Reckoning With a Genocide in Guatemala

[Judi Lynn]

Reckoning With a Genocide in Guatemala
By Lauren Wolfe
Feb 10 2012, 7:15 AM ET

GUATEMALA CITY -- A man in a mask opens a door. The smell of rot hovers in the air and everywhere there are piles of paper -- pink, yellow, white, all a bit aged and possibly very important. When searching through the 80 million documents dumped in the archives of the Guatemalan National Police, it's never clear what will turn up. What is contained here, however, in a sprawling building somehow hidden until 2005, reveals how the government of Guatemala committed grave human rights abuses from the 1970s through the 1990s in a war that left more than 200,000 dead and 100,000 women raped. Records of operations, identification cards, and communiqués between departments are just some of the files that compose the near-bottomless archive the regime kept of its own murderous campaign.

In addition to these stacks of papers are a small handful of documents from the military's still-classified archives, one young documentary filmmaker, a bulldog of a forensic anthropologist, two whip-smart female lawyers, and a meticulous American archivist. Altogether, these files and crusaders have led the way to the first indictment of a former Latin American president on genocide charges. General Efraín Ríos Montt, a now-85-year-old mustachioed, seersucker-clad, banana republic dictator, was placed under house arrest on January 26, nearly 30 years after he allegedly ordered the annihilation of Guatemala's indigenous population and other "subversive" elements.

Latin America-watchers agree that the trial could be a complete paradigm shift for Guatemala, and a potentially history-setting precedent for the region. While there are no statutes of limitations on genocide crimes in most national and international courts, political will has been lacking when it comes to prosecuting grand-scale human rights abuses in Latin America. Many involved in the abuses are still in power. Laura Carlsen, the Mexico City-based director of the Americas Program at the Center for International Policy in Washington, explains that there is a running debate about historical memory in the southern cone. Is it healthier to bring crimes to justice, to face them head on as a nation, or instead move forward, not reopening wounds? The region might be settling on a direction.

~snip~

Guatemala's internal, 36-year conflict -- from 1960 to 1996 -- began ostensibly as a struggle between the U.S.-backed right-wing government and a leftist insurgency. But with racism and land struggles running deep in Guatemala, indigenous Mayans ultimately became the government's target. Ríos Montt allegedly oversaw a "scorched earth" campaign that destroyed entire villages as his government labeled all villagers "subversives," thereby marking the entire population for annihilation. As the men fled, the women who remained behind became targets of rape.

More:
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/02/reckoning-with-a-genocide-in-guatemala/252761/

[Judi Lynn]

1. The XX files: The hunt for victims of Guatemala's 36-year war

The XX files: The hunt for victims of Guatemala's 36-year war
The discovery of a vast hidden archive may finally bring closure to those whose relatives 'disappeared' after being detained by the police or military
Guy Adams
Friday 10 February 2012

Alejandra Garcia's most treasured memento of her father is a faded, black-and-white photo from 1984. A handsome 27-year-old, in jeans and a check shirt, he grins contentedly while holding his wife, Nineth, who in turn is cradling their newly born first child.

Not long after the portrait was taken, Alejandra's father, Fernando, disappeared. On 18 February, he failed to turn up to a celebration at the family home in Guatemala City. Nineth spent days frantically searching the local streets. But he was never seen again.

At the time, Guatemala was in the throes of a 36-year civil war which ranks as one of the most brutal conflicts of the 20th century. More than 200,000 people died, from a population which at the start of hostilities was about four million. Roughly 80 per cent of the casualties were suspected left-wing dissidents. Many were executed, without trial, by soldiers or police officers loyal to the country's ruling military junta.

Fernando Garcia, a student activist whose only crime was taking part in several demonstrations against the government, was one such victim. In the days after his disappearance, witnesses came forward to claim he had been snatched off the streets by men who appeared to be out-of-uniform police officers. Then he was bundled into an unmarked pick-up truck and driven away.

More:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/the-xx-files-the-hunt-for-victims-of-guatemalas-36year-war-6699789.html

[Judi Lynn]

2. Guatemala’s Reign of Terror

February 06, 2012
Then and Now
Guatemala’s Reign of Terror
by W. T. WHITNEY

Guatemalan prosecutors announced January 26 that 85-year old Efraín Ríos Montt, military dictator in 1982-1983, was going to trial in March. He’s accused of responsibility for killing and disappearing thousands of mostly poor and indigenous Guatemalans.

Gratified, blogger Juan José Guerrero wrote: “I was surgeon in the Coban Regional Hospital when you (Ríos Montt) were the de facto government leader. The cadavers that arrived at the morgue – when they arrived – seemed to have come out of a diabolical nightmare: women raped and pathologically tortured beforehand; children ripped open.”

A 36 year civil war ended in 1996 with peace accords signed both by the government and guerrilla insurgents known asGuatemalan National Revolutionary Unity (URNG). The war emerged out of chaos following CIA overthrow of an elected government in 1954 bent on mild land reform. Except during the Carter administration, U.S. support for the government side included military advisors, CIA operatives, military hardware, and funding. Both governments advanced the pretext of anti-communism.

The Guatemalan Conference of Bishops arranged for documentation of humanitarian catastrophe through the “Recovery of Historical Memory” (REMHI) project, led by Bishop Juan José Gerardi. The REMHI report “Guatemala: Nunca Mas,” issued on April 24, 1998, described eradication of 440 Mayan communities and the killing of 200,000 mostly unarmed, indigenous civilians. Blame fell largely upon the army and national government.

More:
http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/02/06/guatemalas-reign-of-terror/

[mojowork_n]

3. The police burned down the Spanish Embassy, in 1980, killing 39.

It's taken a long time to start to bring perpetrators to justice, because that would
be bad for business.

Article on delayed prosecution of rights abuses, from 5 years ago:

http://www.counterpunch.org/2006/08/19/guatemalan-genocide-and-us-security/

[Judi Lynn]

4. Hope other DU'ers will read your link. I saved it for further reference. Thank you. n/t