2016 International Women’s Day: Highlighting Guatemala’s Sepur Zarco Case

Please enjoy: Woman (Oh Mama) - Joy Williams (see original video)

March 8 is International Women’s Day. It is sad for me when some people laugh at the idea that there is a day in recognition of women. Therefore, I will pose a reminder: International Women's Day is a international day all about celebration, reflection, advocacy, and action - whatever that looks like globally and at a local level; reflecting on the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity. It is a collective day of celebration and a call for gender equality. No one government, NGO, charity, corporation, academic institution, women's network or media hub is solely responsible for International Women's Day. "The story of women's struggle for equality belongs to no single feminist nor to any one organization but to the collective efforts of all who care about human rights," says world-renowned feminist, journalist and social and political activist Gloria Steinem.

Many organizations declare an annual IWD theme that supports their specific agenda or cause, and some of these are adopted more widely with relevance than others. International women’s day is both a reminder and a call to action; gender equality is still not a reality and there are many issues affecting women all over the world.

This International Women’s Day I will dedicate my time and efforts by attending multiple panels on Gender Equality, and will also raise attention to the thousands of men and women affected by rape and murder committed through the case of Sepur Zarco. Sepur Zarco was one of military bases where by the Guatemalan military committed mass killings and rape against the local populous beginning in 1981 through 1988. I have a personal connection to this case, I learned of it while I was working in Guatemala and had the opportunity to interview individuals who were directly affected, many I spoke with had lost their loved ones and continue to suffer to trauma.

After more than 30 years of shame, the women had received a form of justice when the court declared: “We believe you … it wasn’t your fault … the army terrorised you in order to destroy your community.”

"This is historic, it is a great step for women and above all for the victims," said Nobel Peace Prize winner Rigoberta Menchu, who attended the hearing.

On February 26, 2016, after the last 20 days of traumatic testimony, Francisco Reyes Giron and Heriberto Valdez Asij were found guilty of crimes against humanity in a precedent setting case for sexual slavery. Francisco Reyes Giron, who was the commander of the Sepur Zarco military base, was found guilty of holding 15 women in sexual and domestic slavery and for killing 20-year old Dominga Cuc Cocand and her two daughters. Heriberto Valdez Asij, a paramilitary who carried out commissions for the army, was convicted for the same, as well as the forced disappearance of seven men. The victims have been demanding accountability for the crimes at Sepur Zarco for decades. Like so many other areas of the world, Guatemala’s 36-year civil war, rape was widely used as a weapon, according to human rights groups. But last week’s ruling marked the first time, anyone had faced justice for sexual violence during the conflict – and the first time anywhere in the world that sexual slavery perpetrated during an armed conflict had been prosecuted in the country where the crimes took place.

Former army officer Esteelmer Francisco Giron

The post-war Commission for Historical Clarification documented 1,465 such cases, and almost 90% of the victims were indigenous women. But as for anything in seeking legal action, evidence and witness’ accounts are crucial. Finally giving a voice to the victims is so important as they were the ones silenced. According to the prosecution, the military set up camp in the village of Sepur Zarco at the end of 1981 where the armed forces repeatedly attacked the village of Sepur Zarco and killed or took away Mayan leaders who had been applying for land titles on which their families had lived and farmed for centuries. The men were accused of being associated with left-wing guerrillas.

Agustin Chen, one of the men who survived said the soldiers took him to a cell and beat him every day.The court heard how military commanders considered the women to be "available" without their men and had then taken them into sexual and domestic slavery. They were required to report every third day to the base for "shifts" during which they were raped, sexually abused, and forced to cook and clean for the soldiers. In a report to the court, anthropologist Irma Alicia Velasquez Nimatuj said military outposts were installed in the region "to give security to the landowner's farms and to take possession of the lands". For some of the victims, their ordeal lasted as long as six years until the base was closed in 1988.

Former paramilitary fighter Heriberto Valdez Asij

Throughout the trial, the 14 surviving victims aged between 52 and 75, sat very still in court with their heads covered in traditional embroidered shawls, just a few metres away from the accused.

The court heard from Petrona Choc Cuc who said, her husband, and their four children fled to the mountains in 1982 as soldiers rounded up their neighbours. “At night we wrapped ourselves up in nylon sheets. We got rained on. There were many insects … This is not the product of my imagination; I lived this. We suffered a great deal.”

The family was eventually found by soldiers and Choc Cuc’s husband was killed, but the children managed to flee deeper into the mountains until they could no longer endure the dire conditions. “We went to the military base and got on our knees and begged them to forgive us, to not kill us,” she said in her recorded testimony. “Many times I was raped. One of my daughters was raped too … Every day I suffer because of what they did to me.”

