Thursday 10 December 2015

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

Saturday 5 December 2015

Why don't you just asked the people who lived it before making your assumptions? : Centre Cultural Tejidos Cotzal Fair Trade

November 23:
                Our next stop after 'Movimiento de Desarraigados'   was Cotzal to visit some families and what initiative they are working together for their community. Our first stop was what looked like a gated school. In fact, it is an ongoing project for indigenous Widow Weavers affected by the bloody civil war.  It is a cooperative and sells handicrafts typical of the Ixil region ( Cooperative Y Venta de artesanias tipicas de la region Ixil). The project is located in the Centre Cultural Tejidos Cotzal Fair Trade building, and within the next year they will have it completed as a place of eco-tourism specifically a place for travellers to stay. We were met by Pedro and two women, one 12 and the other in her late 70s.  Pedro was approached by the the two women, who are the founders, to be their spokesperson. For us he translated Ixchil to Spanish. to understand why this cooperative is so important to this community, you have to consider the historical-cultural separations and gender roles held strong in Guatemala. Recall my discussion of the machisto and marianismo gender roles which hold men and women in, most often, dangerous positions of aggressive and powerful versus meek and powerless. We have seen this trend around the world, across history. Due to this gender role separation, only men worked with outside and women in the house. And when you lose thousands of men targeted during the war, women are left helpless. They are unable to tend to property or provide for the rest of the family, especially in the rural and isolated areas. So when families lose the males in the family, or are stuck hiding and running away from the violence, women are (I use present tense as this is still a continuous issue around the world) never taught  how to live and provide for themselves as the rest of their families left behind. This is what this cooperative attempts to alleviate. They train the local women and provide an avenue for them to make their own money, in a way they can afford. Other than their skill in weaving these incredibly detailed and beautiful materials, they teach each other how to work the land, purchasing seeds, so they can pass it on to the next generations. That is where the eco-tourism is about to come in so travellers can experience 100% locally grown and made products.
Weaving bicycle wheel
As the two ladies were setting up their waist weaving, Pedro showed us their other weaving room. It is just about completed, made only out of wood. Inside, I see an alternate weaving mechanism that is home-made and welded with a bike wheel and chain. My inner bike nerd came to life seeing the clever design of reusing. He then shows us where the restaurant, kitchen and shower areas will be. Outside the building grows what they call "foreigner tomatoes".

Weaving all this to make a purse

Pedro explains that in order to fully complete the fully functional  eco-tourism accommodation they will need to make  70,000 Q ($12,301CAD). The whole point of this vicinity is for there to be another avenue for these women to make and provide services on their own. It is an avenue to teach locals and foreigners the skills of their families and for those who have lost loved ones, of which is incredibly empowering.

With these hands: Photo Cred Kalista Sherbaniuk
So much time, energy and work
The two women have strung up their weaving from  a post to their waist as they kneel. The older lady in Ixchil and Pedro in Spanish tell us a little about herself as she works. The older ladies first husband turned on her and would beat her. She finally mustered up the courage and managed to leave. She later decided she would let herself fall back in love again, only for him to also beat her. She says she has had enough of men now and instead just works. She hand weaves all of the material with the waist belt method. Even all the string she uses she hand dyes from roots and other natural products.  They both repeatedly tie individual knots to make the patterns like animals while using pieces of wood to separate the strands to than push it tightly downward towards their stomach. The traditional handmade huipil shirt and skirts you see, will often be the only clothing they wear, because it represents who they are and because it is expensive for them to make and buy. Traditionally the huipil she wears represents who she is and where she  is from. You normally can differentiate the differences in huipil depending on one's age; darker colours for older, brighter colours younger. She typically spends around 20 days on a bag she is making now. Spending over 5 hours at a time on her knees she will sell the bag for 60 Q ($10 CAD), once a zipper is added. Our hearts drop to realize how little money that is for the time and effort it takes.  In Guatemala, the reality is the manufactures do never have a fair wage, and that is how the government system is set up.
The Coffee is Roasting: Katerina and Juana's home
            After lunch, Pedro takes us down a steep narrow dirt path to one of the founding women's house. Katerina, an Ixchil woman of around 66 (she is unsure of her certain age).  She invites us into her tiny home made of tin and introduces us to her daughter Juana (who is 29) and two children. Throughout our stay I cannot help playing peek-aboo and sharing making with faces with them as they giggle. We sit around a little fire where she begins roasting them over the fire. We are invited to ask questions and as it gets more personal she accepts to tell her story and why they both live without husbands. I offer to her to continue attending to the coffee beans as  she goes on to tell of her experiences during the 1960-1996 conflict, and how the struggle for women like her never ended at any Peace Accord and reconciliation.

