Associated Press reported on the excavation in Panabaj of 100 bodies buried in the landslide caused by Hurricane Stan in 2005. There was a line in the report that touched on an issue that's not usually discussed:


A simple search on Flickr brings up a number of photos taken of Panabaj (although probably not from this particular ceremony). Not to judge these particular photos, but this line about 'curious tourists' touches on an important issue that outsiders* must grapple with.

To be sure, there's a very fine line between informative reporting and intrusive disrespectful recording, between wanting to learn, and satiating curiosity. It's a line that as outsiders we're not always on the right side of. When I worked in and around the municipal rubbish dump in Guatemala City, I remember the huge quantity of tourists that would come, usually remain on the coach they came in, and take hundreds of photos of the people who lived and worked amongst the refuse. This type of 'social tourism' is abject.

There's a secondary point here. It's so often the case that people from outside of Guatemala are usually either exposed to two contrasting images of Guatemala- one is the touristic colour and natural beauty, and the other is the dark and ugly violence. On the outside as we are on this blog, despite years of commitment and living in the country, it's a constant concern that we avoid simply satiating curiosity and that we manage to go beyond the simplistic outside perceptions of Guatemala. Anyway, this is a massive issue and one we'll be returning to shortly.

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* I use the term 'outsider' loosely, it could refer to non-Guatemalans, Guatemalans living outside Guatemala or even Guatemalans from the capital visiting the 'interior'.

A number of recent released material on Guatemalan history raises this ever present question of whether it is better to leave the tragedies of the past buried and move on, or continue to face up and confront an ugly and unjust past. NPR is broadcasting a series of five reports by Xeni Jardin on the uses of technology in Guatemala today, and starts with "Group Works to Identify Remains in Guatemala".

In this report Xeni Jardin back from blogging in Guatemala, focuses on the work of the Forensic Anthropology Foundation of Guatemala (FAFG) that has been exhuming clandestine graves that hold victims killed in political massacres. It's worth pointing out here that for more information on this subject Kathy Reichs recent book, "Grave Secrets" is a valuable and poignant account of the issues at stake in this facing up to buried history.

"Guatemala: la tierra arrasada" directed by José Gaya Organización and produced by Colectivo Miradas (2004) is now available online. There's also a trailer from a documentary, "Guatemala: De 11 a 3 - Histoire d'un massacre" in Spanish with French subtitles.

It's interesting to contrast these four glimpses of a violent past in Guatemala in the 70s and 80s with "Guatemala, sus cambios en los últimos 30 años", a lecture by Dr. Francisco Pérez de Antón at the Universidad Francisco Marroquín (17-01-07). It's to be noted that Pérez de Antón's way of describing the period 1976-86 in particular makes no mention of massacres, let alone genocide. This reflection on the past prefers, for different reasons, to avoid any discussion of the human impact of the armed conflict.