A number of women testified that they were forcibly given contraceptives by military medical staff. Demecia Yat de Xol explained how she was raped at home and then forced to live on the camp for months as punishment for searching for her disappeared husband. “They put us [women] in a room and began raping us. I was pregnant at the time and suffered a miscarriage.”

Yat de Xol also testified that her cousin Dominga Cuc was locked in a small house at the base and raped by soldiers until she was “practically lifeless”. “I don’t know who gave the order but we could hear them shooting, then we heard that she had been killed,” she said.

Cuc’s elderly mother Julia Cuc Choc told the court how years later when the bodies were exhumed, “They found hair, clothes, and my daughter’s bones. But they only found the undergarments of my granddaughters. Their bones had turned to dust.”

Another witness, Rosa Tiul, described how she was forced to cook for the soldiers for six months during which time she was taken to different rooms and raped by up to six men at a time. The terror continued even after she was allowed to return home.

“The [soldiers] told me if I didn’t let them [rape me] they would kill me,” she said. “Sometimes they tied me down and put a rifle on my chest … They knew which ones of us [women] were alone … They treated us like animals.”

One of the most stirring moments of the trial came in the second week when the court was presented with 38 boxes containing the remains of 51 victims recovered by forensic anthropologists from Sepur Zarco and another nearby base. The bones were so badly decomposed that only two of the victims, including Rosa Tiul’s husband, have been successfully identified. In fact, towards the end of my stay in Guatemala, a couple of the EFI-IFIFT members were contacted by the court and asked to come back to testify about the mass graves of women the forensic anthropologists had discovered. They told the courts told that a mass grave had been uncovered right outside the army barracks and that the victims had been disposed of like trash. The EFI-IFIFT members lacked faith in the system, as they had testified about these findings 6 years before, and still the case was being dragged out, with no sign of a resolution.  The  people Guatemala lacked faith in system as well due to the “Guatemalan legislature’s continued refusal to ‘recognize crimes against women despite the 2008 passing of Ley Contra Femicidio y Otras Formas de Violencia Contra la Mujer (Law Against Femicide and Other Forms of Violence Against Women), which called for longer penalties.

At one point, Reyes’s defence lawyer Moisés Galindo – who previously defended the former dictator Efraín Ríos Montt at his 2013 trial for genocide – caused uproar when he accused the victims of being prostitutes, and dismissed the experts and protected witnesses as liars. In his own defence, Reyes repeatedly denied working at Sepur Zarco, even though there are records of his placement there.

“Prostitutes” or not, confining someone and forcing them against their will to be raped over and over again is rape, no matter who it is or what their occupation. This accusation is only used to dismiss the victims claims and justify the violence committed against them and should be disregarded by the courts.

The Guatemala City supreme court has technically sentenced the two former members of the military to 360 years in jail for the murder, rape and sexual enslavement of the Q’eqchi women. But we must not forget that the perpetrators rarely serve their full sentence. Rather, we need to refrain from a sigh of relief like the problem is solved because it is not. Far too often a case becomes no more than a public stunt to appease those short-term. The women were “awarded” ( much of the article uses this term but it is  improper to “award” compensation to people whose rights and lives were violated in the first place) compensation for the long-term physical, psychological and economic harm suffered. But can there really be justice when those accountable do not accept punishment or guilt? What about all the other hundreds in the country who experienced the same. This case only recognizes only a small portion of victims who suffered. Still, this is a major step forward in victims receiving the justice they deserve. Catalina Ruiz Navarro exclaims “ Guatemala sexual slavery verdict shows women’s bodies are not battlefields.”

Lastly, I cannot stress enough that this is not something in a far distant place. Assault and rape is all around us. Many of us do not hold uphold gender equality, or the dignity we all deserve. Rape and indiscriminate violence are legacies of colonialism. Similar to Spanish conquest, Chris Hedges in the book I am reading, Days of Destruction Days of Revolt, accounts on the rape and disrespect of others in the American indigenous history. He writes, ‘Soldiers on the western frontier who passed captive squaws from tent to tent joked that “Indian women rape easy”, as accounted by Ben Clark, General Custer’s chief of scouts about Custer’s 1868 Washita raid’. From then on after, families after families continue the cycle of violence on their children or neighbors. Moreover, one of the EFI-IFIFT  Cristian Silva’s thesis, Importance on Gender-Based Violence in Guatemala, 97 percent of the atrocities committed towards women, girls and senior women (60 and above) were committed by the armed forces to ensure that the “effects of sexual assault” maintained a patriarchal legacy of “long-lasting shame, fear, and self-degradation”, and entire communities were left facing “silence and denial”. Impunity is entrenched in Guatemalan social life. The perpetrators of femicide continue to do so without fear of consequence.

