Comment
The Town That Raised Its Head Although news of army human rights violations in Guatemala raises few eyebrows anymore, the recent massacre in Santiago Atitlin (December 2, 1990) merits special...
...To understand why it has taken on such proportions in Guatemala, the incident must be placed in context...
...I went to Santiago Atitlin both the day of the mass funeral, when the mood was one of overwhelming grief, and the day of the town meeting when Cerezo's decision was announced...
...Residents and foreigners who have lived in Santiago estimate that between 500 and 1,000 people have been killed in the past decade, out of a current population of about 24,000...
...It is noteworthy less for the event itself, than for the local and national response...
...This massacre was the final straw for the Atitecos...
...In another time and country, this event might be considered a tragic mistake: Nervous soldiers, scared by a crowd of villagers approaching their post in the middle of the night, fired too quickly...
...The Atitecos were jubilant...
...In Guatemala, that merits our deepest respect and support...
...Eleven people died at the scene and 24 were wounded (three of whom later died...
...They marched to protest the attempted abduction of a resident by several drunken soldiers, including the post commander, earlier that evening...
...For the first time in recent history, the army's nearly impenetrable shell has been ever so slightly cracked...
...I witnessed a community catharsis...
...A week after the incident, the mayors reported back to the town: Cerezo, as commander-in-chief of the army, had agreed to their petition, including the removal of the military post...
...The deep divisions among people in Santiago, so evident prior to the massacre, may begin to peek through the current mask of unity...
...Atitecos want journalists and witnesses to help provide them the slim protection that international concern offers...
...Where will all this lead...
...Soldiers fired on a crowd of about 3,000 unarmed Atitecos who had marched to the town's military post, led by the mayor and mayor-elect...
...That an Indian town challenged the army and won (albeit just one battle, certainly not the war) is unprecedented in recent Guatemalan history...
...The facts of the massacre are fairly straightforward...
...Ever since the army set up permanent camp in Santiago in 1980, soldiers have intimidated, robbed and raped...
...The town has been terrorized by soldiers who not only committed every conceivable abuse, but did so brazenly, knowing that they were the only true power in town...
...All this calls for special attention to be focused on Santiago Atitlhn in the coming months...
...Pat Goudvis Massachusetts...
...The Town That Raised Its Head Although news of army human rights violations in Guatemala raises few eyebrows anymore, the recent massacre in Santiago Atitlin (December 2, 1990) merits special attention...
...That an Indian community dared to say aloud what everyone knew privately to be true but were terrified to say-that the army is responsible for the repression and death in Santiago-had simply not happened before...
...The incoming president will almost certainly decree an amnesty to avoid responsibility for prosecuting political crimes committed during the Cerezo years, continuing the policy of impunity implemented by the army right before Cerezo took office in 1986...
...people have been kidnapped, disappeared and killed at an astonishingly high rate...
...Not even the army could deny who killed whom in this case, although military officers tried to pass it off on a couple of misbehaved soldiers within an otherwise honorable institution...
...The power of the army will not be fundamentally diminished...
...The army will probably not move very far, and its reach is long...
...The courage of the Atitecos has sparked a national debate on the role of the army in Guatemalan life...
...On the day of the victims' funeral, several thousand people signed a petition, delivered to President Cerezo by the two shaken mayors, demanding that the massacre be thoroughly investigated, those found responsible be punished, and that the army be moved out of Santiago AtitlAn...
...Perhaps now, in addition to the tourists who flock to Santiago for its natural beauty and Indian culture, there will be those who go to visit the town that stood up to the army...
...The congressionally-appointed Human Rights Ombudsman boldly condemned the army as an institution for being responsible, perhaps the first time that a Guatemalan government official has publicly accused the military of fundamentally violating human rights...
Vol. 24 • February 1991 • No. 5
