En Guatemala, mientras la sociedad civil se organiza para acabar con el círculo de impunidad que ha rodeado los crímenes de la guerra, el sistema de justicia apuesta por el olvido. El caso Creompaz, uno de los pocos en llegar a las cortes, se alarga indefinidamente. Así, la batalla es también contra el tiempo: los testigos y los sobrevivientes de las atrocidades envejecen rápidamente y una nueva generación, marcada por las heridas de sus padres, se prepara para asumir el relevo.
\",\"id\":\"/develop/gatsbyjs/voces-contra-impunidad/blog/2018-09-25/index.md absPath of file >>> MarkdownRemark\",\"timeToRead\":1,\"frontmatter\":{\"date\":\"2018-09-25T00:00:00.408Z\",\"path\":\"/recuperar-a-los-seres-queridos-uno-por-uno.html\",\"category\":\"Guatemala\",\"title\":\"Recuperar a los seres queridos, uno por uno\",\"active\":true,\"home\":true}},\"next\":{\"excerpt\":\"Durante la guerra civil de Guatemala una base militar del norte del país se convirtió en un centro de tortura y cementerio clandestino que resume 36 años de represión contra miembros de comunidades indígenas, estudiantes y activistas. En medio de la…\",\"html\":\"Durante la guerra civil de Guatemala una base militar del norte del país se convirtió en un centro de tortura y cementerio clandestino que resume 36 años de represión contra miembros de comunidades indígenas, estudiantes y activistas. En medio de la barbarie las víctimas se fueron encontrando y trabajaron juntas. Tres décadas después, sus esfuerzos, que empezaron como una medida de sobrevivencia, se han convertido en la base para construir los casos legales contra los criminales responsables del dolor.
\\n[Institutional voice]: On January 16th, 1992, El Salvador signed a Peace Accord that ended 12 years of war.
\\n(AUDIO ARCHIVE: ALFREDO CRISTIANI’S SPEECH ON THE PEACE TREATY, FORMER SALVADORAN PRESIDENT)
\\n[Institutional voice]: On December 29th, 1996, it was Guatemala’s turn.
\\n(AUDIO ARCHIVE: ÁLVARO ARZU’S DISCOURSE, FORMER PRESIDENT OF GUATEMALA)
\\n[Institutional voice]: After two decades, the war wounds are still open. Pie de Página’s Ximena Natera and Radio Nacional de Colombia’s Lorena Vega present War witnesses: voices against impunity, stories about the battles for memory and justice in El Salvador and Guatemala.
\\n***
\\n[Blanca Rosa Quiroa]: That was every day, after repression devastated the rural areas of the country, it arrived to the capital. In 1984, up to 10, even complete families, were abducted daily.
\\n[Ximena Natera]: The woman speaking is Blanca Rosa Quiroa. She is short, with curly hair full on grey. We meet in Guatemala City.
\\n[Blanca]: They would appear: 5, 3, 2, 1. Death people everyday, in the streets, at the bottom of trails, on the roads…
\\n[Lorena Vega]: Blanca describes what it was like to live in 1980’s Guatemala, the hardest years of the conflict during the dictatorship of General Efraín Ríos Montt. The civil war that had affected rural areas for two decades, had reached the capital and materialized in the disappearance of thousands of citizens, including six relatives of Blanca.
\\n[Blanca]: A complete family: mom, dad, three children and my husband’s sister-in-law.
\\n[Ximena]: One of the missing is her son, Óscar Hernández. She saw him last on February 23, 1984. He was 22 years old.
\\n[Blanca]: He was a volunteer firefighter. He worked as an electromechanical technician there and had a night shift as a volunteer.
\\n[Ximena]: That night Óscar was on his way to the station, was about to arrive…
\\n[Blanca]: He was shot and taken away. They (the firestation) notified us immediately.
\\n[Lorena]: Blanca learned from witnesses that her son was alive when soldiers took him away.
\\n[Blanca]: I knew about it half an hour after his abduction. We started searching hospitals right then. They said he had been shot so we thought he had been taken to one.
\\n[Lorena]: But Oscar did not appear. Blanca’s search took her to the Police’s Criminal Investigation Unit, she filed a complaint. Her one-and-a-half-year-old grandson and daughter-in-law where there too.
\\n[Blanca]: We arrived and the officer at the door asked us what we were doing there. We told him about the complaint:
\\n”You got photos?”, Yes, I told him and he took my son’s picture out of my hands. ”Oh, it’s the fireman!” he said sarcastically. I stood there.
\\n[Ximena]: Those first months, visiting hospitals, morgues, police stations, even jails, Blanca discovered that, like her, hundreds of mothers and wives were looking for their own.
\\n[Blanca]: At first we would just look at each other and not even greet each other. We were afraid. Months went by, we used to see the same people, often at the same time so we started talking.
\\n[Lorena]: This is how the Mutual Aid Group, GAM, was born. The first organization formed by victims families and friends.They would hold protests at the Presidential House, call on press conferences and publish advertisements in local media, drawing attention from authorities.
\\nAll this during the most violent years of the civil war that lasted from 1960 to 1996. 45,000 Guatemalans disappeared in that period of time.
\\n[Blanca]: Police officers were always watching, we were sprayed with gas many times. And they even responded to our press releases, they used to say we were the guerrilla’s political arm.
\\n[Ximena]: Blanca and GAM members were the first ones to break the silence and confront the regime. Contrary to what happened in El Salvador, with more than a thousand journalists covering the war, Guatemala’s state restricted the entry of international media and the war’s dimension remained hidden.
\\nIn 1992, GAM morphed into FAMDEGUA, the Guatemala’s Detained and Disappeared Relatives Association, presently leaded by Blanca alongside Aura Elena Farfan, her partner.
\\n[Lorena]: For most families, searching through files was not enough. In the early 90s they started doing what no state entity wanted to assume: locating clandestine mass graves and recovering anonymous bodies in rural areas.
\\n[Blanca]: Watching us work, made people lost their fear, some started showing us mass grave sites: look here Doña Blanca… look there Doña Aura… and so we knew where our relatives where and we wanted to get them out. We would go and see the place first, then map it out, make a memo and present it in court, then search for witnesses and take them to court to present their statement.
\\nThen we would talk to the anthropologists, go with them to the burial site, asked the owner for permission, make them sign the paperwork present it to the authorities and then came the exhumation.
\\n[Ximena]: Their first great discovery was in Antigua Guatemala, one hour away from the capital.
\\n[Blanca]: It turned out that it was an ancient burial, from the way the people were buried (…), it was 500 years old.
\\n[Lorena]: With each new finding Famdegua received more tip-offs.
\\nOne of their biggest cases was the recovery of 201 human bodies, they had been massacred in Dos Erres, a village in Petén, in the northern region during december of 1982.
\\n(AUDIO NEWS ABOUT MASACRE DOS ERRES)
\\n[Lorena]: This finding triggered the first high profile trial for war crimes in the country, after one decade of legal battle, seven soldiers were sentenced to 6 thousand and 30 years of prison. 30 years for each of their victims.
\\n(AUDIO SIGNATURE OF PEACE, SPEAKS ÁLVARO ARZÚ)
\\n[Ximena]: Guatemala’s Civil War ended on December 29, 1996 after a decade of approches between the Army and the Unidad Revolucionaria Nacional Guatemalteca, a counterinsurgency group that emerged from dissident factions within the army. The war lasted over 36 years and had been very unequal. At one of the most critical points 300 thousand soldiers faced six thousand guerrilla members.
\\n[Lorena]: Guatemala’s was the last standing war in Central America and international pressure influenced its end. A key voice for peace at the time was that of Rigoberta Menchú, 1992 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate.
\\n(AUDIO ARCHIVE, RIGOBERTA MENCHÚ RECEIVES NOBEL PRIZE)
\\n[Ximena]: Famdegua’s work did not end with the peace treaty.
\\nIn 2002 Famdegua received a tip off that turned their attention to former 21 Military Zone in Cobán, Alta Verapaz. Today the base is known as Creompaz, a base housing UN peacekeeping training operations.
\\n[Lorena]: What the organization discovered there became the biggest forced disappearance case from the war and the reason we traveled to Guatemala.
\\n[Blanca]: We knew about all the (disappeared) people in Cobán. We had done many exhumations there and people would say of those missing: they took him to the base and never left.
\\n(MUSIC)
\\n[Ximena]: It is early in the morning, we are in San Lucas Chiacal, a small rural town in San Cristóbal, Alta Verapaz. Its inhabitants are Poq’omchi, one of 23 Mayan ethnic groups in the country who suffered brutal repression during the war.
\\n(LOURDES CAL SPEAKS)
\\n[Lorena]: The woman speaking is Lourdes Cal, originally from Cobán, she works with Truth and Life association, providing psychosocial support to victims of the armed conflict.
