Horrors of Guatemalan civil war uncovered in University’s collaboration with police archive

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Oregon Daily Emerald

Horrors of Guatemalan civil war uncovered in University’s collaboration with police archive
By Ryan Dutch
Published May 9, 2012

The University will collaborate with the Guatemalan Historical Archive of the National Police and the General Archives of Central America in a series of projects in the hopes of shedding light on human rights violations committed by Guatemalan police officers during the Guatemalan civil war, which ended in 1996. The projects include the translation of a report and a documentary called “Keep Your Eyes on Guatemala.”

The archive, housed in a police compound in Guatemala City, was previously kept a secret from those pursuing records pertaining to atrocities committed during Guatemala’s 36-year-long civil war. The archive holds an estimated 80 million documents from the years of 1882 to 1997.

The project began when the University’s Wired Humanities Project Director and Senior Research Associate, Stephanie Wood, visited Guatemala, under the Network Startup Resource Center last year to lecture on digital archiving. After being solicited by a member of the Guatemalan Historical Archive of the National Police to help with the archive in Guatemala City, she enlisted the services of University faculty and researchers.

~snip~
“This archive is serving a number of purposes,” Aguirre said. “It helps victims and relatives identify information about those that were suffering from political repression during the war in Guatemala and the documents found in this archive are being used as evidence against the perpetrators of human rights violations, including some of the very top Guatemalan politicians and heads of state.”

Read more: http://dailyemerald.com/2012/05/09/university-collaborates-with-guatemalan-archive-to-shed-light-on-civil-war-attrocities/

[burrowowl]

1. K&R!

[gratuitous]

2. And a collective shudder runs down certain spines

This archive certainly will serve a number of purposes, if it's allowed to. Victims and survivors will no doubt benefit greatly. And the perpetrators of human rights violations may not be confined to Guatemalen politicians. Some sphincters in the Beltway should be tightening up appreciably if this archive gets some serious attention.

[Comrade Grumpy]

3. I remember being on a bus in Guatemala in 1982.

Soldiers at a check point made everybody get off and show their ID, then they took three young men away. Nobody said anything, but I could tell people were scared. I didn't know quite why at the time. Now, I do.

[Judi Lynn]

4. Seeking justice for Guatemalan village where hundreds were raped, tortured, killed

Seeking justice for Guatemalan village where hundreds were raped, tortured, killed
By Lomi Kriel
Updated 12:59 p.m., Saturday, May 26, 2012

GUATEMALA CITY, Guatemala - In 1982, the Guatemalan Army attacked a tiny village in the desolate northern region of Peten, raping, torturing and killing at least 200 peasants, including pregnant women and infants, tossing their bodies in a well and wiping the village off the map.

For years, no one revealed what had occurred because they were afraid. It was only 12 years later - as Guatemala's civil war was drawing to a close - when some relatives confided in their priests, setting in motion two decades of seeking justice. Culminating with a judge's ruling this week, the massacre of Dos Erres could make Guatemala the first Latin American nation to try a dictator for genocide - a remarkable feat for a country riddled with impunity and whose military, until now, has seemed untouchable.

~snip~

"It's huge, both because it sets a precedent in the Americas but also because this was a tremendous wound on the psyche of Guatemalans," said Eric Olson, senior associate at the Mexican Institute of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

Not only has the case of Dos Erres succeeded in holding some of Guatemala's war criminals accountable, it also reveals how U.S. officials knew about the atrocities that occurred but did nothing. In fact, a month after receiving reports that the military had committed the massacre, President Ronald Reagan affirmed his support of Montt, whose "scorched earth" tactics meant, at its height, about 3,000 people were killed or disappeared a month.

More:
http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Seeking-justice-for-Guatemalan-village-where-3587668.php#photo-2987805

[Octafish]

5. Dulles Brothers and Murder Inc.

http://www.fsmitha.com/review/eisenhower.html