"The Field Afar" is a 17 part series produced by Maryknoll. The Field Afar takes viewers to wondrous places in faraway lands where Maryknoll missioners help local peoples faces the challenges of life. The series is available through www.society.maryknoll.org.

Unreported World will be showing a documentary called "Guatemala: City of the Dead" this Friday 3 November 7.35pm. This is how it is trailed on the Channel 4 website:


We were contacted by researchers for this programme over a year ago. It's great to see that the programme is going to be broadcast. Let's hope though, it's balanced and shows the incredible of work of those fighting for justice in Guatemala, and goes beyond solely recounting the countless examples of impunity and injustice. It's got to be said that from the way it's being trailed- I'm not overly hopeful.

UPDATE: Well, having seen it I wasn't surprised- but I was bitterly disappointed. Not wanting to flatter a piece of television with the description of 'documentary' this was surely little more than shocking images of a 'foreign' land, wrapped up with a sensationalist narrative in which the 'reporter' was the central character.

Exposing the violent and unjust reality that many Guatemalans live with is of course a totally valid subject for press coverage, and worthy of much more attention than it currently gets from outside media. But parachuting in (it seemed that Ramita Navia, Unreported's reporter was in Guatemala for a matter of days) and parachuting out is not the ideal way of information gathering on a complex issue.

Of many criticisms that could be leveled at this programme, I guess my biggest is that it completely ignored, failed to cover or was just not interested in the work of the many Guatemalans fighting for justice in peaceful dignified ways (just look at this blog for examples).

What this type of television does at a stroke, is rip out the dignity of a whole country, by branding an unknown land with ugly, violent and seeming unredeeming awfulness. If you could assume the UK had a fairly rounded idea of Guatemala, then such extreme angled journalism would matter less. But the reality is that average understanding of life and the battle for justice is low in the UK. For this reason, there is a responsibility upon the reporter, attracted to the shock and awe aspects of this kind of story that dehumanises Guatemala, to equally tease out the 'force for good' that in effect puts Guatemala's humanity back in the picture.

It's disappointing that a series specialising in reporting the unreported- is so woefully lacking in any awareness of this weighty responsibility. The ultimate result is that the world continues to go as unreported as ever.

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-You can read a written version of Ramita Navia's report (03-11-2006) in The Times here.
-You can see another of Unreported World's documentaries looking at gang violence in Brazil in a very similar vein here.
-And you can go to Channel 4 Radio and hear Ramita Navia's report on for Unreported World as a podcast (if you can be bothered to go through Channel 4's painful registration process- why don't they just make the RSS openly available like everyone else?)

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- Unreported World was produced by Mentorn - it's now made by Quicksilver Media-  why not let them know what you think of this programme?
- If you want to watch something that achieves reporting the 'forces for good' in Guatemala as well as covering the vital issues such as justice and security in Guatemala- check out "Entremosle a Guate" (in Spanish)

European Parliament debated this afternoon (26-10-2006) a resolution on the proceedings against Rios Montt. There were a whole series of separate points to the motion put forward- one of which was:


The motion for the resolution had be put forward by the following MEPs:

       –    Charles Tannock and Bernd Posselt, on behalf of the PPE-DE Group
       –    Pasqualina Napoletano and Luis Yañez-Barnuevo García, on behalf of the PSE Group
       –    Marios Matsakis, on behalf of the ALDE Group
       –    Raül Romeva i Rueda and Alain Lipietz, on behalf of the Verts/ALE Group
       –    Willy Meyer Pleite and Marco Rizzo, on behalf of the GUE/NGL Group

You can watch the debate on a video from this page. You need to click on the time next to where the debate on Rios Montt is mentioned about half way down.

You can read this official EU overview of the EU's relations with Guatemala here.

The International Federation for Human Rights has just put out the following press release about the debate (in Spanish).

The following is a press release from the Greens about the debate:

COMUNICADO DE PRENSA - Estrasburgo, 26 de octubre 2006

Extradición de Rios Montt (Guatemala)

VERDES/ALE EXIGEN FIN A LA IMPUNIDAD EN GUATEMALA
Hoy se adoptó en la plenaria del PE una resolución de urgencia sobre la orden internacional de extradición a ex-dictadores y ex-militares guatemaltecos. Sigue la intervención de Raul Romeva, MEP de la IC-V.
 
