Post by Jordan Buckley

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Hello friends, family and others,

This is my second update from Guatemala. Every few months I am sending out news regarding the struggle led by indigenous survivors of state-led violence here to demand justice for the top military officers and government leaders who ordered the massacring of their loved ones, the physical torture they endured and the scorching of their houses, crops, livestock, even family members – indeed, often their entire community.

My life in Ilom is filled with numerous sorts of butterflies, afternoon rainbows, wildflowers galore, untamed fruit growing throughout the surrounding jungle, and I routinely bathe beneath a waterfall. As close to paradise (or perhaps a Care Bear movie) this all may seem, a horrendous history and complicated community dynamic lurk beneath the surface: there is no electricity, extreme poverty is rampant, illness is prevalent, likewise malnutrition, and several of the village's residents live under constant threat for their willingness to hold powerful men accountable for abhorrent acts perpetrated in 1982 that changed the community forever.

REMNANTS OF GENOCIDE ABOUND

While the unconscionable military campaign officially ended in 1996 (during which the state's self-titled "scorched earth" tactics burnt no less than 440 Maya communities completely to the ground, erasing them from the map), its intellectual architects have continued to enjoy a leisurely existence and substantial power within the political system. In the Ixil, the region where I am accompanying witnesses pursuing the national legal case charging eight former militarymen and officials with genocide, a man named Otto Perez Molina (pictured below) hovers larger-than-life on billboards above homes and roadways.

While much of the country knows him as a presidential contender in next year's elections - whose slogan "Urge Mano Dura" (A Firm Hand is Urgently Needed) is splayed beneath a pic of him scowling, a fist anchored at his chin, looking eager to hurt someone – many folks in the Ixil tell me they simply remember him as the military general who presided over the genocide in their communities. The Ixil Maya (who constitute the overwhelming majority in the region) were particularly hard hit by the state's so-called "counterinsurgency" campaign – an estimated 14.5% of the population was killed.

However the military ceasefire by no means signifies that the violence has altogether disappeared – arguably, given the prevalence of impunity and a shift in the concentration of power, the violence may have simply lessened marginally (if at all) and become relatively decentralized:

For example, Guatemala, despite posting a national population about 3 million people LESS than the state of Florida, nonetheless averages 17 murders per day this year. And according to an article in Le Monde Diplomatique last month, only about 3% - three percent! – of these cases have been prosecuted. Prensa Libre, Guatemala's leading daily newspaper, recently calculated that 83% of the murders are perpetrated by organized crime groups. It's worth mentioning that a Swedish scholar investigating such groups told me that Molina, the "firm-handed" general gunning for the nation's top post, directs El Sindicato, a network of current and retired military officers widely thought to be implicated in illicit and criminal activity. [See WOLA's report on 'Hidden Powers' in Guatemala]

What will it require for Guatemala to start punishing a murderer for killing someone, or even an organized crime ring for killing multiple some ones, when dictators and military heads are allowed to get away with killing upwards of 200,000 people?

THINKING ABOUT TERROR  

And what is terror, a truly everyday terror? Can governments be terroristic (like during a genocide) or is that a term solely reserved for groups operating outside of a state framework (like organized crime or cells of violent extremists)?

Phrased another way that hits closer to home, given the United States` planet-wide commitment to battling "terror" - a campaign that invests over $1,000,000,000.00 a week in civil war-torn Iraq alone - is it more contradictory to our government's stated aims to have funded and trained the Guatemalan military leaders that the CIA then reported were carrying out these unthinkably reprehensible deeds, OR their recent extensive lobbying effort to place Guatemala, its obvious puppet, in a prominent post within the United Nations - proposing that a government overseeing 17 unpunished murders a day and a yet unpunished genocide somehow qualifies to serve on a so-called Security Council? (see story below: 1)

UPDATES ON THE GENOCIDE CASE FRONT

Thankfully, the courage of survivors is pushing crucial boundaries, among them the right to talk publicly about the genocide and name its implementers. Although the genocide case has languished in the supposed "investigative stage" since its first filing in national courts in 2000, on October 4 the Asociación para Justicia y Reconciliación (the AJR is the coalition of survivors that request our accompaniment) made an important legal move, formally urging the District Attorney to initiate the next stage of the legal process. The AJR also decided to focus the case on the Ixil region (coincidentally the communities I will be accompanying until summer) and former dictator Efraìn Rìos Montt, who reigned over the grisliest chapters of the genocide. The AJR symbolically filed the legal demand on B´elejeb´ Tz´i´, the Day of Justice in the ceremonial Mayan calendar (see story below: 2).

