Guate goes BOOM!

I left the office fairly late last night. (Updating the journal is tough work, ya know.) I stopped at Cien Puertas, a small café right next to my apartment building, for a quick snack of cheese-covered garlic bread and a large, fresh-squeezed lemonade.

By the time I reached my apartment, I was one step away from zombiehood. I fell into bed so hard it that it seemed to shake the entire building. Just as I was about to knock on the door of deep sleep... Boom! the building shook again.

"Fireworks?" I thought, as the haze reluctantly lifted from my tired mind. But why? The fútbol team didn't win tonight... they didn't even play tonight. (Although, that said, their chances of winning are slightly higher if there isn't actually an opposing team.)

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! "Fourth of July, perhaps?" I wondered, before remembering that I was still in Guatemala, not the US of A.

Even the metal sheets on the roof began to dance with the shockwave of each Big Bang.

I thought perhaps my neighbor with the major cocaine habit was having another one of his 3am bashes where his state-of-the-art sound system would cause the entire 16th floor to tremble with a booming bass beat. Then I remembered, with a quick smile, that the building administration had kicked him out just days earlier.

BOOM! "Well", I sighed to myself, "what with this being Guatemala and all... those booms could be caused by damn near anything. I wouldn't even rule out an alien invasion, à la War of the Worlds."

And with that, exhaustion reached out its long arm and pulled me easily into a sound (and soundless) slumber.

This morning I discovered the truth behind the BOOMs. It wasn't the aliens attacking, per se, but rather the Guatemalan military blowing itself up!

Explosions rock military base on outskirts of Guatemala City in possible munitions blast

By Juan Carlos Llorca
Associated Press

June 18, 2005

Guatemala City – Huge explosions rocked a weapons storehouse on a military base north of Guatemala's capital early Saturday, lighting up the night sky and spewing toxic smoke over neighborhoods, officials said. People living in a nearby slum were urged to evacuate.

There were no immediate reports of deaths or injuries. The army sealed off access to the base and refused to allow journalists to enter.

The blasts at the Mariscal Zavala brigade base on the city's outskirts began just before midnight and lit up the night sky like fireworks for about three hours. Thousands of city residents gathered on rooftops and in the streets to watch.

Base spokesman Maj. Marlon Mayen told reporters outside the facility that the blasts apparently were confined to a weapons storehouse at the sprawling military installation and no soldiers appear to have been injured.

But he said full information would have to wait until an inspection could be made later Saturday.

"It's very dangerous to go in there and investigate," Mayen said. "We don't know what happened, whether it was an electrical short circuit or what."

Interior Minister Carlos Vielman said people were urged to evacuate a slum near the base, called Barrio 18, because toxic smoke was headed their way. However, some residents expressed fear about leaving their homes late at night in the crime-ridden area, so extra police patrols were sent into the neighborhood.

"The smoke is very dangerous," Vielman said. "We have stepped up security in the areas to be evacuated."

A blaze sparked by the explosions was largely brought under control early Saturday, about three hours after the incident began.

While the explosions rattled windows and walls for miles around, and somewhat smaller blasts continued intermittently for about three hours, the biggest danger appeared to be the dense smoke.

Radio reports said the accident was releasing white phosphorous gas, a toxic ingredient in some munitions.

"We are evacuating everybody who lives around the base," volunteer fire brigade official Mynor Cholotio told local media. "The smoke contains white phosphorous, which is highly toxic and causes respiratory problems."

By early Saturday, some people began returning to their homes, though many were severely shaken by the incident.

Tags: Guatemala, explosions, military