A fellow accompanier and I decided a while ago to go to the beach for a few days, hoping to escape the heaviness of living and working in a post-conflict society like Guatemala. It felt so freeing to sit by the waves and let their sound be the only noise in our minds. Yet, as you come to find living in Guatemala, there is not one place that is not affected by the very recent armed conflict and the current remilitarization efforts. Survivors and perpetrators live alongside each other in this small country without accepted processes of justice and reconciliation to negotiate the relationships or help shape the future. The militarization in Guatemala is not only a shadow of the past but an ominous cloud over the social movements and future of Guatemala. Militarization, supported heavily by the United States and the President-elect Jimmy Morales, is strategically expanding in Guatemala.
Sitting by the waves, we met a group of University students just starting their break from school. We became immediate friends when we started playing marco polo and jumping out of trees into the beach-side pool. They were just boys, 18 to 21, who still had to call their mom to check in and just wanted to play pool games and ping pong. So, when they proudly showed us a picture of one of them in his military uniform, my body tensed and my heart sank. This boy told us about his week in kaibile training and why he decided to leave the military.
The kaibiles are an elite special force unit of the Guatemalan military created to fight in the internal conflict and known for their brutality in the massacres of the 1980's. There are currently 6 kaibiles in prison for life for the massacre of Dos Erres, in which 201 people were killed, over half of which were children under the age of 14. Yet, there are still training programs and funding for kaibiles, like the one this boy had attended, and their role has only extended to include serving ex-President Molina as a special “security” measure in his state policy and in the eviction of primarily Indigenous populations from their lands.
Sitting by the waves, we met a group of University students just starting their break from school. We became immediate friends when we started playing marco polo and jumping out of trees into the beach-side pool. They were just boys, 18 to 21, who still had to call their mom to check in and just wanted to play pool games and ping pong. So, when they proudly showed us a picture of one of them in his military uniform, my body tensed and my heart sank. This boy told us about his week in kaibile training and why he decided to leave the military.
The kaibiles are an elite special force unit of the Guatemalan military created to fight in the internal conflict and known for their brutality in the massacres of the 1980's. There are currently 6 kaibiles in prison for life for the massacre of Dos Erres, in which 201 people were killed, over half of which were children under the age of 14. Yet, there are still training programs and funding for kaibiles, like the one this boy had attended, and their role has only extended to include serving ex-President Molina as a special “security” measure in his state policy and in the eviction of primarily Indigenous populations from their lands.
This expansion is in direct violation of the Peace Accords in 1996 defined by the demilitarization accord that was to cut the funding of the military and limit military's functions to border control only. The kaibiles are not the only sector of the military that has expanded and continued to receive funds. Military troops are commonly used in civil development projects, as security, and it is common to see military patrols on city streets and highways.
The military budget has been steadily increasing since 2005. The chart below illustrates the increased role that the United States has played in military funding to Guatemala:
Military Aid: 2005- $4.5 million 2015- $40 million
Soldiers and police trained by the U.S.: 2000- 29 2013- 844
Arms Sold to Guatemala: 2005- $1.5 million 2013- $6.4 million
The increased budget has come along with an increased effort in Guatemala to change the image of the military and silence the bloody history that it has had. They even have a contract with the former adviser to the Reagan and Bush administration, a promoter Otto Reich will create a strategy to “better the perception, reputation, and comprehension” of the army with the number one objective being that “North American politicians abandon the references to Guatemala from the 70s and 80s.” They want to erase the past.
So, where are the increased forces of the military being used if the internal conflict has ended? Where is the war? According to Guatemalan partners and analysts, the government and the oligarchy seek control of land and resources and they are using the military as a tool to do just that. One example is the case of Tahoe Resources, a US-Canadian company, and their Escobal mining project in Santa Rosa and Jalapa.
For the last five years civilians who are peacefully protesting the project, have suffered counterinsurgency attacks and have been labeled “terrorists.” In May of 2013, the government declared a state of siege in the local communities, sent in over 8,000 police and military agents, suspended certain civil liberties, and built military barracks. There has been constant military presence since.
For the last five years civilians who are peacefully protesting the project, have suffered counterinsurgency attacks and have been labeled “terrorists.” In May of 2013, the government declared a state of siege in the local communities, sent in over 8,000 police and military agents, suspended certain civil liberties, and built military barracks. There has been constant military presence since.
Community leaders trying to protect their land, resources, and communities face criminalization, harassment, and military raids that seek to intimidate and gather intelligence. Despite the fact that 55,000 people voted against the mine and 200 complaints were filed to oppose it's operation permit, it was classified as a “strategic natural resource” project thus classifying any resistance as a “threat to national security” and giving the military justification to be there. This is one example of a growing trend.