\\nLulu’s job consist of visiting communities affected by the military intervention and collecting testimonies of those who survived. Today, Lulu becomes our interpreter.
\\n[Ximena]: There are over a dozen people gathered at Felisa Moranmo’s house garden. Lulu explains to them that we are journalists trying to understand how their community experienced the conflict.
\\nThe people, mostly women between 40 and 60, are reluctant.
\\n(LOURDES CAL SPEAKS IN MAYAN LANGUAGE)
\\n[Lorena]: At the end they accept. We enter Felisa’s house and sat at the center of a large bedroom, around a small wooden table.
\\n[Lorena]: Good morning, could you tell me your name…?
\\n[Lorena]: The first to do so is Felisa. She is 58 years old and was 21 years in 1981.
\\n[Felisa speaks poqomchí and Lulu translate]**:** The first thing that happened was that they came and kidnapped my husband. 1981, that is how the problem started here.
\\n[Ximena]: The disappearance of Samuel, Felisa’s husband, was the beginning of a decade of scorched earth policies by the Guatemalan state, aimed to end the guerrilla. The offensive was called rifles and beans.
\\n[Felisa speaks in poqomchí and Lulu translate]**:** They told us that we were guerrilla fighters, and we, I swear, were not guerrillas. We did not have weapons, the only thing we had (in our arms) was children, trying to protect them.
\\n[Lorena]: Soon after, neighbors from nearby communities began to knock on their doors, fleeing the army.
\\n[Felisa speaks in poqomchí and Lulu translate]**:** They came here saying that the soldiers were burning the houses and then we had no choice but to start fleeing and running for the mountains.
\\n(FELISA SPEAKS IN POQOMCHÍ)
\\n[Lorena]: Her family roamed the mountains for 14 months.
\\n[Felisa speaks in poqomchí and Lulu translate]**:** Sometimes people were hiding in groups, sometimes we would find big groups: 25 men, women and children, killed when reached by the soldiers.
\\n[Ximena]: In there, the soldiers would them, sometimes with dogs and every night they would change from their hiding spots. Men would try to plant corn on the mountain but the soldiers destroyed over and over the crops.
\\n[Felisa speaks in poqomchí and Lulu translate]**:** The moment came when we could not find anything. Our children began to die from hunger.
\\n[Lorena]: Did you lose children on the mountain?
\\n[Felisa speaks in poqomchí and Lulu translate]**:** She says that when she went arrived to the mountains was 7 months pregnant. She gave birth there, so she remembers well that it was 14 months… the period she had her baby. She did not produced any milk and it was time for him to start eating solid food, they had nothing to give him and the baby died.
\\n[Isabella Calgue]**:** My name is Isabela Calgue
\\n[Lorena]: Isabela lived in the mountain as well. She fled the community with her husband after a group of soldiers burned her house down. It was punishment for having more corn and animals than her neighbors. The soldiers were suspicious and accused them of supporting the guerrilla.
\\n[Isabella speaks poqomchí and Lulu translate]**:** I had the advantage that I was a just married. I didn’t have a baby. I was running, running, running, on the mountain I did not have the slow down or carrying someone, so we managed to climb farther.
\\nWhen they could not get us and we moved further, they bombed the mountain with helicopters. They followed us with bombs.
\\n[Ximena]: They lived there for two years. In the flight, Isabela lost ten family members, including his mother, who was murdered with a machete by the soldiers.
\\n[Isabella speaks poqomchí and Lulu translate]**:** It was what they would do when they spot you. Many children were left behind. Kill them all, squarely: children, adults, old people. Kill them with machetes.
\\n[Ximena]: Why did they leave the mountain?
\\n[Isabella speaks poqomchí and Lulu translate]**:** The people on the mountain were dying. We were running out of food and we heard that someone people were already surrendering to the army. It was the only option.
\\n[Ximena]: Soon after the death of her infant son, Felisa surrendered to the soldiers.
\\n[Felisa speaks poqomchí and Lulu translate]**:** The only reason I fled to the mountain was to protect my children but they were dying, I no longer felt the obligation to keep running.
\\n[Ximena]: Her family was taken as prisoners to a camp inside the 21st military zone in Cobán. They were relocated three months later to a new place for 6 months, under the total control.
\\n[Felisa speaks poqomchí and Lulu translate]**:** They were observed all the time, never left alone.
\\n[Lorena]: One afternoon soldiers detained his brother and took him away. She didn’t hear from him again. Felisa suspects they took him back to the 21st military zone and that he was murdered there.
\\n[Ximena]: Felisa and her family spent the next few years in half a dozen camps. Known as Modelo Villages, concentration camps run by the military. Those were meant to be reeducation centers, to form their ideology away from the guerrilla and closer to the regime.
\\n[Lorena]: They did forced labor: building houses and drains. Barely received any food and after some months the people were forced to vacate the camps, move to a new one and start from scratch.
\\n[Ximena]: Isabela Calgue was also interned at the camps, her good health draw attention from the guards.
\\n[Isabela speaks poqomchí and Lulu translate]**:** They told me that must I have been part of the guerrilla, they saw me as a threat.
\\n[Lorena]: She was subjected to constant harassment and interrogations, to exercise to a point of weakness and they forced her to watch over a small groups of women and accuse those who rebel. At the villages, the disappearances were part of the routine. That is how Felisa remembers it:
\\n[Felisa speaks poqomchí and Lulu translate]**:** There kept coming to take the men. A very selective thing. They took the men and never came back.
\\n[Ximena]: Abelino Cal lived a somewhat different story, during the first army incursions into his community, the soldiers took his father. The family went to the base a couple of times, asking, trying to recover him but shortly after his younger sister was also arrested.
\\n(AVELINO SPEAKS POCOMCHÍ)
\\n[Lorena]: Avelino then fled to the mountain and stayed there for four years until he was able to reach a refugee camp from the Catholic church. He never surrendered to the army.
\\n[Ximena]: Over the years, military control dwindled in the region. In 1987 Avelino returned to his community but the village had disappeared.
\\n[Lorena]: Felisa does not remember when she returned home.
\\n[Felisa speaks in poqomchí and Lulu translate]**:** It is difficult to place in time many of the things that happened because we were disconnected all the time, the only thing we wanted was to protect ourselves.
\\n[Ximena]: By the time Avelino and Felisa were able to return to their communities in early 1990s, the war was entering its final stretch.
\\n(MUSIC)
\\n[Lorena]: Although it was known much later, between 1979 and 1984, at least 600 massacres were committed against the indigenous communities. Over 200 thousand people died during the whole conflict , 45 thousand more disappeared and there were 100 thousand displaced.
\\n[Ximena]: After the peace agreements in 1996, victims’ organizations focused their efforts on the search for the disappeared and the possibility of bringing criminals to justice.
\\n[Blanca Quiroa]: The first report was filed in 2002.
\\n[Lorena]: Although the rumors about the crimes in Cobán moved around since the early 90s, it was then when a witness, willing to speak, knocked on Famdegua’s door.
\\n[Blanca]: He searched for us to tell us that: this and that had happened, that he had been there doing military service.
\\n(Ximena): The witness appeared before a local prosecutor from Cobán flanked by the organization. He recounted that in the 80s, the military zone, now Creompaz, had been a torture center and a place for soldiers to bring in civilians that never left.
\\n[Blanca]: But they never started a process. The file was lost.
\\n[Lorena]: They resubmitted the complaint several times but only in 2011, 9 years later, the case was handed to local prosecutor Allan Stowlinsky, who became interested.
\\n[Blanca]: You could only access the place with a search warrant from a judge’s order and he said: Doña Blanca, tell Doña Aura Helena, she was the president at that moment, that we are going to go in (to Creompaz) next week.
\\n[Lorena]: The prosecutor filed the request for the search warrant.
\\n[Blanca]: But chances are that the next day he was killed.
\\n[Lorena and Ximena]: The prosecutor?
\\nBlanca: Aha.
\\n[NEWS FRAGMENT]: 36-year-old prosecutor Stowlinsky appeared mutilated, he had been kidnapped, hours before, on his way to pick up his son in northern Guatemala.
\\n[Ximena]: The crime, attributed to Los Zetas cartel, stopped the process until February 2012. The case was transferred to the country’s capital by Attorney General’s order, Claudia Paz y Paz, who is recognized for promoting investigations on some of the war crimes.
\\n[Blanca]: She gave us an opening to enter. She was the one who gave the order for the raid at the base.
\\n[Lorena]: With the order in their hands, on February 2 Blanca and traveled the 212 km between the Capital and Cobán. But at the entrance …
\\n[Blanca]: We could not enter, they stopped us at the door because we took the memorial as military base number 12, and as it is now called Creompaz, then that’s why they returned us.
