Murders Darken A Low-Budget Latin Paradise

THE DEATHS of two Alaska women, apparently at the hands of robbers, shows how development has brought crime and drug problems to the Guatemalan town of Panajachel.

PANAJACHEL, Guatemala - A fixture on the "gringo trail," the picturesque town of Panajachel draws an array of U.S. and European budget tourists, adventurers and retirees. Vegetarian restaurants abound, entrepreneurs rent mountain bikes, and a local masseuse offers weary travelers a "whole-body, deep-muscle massage."

So the murder of two travelers from Alaska has shocked many people in this town, highlighting an emerging and violent underside.

Early Sunday evening, police were alerted that the bodies of two women lay in an alley near Lake Atitlan, which fills a vast volcano-ringed crater in western Guatemala. Lucinda Bousquet, 50, a real-estate agent, and her friend, Ann Ahern, 38, an Irish-born artist, had been shot in the head.

Authorities believe several armed robbers encountered the women and tried to take their money. A bloody handprint on a nearby gate indicates there was a struggle. The victims were killed with a blast from a .32-caliber automatic.

The killings mobilized the town of 19,000, which is dependent on tourism. Dozens of hotel and business owners met to discuss how to better equip the 16 local police officers.

Police officer Adan Castillo Aguilar said bullet casings were taken from the alley and fingerprints were lifted near the bodies. "Several suspects" are under investigation, he said.

In most ways, Bousquet and Ahern were typical of those arriving in Panajachel. Lugging backpacks, they got off a bus from Huehuetenango, an Indian city near the Mexican border, on Jan. 4, checking into the budget Hotel Maya-Kanek. They left for an unknown destination at noon Saturday, the day before their bodies were found.

Bousquet, a divorced mother of two, sold real estate in Anchorage. Ahern used a British passport but was a longtime Alaska resident. She was a graphic artist in Anchorage.

The two began traveling in Mexico, then headed south to Panajachel, which first began to draw dropouts, vagabonds and adventure-seekers in the 1960s and 1970s.

"It was this hippie thing, where you could live here on a dollar a day," said Ivan Garcia, manager of air courier DHL's local office.

In the 1980s, with money and investment coming in, Panajachel grew trendier. Hotels, movie houses and delis popped up. Entrepreneurs prospered by exporting Indian handcrafts. Time-share vacation units were built.

Even as commerce flourished, a seedier side emerged. Hard drugs arrived. Fugitives holed up here, sitting elbow-to-elbow at bars with retired U.S. military personnel.

Problems were rare until a few years ago. Then armed robberies began and drug problems became more apparent.

"I pack a gun at night. I never feel unsafe," said Arthur Kennedy II, a retired U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonel who lives in a lake villa.

Guatemala has not been kind to tourists from Alaska.

In March 1994, Fairbanks photographer June Weinstock got tangled in hysteria over a baby-stealing incident that left her the victim of a frenzied mob in the remote village of San Cristobal Verapaz. Villagers wielding metal pipes and clubs beat her viciously.

Rescuers barely saved Weinstock's life, and she was still unconscious when evacuated to Alaska several weeks later.

"She's been out of a coma for many months now," said Ronnie Rosenberg, her legal guardian. "But she's still requiring 24-hour care."

Weinstock, now 53, is in a Fairbanks nursing facility, unable to walk or hold a long conversation.