The War on Drugs Ravages Central America. Meet The Volunteer Paramedics Who Clean Up the Mess

“A Ride-Along With Guatemala’s Volunteer Ambulance
Drivers on the Front Lines of America’s Drug War,” produced by Zach
Weissmueller. Original release date was June 26, 2014. The
original writeup is below.

Guatemala is a
major drug corridor between South America and Mexico. Narco
gangs thrive in rural areas and along the southeastern border,
while street gangs who profit from
extortion, kidnapping, and bribery dominate the urban centers.
As a result, the country’s capital, Guatemala City, has one of the

highest murder rates in the world.

This is the environment in which Guatemala’s bomberos
voluntarios—a phrase that roughly translates to “volunteer
firefighters” but really encompasses a group of first responders
who act as firefighters, ambulance drivers, and paramedics—operate
every day.

When Reason TV visited the headquarters of Guatemala City’s
official, government-sanctioned and -funded first responders—the
bomberos municipales—officals downplayed the city’s drug
and violence problems and insisted that Guatemala is a safe place
to live and visit. But the voluntarios, who receive some
money from the government but seemingly maintain enough
independence to avoid the same level of political
pressure, had a different story to tell.

“The municipal bomberos receive funding from the government and
the municipality,” says Herber Diaz, one of the few paid, full-time
paramedics on the force. “They have more equipment, and more
people. But the trust the people have in us is there because we do
everything. They’re selective in their job.” 

Watch the above video for an intense look inside the world of
Guatemala’s volunteer bomberos, a group of men who on a
daily basis save lives, race along treacherous roads where
motorists are slow to pull over, and witness the results of
cold-blooded executions on the city streets, all in a country with
a government
corrupted by organized crime, and all for little or no pay.

Scroll down for downloadable versions of this video.

Approximately 5 minutes. Produced by Zach Weissmueller. Field
Production by Ross Kenyon and Zachary Caceres. Music by Chris
Zabriskie (http://ift.tt/wfgYUg).