\\n[Ximena]: Back in the capital they did all the paperwork again. They returned on February 27 accompanied by the witness who 10 years earlier had filed the complaint.
\\n[Blanca]: We went in and the gentleman with us (witness who served) took us to the first place and said - where I stand you are going to see -, he was going to disguise as a member of the MP.
\\n[Lorena]: Was I afraid?
\\n[Blanca]: I think so, like we were afraid because we knew that the Army was there, he said: where I stand there you will see. Overall, it stopped in several places and we had the anthropologists and excavators and once started and in the first place began to come out a skull, a leg and so on.
\\n[Lorena]: In Creompaz they found an immense cemetery. That day they worked from 10 in the morning until 5 in the afternoon.
\\n[Blanca]: You had to leave because there was no light and you could not work, because as was the side inside and as where the bases and detachments are very large places.
\\n[Ximena]: Military base 21, today Creompaz, which led the counterinsurgent intelligence operations in the 1980s and 1990s, is an extensive complex located on the periphery of the city.
\\n[Blanca]: There are the facilities where the Army offices are, more for inside are the troop dormitories, toilets, soccer fields and everything. You have to walk about a kilometer maybe to where the first excavation was.
\\n[Lorena]: The search process was conducted by the Forensic Anthropology Foundation of Guatemala. For two years, the archaeologists worked two shifts, seven days a week in the recovery of bones.
\\nThey found 84 graves that kept the remains of 565 people, men, women and children.
\\n[Blanca]: Most were indigenous people from around the town, both here from San Cristóbal and Santa Cruz, from the Pacayas, from there from Cobán, from several villages, most were men, only from a place called Pambache In one night in a truck the Army went to get 92 men out.
\\n[Lorena]: Most of the bodies were bound hand and foot, gagged, blindfolded and showing signs of torture.
\\n[Blanca]: Many were hanged, had barbed wire in the neck and rolled with a piece of iron made tourniquet. Many of the people were hanged, they were not killed with a firearm.
\\n[Ximena]: Through the analysis of clothing and the testimonies of survivors and relatives, the anthropological team was able to establish that the bodies corresponded to victims of the armed conflict.
\\nThey determined that they had died between 1981 and 1988, that many bodies corresponded to military incursions into indigenous communities such as the Río Negro massacre among others, as well as activists and students who had disappeared in the cities.
\\n[Lorena]: Of the 565 remains, 150 have been identified by DNA tests.
\\n[Blanca]: There were a lot of big sticks and I think they grew so much with the fertilizer of all the people they buried there.
\\n(MUSIC)
\\n[Ximena]: Felisa Moranmó always suspected that her husband could be in Creompaz but it took 35 years before they got any news. In 2016 his remains were recovered from clandestine graves.
\\n[Felisa speaks in poqomchí and Lulu translate]**:** They took the bones to the capital and managed with the DNA to identify that my husband had been one of those found there. They asked for our saliva sample so they could identify it and it appeared.
\\n**[Lorena]: **Mrs. Felisa, what did it mean for you to find your husband?
\\n[Felisa speaks in poqomchí and Lulu translate]**:** It was a way later to reassure me that in the end I already knew where I was and that I can already be very sure that those responsible for his death were the military.
\\n[Ximena]: Inside the graves was also Avelino’s father.
\\n[Felisa speaks in poqomchí and Lulu translate]**:** There was no way of thinking that they had taken him elsewhere.
\\nthe facilities already identify us as military zone number 21 and supposedly the vision and functions were different but what I am sure of is that this is still the same.
\\n[Lorena]: Do you think they continue to persecute indigenous groups?
\\n[Avelino Cal speaks in poqomchí and Lulu translate]**:** Maybe the war is not openly like that at the time, but I understand that the system continues to destroy the peoples. The Government has never been responsible for repairing this damage and it is a way to end the peoples that were affected during the war.
\\nHe is indifferent, he is even looking for a way for this to remain unpunished.
\\n(MUSIC)
\\n[Ximena]: The offices of the Association of Relatives, Detainees and Missing Guatemala, Famdegua, are in a one-story house in the center of the Capital. The entrance is guarded with security cameras and by a guard who receives visitors at the door.
\\nIn the meeting room, a large room with large windows, dozens of photographs hang from the high walls. They are black and white portraits: men and women, all young. There is no room for more and many others are piled up on the floor.
\\n[Lorena]: In a corner, there’s Oscar’s photo: he wears his fireman’s uniform, looks straight at the camera and does not smile. Blanca says that most of the photos were taken from official IDs.
\\nIn 34 years of search Blanca has helped many families to recover their own, but Oscar has not had news.
\\nShe tells us what it meant to her to discover the Creompaz graves, which is considered the largest forced disappearance case in Latin America.
\\n[Blanca]: They are a lot of mixed feelings because I said at the beginning, I know that my son is not here, but now there is an illusion, feeling that, and I hope because there are still many there, I hope that my son is possibly there , at least there.
\\n[Ximena]: Although Blanca found support in other victims, the search impacted her family’s relationships. His youngest son was 7 years old at the time and resented that his mother was so long away.
\\n[Blanca]: He suffered a lot, the disappearance of his brother affected him a lot. He said, when he entered adolescence, he told me that I had forgotten him, that I was only in the street and that when he needed me and that I had only had one son. It is a hard feeling, so great rejection and now it has changed, but I think that, for the same reason, he is 10 years old, he is single, he stays in the house.
\\nHe helps me, sometimes he comes here when there is no one to drive us, he comes and goes with me to the exhumations and everything.
\\n[Lorena]: The continuous search for her son and for those of thousands more has defined her life for more than three decades. The disappearance, he says, is a crime that not only ends with the life of a person, it destroys any possibility of the future.
\\n[Blanca]: I say many times that the most aberrant crime on earth is the forced disappearance of a person because it is a cycle of life that did not end and a duel that never closes, because if we do not find them, we do not bury your bones are never going to close that duel and the cycle of life, because they were healthy, they were not sick, it was not an accident, their cycle never ended.
\\n(MUSIC)
\\n***
\\nInstitutional Voice: In the next chapter
\\n[Fafg expert]: Here we have two gunshot wounds and then we are going to have this type of injury.
\\nRecover loved ones, one by one:
\\nThe Creompaz case is fought in the courts of Guatemala. While the courts are advancing at a slow pace, civil society and the families of victims are racing against the clock to find, identify and return the disappeared to their homes.