Diez años después de firmarse los Acuerdos de Paz en Guatemala, país con el que la UE está negociando un acuerdo de asociación y que pretende conseguir un puesto en el Consejo de Seguridad de la ONU, el Acuerdo global sobre Derechos Humanos sigue sin implementarse. Y ello es preocupante en uno de los países que más ha sufrido en términos de dictaduras, genocidios y crímenes de lesa humanidad. Pero más preocupante aún es la impunidad casi absoluta de la que gozan quienes fueron los principales responsables de estos hechos, algunos de los cuales siguen ostentando cargos de alta responsabilidad en las instituciones guatemaltecas.

Sin embargo, cuando el pasado 7 de julio de 2006 el Juzgado Central de Instrucción Número 1 de la Audiencia Española decretó una orden internacional de detención contra varios ex-dictadores y ex-militares guatemaltecos, se reabrió la esperanza de que se hiciera finalmente justicia.

Así, ante la total inhibición del sistema judicial guatemalteco, la Audiencia Española asumió, en base al principio de justicia universal, la responsabilidad de contribuir a acabar con la impunidad.

Ante esta iniciativa, por tanto, cabe reclamar a las autoridades guatemaltecas que cooperen plenamente haciendo todo lo posible para la clarificación de las violaciones de los Derechos Humanos que tuvieron lugar en Guatemala y para que quienes son explícitamente mencionados en la orden internacional de detención, así como en la presente resolución, sean detenidos y entregados a la justicia para ser adecuadamente juzgados.

Así mismo, teniendo en cuenta que muchos de los responsables de estos hechos gravísimos en la historia de Guatemala han estado enriqueciéndose y acumulando bienes y capital en bancos locales e internacionales, es necesario también que las entidades bancarias concernidas colaboren en el retorno de dichos bienes con objeto de que estas personas asuman también sus responsabilidades civiles y financieras.

Finalmente, Europol e Interpol deberían poner todos los medios necesarios para proceder a la detención y extradición a España de las personas mencionadas con objeto de ser adecuadamente juzgadas.

A programme called Women Peacemakers broadcast by KPBS (US public broadcaster based in San Diego) in 2004 on the programme "Full Focus", featured Luz Mendez, of the National Union of Guatemalan Women (previously of the URNG). She talks briefly about her experience as part of the team negotiating the Peace Accords in the late 1990s.

Frustratingly, the programme does not have the time to discuss the issues it raises in any real depth- which is particularly frustrating when Luz Mendez briefly mentions the increasing violence against women. This article from website WomenWarPeace.org has more information on the role of women generally in the peace process in Guatemala.

A Guatemalan film, "Las Cruces... Poblado Proximo" from Rafael Rosal looks at the internal conflict in the 1980s (the film premiered in Guatemala in November 2005). The following description comes from Blog de mi Guatemala:


The film is up for an award at the Central American film festival- Festival Icaro 2006. There is a review of the film from El Periodico and Siglo XXI. It has also just (09-10-2006) won an award at the International Festival Cine El Ojo Cojo in Madrid.

This is a clip from the BBC documentary: The Century of the Self (2002). You can jump to the excerpt on Edward Bernays' (public relations consultant to United Fruit) involvement in the 1954 coup in Guatemala here. This documentary has been criticised for not explaining in greater detail the longer term affects of the US intervention in Guatemala in 1954.

The documentary presents an interesting thesis on the evolution of democracy in the 20th century. It tracks the idea that originated with Sigmund Freud and his nephew Edward Bernays, that successful business and government is that which manages to best respond to the people's unconscious human desires and needs. The political ramifications of this idea have been some of the major stories of the 20th century. Bernays himself wrote in Propaganda, published in 1928:


Bernays' exploits with United Fruit are discussed at considerable length in Stephen Schlesinger and Stephen Kinzer's book on the 1954 coup in Guatemala, Bitter Fruit in their chapter 'Advertisments for myself' (p.79-97).

Adam Curtis shows how democracy in the US and UK has been managed (or manipulated and distorted depending on your view point). Certainly, it's hard to argue anything other than the latter in the case of the 1954 coup in Guatemala. Bernays himself, the so-called father of PR, never saw much PR value for himself in talking about what he did in Guatemala. That silence coming from a spin doctor, speaks volumes. 

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Background

You can see the whole series of The Century of the Self here.