A Guatemalan Police musical band gives "encouragement" in the curfew

A musical band from the Guatemalan National Civil Police animates the streets of some Guatemalan cities during the curfew decreed by the Government to stop the contagion curve of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, the official name of the so-called coronavirus.

On the trailer of a trailer are 15 police officers musicians guided through various streets of the capital, Antigua Guatemala, Quetzaltenango and other latitudes, to "provide the support of faith and hope" to the population, as the deputy commissioner of the Subdirectorate General for Crime Prevention, Edú Ardiano.

They play the national anthem and that of the armed institution, as well as some traditional melodies and "that identify us as Guatemalans", such as El Rey Quiché, which is a classic in marimba, said the deputy commissioner.

During the first week of curfew, which prevents free movement between four in the afternoon and four in the morning the next day, people who have heard and observed the passage of the band smile and applaud from their homes.

Behind the front door of his home in the popular neighborhood La Chácara, a man peeked excitedly at the peephole to witness and applaud the songs of the group of policemen on the trailer.

The scene is repeated from the rooftops, balconies and windows of the areas where the police group lights up with their music, in contrast to the silent abysmal void of the street.

In front of the trailer, two picops lead the procession, one of these with two officers holding the Guatemalan flag, which guards the passage of the band, which emerged in 1997 with the transformation of the National Civil Police, when the conclusion of the internal war that It struck Guatemala from 1960 to 1996, dissolved the former National Police.

"The band has counted for the population forever and right now we are giving it a boom so that people do not fall into anxiety and we can raise people's morale," said Ardiano.

In addition to bringing happiness to every corner through which they have passed, and that seek to expand to other places in the interior of the country, the musical band makes sure of the "strict compliance with the curfew decree", said Ardiano, who commented that the tours start at four in the afternoon and end around three hours later.

The curfew was extended this Sunday for two more weeks, after the first seven days of compliance in which 3,467 people were arrested who have breached the order to stay home.

Guatemala has registered 34 positive cases infected with the COVID-19 disease, of which 10 have recovered, 1 has died (an 85-year-old patient) and one more is in a delicate state, with a reserved prognosis.