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Así, la batalla es también contra el tiempo: los testigos y los sobrevivientes de las atrocidades envejecen rápidamente y una nueva generación, marcada por las heridas de sus padres, se prepara para asumir el relevo.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"div\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"ga-link\",\"properties\":{\"to\":\"/recuperar-a-los-seres-queridos-uno-por-uno.html\",\"className\":[\"ga-button\"]},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"Back to audio\"}]}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Institutional voice]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" On January 16th, 1992, El Salvador signed a Peace Accord that ended 12 years of war.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"(ALFREDO CRISTIANI’S DISCOURSE AUDIO ARCHIVE, FORMER SALVADORAN PRESIDENT ABOUT THE PEACE ACCORD)\"}]}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Institutional voice]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" And on December 29th, 1996, it was Guatemala’s turn.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"(ÁLVARO ARZÚ’S DISCOURSE AUDIO ARCHIVE, FORMER PRESIDENT OF GUATEMALA)\"}]}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Institutional voice]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" After two decades, the war wounds are still open. Pie de página Ximena Natera and Radio Nacional de Colombia’s Lorena Vega present War witnesses: voices against impunity, stories of the battles for memory and justice in El Salvador and Guatemala.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"***\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Humberto Morán]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" It exists (the graveyard) since 1905, one of the first buried here was my great grandfather.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Ximena]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" We walk through the cemetery of San Cristóbal Verapaz, a small village in Alta Verapaz, northern Guatemala, with Humberto Morán and Lurdes Cal.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"It is late in the afternoon, there are some people, cleaning tombstones, decorating them with flowers and lighting candles for the night. Lourdes stops in front of one: the name, carved on stone, is Policarpo Chen.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Lourdes Cal]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" He was my uncle… he’s my uncle. He freed many plantations, it was part of the social work he did his whole life. On September 12, 1984, he was kidnapped. We found him dead on Progreso highway on the 13th.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Lorena]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" We walk uphill to the end of the cemetery. A wall of trees borders with the forest. Here are the bones recovered from clandestine graves inside the military base in Coban.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Humberto]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" Here is another one. This is the area that was destined for those found in Creompaz.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Ximena]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" Why this area?\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Humberto]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" There is no more space, everything is occupied. We believe that some of them won’t fit in here.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Lorena]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" How many of creompaz lay here?\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Humberto]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" Hmm… we should count them, it starts from there.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Ximena]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" The bodies began to arrive in 2012 and 2013.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Humberto]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" Like 15 were delivered in San Lucas.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Ximena]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" It is not difficult to distinguish creompaz victims graves from the rest. Almost all of them have inscriptions: SEPAZ, an acronym for the Peace Ministry and PNR (*NRP in english).\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Humberto]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" It means National Restitution Program, it supported the families of victims founded at Creompaz. It helped with the coffin and other expenses.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Lorena]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" 565 bodies were recovered, not all of them are here. Many were taken to local cemeteries near the communities they belonged to, closer to their relatives.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Ximena]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" Humberto’s older brother remains are also at the graveyard, he was kidnapped by soldiers on December 23, 1981, and found in Creompaz.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"At that time, Lazaro, his brother, was part of youth group engaged in social work.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Humberto]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" The army said that they were not helping poor children, but the guerrillas.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Lorena]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" Humberto and his family witnessed the kidnapping:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Humberto]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" He had just returned from Guatemala, they (the army) arrived to detain him, they arrived in a white pick-up … they were dressed in military uniform.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Lorena]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" Humberto’s father presented himself to the base several times, asking about his son but they denied him information and threatened him.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Ximena]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" Lázaro was found in Creompaz, his remains returned home 32 years later.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Humberto]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" Finding him wasfor the better so the family won’t keep imagining him lying somewhere out there. All this is true, but on the other hand we lost any hope of finding him alive.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"***\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Lorena]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" At the capital we visit the Guatemalan Forensic Anthropology Foundation headquarters, the FAFG, a non-governmental scientific organization dedicated to the search and identification of the people disappeared during the conflict.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"Since 1992 the FAFG has recovered around 8 thousand remains and identified more than 3 thousand people.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Ximena]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" Their work has been fundamental in building the cases against war criminals.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Omar Bertoni Girón]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" The foundation’s work provides technical and scientific tools to the justice system and collaborate with victim’s families in the search for their loved ones. We act as scientific experts in this process.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Lorena]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" Omar Bertoni Girón is Human Identification Advisor and one of FAFG’s 60 members. The FAFG was in charge of recovering the remains from Creompaz base, a request made by Famdegua the Detained and Disappeared Family Association of Guatemala.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Omar]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" We recovered 565 bodies, all of them were analyzed, now we are working on the genetic analysis, there have been some identifications thus far. How many? 98 If I remember correctly.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"For us, we got to know that there where people from different areas, always from the northern region. It is a place (Creompaz) help us understand the scope from the capture and detention of these people.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Ximena]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" There is so much that can be deduced of a person just with the information in their bones: age, sex, height, their type of diet, even severe illnesses.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"But in the case of a violent death, the bones become witnesses and the signals become evidence.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Lorena]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" The foundation’s work has been crucial in the judicial case in Creompaz. It allowed to overthrow the army defense team narrative that the bodies found in the base belong to victims of 1976 massive earthquake.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Lorena]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" Under what conditions the remains were discovered?\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Omar]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" I would say that the remains there were not placed within a norm of respect for the human live, even more so considering the cultural context in the region. There were people with hands and feet tied, blindfolded, varying age ranges: children, adults, elderly people, women, men.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"From a forensic point of view, this case is very interesting because it helps you to understand different patterns within the graves inside the base.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Ximena]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" The FAFG was created in 1992 by Clyde Snow, an American forensic anthropologist who, at the request of victims relatives, had arrived to assist in the search and identification of remains. A thing Guatemala’s government wasn’t prepared to do.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Lorena]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" In half a century of work, Snow had become some sort of rockstar of the profession. They would call him the bone detective and had been responsible for the identification of historical figures such as Nazi criminal Josef Mengele and Egyptian Pharaoh Tutankhamun.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"(ARCHIVE: CLYDE SNOW INTERVIEW)\"}]}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Ximena]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" Nevertheless, his most valuable legacy could be the training of a new generation of forensic anthropologists in the continent and the organizations that emerged from them.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Lorena]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" First in Argentina, where Snow’s disciples created the Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team that has worked for years in the search for Argentinian dictatorship victims and armed conflicts in 30 other countries.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"And then here in Guatemala, where the FAFG investigations have contributed to a dozen of war crimes trials.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"(SHIRLEY CAROLA IN FAFG LABORATORY)\"}]}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Ximena]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" Shirley Carola Chacón, head of forensic lab, guides us through a large study where a dozen anthropologists work with skeletons. They move efficiently, carefull. At a table, a couple of scientists make an inventory of the bones, re-assemble a skeleton, check the pieces and look for signs of trauma.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Lorena]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" On one, Daniel Guzmán works on a skeleton, he tells us that it is mostly complete, that they were able to determine that it is a woman; they can tell she was young because of the jaw and pelvis, but most importantly: there are traces of three big wounds in her bones.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Daniel Guzmán]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" You see here, there are fractures caused by a projectile impact of a firearm, this is not erosion caused by soil, but the behavior of bone facing a fracture.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Lorena]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" Daniel points to the torso, first up to the ribs on the left, then lower, near the spine.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Daniel]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" There is too much of bone loss, we can not establish where the projectile came from exactly or where it hit on the way out.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Lorena]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" He points to the skull, near the forehead.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Daniel]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" This is a very different kind of fracture, this type comes from a blunt force, it could have been caused by an object, maybe by the same weapon like the rifle butt or a club.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Ximena]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" The woman was found in El Quiché region, Daniel says. To her side the remains of two children with similar injuries were found. The geneticists verified they were her children through DNA testing.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"He also explains that archaeologists determined the woman was buried in 1982 and, through interviews with her family, they dated the crime somewhere between October and November.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Shirley]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" There were three people in this pit , the adult, a female, and two children. The two children are hers children and both suffered the same traumas as the mother. This is the last skeleton from that grave and now it is going to be archived because the process is finished.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Lorena]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" It is a long process, Shirley explains that the full identification of a body occurs only when members of four areas: Archeology, forensic anthropology, social anthropology and the genetics department reach a consensus of 99.99%.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Ximena]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" It is a monumental job. The FAFG works with 60 scientists and faces the task of locating, documenting and identifying more than 40 thousand disappeared people from the Guatemalan conflict that raged from 1960 to 1996 .