So then what about the thousands of missing and murdered indigenous women in Canada? We continue to perpetuate with name calling and ostracizing, even if you say it is “just a joke” (Dear daddy video). Like the 97 year old Petronilia who we interviewed or the hundreds of contemporary cases of gender-based violence post Peace Accord, they will never get to see their daughters again. It takes two. Together, man and woman we are the ones to make a difference.

...One to sign off to: Rise Up -Andra Day

Justice at last for Guatemalan women as military officers jailed for sexual slavery
Guatemala: Rape Sentences in Landmark Military Trial

Debate Begins Outrages in Sepur Zarco
Sepur Zarco: Accused Refuses to Discuss Case
Sepur case Zarco: International Organizations Celebrate the Start of the Trial

Uncovering the Crimes of Others

Machette the jungle brush

November 25: Today was the day to finally uncover the crimes of others. In the process, I have learned what it means to families to finally have something done after the horrible mass crimes of the 36 year civil war. But I also learned that despite the "peace processes" that denounce the violence and call for amends, little is set up to accomplish anything. Despite the international show of reform it is incredibly hard and complicated for victims who have suffered mass atrocities at the hands of their governments to ever feel like there is any sense of justice or closure.


Orienteering

We leave bright and early in the truck into the mountains. We have all our tools packed and we alternate sitting in the bucket. It is a very bumpy ride! On route, we do stop to eat,at a tin shack overhang where the ground all around was mud. We were a little worried our foreign stomachs may not be able to handle this meal but it ended up being some of the best tamale and fried chicken (perfectly seasoned and crispy) I had ever had. The horchata (rice and cinnamon drink) was exceptionally good as well. After going up some final hills (I did not think the truck was going to make it), we arrive in the area of Silquil where we had been asked to excavate immediately after the two hours of driving. After balancing all the tools and gear we set off with some of the family and the owners of the property who had volunteered to help. The direct family had even farther of a distance to come to meet us. They live in another far distant mountain side, even less accessible costing them far more to travel. All this for a family who has very little money to begin with. It costs them literally everything they have to be here today. 


The family waits

   We walk down a steep mountain side and after only 10 minutes the line of people halt with some shouts in Ixchil and Spanish. Apparently we had reached the estimated site already (us girls had all been set to bush-wack for an hour!). With the assisted information from witness testimony and our orienteer, our EFI team get our compasses, locating north and taping off the area. Some local men and a couple family member volunteer themselves to help with much of search digging, and boy, did we end up being grateful with the 6 feet holes we ended up digging. Before, we start with the major digging though, we leave time for the members to give thanks and say prayers. Since the uncovering of the body is for the family, we follow their wishes foremost. Our EFI members remind them this is a safe space, so whatever form of belief or ceremony they wish to follow they can do so without hesitation. 


Interviews

While the local men and us girls take turns digging, Oscar, another member of EFI followed through with interviewing the family. From their standard report, he started off with the most basic information like facial characteristics, any known previous injuries, what he did for a living (so to match indicators of bone wear) in order to gain a profile. As the teeth are part of the major indicators for age, he asks if he could take pictures of some of the families teeth in order to have a relative comparison. One reason, Oscar and other interviewers start off with the most basic information is so that family may feel comfortable, and only then, they begin getting into detail for other clues that will be helpful when presenting the final case to the Reparations Program.


Digging, Digging, and more digging

So who are we looking for you wonder? Well we were looking for the father of the daughter and nephew who were here with us. During the conflict, people were set in great fear and distrust. The government and the military had friends and neighbours turn on each other. During the conflict, the father had been picked up by the army and forced to be a guide for them in the mountains. After a year he was set free. But when he got back to his hometown, members of the guerrilla movement called him a traitor. But how can you be a traitor when you had to leave your home against your will? Once again, he was torn from his home and his family. Witnesses recall they bound and beat him, stripped him naked and then hung him, leaving him to slowly die. The witness, more recently before he had passed away, had made sure to tell a community member where he knew the man was buried. It was because of his clue that we knew the approximate place to start digging.


 

Digging

There have been many uncovered mass graves that this initiative and others like it have found. But one thing Cristian had pointed out (as it has defined in different genocides), is that the case of Guatemala has defined a mass grave as one containing five sets of remains (in Bosnia and Croatia it was 3). While other initiatives focused on these larger graves, those of murdered family members have not been deemed as important so the cases of one or two are often ignored. That is why the members of EFI have started to put more focus on the these small graves, because these families are just as important.
  

