Police in Guatemala are launching an extensive investigation over the brutal killing of a 16-year-old girl from a small village in Rio Bravo who was beaten and doused with gasoline by a vigilante group. The mob even took a video of the incident and posted it on YouTube.
The incident was reported to have stemmed from the fact that the mob believed that the teenager was part of a motorcycle gang that killed 68-year-old taxi driver Enrique González Noriega. The killers were able to flee the scene after their attack on Noriega, but the girl was caught by the vigilantes, according to The Independent.
Authorities say, however, that they are still looking into the authenticity of the video, which has gone viral on the Internet, provoking a debate in social media communities in Guatemala regarding this brand of justice.
The police admits that vigilante justice has become a persistent problem in areas like Rio Bravo, a rural town. Even the country's president, Otto Perez Molina, has acknowledged that there is a lack of police patrols in the sites, according to a report from CNN.
Over 20 similar incidents of mob burning have already taken place in the country as of this year, as confirmed by Mario Polanco of the Grupo de Apoyo Mutuo, a human rights group in the region.
"It is unfortunate these types of situations occur. They are produced by the weakness of the state's institutions to guarantee safety and justice for the population, and so (people) take justice into their own hands," Polanco said.
The United Nations created a commission in 2006 that was tasked with investigating impunity and corruption in Guatemala, as the country is regarded as one of the most violent countries in the world.
The U.S. State Department also classifies Guatemala's crime problem as "critical," with over 101 murders taking place every week, according to its 2014 Crime and Safety Report.