\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"The FAFG is not alone, the work of civil society and victims relatives has been fundamental in the process of justice and memory of the post-conflict.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Alberto Fuentes]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" What happened in here has no parison with any other country in Latin America. 93% of the acts of political violence come from the State.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Lorena]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" We go through the Police Historical Archive. To understand the importance of this place we must know that a year after the signing of the peace, in 1997, the Truth Commission, inquired the government for access to the police archive to assess the responsability degree of the institution during the war.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Ximena]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" Then President Álvaro Arzú said such file did not exist.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"The lie collapsed on July 5, 2005. Ombudsman officials discovered a building buried in mountains of scrap metal during a raid. Inside, a treasure.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Alberto]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" The file we found is gigantic, there is nothing similar. It has around 80 million folios.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Lorena]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" Alberto Fuentes is a member of the Historical Archive Coordination. He was one of the first to arrive after the discovery.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"For months, he and a dozen volunteers, held a vigil to protect the archive.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Alberto]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" It’s was our story treated like trash.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Ximena]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" The building was half built, it was supposed to become a hospital in the 80s. When they arrived, the place was flooded and infested with rats, bats and insects.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"The documents, recovered through rigorous archival methods, revealed that the State used intelligence systems to control its citizens.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Alberto]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" This shows that the police had some sort of records, some control, over more than 30% of the adults in the country. We were 8 million inhabitants and there are one million 270 thousand so far.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Lorena]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" The documents prove that between 1975 and 1985, the war’s most violent years, the police illegally detained any citizen considered subversive and turned them over to the Army.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"That would explain why there have been found remains the capital’s inhabitants in rural military bases like Creompaz in Cobán.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Alberto]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" There is a name: Roldán Morales Carlos; there is a date: October 9, 1983. It says he was turned over in Tasisco, Santa Rosa, for looking suspicious and undocumented.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Ximena]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" Files like these are reviewed, cataloged and digitalized by 57 archivists. Today we came to meet one in particular.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Óscar Ricardo Hernández Lima]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" My name is Óscar Ricardo Hernández Lima, I am 35 years old. My occupation within the Historical Archive is file operator, it’ s been my job for 11 years.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Ximena]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" Óscar removes harmful metals from the documents.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"He was one of the first workers at the archive and even though many of the employees have left because budget cuts or the heavy work, he remains.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Óscar]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" I am the son of a disappeared person. My dad’s name was Oscar David Hernández Quiroa, he was 22 years old, he was a volunteer firefighter.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Lorena]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" Óscar does not remember much about his father. He managed to get an idea of him through stories told by his grandmother Blanca Rosa Quiroa, who became one of the most visible personalities in the search for the missing.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Óscar]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" I was 1 and a half years old when he was kidnapped. What I know about my father is that he was a collaborative, humanitarian person, he liked to help people: neighbors and friends. He would help classmates and even people he did not know… he helped.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Lorena]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" Before learning how to walk, Oscar would join his grandmother to protests. As a child, It caused an impression.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Óscar]\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" It was not the childhood that my co-workers had. At the age of five, when I was in protests with my grandma, most of my coworkers were playing at home.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Ximena]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" At 16, Óscar understood that he was the son of a victim.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Óscar]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" They told me more about what happened to him. How it happened, where… that’s when I understood and I started questioning why it happened to me, why did they took him. Why me and not somebody else.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Ximena]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" Through his teenage years he joined HIJOS, a collective, formed by children of the disappeared. For years, the group has dedicated to covered the capital streets with portraits of those missing at home. Through protest they fight for memory and against silence.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Óscar]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" We protested so they would know that they hadn’t killed all the people, that there were seeds, that we were the seeds and will not stop looking for them.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Lorena]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" But in 2006, when the police archive was discovered, Óscar changed the protest for an opportunity to find information about his father.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Óscar]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" That was what motivated me, it continues to motivate me and it will continue to do so.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Ximena]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" While her grandmother travels the country organizing victims collectives, and searching for Oscar, her grandson also called Oscar, looks for clues among 80 million documents. There has been a few in 12 years. The most revealing was a report filed by the firefighters commander-in-chief.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Óscar]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" In some reports, I have seen he directs them to the National Police, he follows a certain procedure. This report was not sent to the police but to chief staff at the presidential house, it was kind of sent to the army. I do not understand it.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Lorena]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" Óscar believes the firefighters commander could have been implicated in the disappearance of his father. He does not know it for sure but that’s why he keeps trying at the archive: to obtain more information, to allow his family to close a cycle of pain.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Óscar]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" I want to know what they did to my dad’s remains. If he is dead, tell me where they left him, I want to bury him, to have somewhere to leave flowers for my dad… It is a very strong feeling. I am a father now, I understand more. I want them to tell me where my father is, where they left their remains and I want for the responsibles to be incarcerated, that is what motivates me.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Ximena]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" There is no suspect in the disappearance of Oscar’s father, no one has been arrested.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"In the future, police archive documents could transform into evidence against Guatemalan security forces, just as the work done by organizations like Famdegua and FAFG. For now, though, the country faces a cycle of impunity.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Lorena]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" Most of the atrocities were forgotten after the war. Less than 10 cases have reached trial. A low number considering more than 600 massacres were perpetrated and 45 thousand people disappeared. Almost every one of the cases in court were pushed by victims.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"One of the most anticipated trials was Creompaz case, the biggest crime of forced disappearance registered in the continent.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Ximena]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" In 2016, after months of investigations by the Prosecutor’s office, and based upon the work of the Forensic Anthropology team and Famdegua, the ministry issued 14 arrest warrants against army officers and soldier related to the disappearances, almost all of them were high-ranking officials and intelligence in Creompaz.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"Among the group was General Manuel Benedicto Lucas García, former Army Chief Staff and brother of Romero Lucas García, president of Guatemala between 1978 and 1982.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"(BENEDICT LUCAS, INTERVIEW WITH PUBLIC PLAZA]\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" Wars are disastrous but God created them to lower the population in the world, without them there would be overpopulation.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Lorena]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" Months before being arrested, in an interview with Plaza Pública, Benedicto Lucas García denied the accusations brought against him. He said the bodies found inside the military base were 1976 earthquake victims.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Benedict]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" That is an earthquake cemetery and logically there are people who want to take advantage of the opportunity, they took the DNA test, what are they after? Compensation?\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Lorena]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" Out of 14 soldiers initially detained, only 8 were officially linked to the process.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"At the end of 2017 the case stalled due to appeals filed by the Public Prosecutor’s Office and the case set to prove as example has been losing momentum.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"Out of 565 victims, the case holds 152 and the Judge accepted only 29. The trial has yet to begin.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Ximena]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" Meanwhile, the real battle is against time.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"This generation could be the last one to provide evidence to shed light on the years of horror. Organizations like the FAFG works fast to collect as many DNA samples from victims relatives and the need to collect testimonies from those who survived is urgent.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"(MUSIC)\"}]}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"(LOURDES CAL SPEAKS IN QUICHÉ)\"}]}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Lorena]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" This is why the work of people like Lourdes Cal is transcendental. She travels through the indigenous villages of Alta Verapaz, four hours away from Guatemala City, collecting testimonies from victims ignored by justice.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Lourdes]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" It has been complicated, there is still a lot of repression in the communities. In some ways, the system has not changed much. Some authorities tell them: if you testify we will go back to war and it’s going to be your fault for talking about what happened. They try to keep people from talking about this.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Ximena]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" For Lourdes, the war atrocities are a logical evolution from the historical repression that Mayan communities have endured.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Lourdes]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" And each of these events come to be intertwined now, the invasion, the colony and now the armed conflict. It all is linked to groups of power, owners of the land without a place they belong to.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Lorena]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" Hearing and reliving so much pain takes its toll on the body: the first years, Lulu, as she prefers to be called, kept falling into depression. Women’s stories affect her deeply, she says, but on the other hand it has helped her understand a confusing chapter of her life.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Lourdes]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" It has helped me to clarify what I had been trying to understand since childhood. This is what is was happening when I saw such things and it is very difficult but I feel compelled to do the accompaniment.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Ximena]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" In Lulu’s childhood, during the war, it was common to see dozens of people leaving the mountains, and walking through the streets of San Cristóbal, guarded by soldiers.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Lourdes]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" For me it was evident I did not know them. Those situations… I observed but did not ask.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Lorena]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" Living in municipality protected her family in some extent, during the years of conflict her life was almost normal: she played in the street with her older sisters and attended school. But his uncle, Policarpo Chen’s, murder in 1984, changed the entire family.