Digging

Digging straight down around our blocked off area, we began to realized from the colour of the soil that this area was not the right spot. The lighter soil indicated that this area was too dense and had not been disturbed. We began to move further left and right using standard shovels and large hoes. Still no sign. More people had come to watch. We decided to dig up northward. Then all of a sudden, thousands upon thousands of stinging ants came spewing out! It looked like black lava! The soil was moving like water! Someone spoke to us in English that this had to be a good sign (that we were close)! Sure enough, the next thing we spotted was a portion of a Humerus. We halted digging at once. The volunteers carefully moved the large portion of soil around it and then Cristian asked Amanda and Kalista to assist Juan Carlos with the beginnings of the fine brushing process. Similar to archaeological digs, you have to treat everything with extraordinary caution since you cannot risk damaging anything, especially when quality of the bone is all you have in identifying the individual. If you accidentally break something you immediately lose quality of evidence on determining anti-mortem, peri-mortem, and post-mortem of trauma.

The uncovering begins: humerous and part of skull

We use fine tools such as small brushes, trowels and sifters to carefully remove the soil around the body, holding loose bones down when brushing around them. There is no sign of clothing, so our witness' accounts seem to match. 
 

The emotions

 In the mean time, I have been recording and taking photos of the process, while doing some sifting,  to make sure we do not miss any teeth or small bones. Cristian gets us to switch it up. I continue working around the skull and ribs. Many roots have grown around and through the bones. We cannot pull the roots out, because of the risk of breaking bones, so we cut them with shears. Continuing sweeping and removing the dirt, and trying not to get bitten by the ants, I continue to think about this individual, his family around us, and what he could possibly have done to deserve such a cruel death. "Nothing", I concluded. The horrible reality in conflicts and wars is that reasons for killing and justifications to do so become incredibly shallow and misguided. If only, the persons holding the guns would actually hear out what the other has to say. So many deaths were results of misunderstanding or not being given a chance to explain what was happening. Some incredible raw footage of what was actually happening during the Guatemalan Civil War while the American and Guatemalan government where spewing hate propaganda against so-called Communists (people who didn't even know what Communism was) is located below. I would highly recommend taking a look at “When the Mountains Tremble” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4rG8nmgRw4). One young member of the military of the state was asked why he was in a small village of peasants to kill. He responded he did not know why or for what reason; he was just doing his job. What an all too familiar response. While in the aftermath we call it a horrific atrocity, but at the time it could have been prevented.


'Steady as she goes'

We get to the point where we had uncovered all of the bones. He was laying in an unnatural kneeling position facing us. We pause again, this time to take official pictures with the case number which will later be sent to the Public Ministry and National Reparations Program. Before us girls got started with carefully removing the bones, the family and onlookers stopped us and thanked us for our work. There is a train of translation from Ixchil to Spanish to English, but the chilling feeling of being at the bottom of a 6 foot hole surrounded by the family members who have been grieving for 35 odd years, is fully felt.

A Prayer for the loss

They express, how long they have unfulfillingly mourned the murder and disappearance of their father, uncle and grandfather that they will never get to meet, except for the remains of a naked body that lay there now. They ask why their family like so many were forced apart by much injustice and bloodshed, and for what? Nothing good came out of those 36 years of bloodshed. They continue to thank us and how much it means to know people worlds away care, while so many in their own seem to not. She then apologizes greatly for not being able to provide food or offerings for us, but the distance and money it took to get to this location has left them with very little. I get goosebumps despite the 25 C weather on this November day. 
While feeling speechless, I respond that it is truly an honour being here today. What had been done to their, and so many others families, is a horribly sickening thing that continues to happen. None of this should have and should never continue to happen. "I hope that with more acts of kindness, respect and justice, the process of grieving will be eased."


The on-lookers

We begin to carefully remove the bones from the rest of the soil. With the knowledge that we have as a group have been able to separate the bones left and right. Still snipping away at the roots, the skull is the last to be removed. Oscar takes the bones into individual bags for the different sections. To ensure we have not missed anything, we shift through more soil. We have recovered the body.

'Steady as she goes': sweeping and categorizing

Before we clean up, our members remind the family that the stage of recovery is complete, and that the next stages will begin. These stages may take more time, depending on the duration of the government process. But no matter how long it is going to take they are always welcome to contact us, or to come by the city to see the process. The time when we can finally return the remains and reparations is upon them. We then all pitch in to fill the hole back in. You do not realize how much you have dug until you go fill it back in. I started hearing some giggling from the children. Every time Amanda would say her name, the children would giggle. We wondered why. We found out the next day, asking one of Ixchil men that "amanda" means "home-wrecker" or "mistress". We had a good laugh about that.


Uncovered and bent

Earlier during the hours of digging, I had given some of the children a jump rope. Having fun trying to communicate non-verbally to start them with jump skip rope, I had remembered I had Canada pins. Showing them on myself of what they were for I offered it to them. Allowing me, I carefully stuck them to their beautifully sewn huipils. I remembered after, what some Guatemalans had thought of Canada, having heard and done much previous research on Canada's diminished reputation on the world stage in the last 9 years. This had included a few Canadians being abducted and murdered from the human rights violating mining work that had been ordered to deploy from Ottawa. 
With all the gear packed back up, we all headed back up to the truck. Despite the feeling of great satisfaction and relief, leaving seemed to be the hardest part. I felt bad just leaving them, with their remains. The nephew though, was coming with us back to Nebaj, to complete some paperwork as the uncle's birth certificate. 