Juana and her daughter
            After her brothers and other 62 others were killed, the army came back and told the community where bodies were, but they only had until 10am the next day hours to claim them. most of them who were able to come to retrieve the bodies where the women and children. If that was not traumatic in of itself, the was army was on either sides on order to watching to see if they were crying. If they were caught crying or show any emotions or else they would be labelled as Communists, sympathizers of enemies of the state. If they did not have time to bury their family member  in the cemetery  they had to bury on own property. She had to frantically collect some wood and nails to make a coffin. Her first husband killed in '81. He was forced to be a civil patroller where he was sent to the mountains. She had actually been with him, collecting crops, collecting milpas for maize. Then one day, the guerrillas recognized him, and calling him a traitor, pulled her hair, pinned her to ground, and fired the shots.
Erica is comfy
            Around this time, between '80-82, the Guatemalan army decided to put  up a military garrisons in Cotzal. Everyday, she describes was an endless fire squad. They had then ordered the community (remember mostly just women and children left) to give their food  rations to army. If they did not hand over what they deemed a sufficient ration, they would call them Communists:  traitors to the state, accusing them of sharing with guerrillas. Then sometime family members would come, the next day, calling them traitors, for sharing with the army. Because of the violence, she decided to run and stay with another family. And when she was finally to able to get a night's sleep, the army decided to show up at other house, burning everything, and killing the chickens.

She then fled to coast because of the danger. Since so many men were gone, farmers started hiring women. But obviously not out of sympathy. Under those conditions, she had to give up all of what was left of her possession, which would mean she was already was owing him. Living in room and board, the women like her, would lie together on the dirt floor. They were given only 6 tortillas a day and had to work 30 days straight. You could not complain or else you were kicked out or threatened to go to another farm which would treat them worse. She explains this as the loneliest year on the coast, unable to be in touch with family. But then she met someone and they fell in love. They had decided to move back to Cotzal but by that time, the army had another military base in a school. The military already had a list of everyone while coercing people to tell them everything. So as a new person, the first thing they did was arrest him in assumption that he was probably a guerilla. The municipality, told her she would have to go to the garrison with proof that they were married. She was terrified, but went because of her husband. The head of the municipality, a military officer, at the time was actually Otto Perez Molina (to be Guatemala's last president ending in September,  tried for corruption). At the time nicknamed Tito, he came to welcome her to have a drink with him. Wondering why he was being so kind, she became even more worried from witnesses' warnings that if you are offered  a meal you were dead next. Having no other choice, she repeated she was here because she wanted her husband back. He responded that he was proud of her, to have brought a man back to community. "Now", he said, "I will make him a civil patroller with his own group." Just like that, her second husband was recruited without either of their acceptance or real choice.

She ended up following him to the mountains, because he did not know the area or even how to use a weapon. They were both terrified. From '84-86 she said he was recruited as a civil patroller, around the food crops in the mountains. She said the army would take the patrollers there to destroy  the crops. Then during one of operations he never came back. She still is not sure if he was killed or escaped.  Her daughter Juana was four at the time. They never saw him again.

The only place she felt safe was in the coast, so she worked in coffee fields with Juana on her back. They did not come back to Cotzal till '94. Juana in that time had gotten married, but there was no work nearby, so they decided to move to capital. If you knew how to use a machete, there was some form of security.  They were totally broke so Juana’s husband would have to work 73 hours a week.
Peek-aboo
Then one day in his last hour of that week, the husband was patrolling and he got killed. She was at home, when the public ministry came to tell her he was dead. So she came back home.

The women then showed us 3 photos of him. One family picture and two of him dead. The baby in the picture is the boy who currently playing with her sister., the daughter she was pregnant with when he died. Cristian explains that it is common in some communities to take pictures of the dead in memory.
Katerina, the mother said that she never learned how to weave as a teenager But by  '97, learned along with her daughter at around aged 12. That is when they made the decision to be part of the cooperative of weavers. There were 5 women that came together in the community and now there are 45 of them.  She notes that they are still poor, and always still owe people something, like the 'owner' of the property that has always been hers.

The whole coffee process while hearing their story
We ask if Katerina and Juana still do not have rights to this property even though this has been here most of all their lives ? The answer was no. There was no paperwork, no death certificate, even from her brothers and first husband. Their goal of these women was that once they had reclaimed the bodies of her brothers, they could receive a death certificate to recognize their ownership to the property. Even though she was told that after they were exhumed she would have access to rights, they still have not been recognized. The only thing they have been able to do is rent from a man, for an exuberant price which continues to hold them back from saving anything. Cristian reminds us that because of this continual machisto society woman continue to have no say. He reminds us that, here in Guatemala, women were not allowed to vote until the '80s, and even those that could prove that they were literate (and note,  women in areas are still not valued enough to go to school).

