Global Courant 2023-05-01 20:15:33
It was 11:57 p.m. when the last two workers from Marhnos, a company that collected the toll on the Palín – Escuintla highway for 25 years, finished deactivating the electronic system that controlled the pens of the booths for toll collection and the box system.
The last payment receiver disconnected his equipment, he was guarded by a guard. His last minutes of employment had bubbles, slogans and whistles as a background.
By this time several vehicles formed lines in four lanes. They were waiting for the passage to be released to become the first to pass on the highway without having to pay the company.
Some residents of Palín took the opportunity to express their joy at the elimination of the toll, even some despite being close to home arriving in their vehicles, in order to take advantage of the moment and travel without having to pay.
Others expressed their joy by burning some firecrackers or bubucellas and burbling sounds, the clock was already close to reaching the deadline and the car horns eagerly announced that moment.
Highway employees prepare to clear the way. Photography: Free Press (Erick Avila).
At zero o’clock on the 1st of May, the two Marhnos workers raised their pens and the vehicles began to circulate, while honking their horns.
Ancestral authorities of the indigenous mayor’s office of Palín, who came to express their satisfaction with the government’s decision to remove the toll collection, shouted slogans such as “yes it was possible, yes it was possible” and “concessions never again.”
Indigenous authorities were clear in rejecting the concessions. Photography: Free Press (Erick Avila).
Several units of the National Civil Police (PNC) arrived at the scene and positioned themselves along the route of the highway, as well as Provial agents. No authority from Marhnos or the Ministry of Communications was present at the scene.
They reject concessions
“For us it is a party because we suffered a lot with heavy transportation, it was daily, it was an ordeal,” said Edgar Rodríguez, a neighbor of Palín, who preferred to get out of his car and leave home to celebrate the end of the concession.
“It is a privilege – to be the first to go through – because for 25 years we have suffered the ordeal of spending two or three hours in line. People from other places may see it as something ridiculous, but they have not suffered what we suffered in Escuintla and Palín to get through, ”he said.
Cars honked their horns to join in the celebration. Photography: Free Press (Erick Avila).
The neighbor was clear that the concessions, from his point of view, do not benefit the communities. “We have to keep fighting because the roads don’t have to be privatized, if they are built with our money, from taxes.”
Abner Cifuentes was another of the Guatemalans who was one of the first to pass without paying the toll. He came from the coast after running some errands and decided to join the community celebration.
“It is something that is going to be quite nice not to pay for this service. In a way, if a concession was given for 25 years; however, it is already fair that the people have control of this stretch of road and in the end we hope that the government will continue to maintain the road”, he said.
Together with the residents and visitors, representatives of the indigenous mayor’s office of Palín joined, who publicly requested the authorities not to cede roads again.
“We are celebrating that this road returns to the hands of the people. Because this highway was built in our territory, our taxes and 25 years have made a great shameless theft of the wealth of the people”, said Alida Vicente, from the indigenous mayor’s office of Palín.
The representative of the indigenous authorities added that the fact that toll collection did not continue was a wise decision by the authorities, otherwise many families would have been affected.
“It is part of the process of demanding our rights and we believe that this decision that the government made is the most appropriate because it is not possible that in a crisis and post-pandemic situation, with the economic situation that the country is in, the assets continue to be privatized. that they are from the town”, he concluded.