Canada pins

The two hours back on the off-roads had was a lot more excitement. Everything was so bright and beautiful. Despite the endless hard work and injustice these families have dealt with over and over, they smiled back as I waved. And that is what is wonderful about human nature, despite all horrible things that others have committed, with just a smile and honest acts of kindness, you can make others days or lives, just that much more positive and optimistic.

Buenos Tardes y Mucho Gracias

'Movimiento de Desarraigados' and the Crippling Effect of Corruption

Morning visit in Nebaj

November 23: 

Fredy

In the morning, our first stop in Nebaj was meeting the team at 'Movimiento deDesarraigados'  (Organization of the Displaced)  with which the organization I am with, Equipo Forense Interdisciplinario (EFI) partners in this field region. The organization was first created before the '96 Peace Accord. 

Their first goal was to claim back what lands citizens in the area had been lost. Following this was to find people that were lost and taken. Since the other members only spoke Ixchil, there was some double translating. 

Fredy spoke the most during our stay as he was fluent both in his native tongue and Spanish. Cristian as always, was our translator. Fredy, like the individuals he serves, lived through the atrocities of the conflict, being 12 years old when he escaped to the mountains. He is now the economic coordinator, dealing with the politics of the limited amount of money that goes in and out of the organization. 

He notes that in the last years the finances have gotten worse. This organization, like Blanca Hernandez's FAMDEGUA, is greatly affected the international cuts and removals due to the continuous corruption of Guatemala. 

Anna helps with the legal aspects for families in seeking helping finding their missing to applying for the reparations that are supposed to be granted. The first things these families need is personal identification who they are looking for to the organization RENAP when Guatemalans must go to register for birth and death certificates. the problem with this, is many from the rural communities living during the conflict, never received identification. She says she does not stop until these families get their reparations. 

The third individual is Gabriel of which we are honoured to be in the field with. He is the orienter as he knows these mountains inside out. He conducts the first interviews with families for descriptions of where the remains might be buried. He then scouts out the geography where he believes the remains are buried.

Anna

During the discussion with these three members, we discussed some of the main setbacks which limit them from providing effective and successful support for their community.  In the initiative's infancy, the main question was 'how do you coordinate and organize people to approach the State when you are hiding in the mountains with no power or roads?'

 The first step was to empower the communities so that the silence could come to an end. The goal remains to approach every single form of government in order to show how important reconciliation work is in order to influence long-term social healing and progress. 

To some extent, after the Civil War, they were able to get access to a military garrison where "our people were tortured". The organization, comprised of locals no different from their community members they try their best to support, still are waiting for answers from the government. 

Especially Civil War cases like this, they wait till all the family members are available to be a part of the uncovering process. As EFI member Juan Carlos reminds us, he had never experienced the trauma of the civil war while coming here as a scientist to do his job. He reminds us that we must never forget that we are all humans. 

He says many people including professionals tend to push this aspect out of the way or to separate themselves from the family and the work of uncovering bodies. Even though you are dealing with bones and uncovering remains, you should not think less of these people. This is especially important for the family members you are doing this for. Even though it may be difficult, at first, to work when they may want to be all over the excavation site, you must be understanding, leave time for their prayers or ceremonies, but most of all to work together. 

Particular in the remote and rural areas, the interview processes towards a forensic anthropological exhumation with EFI, must take into consideration the language barriers and language that is lost in translation. This is the case even for native Spanish speakers because there are many dialects and Mayan languages. That is why the forensic anthropologists in the field, bring a colour scale to ensure an accurate description when interviewing family members for both searching for the unmarked grave location and in identifying the remains. Not only do you need to ensure the right understanding, but you must also ensure cultural sensitivity. 

Gabriel and Juan Carlos

They reminded us that governments and aid workers cannot forget that even when the remains are back to the family, there are scars that cannot heal unless helped to mend. Initiatives must consider these issues and thus follow through to the end. 

Like Indigenous peoples within Canada, they understand that the root to so much modern violence is the result of undiagnosed and unsupported post-traumatic stress these families continue to suffer with and alcohol as a coping mechanism. They say, that is why initiatives like  'Movimiento deDesarraigados'   assist the families till the end; they know the reconciliation process is not set up for actual assistance. 

