35 year old whipped in public for stealing

The 35-year-old Tomasa Tzoc Tipaz, 35, was forced to kneel in front of a shouting crowd in the village of San Antonio, Ilotenango, in east Guatemala, and subject herself to a whipping - by her own mother.

Tipaz had allegedly been caught stealing, and after refusing to tell the local indigenous authorities who her accomplices were, they ordered that she should be whipped.She was taken to the local football ground where residents were invited to watch her punishment.

According to Juan Zapet, the mayor of Santa Cruz del Quiche, five whips are carried out for the offence to Mother Earth and the creator , five for the offence to the people, and five more for the offence to the victim.