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Lourdes]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" I did not understand at that time, when my uncle died. I was putting together my own ideas, a puzzle, and well I understood that if my uncle had done those good things for others, I also wanted to do it.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Lorena]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" And when did you start doing something?\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Lourdes]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" After the signing of the peace agreements, they opened the possibility of some projects for the communities. I wanted to do something for the rural area that had been most affected.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Ximena]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" The reality is that 36 years later the wounds have not closed, not only the absence of the disappeared. The communities are deeply divided, at the end of the conflict, many soldiers and members of the guerrillas reintegrated into civil life.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"Since then victims and perpetrators inhabit the same spaces and sometimes even the same families.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Lourdes]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" In the end those who were behind all this were the powers of the same state. But those who confronted themselves were the same poor people in the community.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Lorena]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" Do the new generations here in the communities know what happened in the war?\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Lourdes]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" There have been or have been difficulties in that this story can be transmitted from generation to generation, first because people prefer to forget and start a life from scratch. They do not manage to recover the things that were losses and as part of the pain they have they try not to transmit it to the new generations.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Lorena]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" But Lulu believes that historical memory is indispensable as a guarantee of non-repetition and more so in an unequal society that carries decades of pain on its back.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Lourdes]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" It is very difficult to talk about the issue of reconciliation, as long as this situation of lack of responsibility of the state exists. This will serve so that wounds are not healed and how we could talk about reconciliation if these aspects are not being taken into account.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Ximena]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" In the central square of the capital are the headquarters of the three powers that govern Guatemala, the presidential house, the cathedral and the Army, at the center on an esplanade is the national flag.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"It is Sunday and on the square there is a market that at first sight looks like crafts, but here there are no tourists.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Lorena]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" It is a meeting place for many indigenous women of the capital, some of them are domestic workers and this, their day off, takes advantage of it to walk. They tell us that the rest of the week the square remains empty, as it is an area little visited by the mestizo population. Thus, one Sunday morning it becomes a postcard of the racial segregation of a country where 60% of its population is indigenous.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"But in recent weeks, the square has been crowded by thousands of people.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"(AUDIO MANIFESTANTS IN CENTRO DE GUATEMALA)\"}]}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Ximena]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" They protest the decision of President Jimmy Morales not to renew the mandate of the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala, a UN agency that arrived in the country in 2006 to support state institutions in the investigation of cases of corruption and high profile crimes.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"The commission led by the Colombian Iván Velásquez uncovered millionaire frauds that compromised high officials of the state including the current president.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"The controversy also highlighted the power that continues to maintain military sectors, on August 31 Jimmy Morales announced the departure of the cicig surrounded by the high command of the armed forces, an image reminiscent of the years of General Rios Mont, during the war.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"(PRESS CONFERENCE BY JIMMY MORALES)\"}]}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Lorena]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" But this is not new, we just have to remember General Otto Pérez Molina, accused of participating in massacres in the Quiché region. Despite the accusations, he was elected president of Guatemala in 2011.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"(AUDIO RESIGNATION OF OTTO PÉREZ)\"}]}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Lorena]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" He left office in 2015 in the midst of citizen protests over the corruption scandal at La Línea, a criminal network that received bribes from importers to evade the payment of customs taxes.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Ximena]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" Another case is that of General Efraín Ríos Montt, dictator between 1982 and 1983, responsible for most of the indigenous massacres.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"Until January 2012 he held a prominent position in Congress. In 2013, he was sentenced to 80 years in prison for the genocide of the Ixil indigenous community, months later the sentence was annulled and on April 1 passed away in his house without paying for his crimes.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"[Lorena]:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\" The case of Guatemala, shows what can happen when a system is normalized impunity against the atrocities of war: The criminals of yesterday can become the corrupt of the present.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"***\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"strong\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"Institutional Voice:\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"”War Witnesses, voices against impunity” is a sound documentary series made by Pie de Página de México and Radio Nacional de Colombia.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"This work was done thanks to the Adelante initiative of the International Women’s Media Foundation.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"Visit the special at www.radionacional.co/ and www.piedepagina.mx/\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"Research and script: Lorena Vega and Ximena Natera\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"Field production in Guatemala: Daniele Volpe (read as is, not Daniel) and Lucha Escobar, Morena Joaquim, Lucía Reynoso, Juan Carlos.\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"Original music: Santiago Flores\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"Sound edition: José Luis Mantilla\"}]},{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"\\n\"},{\"type\":\"element\",\"tagName\":\"p\",\"properties\":{},\"children\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"value\":\"Web: Cristian Anzola and Fernando Santillán\"}]}],\"data\":{\"quirksMode\":false}},\"frontmatter\":{\"date\":\"septiembre 25, 2018\",\"path\":\"/transcripcion-ingles/recuperar-a-los-seres-queridos-uno-por-uno.html\",\"category\":\"Guatemala\",\"title\":\"Recover the loved ones, one by one\",\"active\":true,\"streamaudio\":null,\"video\":{\"url\":\"\",\"caption\":\"\"},\"transcriptions\":null,\"gallery\":null}}},\"pathContext\":{\"prev\":{\"excerpt\":\"En Guatemala, mientras la sociedad civil se organiza para acabar con el círculo de impunidad que ha rodeado los crímenes de la guerra, el sistema de justicia apuesta por el olvido. El caso Creompaz, uno de los pocos en llegar a las cortes, se alarga…\",\"html\":\"En Guatemala, mientras la sociedad civil se organiza para acabar con el círculo de impunidad que ha rodeado los crímenes de la guerra, el sistema de justicia apuesta por el olvido. El caso Creompaz, uno de los pocos en llegar a las cortes, se alarga indefinidamente. Así, la batalla es también contra el tiempo: los testigos y los sobrevivientes de las atrocidades envejecen rápidamente y una nueva generación, marcada por las heridas de sus padres, se prepara para asumir el relevo.
\",\"id\":\"/develop/gatsbyjs/voces-contra-impunidad/blog/2018-09-25/index.md absPath of file >>> MarkdownRemark\",\"timeToRead\":1,\"frontmatter\":{\"date\":\"2018-09-25T00:00:00.408Z\",\"path\":\"/recuperar-a-los-seres-queridos-uno-por-uno.html\",\"category\":\"Guatemala\",\"title\":\"Recuperar a los seres queridos, uno por uno\",\"active\":true,\"home\":true}},\"next\":{\"excerpt\":\"Durante la guerra civil de Guatemala una base militar del norte del país se convirtió en un centro de tortura y cementerio clandestino que resume 36 años de represión contra miembros de comunidades indígenas, estudiantes y activistas. En medio de la…\",\"html\":\"Durante la guerra civil de Guatemala una base militar del norte del país se convirtió en un centro de tortura y cementerio clandestino que resume 36 años de represión contra miembros de comunidades indígenas, estudiantes y activistas. En medio de la barbarie las víctimas se fueron encontrando y trabajaron juntas. Tres décadas después, sus esfuerzos, que empezaron como una medida de sobrevivencia, se han convertido en la base para construir los casos legales contra los criminales responsables del dolor.
\\n[Institutional voice]: On January 16th, 1992, El Salvador signed a Peace Accord that ended 12 years of war.
\\n(AUDIO ARCHIVE: ALFREDO CRISTIANI’S SPEECH ON THE PEACE TREATY, FORMER SALVADORAN PRESIDENT)
\\n[Institutional voice]: On December 29th, 1996, it was Guatemala’s turn.
\\n(AUDIO ARCHIVE: ÁLVARO ARZU’S DISCOURSE, FORMER PRESIDENT OF GUATEMALA)
\\n[Institutional voice]: After two decades, the war wounds are still open. Pie de Página’s Ximena Natera and Radio Nacional de Colombia’s Lorena Vega present War witnesses: voices against impunity, stories about the battles for memory and justice in El Salvador and Guatemala.
\\n***
\\n[Blanca Rosa Quiroa]: That was every day, after repression devastated the rural areas of the country, it arrived to the capital. In 1984, up to 10, even complete families, were abducted daily.
\\n[Ximena Natera]: The woman speaking is Blanca Rosa Quiroa. She is short, with curly hair full on grey. We meet in Guatemala City.
\\n[Blanca]: They would appear: 5, 3, 2, 1. Death people everyday, in the streets, at the bottom of trails, on the roads…
\\n[Lorena Vega]: Blanca describes what it was like to live in 1980’s Guatemala, the hardest years of the conflict during the dictatorship of General Efraín Ríos Montt. The civil war that had affected rural areas for two decades, had reached the capital and materialized in the disappearance of thousands of citizens, including six relatives of Blanca.
\\n[Blanca]: A complete family: mom, dad, three children and my husband’s sister-in-law.
\\n[Ximena]: One of the missing is her son, Óscar Hernández. She saw him last on February 23, 1984. He was 22 years old.
\\n[Blanca]: He was a volunteer firefighter. He worked as an electromechanical technician there and had a night shift as a volunteer.
\\n[Ximena]: That night Óscar was on his way to the station, was about to arrive…
\\n[Blanca]: He was shot and taken away. They (the firestation) notified us immediately.
\\n[Lorena]: Blanca learned from witnesses that her son was alive when soldiers took him away.
\\n[Blanca]: I knew about it half an hour after his abduction. We started searching hospitals right then. They said he had been shot so we thought he had been taken to one.
\\n[Lorena]: But Oscar did not appear. Blanca’s search took her to the Police’s Criminal Investigation Unit, she filed a complaint. Her one-and-a-half-year-old grandson and daughter-in-law where there too.
\\n[Blanca]: We arrived and the officer at the door asked us what we were doing there. We told him about the complaint:
\\n”You got photos?”, Yes, I told him and he took my son’s picture out of my hands. ”Oh, it’s the fireman!” he said sarcastically. I stood there.
\\n[Ximena]: Those first months, visiting hospitals, morgues, police stations, even jails, Blanca discovered that, like her, hundreds of mothers and wives were looking for their own.
\\n[Blanca]: At first we would just look at each other and not even greet each other. We were afraid. Months went by, we used to see the same people, often at the same time so we started talking.
\\n[Lorena]: This is how the Mutual Aid Group, GAM, was born. The first organization formed by victims families and friends.They would hold protests at the Presidential House, call on press conferences and publish advertisements in local media, drawing attention from authorities.
\\nAll this during the most violent years of the civil war that lasted from 1960 to 1996. 45,000 Guatemalans disappeared in that period of time.
\\n[Blanca]: Police officers were always watching, we were sprayed with gas many times. And they even responded to our press releases, they used to say we were the guerrilla’s political arm.
\\n[Ximena]: Blanca and GAM members were the first ones to break the silence and confront the regime. Contrary to what happened in El Salvador, with more than a thousand journalists covering the war, Guatemala’s state restricted the entry of international media and the war’s dimension remained hidden.
\\nIn 1992, GAM morphed into FAMDEGUA, the Guatemala’s Detained and Disappeared Relatives Association, presently leaded by Blanca alongside Aura Elena Farfan, her partner.
\\n[Lorena]: For most families, searching through files was not enough. In the early 90s they started doing what no state entity wanted to assume: locating clandestine mass graves and recovering anonymous bodies in rural areas.
\\n[Blanca]: Watching us work, made people lost their fear, some started showing us mass grave sites: look here Doña Blanca… look there Doña Aura… and so we knew where our relatives where and we wanted to get them out. We would go and see the place first, then map it out, make a memo and present it in court, then search for witnesses and take them to court to present their statement.
\\nThen we would talk to the anthropologists, go with them to the burial site, asked the owner for permission, make them sign the paperwork present it to the authorities and then came the exhumation.
