the isolation block of Canada prison, Escuintla, Guatemala

      21. Denizens of the isolation block, Canada prison, Escuintla, Guatemala

      22. Newspaper article on the murder of an elderly fruit vendor

      23. Six alleged members of an extortionist