{"id":6848,"date":"2020-06-07T16:56:40","date_gmt":"2020-06-08T00:56:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/?p=6848&lang=en"},"modified":"2020-06-28T18:53:28","modified_gmt":"2020-06-29T02:53:28","slug":"keys-to-understanding-the-murder-of-domingo-choc-a-maya-spiritual-guide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/pagetwo-en\/keys-to-understanding-the-murder-of-domingo-choc-a-maya-spiritual-guide\/?lang=en","title":{"rendered":"Keys to understanding the murder of Domingo Choc, a Maya spiritual guide"},"content":{"rendered":"

By: EntreMundos<\/strong><\/p>\n

On June 6th, Domingo Choc Che was murdered in a horrendous crime because of his life practices.\u00a0 He was a Maya spiritual guide that, according to Monica Berger, a worker at the University of Guatemala Valley \u201cwas a guide committed to preserving and transmitting ancestral knowledge about the protection of Mother Nature and her medicine, to new generations and the world\u201d.\u00a0 A group of residents from Chimay, San Luis, Peten, set fire to Domingo, and he died from the severity of the act.\u00a0 They were accusing him of being a witch and of being responsible for the death of a person from the area.<\/span><\/p>\n

There were many comments on social media repudiating the crime, even asking that those responsible pay in an equal or worse way.\u00a0 Others seemed stunned, unable to explain why such a brutal act happened.\u00a0 In order to understand a little more about this act, we should analyse its causes; religious extremism being among them.\u00a0 Those who practice it are people with attitudes or postures of extreme ideologies that individually or in groups reach dangerous limits, given that they can threaten the security, the life, the health or the physical integrity of a person, (Domingo Choc in this case).\u00a0 To sustain their ideas and reach their objectives, they don\u2019t hesitate in using violence.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the country, the fundamental sects have been increasing over the years since the introduction of evangelical churches in the 1980\u2019s<\/a>.\u00a0 Numerous denominations and churches of different names have multiplied; the more extreme sects oblige their members to cast off practices that they consider satanic.\u00a0 Any practice that is considered separate from God can be condemned and this includes ancestral Maya practices.\u00a0 When EntreMundos published a video on a Maya Mam practice in San Martin Chile Verde<\/a> to honor water in Lake Chicabal, we received comments on Facebook from people accusing residents of practicing witchcraft for praying and asking of \u201ca lifeless entity\u201d.\u00a0 The deep connection with mother earth, they are devalued by many of these sects.\u00a0 Domingo Choc, was a person with this kind of knowledge of nature.\u00a0 Monica Berger says:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cJust a few months ago Grandpa Domingo was walking through the forest on an ethno botanical trip to identify medical plant species.\u00a0 He explained how to do the invocations in order to ask permission from the essence of the plant before cutting it, and included all aspects of the ancestral Maya wisdom and science on its use, how to prepare it, store it, and apply it.\u00a0 We were working on an inventory of medicinal species to be able to document and protect the Q\u2019eqchi\u2019 knowledge and the indigenous knowledge.\u00a0 He was writing a book in which the evidence of Q\u2019eqchi\u2019 maya herbal science would remain, as a mechanism to document the intellectual property of his People.<\/em>\u201d<\/span><\/h2>\n

On the other hand, the violent culture in the country is fertile ground for these religious sects, since it makes way for fanaticism and the justification of any kind of action to eliminate what in their view \u201cgoes against God\u201d.\u00a0 Edgar Florencio Montufar\u2019s thesis mentions: \u201cLynching is a phenomenon that expresses the weakness and absence of social order in Guatemala; it\u2019s a social expression of protest in the face of discontent and\/or rejection of the formal mechanisms of conflict resolution\u201d.\u00a0 \u00a0 Although there is a National Program for the Prevention of Lynchings, this crime continues to occur and it seems as though there is no way to stop it.\u00a0 Even though entities like the Human Rights Department exist to ensure the respect of life and integrity of Guatemalans, it isn\u2019t always successful in its demands.\u00a0 They issued a statement in this regard.<\/span><\/p>\n