\\n[Ximena]: Their first great discovery was in Antigua Guatemala, one hour away from the capital.
\\n[Blanca]: It turned out that it was an ancient burial, from the way the people were buried (…), it was 500 years old.
\\n[Lorena]: With each new finding Famdegua received more tip-offs.
\\nOne of their biggest cases was the recovery of 201 human bodies, they had been massacred in Dos Erres, a village in Petén, in the northern region during december of 1982.
\\n(AUDIO NEWS ABOUT MASACRE DOS ERRES)
\\n[Lorena]: This finding triggered the first high profile trial for war crimes in the country, after one decade of legal battle, seven soldiers were sentenced to 6 thousand and 30 years of prison. 30 years for each of their victims.
\\n(AUDIO SIGNATURE OF PEACE, SPEAKS ÁLVARO ARZÚ)
\\n[Ximena]: Guatemala’s Civil War ended on December 29, 1996 after a decade of approches between the Army and the Unidad Revolucionaria Nacional Guatemalteca, a counterinsurgency group that emerged from dissident factions within the army. The war lasted over 36 years and had been very unequal. At one of the most critical points 300 thousand soldiers faced six thousand guerrilla members.
\\n[Lorena]: Guatemala’s was the last standing war in Central America and international pressure influenced its end. A key voice for peace at the time was that of Rigoberta Menchú, 1992 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate.
\\n(AUDIO ARCHIVE, RIGOBERTA MENCHÚ RECEIVES NOBEL PRIZE)
\\n[Ximena]: Famdegua’s work did not end with the peace treaty.
\\nIn 2002 Famdegua received a tip off that turned their attention to former 21 Military Zone in Cobán, Alta Verapaz. Today the base is known as Creompaz, a base housing UN peacekeeping training operations.
\\n[Lorena]: What the organization discovered there became the biggest forced disappearance case from the war and the reason we traveled to Guatemala.
\\n[Blanca]: We knew about all the (disappeared) people in Cobán. We had done many exhumations there and people would say of those missing: they took him to the base and never left.
\\n(MUSIC)
\\n[Ximena]: It is early in the morning, we are in San Lucas Chiacal, a small rural town in San Cristóbal, Alta Verapaz. Its inhabitants are Poq’omchi, one of 23 Mayan ethnic groups in the country who suffered brutal repression during the war.
\\n(LOURDES CAL SPEAKS)
\\n[Lorena]: The woman speaking is Lourdes Cal, originally from Cobán, she works with Truth and Life association, providing psychosocial support to victims of the armed conflict.
\\nLulu’s job consist of visiting communities affected by the military intervention and collecting testimonies of those who survived. Today, Lulu becomes our interpreter.
\\n[Ximena]: There are over a dozen people gathered at Felisa Moranmo’s house garden. Lulu explains to them that we are journalists trying to understand how their community experienced the conflict.
\\nThe people, mostly women between 40 and 60, are reluctant.
\\n(LOURDES CAL SPEAKS IN MAYAN LANGUAGE)
\\n[Lorena]: At the end they accept. We enter Felisa’s house and sat at the center of a large bedroom, around a small wooden table.
\\n[Lorena]: Good morning, could you tell me your name…?
\\n[Lorena]: The first to do so is Felisa. She is 58 years old and was 21 years in 1981.
\\n[Felisa speaks poqomchí and Lulu translate]**:** The first thing that happened was that they came and kidnapped my husband. 1981, that is how the problem started here.
\\n[Ximena]: The disappearance of Samuel, Felisa’s husband, was the beginning of a decade of scorched earth policies by the Guatemalan state, aimed to end the guerrilla. The offensive was called rifles and beans.
\\n[Felisa speaks in poqomchí and Lulu translate]**:** They told us that we were guerrilla fighters, and we, I swear, were not guerrillas. We did not have weapons, the only thing we had (in our arms) was children, trying to protect them.
\\n[Lorena]: Soon after, neighbors from nearby communities began to knock on their doors, fleeing the army.
\\n[Felisa speaks in poqomchí and Lulu translate]**:** They came here saying that the soldiers were burning the houses and then we had no choice but to start fleeing and running for the mountains.
\\n(FELISA SPEAKS IN POQOMCHÍ)
\\n[Lorena]: Her family roamed the mountains for 14 months.
\\n[Felisa speaks in poqomchí and Lulu translate]**:** Sometimes people were hiding in groups, sometimes we would find big groups: 25 men, women and children, killed when reached by the soldiers.
\\n[Ximena]: In there, the soldiers would them, sometimes with dogs and every night they would change from their hiding spots. Men would try to plant corn on the mountain but the soldiers destroyed over and over the crops.
\\n[Felisa speaks in poqomchí and Lulu translate]**:** The moment came when we could not find anything. Our children began to die from hunger.
\\n[Lorena]: Did you lose children on the mountain?
\\n[Felisa speaks in poqomchí and Lulu translate]**:** She says that when she went arrived to the mountains was 7 months pregnant. She gave birth there, so she remembers well that it was 14 months… the period she had her baby. She did not produced any milk and it was time for him to start eating solid food, they had nothing to give him and the baby died.
\\n[Isabella Calgue]**:** My name is Isabela Calgue
\\n[Lorena]: Isabela lived in the mountain as well. She fled the community with her husband after a group of soldiers burned her house down. It was punishment for having more corn and animals than her neighbors. The soldiers were suspicious and accused them of supporting the guerrilla.
\\n[Isabella speaks poqomchí and Lulu translate]**:** I had the advantage that I was a just married. I didn’t have a baby. I was running, running, running, on the mountain I did not have the slow down or carrying someone, so we managed to climb farther.
\\nWhen they could not get us and we moved further, they bombed the mountain with helicopters. They followed us with bombs.
\\n[Ximena]: They lived there for two years. In the flight, Isabela lost ten family members, including his mother, who was murdered with a machete by the soldiers.
\\n[Isabella speaks poqomchí and Lulu translate]**:** It was what they would do when they spot you. Many children were left behind. Kill them all, squarely: children, adults, old people. Kill them with machetes.
\\n[Ximena]: Why did they leave the mountain?
\\n[Isabella speaks poqomchí and Lulu translate]**:** The people on the mountain were dying. We were running out of food and we heard that someone people were already surrendering to the army. It was the only option.
\\n[Ximena]: Soon after the death of her infant son, Felisa surrendered to the soldiers.
\\n[Felisa speaks poqomchí and Lulu translate]**:** The only reason I fled to the mountain was to protect my children but they were dying, I no longer felt the obligation to keep running.
\\n[Ximena]: Her family was taken as prisoners to a camp inside the 21st military zone in Cobán. They were relocated three months later to a new place for 6 months, under the total control.
\\n[Felisa speaks poqomchí and Lulu translate]**:** They were observed all the time, never left alone.
\\n[Lorena]: One afternoon soldiers detained his brother and took him away. She didn’t hear from him again. Felisa suspects they took him back to the 21st military zone and that he was murdered there.
\\n[Ximena]: Felisa and her family spent the next few years in half a dozen camps. Known as Modelo Villages, concentration camps run by the military. Those were meant to be reeducation centers, to form their ideology away from the guerrilla and closer to the regime.
\\n[Lorena]: They did forced labor: building houses and drains. Barely received any food and after some months the people were forced to vacate the camps, move to a new one and start from scratch.
\\n[Ximena]: Isabela Calgue was also interned at the camps, her good health draw attention from the guards.
\\n[Isabela speaks poqomchí and Lulu translate]**:** They told me that must I have been part of the guerrilla, they saw me as a threat.
\\n[Lorena]: She was subjected to constant harassment and interrogations, to exercise to a point of weakness and they forced her to watch over a small groups of women and accuse those who rebel. At the villages, the disappearances were part of the routine. That is how Felisa remembers it:
\\n[Felisa speaks poqomchí and Lulu translate]**:** There kept coming to take the men. A very selective thing. They took the men and never came back.
\\n[Ximena]: Abelino Cal lived a somewhat different story, during the first army incursions into his community, the soldiers took his father. The family went to the base a couple of times, asking, trying to recover him but shortly after his younger sister was also arrested.
\\n(AVELINO SPEAKS POCOMCHÍ)
\\n[Lorena]: Avelino then fled to the mountain and stayed there for four years until he was able to reach a refugee camp from the Catholic church. He never surrendered to the army.
\\n[Ximena]: Over the years, military control dwindled in the region. In 1987 Avelino returned to his community but the village had disappeared.
\\n[Lorena]: Felisa does not remember when she returned home.
\\n[Felisa speaks in poqomchí and Lulu translate]**:** It is difficult to place in time many of the things that happened because we were disconnected all the time, the only thing we wanted was to protect ourselves.
\\n[Ximena]: By the time Avelino and Felisa were able to return to their communities in early 1990s, the war was entering its final stretch.
