Nearly two weeks after a violent machete attack inside a family residence in San Marcos Village, Toledo, a bitter dispute has erupted over the lack of arrests and conflicting accounts of what unfolded on May 14. The attack has left one man hospitalized with a serious neck wound and a local family questioning the integrity of local law enforcement and village governance, while community leaders have pushed back against allegations of obstruction.
Mario Makin, a family representative, told local outlet News Five that the incident began when a group of unidentified men forced entry into his parents’ home. The intruders targeted Makin’s brother, delivering a deep machete wound to his neck, and directly threatened Makin’s mother during the attack. First responders from the local police force transported the injured man to a medical facility for urgent treatment, but no suspects were taken into custody at the scene or in the immediate aftermath, Makin says.
The following day, Makin’s mother submitted a formal incident report to authorities and formally requested legal proceedings against the attackers. But according to Makin, almost two weeks later, no law enforcement action has been taken. “Up to now, the people that did the chopping, they’re still walking free on the road with the machete in their hand… I don’t know if the police, they afraid to arrest those people,” Makin stated in his interview. He added that his mother now lives in constant fear, unable to feel secure in her own home after the attack.
Makin further alleged that the local village Alcalde was present during the attack, and suggested that political influence from village leaders is the root cause of police inaction. He explained the violence grew out of an earlier altercation between his brother and the village chairman’s brother, creating a conflict of interest that has derailed the investigation.
But village leadership has offered a completely contradictory version of events, rejecting all claims of interference and tying the incident to a confrontation that began far from the Makin family home.
Juan Caal, secretary to the Alcalde, explained that when the incident occurred, both the village chairman and the Alcalde were attending an off-site meeting. They received an emergency report that two intoxicated men were assaulting the chairman’s brother on a remote backstreet within the community. Caal says the Alcalde rushed to the scene immediately and attempted to take the two suspects into custody, but the pair managed to flee before they could be detained.
Due to the severity of the incident, which involved a deadly weapon and explicit threats of violence, the Alcalde’s office referred the entire case to the national police force to lead the investigation, Caal said. “We handed over to the police so that they can handle the matter from there because it involved a machete, it involved threatening words. And all we know is that someone tried to attack the chairman’s brother,” Caal explained. He also suggested the incident may have been a case of self-defense, raising the unsubstantiated possibility that the injured man’s neck wound was self-inflicted during the physical struggle.
Caal explicitly denied two core allegations from the Makin family: he refuted claims that Chairman Muku was present during the home attack, and rejected suggestions that any village leader interfered to block police from making arrests. He stressed that referring the case to police was a deliberate recommendation from the Alcalde’s office.
Despite these denials, the Makin family stands by their original account, pointing out that police have the names of the suspected attackers and a formal incident report on file – and still have not taken any suspects into custody. “I don’t know what they’re investigating when they already received the report and they’re not acting on it,” Makin said. The ongoing lack of resolution has left the family feeling failed by the institutions meant to protect them, and has cast a spotlight on potential gaps in local law enforcement response in rural Toledo.