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(or, How Did Genocide Happen in Our Backyard?)

(or, How Did Genocide Happen in Our Backyard?). Guatemala: a human rights history. GUATEMALA: A HUMAN RIGHTS HISTORY (PART 2). Q. How does genocide happen?. A. Black/white logic of Latin America’s war on terrorism + entrenched racism and structures of ethnic exclusion = genocide.

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(or, How Did Genocide Happen in Our Backyard?)

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  1. (or, How Did Genocide Happen in Our Backyard?) Guatemala: a human rights history GUATEMALA:A HUMAN RIGHTS HISTORY (PART 2)

  2. Q. How does genocide happen? A. Black/white logic of Latin America’s war on terrorism + entrenched racism and structures of ethnic exclusion = genocide

  3. First wave of war (1960-1970) • Fought in eastern lowlands (and capital) • Although state response involved massive force, it was (mostly) selectively applied Second wave of war (1975-1986) • Fought in western highlands (and capital) • Scorched earth tactics • Goal to eliminate social world in which guerrillas were active

  4. The massacres at Rio Negro • 1975 plan to build hydroelectric dam on Chixoy River • Project funded by World Bank, IADB • Maya Achi’ communities of Rio Negro resisted • Army organized civil patrol (PAC) in Xococ • 1981-82 massacres of hundreds • Development project went forward

  5. Document 3 • declassified CIA cable from April 1981, describing how an Army patrol found evidence that residents of a village named Cocop supported the guerrillas, and therefore “were forced to fire at anything that moved” • “The Guatemalan authorities admitted that ‘many civilians’ were killed in Cocob, many of whom undoubtedly were non-combattants.”

  6. Cocop, Guatemala, 2008 Exhumation and reburial of 50 of 76 victims of the April 16, 1981 massacre

  7. Cocop, Guatemala, 2008 Reburial of 50 of 76 victims of the April 16, 1981 massacre

  8. Document 4 • DCI Watch Committee Report, dated 5 February 1982 (DCI Watch is a committee of the CIA) discusses Guatemalan military’s plans to sweep through an area where many indigenous peasants support the guerrilla, and acknowledging that “it will be necessary to destroy a number of villages”

  9. Document 5 Feb 1982 CIA cable Describes Army sweep through the same area discussed in document 4, noting that no major guerrilla forces had been found but that since the Army has concluded the entire Indian population is pro-guerrilla, “the Army can be expected to give no quarter to combatants and non-combatants alike” and the army has therefore destroyed “a large number” of guerrilla collaborators

  10. Genocide • Prior to this period, binary logic of “you’re either with us, or you’re against us” => massive repression • Turning point: equation of indigenous identity with communism • This is where massive repression became genocide • 626 massacres • many communities wiped off map • idea was not to punish guerrillas, but to eliminate entire society which “hid” them

  11. Genocide Attempt to eliminate a social world • Stigmatization of indigenous dress, language • Destruction of sacred sites • Forced conscription • Model villages • According to CEH: • 83% victims Maya • 93% of killings were by security forces or paramilitary • 3% killings by guerrillas

  12. Peace End of cold war, rise of human rights movement => • Awareness began to spread about what was happening; • International public opinion turned against Guatemalan government, encouraged peace process • 1996: Guatemalan government and guerrillas signed peace accords

  13. Human rights in Guatemala today • Impunity: No one has been convicted of ordering human rights crimes • Those leading effort to change this continue to be threatened and killed today • lawyers, witnesses, plaintiffs in human rights cases routinely killed • Also, new struggles: environmental justice, indigenous rights, security from common crime

  14. Exhumations

  15. Police Archives

  16. Lessons? • The Guatemalan genocide happened in the name of saving democracy from terrorism • Some communities were killed in the name of economic development • Tragic that in the struggle to “defend democracy”, “promote development,” profoundly antidemocratic mistakes were made

  17. Is the US government partly responsible? • To what extent did the US participate in the carnage? • Military training, assistance; some accounts of in-person participation • In 1982, Pres. Reagan moved to reinstate military aid to the Guatemalan Army, said Guatemala “struggle for democracy” • In 1997 Pres. Clinton formally apologized to Guatemala

  18. The erroneous belief that the end justifies the means converted Guatemala into a country of death and sadness. It should be remembered, once and for all, that there are no values superior to the lives of human beings, and thereby superior to the existence and well-being of an entire national community. — UN Commission for Historical Clarification, 1999

  19. Discerning patterns • Similarities/differences with Southern Cone experiences?

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