Conorquie’s Death a Wake-up Call for Tour Operators at Caracol

Luis Zaiden

While the murder of Conorquie is a tragedy, it is also a wake-up call. News Five has learned that only two tourism police officers are stationed at Caracol for two weeks at a time. There is no vehicle and no communication with San Ignacio, at least two and a half hours drive away. A highly placed Police source today told us that the special constables receive only a week or two of limited training, a shotgun and a few shells to guard the site. We expect all that to change soon, since it has all come to light and if tourists don’t feel safe at a site, they won’t go there. Tour Guide Luis Zaiden told News Five that while he isn’t too concerned, the other guides don’t feel safe going back to Caracol. They feel that the men who killed Danny Conorquie meant to do much more than that.

Luis Zaiden, Tour Guide

“We feel..and the guides feel….da noh only me…that dey man neva gawn just fu kill one man. They gawn fu do wah statement because fu kill one man dey coulda mi shoot he and run. But they shoot he and gawn fu the gun and deh wait fu somebody else because when Mr. Monty Peck gawn into the plaza they shoot afta him too. Mr. Godoy…wah next tour guide, midi siddown da the temple in front and fu some reason…I noh know weh he do when this thing happen but fu some reason they neva shoot atta him but as Monty Peck run into the main plaza they shoot afta him. So we feel that if Mr. Monty Peck neva deh deh dat definitely dey people mi wah round we up and rob we or hurt one a we or do something else. And da soh my tourists feel too.”

Reporter

“You feel safe going back to Caracol?”

Luis Zaiden

“I woulda still go back. I gawn through some experiences before and I woulda still go back. But wah lotta guides woulda seh they woulda want more security. And of course the weapon weh Mr. Monty Peck mi have noh adequate fu the job weh he deh do. Because he gat wah pump twelve and they guys have, from the report, wah nine mm. I mean there’s no match…from distance, no match.”