The organizers emphasize they will be there before to help break the silence, they are there during to help with documentation and legal process for the exhumation and to be able to mourn in dignity. They then make sure they are there after the bodies are found. This is not only because it takes months if not years to process and get confirmation currently from the Guatemalan government for small amount of reconciliation fees, but also because there is very little support or initiatives helping with psycho-social and mental health issues. Despite what little funds they have themselves, they do not charge families, while helping assist with transportation to the city offices for documentation processes.

Fredy says the organization does not care if individuals were in the army, guerrillas, or civil patrollers, they give no favours if they committed crimes even though they cannot deny 97% were ordered by the government.One of the girls on my team asked if this work was their therapy since they've experienced the same trauma. 

"Our work makes us stronger, even if we cannot find or take back what happened to our friends and family, we can at least use our emotion to help others," Fredy answered, similarly to Norma and Blanca (refer to previous posts)."We all have experienced loss and trauma." 

He uses the example of families affected by the  9/11 Twin Towers tragedy of people who still cannot find family members, who have no sense of closure, and are still putting candles at Ground Zero. He adds, what about the First Nations in Canada and all the missing persons from the past to today. 

Guatemala has made November 1st a commemoration of Day of the Dead, a day for paying tribute and memory to their deceased loved ones at the cemeteries, thousands of people have no grave to go to.  But if you do not know where they are buried, the family cannot be at peace. They have had 80-year-old woman begging them to help find their loved ones so they can have a proper burial for them before they die themselves.

A lost and murdered loved one

Locating bodies are always difficult despite clues from interview processes where witnesses may remember vaguely where the victim was last seen. But because of so many missing, disappeared and displaced during the Civil War era, the odds are that victims can be buried anywhere. That is why when citizens find out that an exhumation is about to take place, the excavators will have a large audience of families, just in case it may be another's family member.

Justice and Genocide

Fredy says the major contemporary setback since the international and national community agreed during the '96 Peace Accord to provide reparations to those who have suffered and lost members during the Civil War, is that these funds have barely been seen. 

From the 1996 Peace Accord, the international community had set out some 300 million Quetsales for the National Program of Reparations under the responsibility of the Guatemalan government. There were supposed to be five major active programs including the investigation of genocide, taken land claims, development, housing and hiring psychologists. 

Unfortunately, so much of these apparent funds have gone missing says Fredy. What housing that has been built were discovered by some building inspections that they were not even proper to live in. Programs are still doing their part and sending proposals in search of funding, but still the citizen created initiatives are not seeing any improvement but rather a decline since the 19 years since the Accord.

If this is not frustrating enough for those who are already working with no form of payment to help these victims, the Guatemalan government's existing reparations and justice application processes are extraordinarily unattainable for those they were set up for in the first place. 

As I now have heard the inside of the hard-working initiatives of Movimiento de Desarraigados, EFI, INACIF, FAMDEGUA, and Fundacion Sobrevivientes, they are all struggling continuously with these unattainable processes. With fee after fee, miles of extra transportation, limited access and time to assist these victims and their families, people begin to feel helpless and hopeless. 

The Public Ministry and the National Reparations Program expect monthly reports from these forensic anthropologists, archaeologists, lawyers, and/or psycho-socialists who are assisting the families. The extent to which these reports are demanded is limiting to their work and efforts on further investigation progress, losing weeks to months, and in cases years need to complete the final stages of the job. 

This, in of itself, Freddy and Cristian describe as another form of genocide by halting the process and making it inaccessible for the victims. By waiting for these people to die, the government does not have to give out the money. Using these discouraging methods the victims begin to lose hope, or to just not bother because they cannot afford the time and money, meanwhile continuing to live in fear and pain. 

I wonder if the international community that involved themselves do not care to follow through, just how their money and effort is being spent. Do they ever talk to the individuals and organizations directly affected?

Basta Ya protesting outside Cultural Palace

Here, much more so than other countries, it is understood you can buy out crime in any aspect of life. One of the first things done, is getting out of paying taxes. No one seems to be able or has the inclination to go after the nationals, not until the recent establishment by  the international community of the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala. As mentioned above, the Guatemalan organizations that I was able to meet with are facing the consequences of the systemic political corruption, many of their critical funders are leaving the country, such as Embassy of Holland and next year Norway, because they are seeing no progress.

Karli Zschogner, 2014

I had the opportunity in my undergrad to study indicators, the effects of corruption and what the international initiatives have done to promote greater transparency.  One of  cases within the fifteen former USSR countries where I asked: “With this consideration it was asked, does a perceived high level of corruption of a state also correlate to a loss of freedom of civil liberties for these independent former Soviet states?” 

The variables of the Freedom House Index focus on political rights as an electoral processes, participation, and functioning of the government, and also civil liberties as surveys of freedom of expression, organizational right and personal autonomy. The index measures ‘freedom’ of states on a scale from 1 through 7. The scores of perceived corruption the Transparency Index range from 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean), and include the measurement from surveys of perceived legitimacy, petty corruption, bribery within politics, and the limit on access. 