Katerina begins grinding some coffee on a stone amongst the group. She tells us she realized the best way to make money is to cook.  The two had saved up for this grinding stone. Before  we left, she gave us some coffee. It was delicious, reminding me of chai. She says she adds pepper and cloves. The chirping of a lonely chick and a mewing kitten seemed to express their goodbye as we thanked them.

I See You
Pedro said he was taking us to another founding member. He lead us through a muddy patch, in between people’s house shacks , and across a little bridge over rapids. We pass a young girl spinning string with a wooden mechanism. Cristian explains she is making rope. Down the street there is a man lying on the ground fixing his tuk-tuk.  We pass a bunch of kids. They are intrigued by us white girls. I raise my camera with an inviting face. Before I raise it to my eye they giggle and duck under a gate. We end up playing this game and making faces as we sit in a house across from them.

We then meet another Petronila. She a very tiny lady, hunchbacked from a life of work and weaving. Pedro our guide, tells us she is nearly deaf and cannot see very well. We sit with her as she tells us her live story.

Petronila Son-in-Law
Petronila, her husband and her three daughters were working outside one day, when the army came. They took them inside, covered their faces and tied them up to chairs like we were sitting in. Then some officers came. They insulted the family and then took her husband. The room we were in was where they spent a lot of time as a family. The husband had made the chair behind us. Now there is a an altar of pictures of them around a cross. The man in one of the pictures was not actually her son , but was married to one of her daughters. He was found dead in one of the military garrisons just a few months ago. They are still waiting to get the remains back. To identify him, they had a picture of him wearing the same cloths.  They were able to get his body back. He is now buried in the cemetery. He was her everything. They did everything together. When he had to go to the coast she would come with him, just so they could be together. Under the military control here, everything was with a schedule even for the time you were making meals. They could tell by monitoring the smoke that would come from the pipes. So they had to be very careful, as they were not allowed to have meeting or get togethers. If they were caught, the military would come and burn everything. This was to prevent people from meeting. This was happening in the universities too. In this area universities were infiltrated, even to just have coffee with a couple of friends. They could not even do that.

The Taken Juana
            After they took her husband and her brother in law, one daughter had left to the city, who is still there. But then one night the military came again. This time it was not political, but they were looking for all the pretty girls. They tied them up, and told her they needed her daughter to please them.  She cannot remember now how old she was.  She still does not know where she is after they took her. It was devastating having her daughter taken away and that she could not do anything about it. The sad thing is she thinks she will never find her.

After they took Juana, the conflict got even worse, so she ran to the mountains to hide. Then one day she found a little girl alone, wounded with an infection in her leg. When she found her, the thought somebody must have decided to give her another daughter. So she saw it as a gift because she was not done loving her daughter. So it was up to her to take care of her so she brought her home. She did not know who her parents were, but she decided to call her Juana, like her taken daughter. She could not tell her age because there were no documents. But now she is the grown woman in the other room.
Little Pedro Walking Now
            Juana got married not too long ago. She never got married or started a life for herself before because she felt indebted to take care of Petronila. Now she cannot have kids. But Petronila heard of a young couple who just had a child. The father could not care less of keeping it, nor did the mother have the money to provide for the baby. Petronila  thought to herself that because all this time that Juana has taken for her and now Juana is going to die alone?  That when she decided to contact the girl and then adopted the boy, so when Juana  gets old like herself, she will have someone to be with her. "Because," she says, "a child is the one who fulfils your life as a mother."

            She decided to name the baby Pedro because it's as if her husband Pedro has come back as the little boy. She says she is old, she is tired. But even through though these two are not her blood, Pedro and Juana brought her the little bit of happiness to her life when everyone else was taken from her.
Back to Work: Petronila
She then stops Pedro to ask for the time it is because if its 3:30 she has another hour of light to continue working. We see her carrying a chair for herself as she hobbles out and sets herself up to weave. She is working on a beautiful red cloth.

I have never been so humbled and certain to make a purchase as I did for some items from them. They are incredible and the most durable scarves, bags and clothing I have seen! I invite you now to look into them. Open for group shipping or a place to visit on your next stay to Guatemala!


Centre Cultural Tejidos Cotzal Fair Trade:www.tejidoscotzal.org ; tejidoscotzal@gmail.com

Thursday 3 December 2015

'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.

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