\\n(MUSIC)
\\n[Lorena]: Although it was known much later, between 1979 and 1984, at least 600 massacres were committed against the indigenous communities. Over 200 thousand people died during the whole conflict , 45 thousand more disappeared and there were 100 thousand displaced.
\\n[Ximena]: After the peace agreements in 1996, victims’ organizations focused their efforts on the search for the disappeared and the possibility of bringing criminals to justice.
\\n[Blanca Quiroa]: The first report was filed in 2002.
\\n[Lorena]: Although the rumors about the crimes in Cobán moved around since the early 90s, it was then when a witness, willing to speak, knocked on Famdegua’s door.
\\n[Blanca]: He searched for us to tell us that: this and that had happened, that he had been there doing military service.
\\n(Ximena): The witness appeared before a local prosecutor from Cobán flanked by the organization. He recounted that in the 80s, the military zone, now Creompaz, had been a torture center and a place for soldiers to bring in civilians that never left.
\\n[Blanca]: But they never started a process. The file was lost.
\\n[Lorena]: They resubmitted the complaint several times but only in 2011, 9 years later, the case was handed to local prosecutor Allan Stowlinsky, who became interested.
\\n[Blanca]: You could only access the place with a search warrant from a judge’s order and he said: Doña Blanca, tell Doña Aura Helena, she was the president at that moment, that we are going to go in (to Creompaz) next week.
\\n[Lorena]: The prosecutor filed the request for the search warrant.
\\n[Blanca]: But chances are that the next day he was killed.
\\n[Lorena and Ximena]: The prosecutor?
\\nBlanca: Aha.
\\n[NEWS FRAGMENT]: 36-year-old prosecutor Stowlinsky appeared mutilated, he had been kidnapped, hours before, on his way to pick up his son in northern Guatemala.
\\n[Ximena]: The crime, attributed to Los Zetas cartel, stopped the process until February 2012. The case was transferred to the country’s capital by Attorney General’s order, Claudia Paz y Paz, who is recognized for promoting investigations on some of the war crimes.
\\n[Blanca]: She gave us an opening to enter. She was the one who gave the order for the raid at the base.
\\n[Lorena]: With the order in their hands, on February 2 Blanca and traveled the 212 km between the Capital and Cobán. But at the entrance …
\\n[Blanca]: We could not enter, they stopped us at the door because we took the memorial as military base number 12, and as it is now called Creompaz, then that’s why they returned us.
\\n[Ximena]: Back in the capital they did all the paperwork again. They returned on February 27 accompanied by the witness who 10 years earlier had filed the complaint.
\\n[Blanca]: We went in and the gentleman with us (witness who served) took us to the first place and said - where I stand you are going to see -, he was going to disguise as a member of the MP.
\\n[Lorena]: Was I afraid?
\\n[Blanca]: I think so, like we were afraid because we knew that the Army was there, he said: where I stand there you will see. Overall, it stopped in several places and we had the anthropologists and excavators and once started and in the first place began to come out a skull, a leg and so on.
\\n[Lorena]: In Creompaz they found an immense cemetery. That day they worked from 10 in the morning until 5 in the afternoon.
\\n[Blanca]: You had to leave because there was no light and you could not work, because as was the side inside and as where the bases and detachments are very large places.
\\n[Ximena]: Military base 21, today Creompaz, which led the counterinsurgent intelligence operations in the 1980s and 1990s, is an extensive complex located on the periphery of the city.
\\n[Blanca]: There are the facilities where the Army offices are, more for inside are the troop dormitories, toilets, soccer fields and everything. You have to walk about a kilometer maybe to where the first excavation was.
\\n[Lorena]: The search process was conducted by the Forensic Anthropology Foundation of Guatemala. For two years, the archaeologists worked two shifts, seven days a week in the recovery of bones.
\\nThey found 84 graves that kept the remains of 565 people, men, women and children.
\\n[Blanca]: Most were indigenous people from around the town, both here from San Cristóbal and Santa Cruz, from the Pacayas, from there from Cobán, from several villages, most were men, only from a place called Pambache In one night in a truck the Army went to get 92 men out.
\\n[Lorena]: Most of the bodies were bound hand and foot, gagged, blindfolded and showing signs of torture.
\\n[Blanca]: Many were hanged, had barbed wire in the neck and rolled with a piece of iron made tourniquet. Many of the people were hanged, they were not killed with a firearm.
\\n[Ximena]: Through the analysis of clothing and the testimonies of survivors and relatives, the anthropological team was able to establish that the bodies corresponded to victims of the armed conflict.
\\nThey determined that they had died between 1981 and 1988, that many bodies corresponded to military incursions into indigenous communities such as the Río Negro massacre among others, as well as activists and students who had disappeared in the cities.
\\n[Lorena]: Of the 565 remains, 150 have been identified by DNA tests.
\\n[Blanca]: There were a lot of big sticks and I think they grew so much with the fertilizer of all the people they buried there.
\\n(MUSIC)
\\n[Ximena]: Felisa Moranmó always suspected that her husband could be in Creompaz but it took 35 years before they got any news. In 2016 his remains were recovered from clandestine graves.
\\n[Felisa speaks in poqomchí and Lulu translate]**:** They took the bones to the capital and managed with the DNA to identify that my husband had been one of those found there. They asked for our saliva sample so they could identify it and it appeared.
\\n**[Lorena]: **Mrs. Felisa, what did it mean for you to find your husband?
\\n[Felisa speaks in poqomchí and Lulu translate]**:** It was a way later to reassure me that in the end I already knew where I was and that I can already be very sure that those responsible for his death were the military.
\\n[Ximena]: Inside the graves was also Avelino’s father.
\\n[Felisa speaks in poqomchí and Lulu translate]**:** There was no way of thinking that they had taken him elsewhere.
\\nthe facilities already identify us as military zone number 21 and supposedly the vision and functions were different but what I am sure of is that this is still the same.
\\n[Lorena]: Do you think they continue to persecute indigenous groups?
\\n[Avelino Cal speaks in poqomchí and Lulu translate]**:** Maybe the war is not openly like that at the time, but I understand that the system continues to destroy the peoples. The Government has never been responsible for repairing this damage and it is a way to end the peoples that were affected during the war.
\\nHe is indifferent, he is even looking for a way for this to remain unpunished.
\\n(MUSIC)
\\n[Ximena]: The offices of the Association of Relatives, Detainees and Missing Guatemala, Famdegua, are in a one-story house in the center of the Capital. The entrance is guarded with security cameras and by a guard who receives visitors at the door.
\\nIn the meeting room, a large room with large windows, dozens of photographs hang from the high walls. They are black and white portraits: men and women, all young. There is no room for more and many others are piled up on the floor.
\\n[Lorena]: In a corner, there’s Oscar’s photo: he wears his fireman’s uniform, looks straight at the camera and does not smile. Blanca says that most of the photos were taken from official IDs.
\\nIn 34 years of search Blanca has helped many families to recover their own, but Oscar has not had news.
\\nShe tells us what it meant to her to discover the Creompaz graves, which is considered the largest forced disappearance case in Latin America.
\\n[Blanca]: They are a lot of mixed feelings because I said at the beginning, I know that my son is not here, but now there is an illusion, feeling that, and I hope because there are still many there, I hope that my son is possibly there , at least there.
\\n[Ximena]: Although Blanca found support in other victims, the search impacted her family’s relationships. His youngest son was 7 years old at the time and resented that his mother was so long away.
\\n[Blanca]: He suffered a lot, the disappearance of his brother affected him a lot. He said, when he entered adolescence, he told me that I had forgotten him, that I was only in the street and that when he needed me and that I had only had one son. It is a hard feeling, so great rejection and now it has changed, but I think that, for the same reason, he is 10 years old, he is single, he stays in the house.
\\nHe helps me, sometimes he comes here when there is no one to drive us, he comes and goes with me to the exhumations and everything.
\\n[Lorena]: The continuous search for her son and for those of thousands more has defined her life for more than three decades. The disappearance, he says, is a crime that not only ends with the life of a person, it destroys any possibility of the future.
\\n[Blanca]: I say many times that the most aberrant crime on earth is the forced disappearance of a person because it is a cycle of life that did not end and a duel that never closes, because if we do not find them, we do not bury your bones are never going to close that duel and the cycle of life, because they were healthy, they were not sick, it was not an accident, their cycle never ended.
\\n(MUSIC)
\\n***
\\nInstitutional Voice: In the next chapter
\\n[Fafg expert]: Here we have two gunshot wounds and then we are going to have this type of injury.
\\nRecover loved ones, one by one:
\\nThe Creompaz case is fought in the courts of Guatemala. While the courts are advancing at a slow pace, civil society and the families of victims are racing against the clock to find, identify and return the disappeared to their homes.
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