Family Photos and Mass Graves Reveal the Horrors of Guatemala’s Civil War

[Judi Lynn]

PROOF:
3 hours ago


Family Photos and Mass Graves Reveal the Horrors of Guatemala’s Civil War

Author
Alexa Keefe

During the exhumation of a mass grave at a former military base in the Ixil region of Guatemala, the remains of a man were found with an ID photo and a family portrait in his pocket. His wife, gathered at the site with other relatives of missing loved ones, identified herself in the portrait, taken 30 years earlier.

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The entire community of Xecol, Chajul, receives the remains of one of the victims murdered by the army in 1986.
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This man was but one of the estimated 200,000 people who were killed or went missing during the civil war in Guatemala—a 36-year conflict between the state-backed military and leftist guerillas that came to an end in 1996. According to a 1999 report by the U.N.-backed Commission for Historical Clarification, the army identified all indigenous Maya indians in several parts of the country as guerrilla supporters, leading to a scorched-earth policy aimed at destroying the social and cultural fabric of the communities. Massacres, forced disappearances, rape, and eradication of villages ensued.

. . .

This man was but one of the estimated 200,000 people who were killed or went missing during the civil war in Guatemala—a 36-year conflict between the state-backed military and leftist guerillas that came to an end in 1996. According to a 1999 report by the U.N.-backed Commission for Historical Clarification, the army identified all indigenous Maya indians in several parts of the country as guerrilla supporters, leading to a scorched-earth policy aimed at destroying the social and cultural fabric of the communities. Massacres, forced disappearances, rape, and eradication of villages ensued.

. . .

When Daniele Volpe first visited Guatemala from his native Italy in 2006, the postcard beauty of the landscape and the powerful connection of the people to their ancestral roots drew him in. When he returned there to live a year later, he began to also appreciate its complexity. He spent time as volunteer for the Recuperation of Historical Memory project, which allowed him to listen to the stories of the Guatemalan people.

Volpe came to understand that the current problems plaguing parts of the country—high levels of violence against women, narco-trafficking, alcoholism, suicide—are all rooted in the pain of the past. Evidence of the thousands who disappeared is apparent in photographs displayed on the streets of Guatemala City, even though, Volpe says, the current generation is not taught about the civil war in school.

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Francisco Bernal, 42, and Petrona Guzaro Raymundo, 29, husband and wife. They were executed by the army along with 34 others in Canaquil, Nebaj, on March 25, 1982. Two of their children also died that day.
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More:
http://proof.nationalgeographic.com/2015/12/08/family-photos-and-mass-graves-reveal-the-horrors-of-guatemalas-civil-war/

[enough]

1. A "civil war" in which the "state-backed military" was supported by the U.S. all the way along.

Thanks for this heart-renching post, Judi Lynn.

[MisterP]

2. and, even worse, by Israel, especially 1978-81

Central America's full of Galils and they even provided a computerized database of who to target and kill: Herman Hollerith spins in his grave just as he'd slowed down from 1941

even the Reagan WH was chary of Lucas García--for his bad image, mind you

[Judi Lynn]

3. Went to Wikipedia to get a quick look at this man, Fernando Romeo Lucas García.

Horrifying. I never heard of him before seeing your post. Shocking. Unbelievable.

Not a bit surprised to see how corporate media kept this monster a big secret here, either. We were wildly unaware of what had been happening to the poor citizens who were unlucky enough to be living in Guatemala after Eisenhower had the CIA and the rest overthrow the beloved populist Jacobo Arbenz.

They all were dropped immediately into hell, and it appears the US was there carefully handing military hardware of all kinds, instruction, money every year after that to make sure the people didn't get the chance to climb out of poverty ever again.

This "President" was hideous. I'm going to have to re-read the material. Have already saved the link for future reference, because it's so useful, and important. Easier to understand once parts of the context start falling into place. It was a shock seeing how they acquired his cooperation with the coup.

Makes you wonder if, when Presidents anywhere are ensconced in their official residences, the same threats are already in place, if they don't play ball with the ascended leaders of the power structure. I think it's entirely possible, and it would explain how a President can seem to lose his former principles almost overnight after the Inauguration.

However, in Lucas' case, that wasn't the problem, as he wouldn't have tolerated principles.

Thank you for adding this history to what had been a complete void in my case, and probably many more US Americans who might have read your post. It's wonderful getting a better look at what has happened.

On edit: For anyone who wants the link, here's the Wikipedia review of Fernando Romeo Lucas Garcia, the ruthless monster who preceded the ruthless Reagan-backed genocidal monster, Efrain Rios Montt.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fernando_Romeo_Lucas_Garc%C3%ADa

[MisterP]

4. so you can see why Rios Montt was seen as an exciting new paradigm

now of course we know he killed a cool hundred grand in two dozen months, but then he was seen as some modernizing progress