So, what is public opinion of this trend? Human Rights defender Teresa Muñoz from a community near the Escobal mine says that “the government's humiliation and oppression continues by way of the military bases that are still operational in our territories.” And yet the young people we met at the beach talked about the military with pride and respect. Just having a friend who was a part of the military for a short time was an honor.
Still, that one boy who had survived one week of kaibile training had a shadow over his eyes as he shared with us. Torture training and brainwashing are common practices still used by the kaibiles and practices he survived. He told us, “I was forced to kill people a few times, and that is just not me. So, I left.”
The military strategy may be perpetrated by those in power in Guatemala and the United States but is often carried out by boys; in many cases boys and young men from rural, poor, or indigenous communities. They also suffer human rights violations and the human losses that come from living in a militarized and violent society. Many of the soldiers during the armed conflict were forced into service and now many join as a way of escaping poverty and helping their families.
A few weeks ago I went for a run, again trying again to find my space. I was blocked as a truck unloaded cardboard boxes and carried them into a building. I jogged in place while I waited. This normal activity took on a whole new color when I later went to that same building with a delegation and realized that it was the Guatemalan Forensic Anthropology Foundation (FAFG) and that every one of those cardboard boxes they were unloading contained the exhumed remains of victims of the massacres carried out by the military. There were 4,000 boxes in that building.
Those at FAFG are working to identify those massacred and return their remains to their families as well as to provide evidence for ongoing cases for justice. They have identified over 2,000 remains and are still doing exhumations of mass graves together with witnesses and families. New evidence states that the death toll is closer to 300,000 than the usually cited 250,000. Skeletons of men, women, and children were laid out over the tables as the staff gently brushed the dirt from the bones and removed samples to take DNA tests.
Pastor Aaron McEmrys from the delegation prayed with us there among the bones of the victims in FAFG. His words stay with me:
“Great Spirit, god of many names, we pray in this house of memory and bones for the living and for the dead. We pray for those who grieve and suffer, and for all those who live their days under the gray pall of unknowing. We also pray for those...who must now live and die under the weight of crimes they cannot take back. Help us remember how little distance there is between us. May justice prevail. May peace prevail. May love prevail.”
Love, Justice, and Peace did prevail in the courtrooms of Guatemala on November 4th when Pedro Robel Toledo, a criminalized political prisoner from Huehuetenango, another militarized zone, was set free. He is a lawyer and human rights defender standing against hydroelectric projects and now has the freedom to continue his work. The judge stated that there was insufficient evidence against him and that human rights defenders have a “constitutional right” to peacefully defend their land and resources. With this declaration, Pedro was un-cuffed and stepped into the arms of his mother and sister. This legal precedent is crucial not only for other cases, but for the hope of the other political prisoners.
“Great Spirit, god of many names, we pray in this house of memory and bones for the living and for the dead. We pray for those who grieve and suffer, and for all those who live their days under the gray pall of unknowing. We also pray for those...who must now live and die under the weight of crimes they cannot take back. Help us remember how little distance there is between us. May justice prevail. May peace prevail. May love prevail.”
Love, Justice, and Peace did prevail in the courtrooms of Guatemala on November 4th when Pedro Robel Toledo, a criminalized political prisoner from Huehuetenango, another militarized zone, was set free. He is a lawyer and human rights defender standing against hydroelectric projects and now has the freedom to continue his work. The judge stated that there was insufficient evidence against him and that human rights defenders have a “constitutional right” to peacefully defend their land and resources. With this declaration, Pedro was un-cuffed and stepped into the arms of his mother and sister. This legal precedent is crucial not only for other cases, but for the hope of the other political prisoners.
Yes, the shadow of the military still lays over those at FAFG as they touch the remains of the victims and yes it is cast over the human rights defenders as they continue their peaceful work, but the Guatemalan people are finding ways to rise above the shadows and turn the tides. Here are the words of Teresa Muñoz, a human rights defender facing militarization around the Escobal Mine:
“In the face of a storm, some animals go underground and bury their heads. But eagles fly above the storm. We need to be like the eagles...with the storm upon us, we choose to rise higher, knowing that our struggle is one that has value and dignity.”
We choose to rise higher, we choose to remember that, really, there is so little distance between us. Thank you so much for reading, I welcome your questions!
In Solidarity,
Kayla Autumn
“In the face of a storm, some animals go underground and bury their heads. But eagles fly above the storm. We need to be like the eagles...with the storm upon us, we choose to rise higher, knowing that our struggle is one that has value and dignity.”
We choose to rise higher, we choose to remember that, really, there is so little distance between us. Thank you so much for reading, I welcome your questions!
In Solidarity,
Kayla Autumn