From graphing the scores from these two databases I confirmed that there is a correlation between the two variables. In other words, it was found that less civil liberties and political rights available within a country were present where there is greater perceived corruption. Where there is higher perceived corruption there is also evidence that the sense of legitimacy in their government is low and where civil unrest grows. 

Even though it is incredibly useful to compare country cases to grasp a fuller understanding, you can never fully get accurate, realistic, and useful findings to put into practice until you factor in all of that country's, history, culture, geography, values or connections, of which many cannot do unless having lived in it and among its population for a long time. For example in the case between Estonia and Uzbekistan, what is evident is that it is almost impossible to buy foreign currency at the official exchange rate in the banks of Uzbekistan. This is why the black market was the only available source where people could acquire foreign currency (Urinboyev; Svensson, 2013, pg. 377). 

Maybe then, if it is common in that country for police not to take an investigation into the black market or politicians deal with bribes, it is seen as normal and therefore citizens will not see any difference and will not proceed to prevent it.

"Justice is like a snake, it only bites the Barefoot"

From what I can conclude from the many experts and people who have lived among such impunity,  if you want to combat international corruption and atrocities, you have to internationally hold governments accountable through monitorization of those who do not respect universal human rights. 

As marked in the 10 stages to genocide, when governments and leaders use their power to tell citizens they must join one force or die (this includes what we have seen through humanity's history once we have labeled individuals as enemies as Communists, guerrillas, homosexuals, terrorists) these are grave warning signs that the worst indeed is about to happen.

To the international community, young or old we must act to ensure this force is de-legitimized and punished. For what I have seen, the worst thing you can do to someone is put them in a position that jeopardizes their life or their family's if they refuse to cooperate. 

One can use these situations to easily predict mass atrocities where civilians become the perpetrators. You cannot make humans choose between their and their family's life and safety. Fear creates monsters; it the worst psychological torture you can put someone through. 

"Even though I am not coming back to see you Acracia (anarchy) [Democracy] will prevail"

I guess that is why governments, armed groups and other civilians across the world and across history have used this tactic, as it will quickly disperse their own responsibility, and aligns the justifications for their actions they are about to commit.  Just consider the aftermath of the Holocaust, Rwanda, child soldiers, the Cold War, and in this case, the creation of Guatemala's Civil Patrollers forced to capture, murder, and rape their own neighbours.

Before we left, Fredy reminded us that we were welcome back anytime and welcomes anyone who is interested in these issues. This is a multidisciplinary issue and therefore important to have multidisciplinary academic and skill.

Please See Also:

Failed States Index 2015

Guatemalan Truth Commission

http://sheilapeters.com/tag/movimiento-de-desarraigados-del-norte-de-quiche/

Guatemala BASTA YA

INACIF

Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Forenses de Guatemala

November 4-6

National Institute for Forensic Sciences for Guatemala

What an extraordinary experience getting a personal tour of the Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Forenses deGuatemala (INACIF), of which I can say is  the gem of Guatemala. The smell of dead bodies lingers within building. We meet Director Dr. Carlos Aigusto Rodas Gonzalas, a well presented gentleman with a bow-tie. He explains these facilities is the centre of forensics for the whole country. In asking where they get their funds, he says from some international states as the US as USAID and EU has provided such funding and technology. We were soon to see indeed, some astounding facilities. He says with a coy smile that their works were who helped catch the Guatemalanvice-present for corruption with the use of their newly received technology of wire-taps. He does point out that what is going on in Guatemala is not all bad. There is indeed some cooperation between professio nals from Mexico , Chile, and Italy, in order to track organized crime, especially gangs. But it is indeed still a great struggle for these professionals who work so hard to halt corruption they continue to see within the police and justice system. Dr. Rodas has even worked on creating training workshops on proper methodology for the crime scene for police so that they no longer continue to lose evidence. The Guatemala justice system has its large flaws from so many unsolved crimes that are let slide while the victims suffer in fear, distrust and resentment. There is still much under the table threats and pay outs to cover up crimes, but also because many of the officers have had very little formal training, and most often are 'volunteers'. For example, coroners are supposed to be the only one touching and collecting the bodies to ensure no evidence is lost. Here, most of the time, police have been known to  just drag and load the bodies in the back of a truck, and in some cases allow the someone to dispose or wipe away the evidence. It is definitely a great barrier for those like Dr. Rodas' teams and for Cristian's.

