Politico de Guatemala
The school I am attending is very political, and I am thankful, that is what I wanted to be submerged in. However there is no way I would have been able to predict the way it would affect me to be here. I cry everyday as I watch movies about the politics here, about the war that killed many lives and communities. Most every teacher at my school has seen their friends or family murdered by the police of this state. There is an ex Guerilla here, she was a part of the Guerilla for 20 years. This past week we had a Kitche woman come to our school and talk to us about the poetry of the time of the war, how it affected the lives of the people and became part of the popular culture here.
The war between the mayan people and the state didn't just affect the lives of those in campesinos, it affected everyone.
I recently met a young boy who speaks six different languages, french is his native language, he also speaks english and spanish, he speaks german and russian I forget the other and he is currently learning arabic, and kitche simultaneously. He is 18 years old. He was the translator for the political conference I went to here in Xela. He hates people from the United States. We stayed up talking about politics untill 5am. It helped me put together all that I had been feeling lately. All the guilt, all the confusion, all the pain. Feelings of anger toward activism in the states. All the thoughts of beig even more trapped than the people of Guatemala, because our government has so much controll over us, as well as so many other people all over the world. Fear of the hatred that is directed at me by people of other countries.
The United States has always played a big role in alot of major wars, and I knew this already. I also knew that we have had a mojor affect on Mexico and Central America. I even knew a minimal amount about the constant fight for land here, and for profit in the agricultural society. I knew that a large majority of production and sales in the argricultural society was owned or affiliated with the United States.
What I didn't know about was the amount of death that was caused because of this fight for land. The lack of compasion for the indigenous people compared to the amount of desire for profit and land. The Guatemalan government, aided by the United States raped and murdered woman, killed entire families, burned entire villages. They stalked and hunted mayan people as if for sport.
One story that seems to come over and over again, is the military coming into villages and raping women, killing people, and burning their homes, and claiming to be of the Guerilla. This tactic was used to keep the mayan people from taking sides with the Guerilla, to keep them from aiding or joining the guerilla. The Guerilla who was fighting for the voice of the campesinos. One military tactic that was widely used as indimidation of the campesinos, was the torture of one or more community member, someone or someones would go missing in the community, and then a few days later the entire community would be called tot he church by the military, there on display would be the tortured memers of the community, the military would tell them if they did not obey that it would be them too. Then they would kill, or have someone from the community orneighboring community kill the tortured persons. In one case I read about the entire church along witht he etire community would be burned to the ground. Regardless of wether or not the campesinos had ever aided or joined with the guerillas they were largely killed unless they agreed to move into military supervised camps, that were watched and controlled by the military 24 hours a day. Campesinos would have to check out of the military borders to go anywhere, and would have to check all there belongings, if they had anything with them that was on the military list of possible "guerilla aiding" items, including "too much food", they would be killed. A quote I found on the internet... General Ríos Montt was quoted in the New York Times of July 18, 1982 as telling an audience of indigenous Guatemalans, "If you are with us, we'll feed you; if not, we'll kill you."
(I am also looking for the quote relating the guerilla to fish and the mayan people to water, saying that if you get rid of the water, the fish will die. If anyone has it or knows where to get it please pass the info along. thx)
I believe that most of this war had to do with foreign investment. For example the role of United Fruit Company, also the distribution of arms by the US.
here is a link to the CIA reports from that time... http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB4/index.html
All of this, some of which is still happening today, is very much on the surface of everyones lives that I see here. It is a recent memory, and still affects them today. The woman who came to our school to tell us the history of poetry in Guatemala, she read to us a love poem that she wrote to the man she was going to marry, he was not killed, but returned home with so much trauma that he could have never married her. Anyone who lived through these masacres, are forever traumatized. And talking to anyone here about what happened in Guatemalas recent history, is one of the most intense things I have ever done.
The war between the mayan people and the state didn't just affect the lives of those in campesinos, it affected everyone.
I recently met a young boy who speaks six different languages, french is his native language, he also speaks english and spanish, he speaks german and russian I forget the other and he is currently learning arabic, and kitche simultaneously. He is 18 years old. He was the translator for the political conference I went to here in Xela. He hates people from the United States. We stayed up talking about politics untill 5am. It helped me put together all that I had been feeling lately. All the guilt, all the confusion, all the pain. Feelings of anger toward activism in the states. All the thoughts of beig even more trapped than the people of Guatemala, because our government has so much controll over us, as well as so many other people all over the world. Fear of the hatred that is directed at me by people of other countries.
The United States has always played a big role in alot of major wars, and I knew this already. I also knew that we have had a mojor affect on Mexico and Central America. I even knew a minimal amount about the constant fight for land here, and for profit in the agricultural society. I knew that a large majority of production and sales in the argricultural society was owned or affiliated with the United States.
What I didn't know about was the amount of death that was caused because of this fight for land. The lack of compasion for the indigenous people compared to the amount of desire for profit and land. The Guatemalan government, aided by the United States raped and murdered woman, killed entire families, burned entire villages. They stalked and hunted mayan people as if for sport.
One story that seems to come over and over again, is the military coming into villages and raping women, killing people, and burning their homes, and claiming to be of the Guerilla. This tactic was used to keep the mayan people from taking sides with the Guerilla, to keep them from aiding or joining the guerilla. The Guerilla who was fighting for the voice of the campesinos. One military tactic that was widely used as indimidation of the campesinos, was the torture of one or more community member, someone or someones would go missing in the community, and then a few days later the entire community would be called tot he church by the military, there on display would be the tortured memers of the community, the military would tell them if they did not obey that it would be them too. Then they would kill, or have someone from the community orneighboring community kill the tortured persons. In one case I read about the entire church along witht he etire community would be burned to the ground. Regardless of wether or not the campesinos had ever aided or joined with the guerillas they were largely killed unless they agreed to move into military supervised camps, that were watched and controlled by the military 24 hours a day. Campesinos would have to check out of the military borders to go anywhere, and would have to check all there belongings, if they had anything with them that was on the military list of possible "guerilla aiding" items, including "too much food", they would be killed. A quote I found on the internet... General Ríos Montt was quoted in the New York Times of July 18, 1982 as telling an audience of indigenous Guatemalans, "If you are with us, we'll feed you; if not, we'll kill you."
(I am also looking for the quote relating the guerilla to fish and the mayan people to water, saying that if you get rid of the water, the fish will die. If anyone has it or knows where to get it please pass the info along. thx)
I believe that most of this war had to do with foreign investment. For example the role of United Fruit Company, also the distribution of arms by the US.
here is a link to the CIA reports from that time... http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB4/index.html
All of this, some of which is still happening today, is very much on the surface of everyones lives that I see here. It is a recent memory, and still affects them today. The woman who came to our school to tell us the history of poetry in Guatemala, she read to us a love poem that she wrote to the man she was going to marry, he was not killed, but returned home with so much trauma that he could have never married her. Anyone who lived through these masacres, are forever traumatized. And talking to anyone here about what happened in Guatemalas recent history, is one of the most intense things I have ever done.