On October 15, the Guatemalan Republican Front (FRG) – the political party Rìos Montt directs as secretary general - announced that he would be their "natural candidate" for the presidential elections next year. The FRG constitutes the largest faction in Congress, and continues to be one of the most powerful forces in Guatemala. If elected, or even accepted by courts as a candidate, Rìos Montt would qualify for "antijuicio" – a bizarre type of amnesty law for elected officials and candidates (at least as I understand it) that ostensibly protects them from pending courts cases. Importantly, this allegedly would include charges of genocide.

The FRG`s declaration of backing Rìos Montt's presidential bid in part stems from an announcement on October 10 by the Guatemalan Constitutional Court that Rìos Montt should have been legally disqualified from running last election (when he mobilized riots of machete-brandishing FRGistas to scare the Court into allowing him to run, resulting in the death of a journalist), nor can he in 2007. Oddly, the court stated that in 2003 they erred by failing to heed grammatical rules of tense for the verb "to be." Yep, that's right.

All this was eclipsed by the arrest of two of those sought in the genocide case on November 5. The Guatemalan justice system conceded to arrest warrants sent by Spanish courts charging these men with various crimes, including genocide; Spain argues if Guatemala can't or won't prosecute these men, then they will under "universal jurisdiction."  

Strikingly exempt from the Guatemalan arrests was, you guessed it, Rìos Montt. I was lucky to observe hundreds of fired-up rural Maya genocide survivors and their radical capitol city allies march on the Supreme Court demanding Rios Montt`s capture, transforming it with political theatre, speeches in several different Maya languages and a spirited installation of graffiti on the high court`s plaza. (see below for story & photos: 3)

PASSING TIME IN THE HIGHLANDS

I've mostly been chatting with witnesses about their stories and ideas on a number of subjects including governance, survival, gender, political autonomy and multi-national mega-projects. I also read a lot, perhaps 4-5 hours a day – most recently biographies on Harriet Tubman, Ella Baker and Malcolm X. I am also translating some of the works of Oaxacan journalist-philosopher Ricardo Flores Magòn into English. My spoken Ixil (the only language most women and many men use in Ilom) is proceeding slowly, far slower than I`d like. Besides that, it's primarily soccer, Frisbee and hacky sack with children. I feel very comfortable and adjusted here but acknowledge that, along with the witnesses, we must heighten our diligence to security given the shift in focus on Rìos Montt, the Ixil region as well as the quickly approaching elections.

I would love to hear from any of you, and learn what you are up to, thinking about, working on. It may take me a while to respond due to infrequent internet access, but it`d be great to collapse geography some by catching up with an e-mail. Many thanks to those of you who have mailed me magazines, zines, food, cowboy-themed bandanas and the like. Also, I very much appreciate the financial help from those who have been so kind to share their money and support our volunteer accompaniment project.  

It is an honor to be working toward justice with the inspiring survivors of the Ixil and to rely on the solidarity of friends and allies (via circulating news & our updates, donations, etc) to collaborate in holding these powerful, genocidal men accountable for their crimes, particularly by amplifying the voices and struggles of those who endured, and still endure, their terror.

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To receive updates every two months and for more information, you can contact Jordan at: jordan [at] sfalliance [dot] org

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Background: Ways You Can Support the Struggle

Join the NISGUA list or GSN Blog for updates on notable news in Guatemala:

Contact the Guatemala Govt- tell them to move on the genocide case! Great activity for church groups, human rights groups, or alone (English is fine):


Become an Accompanier in the Genocide Case 

You can hear interviews with people who have worked as accompaniers (broadcast by Democracy Now! and the BBC) and read articles and more information from a variety of sources here.

If you're in the US you can support Jordan financially- write a tax-deductible check to "DJPC Education Fund" and add "Jordan Buckley-CAMINOS" to the memo line. They can be mailed to: Denver Justice & Peace Committee, 901 W. 14th Avenue Suite 7, Denver, CO  80204. If you are in the UK you can support GSN by contacting us on gsn_mail [at] yahoo [dot] com

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Independent Journalism by Austinite Elias Lawless referenced above:

(1) INDIGENOUS SURVIVORS IN GUATEMALA FILE DEMAND FOR ACCUSATION IN GENOCIDE CASE AGAINST EX-DICTATOR RÍOS MONTT:

(2) DISCOVERING CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS

(3) GUATEMALAN GENOCIDE SURVIVORS CLAMOR FOR RIOS MONTT`S CAPTURE