Violence and Genocide in Guatemala

Violence and Genocide in Guatemala[1]

By Victoria Sanford

vdlsanford@aol.com

Senior Research Fellow

Institute on Violence and Survival, Virginia Foundation for the Humanities

Assistant Professor

Department of Anthropology, Lehman College, City University of New York

CHART 9 (Number of Massacre Victims-Rabinal): In 1981, 422 Rabinal Achi fell victim to massacres under Lucas Garcia - an average of 35 massacre victims per month. Another 95 Achi died in massacres during the last three months of the Lucas Garcia regime in 1982 - an average of 32 massacre victims per month. In just the first nine months of Rios Montt’s regime, 487 Rabinal Achi died in army massacres. Averaging 54 massacre victims per month in Rabinal alone, there was a 64 percent increase in the number of massacre victims in Rabinal under Rios Montt.[2]

Between 1980 and 1983, 25 percent of massacres were committed by the army alone. Another 21 percent were committed by army troops with judiciales - local ladinos from Salama and Rabinal vestido de civil con pañuelos rojos. Both Rabinal Achi and ladinos refer to these men interchangeably as “judiciales” and “escuadrones.” Moreover, 54 percent of all Rabinal massacres were committed by the army with army-controlled Civil Patrol (PAC) military commissioners and/or patrollers. Under the regime of Rios Montt, military commissioners and PACs were included in every army massacre in Rabinal.[3]

[1] This draws from Violencia y Genocidio en Guatemala (Guatemala City: FyG Editores, 2003) and Buried Secrets: Truth and Human Rights in Guatemala (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003). The author thanks Allison Downey for her assistance in developing the massacre databases, Raul Figueroa Sarti for publishing this critical material in Guatemala, and Ben Kiernan for making it available on this website.

[2] Analysis on massacres in Baja Verapaz in this section id based on massacre data presented in CEH, Memoria, vol. 8.

[3] Analysis on massacres in Baja Verapaz in this section id based on massacre data presented in CEH, Memoria, vol. 8.