The low level of education, and not only in rural areas, makes the population act without conscience or measure.\u00a0 The unknown is feared, and in the face of the ignorance around Maya practices, those who are unfamiliar think they are related to witchcraft.\u00a0 The victims of this distrust of the unknown, haven\u2019t just been people, there have even been recorded cases of animals that have suffered the consequences of being associated with mythological and diabolical beings, like the lynching and death of a<\/a><\/span> kinkajou<\/span> and an otter, because they thought that they were \u201csatanic\u201d creatures.\u00a0 In Costa Rica, there are also evangelical religious groups that have damaged and killed sloth bears because they think that they are \u201ccreatures of the devil\u201d for their peculiar movement and ways of walking.<\/span><\/p>\n

Just as Berger indicates in his Facebook post:<\/a> \u201cit\u2019s necessary to create conscience and educate ourselves as society to learn to know each other among Guatemalans, stop fearing us, pursuing us.\u00a0 We need to understand, recognize each other, respect each other in our diversity.\u201d\u00a0 In addition to education and conscience, it\u2019s imperative that justice-related public institutions do a good job because the people have lost faith in these institutions.\u00a0 This makes way for a state of near anarchy in which certain places become a \u201clawless land\u201d.\u00a0 An example is that so far neither the National Civil Police nor the Public Ministry have been able to enter the town of Chimay, where this lamentable act was committed.<\/span><\/p>\n

Even if we don\u2019t know if those responsible for this murder will face justice, we can still share this information and demand justice, and carry out actions from our spaces.\u00a0 The news media can start by responsibly informing about this act, without sensationalism.\u00a0 Those who practice a religion, should open your mind in order not to judge negatively practices different from yours, and question if until this moment you\u2019ve supported similar attitudes\u00a0 that criticize and devalue the beliefs and culture of others.<\/span><\/p>\n

Finally, we invite you to collaborate in making a donation to the account of the Choc family, who in addition to coping with the trauma for such a horrible death, must pay the funeral expenses and other damages that will be difficult to overcome.<\/span><\/p>\n

Account for support:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Number: <\/strong>4062114119<\/p>\n

Bank: <\/strong>Banrural<\/p>\n

Name: <\/strong>Mar\u00eda Angelina Valle Choc<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Imagen: Festivales Solidarios<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By: EntreMundos On June 6th, Domingo Choc Che was murdered in a horrendous crime because of his life practices.\u00a0 He was a Maya spiritual guide that, according to Monica Berger, a worker at the University of Guatemala Valley \u201cwas a guide committed to preserving and transmitting ancestral knowledge about the protection of Mother Nature and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":6813,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[455],"tags":[2069,2149,2150,2151,2152],"class_list":["post-6848","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pagetwo-en","tag-domingo-choc","tag-domingo-choc-crime","tag-domingo-choc-killed","tag-domingo-choc-murder","tag-spiritual-mayan-guide"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/79173643_3143297442396916_5227572617444997527_n-1.jpg?fit=659%2C531&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7ljt7-1Ms","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7311,"url":"https:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/culture\/the-assassination-of-an-ajqij-burning-up-wisdon-is-not-possible-when-that-wisdon-is-the-fire\/?lang=en","url_meta":{"origin":6848,"position":0},"title":"THE ASSASSINATION OF AN AJ’QI’J |","author":"EntreMundos","date":"14 septiembre, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Burning Up Wisdom Is Not Possible When That Wisdom Is The Fire By Henning Sac\u00a0 Domingo Choc Che was an Aj'q'ij (a Mayan spiritual leader and herbalist). He was a keeper of the calendar, a husband, a father, a grandfather, a brother, a guide, a counselor and a scientist. 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