Universities in Xela

I would like to share my thoughts on the two main universities in this town. Really, there are seven universities, but I say two because there is the large public university, San Carlos, and my small private university, Rafael Landivar; and the others don’t really matter for the purpose of this anecdote.

At the university my group remains pretty isolated from the Guatemalan students. We only take classes with each other, and the worst part is our classroom is reserved for our use only, is in the corner of the building (the one building makes up the campus) and has it’s own private staircase that is not used by any other students.

Needless to say, we were very interested when my history professor, Vivi, suggested that we have an international dinner with the 35 students from her political science class.

Among these students was Juan Carlos, who had lived in the US for a few years, insisted on being called “JC,” and refused to speak in Spanish with us. Juan Carlos is the son of a Quetzaltenango Congressman and “prefers to live in Guatemala because his family has power and money here” (rough quote). During dinner he invited us all to his beach house, and afterwards in a discoteca he paid for everyone’s drinks and food. He even had the audacity to drop his dad’s name to the owner of another bar (the bar most of us fled to when we realized what a complete dud he was) urging them to stay open past their normal hours for us (which they didn’t).

Another tidbit about Juan Carlos: he was recently in the Guatemalan newspaper because he was arrested for the second time. This time he was found with illegal arms and the last time he was “disturbing the peace” (he was really drunk beating someone up while yelling about his family having money, according to an acquaintance who teaches at my language school). Because of this most recent incident, he can’t leave the country and he can’t drive. Luckily for him, he prefers to be here where his family has power, and he has a chauffer. So, all in all, he’s a general nuisance.

Being a private university in a country where education is a luxury reserved for few, almost all of the students are well off, although not many of them, from what I could tell, are quite as obnoxious as “JC” and his posse. I don’t like this kid one bit, and I like almost everyone. So when I tell Guatemaltecos that I go to Landivar, I’m hoping this image of Juan Carlos is not what that their minds invoke.

Now San Carlos. San Carlos is a university “for the people” (although, as I mentioned before, anyone who makes it to university has more privileges than most other people in this country.) There is one in Guatemala City and also here in Xela.

Many students of the University of San Carlos are involved in a group that has an interesting and very long-standing tradition, involving dressing up head to toe in black and publicly speaking out against the corrupt government. I don’t know why, but this tradition is most strong during the season of Lent. This group actually had a television program last Saturday on channel 4, the same channel that my volunteer organization broadcasts its “Breaking Barriers” program (see post from 4.03.09). I watched for a little bit and I thought they were pretty cool. I liked their message and their renegade ways, and their mysterious masked faces reminded me of the Zapatistas of Oventik, which I recently visited (see post from 25.02.09).

Last Saturday evening I went to play pool with my friends Jordan and Oscar. When we left the pool hall and started walking to where Oscar had parked his car, we saw about a dozen of these masked students coming from their recent shenanigans in Parque Central. I thought to myself—whoa cool! I saw these guys on TV today! I quickly became disillusioned. Surely this is an unequal and unfair comparison, but as they drunkenly approached, I realized that they were dressed very much like the KKK, only with black hoods instead of white. They then began to shout out things (as they will to any foreign girl) that I would maybe expect to hear from many uneducated men here, but not from this group of neo-revolutionaries!

But this group is hardly deserving of such a title. When we were safe in the car (although our safety was never really compromised) Oscar explained to us that in the past these students were like Robin Hood, stealing from the rich and giving to the poor, but that they have evolved to be just plain bandits. They demand money from the rich and the poor, and pocket the money to throw parties and buy booze. They also demand money from local businesses, and if they refuse to or can’t pay, they paint the building black with petroleum. Eunice, my host mom, suggested that I not go to see the parades, because they all get “bien boro” (really drunk) and they have bottles of urine, which they sprinkle on the crowd like some sort of Holy water! Although I totally admire them for standing up to an unjust system, their atrocious actions totally devalue their words.

So, my judgments are based on far too few people to carry much weight, but I guess the conclusion I’ve arrived at is: There are the posh students of Landivar and the crude students of San Carlos, and both groups can be equally tasteless and offensive.

***The information relating to “JC” and the hooded hoodlums was compiled from many sources. Credit goes to: Eunice Santiago, Miriam De Leon, Ronaldo, Vivian Martinez, Oscar Flores, Carlos Manuel Santiago, and Mario, the kid who sometimes eats lunch in my house.***