We then proceed with the rest of the tour.  We entered a little room with a video camera tv screen and a window to give the family options of how they want to confirm the body. We walked into their morgue cooler. He informs us that there are 78 bodies here from the weekend alone, and the next closed door is where they have 203 from the Cambry II mudslide a month before. Then we walked by a forensic technician who was cleaning 3 male bodies, as a result of gang violence. One of the pale bodies had tattoos. In fact, one of their latest magazines gives an article on their use of tattoos in body identification," Tatuajes en las ciencias forenses. Breve experiencia de este tipo de hallazgo" ( tattoos on forensic science :  brief experience of this type of discovery). We then follow by more data collection teams, working hard on computers. Onto the other side of the building, we enter into the room where they remove tissue from the bodies (by simmering them) in order for them to be taken to the Forensic Anthropologist specialists. 

This is where we got to spend the rest of the afternoon, asking questions, analysing, and practising like we had done the previous day ageing and sexing the bones. These victims, were ongoing contemporary cases (so post-civil war), some gang violence, some femicide. It was really interesting finding out which was the first gunshot to the victims skull. One of the forensic anthropologists told me you can find identification by comparing which one first fractured the skull from first impact, to the second having the pressure let out was clean through.

female victims fingernails

  It definitely is an odd feeling, working with human remains. Humans, as social beings, are so attached to emotion and human characteristics. Yet, when we lose an aspect of such, we begin to see as an object, a puzzle which needs to be solved. We were working with remains of victims of brutal deaths, but yet, I was not the whole time dealing with the sickening feeling of how they died. Did I feel guilty for not feeling heart-wrenched, but rather intrigued, and curious?  But that is what it is like for most people in this field; refocusing their emotion on solving the task at hand, or imputing the data so that the case to solved faster, so hopefully justice is served. The place that hit me the most was outside the facilities when we were leaving seeing all the families waiting to see the deceased. Right before we left a police truck pulled up with a body in the back covered in white cloth. The families were waiting outside the gates crying. I felt bad as us foreigners got the 'ok' to go right in while some of these families had been waiting all day outside, with no waiting area.

Police truck pulls up with body

  We later went to visit the second  Guatemala INACIF facilities. Their laboratories include documentoscopy, ballistics, toxicology, fingerprinting, biology, identification of vehicles, physical chemistry, controlled substance, genetics, and shot paths. First we met the director of the DNA Laboratory starting with the microscopes where they normally use for blood and semen. As he was explaining more of their facilities, two women were working on articles of clothing, one bloody shirt from a inmate murder, female dress pants from a femicide of rape and murder, and pair of female underwear from a rape and murder. Here, they cut tiny pieces from the clothing where the blood or semen would be, then dilute with solution so that they may further analyze. Then the clothing and the swabs are packaged back up. Dr. Rodas kindly joined us for the rest of the tour. I realize that my co-op at my hometown Parry Sound Hospital lab came in handy as I recognized much of the technology, machines and procedures. The DNA spin machines are extremely expensive to process, and that is why within the facilities DNA processing is more of a last resort. When processing the DNA, you not only can use to identify the victim and the perpetrator but also help solve the missing pieces in identifying family members, or missing children. Erica brought in some comparative and informative information after they had informed us they could get results out in 48 hours, while in LA it would take up to 2 weeks to a month. It puts a little into perspective of all those American crime shows where only 4 people can solve a mystery in less than an hour!

With consensus vote we headed up next to the ballistics lab, which deals with the guns and bullet identification of crimes. The first area we entered was the main identification of the weapon used, what caliber, and bullets. They even have a range of homemade weapons that have been used, created with some steel piping and some welding. Many of the guns they receive have the registration numbers scratched off of them as many of the weapons are bought or borrowed off of a black market. In order to acquire comparative data and confirmation, they must produce a replica shot from the gun and bullet of which they do so in another room. One question was asked what form of education and training was necessary for this line of work, and interestingly enough, most were engineers and because of no actual direct education, their paths were led to this work! It was a positive reassurance, at least for myself, that we can never foresee where out education will take us. And that is what makes life exciting right!? Life would be boring if we were just to foreseen a straight path of work, education and careers!  

Under the microscope the bullets undergo comparison for damage and markings. The last area was the computer data input. The technology they had was incredibly advanced, IBIS machines and 3D scanners, where they store all the bullet and weapon models. This form of data entry is extraordinarily efficient as this data base can track the same gun to hundreds of cases. Erica informed us in LA, they tend to just leave the bullets in a box and that be it, where as this is a whole new dimension of data entry and storage. The most fascinating was an enormous tree graph they had created which links on for what I could compare as miles spread out around the country and onto other countries. To zoom in and then out you see how vast these connections are, such as gang members using the same guns and how they travel around through this geolocation. They even mentioned that they had recently got back from a conference in Montreal presenting their data to INTERPOL. The main concern now, is if there would be greater cohesion and legitimate cooperation with the justice system.