January
2015
BREAKING
THE SILENCE
In
2013, indigenous women resolutely recounted their personal stories
in the genocide trial against ex-dictator Ríos Montt. Their courageous
testimony paved the way for Guatemala’s first successful prosecution
for genocide. The judgment was repealed soon after, but it was a historical
achievement nonetheless.
By
Patricia Galicia
Essays
Last year, in summer, a trial ended with a verdict that few Guatemalans
had believed possible: ex-dictator José Efraín Ríos Montt was found
guilty and sentenced to 80 years in prison for genocide against the
Ixil Maya and crimes against humanity.
According to UN estimates, around 200,000 people died
in Guatemala in 36 years of civil war from 1960 to 1996. Most of the
massacres of civilians occurred in the 18 months following the coup
d’état that brought General Montt to power in 1982. The 2013 verdict
was the first acknowledgement by the state that an act of genocide
was committed. It was also the first time a former Latin American
head of state was convicted of genocide by a court in his own country.
The testimonies of the victims who recounted their memories of the
atrocities in court, were crucial in this historic ruling. Dozens
of Ixil Maya undertook long journeys to give evidence. The women’s
reports of rape and sexual violence, in particular, captured a great
deal of attention: after years of silence, they brought a taboo subject
out into the open.
The
long road to the witness box
A Truth Commission report was published in 1999: “Memoria
del silencio” (Memory of Silence). It mentions six kinds of human
rights violations committed during the civil war, including systematic
rape of women and girls, which was mostly committed by the military.
The victims’ lives are still marred by the consequences
today. Many women who were raped were ostracised by the village community,
had unwanted pregnancies or became ill. Others, fearing hostility,
kept quiet about their experiences and endured the shame and suffering
alone. For years, the victims were pressured into remaining silent.
In recent years, however, they found strength in numbers and called
for the crimes to be prosecuted. One of the groups that spearheaded
the campaign to address the issue of sexual violence was the collective
Actoras de Cambio. It was established in 2004 by a group of women
seeking to heal the wounds of war and bring peace. They wanted to
break the silence surrounding the systematic sexual abuse of women
during the war. Moreover, they wanted to help victims to cope with
their past.
Actoras de Cambio cooperated closely with female Mayan
leaders, healing psychological wounds and helping victims to take
their fate into their own hands once more. They used methods from
the Mayan cosmovision and energetic psychotherapy as well as kinesiotherapy,
art therapy and breathing exercises. The feminist approach helped
women to see how they were alienated from their own sexuality by the
appropriation of their body by others.
Liduvina Méndez of Actoras de Cambio says that “victims
need to identify the reasons for the crime and understand that they
are part of the shared history of their society – that their rape
is not an isolated personal experience.” Actoras de Cambio finally
succeeded in bringing the taboo subject into the public eye. Five
years after the initiative’s foundation, the women ventured into the
public spotlight for the first time. “Even if we are afraid, we are
now ready to talk to society about this issue,” they said. An event
was organised with government representatives in the capital and numerous
regional festivals were staged under the banner “I am the voice of
memory and the body of liberty”.
Doing so takes incredible courage, Liduvina Méndez says.
Women must stand up in public in their communities and discuss sexual
abuse. More and more women and girls are finding the courage to join
them. This is all the more important as many women still suffer many
forms of violence even today.
No peace without memory
In public discourse in Guatemala, peace is often a synonym for “oblivion”.
The truth cannot be disguised however. Justice must be done, and the
women concerned want state institutions to accept responsibility for
the crimes – and guarantee that they will not happen again. “We want
no forgiveness, no forgetting and no reconciliation, because that
would mean denying reality,” says Dulce Cabrera, an activist with
HIJOS, an organisation formed by the children of people who disappeared.
“Peace can only be built on justice. So crimes against humanity or
genocide need to be prosecuted by the courts. We need to find out
what happened to the disappeared so that the victims’ dignity can
be restored. The truth must no longer be concealed; institutions need
to change.”
In recent years, Guatemala has seen the emergence of a
number of initiatives denouncing machismo, racism and elitism in society.
A growing number of women are involved in community radio. Others
use social networks or newspapers’ opinion columns to express their
views. They tackle taboo subjects and make women visible as political
actors and citizens with rights. Norma Chamalé, a Maya woman working
for the Independent Media Centre (Centro de Medios Independientes,
CMI), says: “We publish the memories of women from areas where the
resistance was strongest. We report on their active participation
and thus help to refute stereotypes. We reconstruct reality by taking
into account the historical background.”
In
search of justice
Finally, the fact that the genocide trial took place at
all – marking a major milestone for both the women and the country
– was due crucially to the efforts of one woman. Without the investigations
led by Attorney General Claudia Paz y Paz Bailley, the first woman
to ever head the public prosecutor’s office, no prosecution could
have been brought. The magazines Newsweek and Forbes both called Paz
y Paz Bailley “one of the most valiant women in the world”. Plataforma
51 Guatemala, an online forum against gender-based violence, called
her the “Prosecutor of Dignity”.
On 10 May 2013, the criminal court in Guatemala City headed
by Justice Jazmín Barrios convicted General Ríos Montt and his former
chief of intelligence. The verdict confirmed not just the genocide
but also the fact that, under Ríos Montt’s command, “women of the
Ixil Maya ethnic group were subjected to individual and collective
sexual abuse”. This was a historical moment, even though the judgment
was repealed because of formal flaws shortly after.
“The ruling revealed a historical truth. Despite its annulment
it is of lasting importance, because a great amount of survivors of
massacred families have been heard in public,” states Libertad Rian,
a 25-year old feminist from the Q’eqchi’ Maya. “Their testimony and
the courts’ investigations finally provided evidence: yes, there was
a genocide, and there were violations of women during the armed conflict!”
A trial that deals with the burning of the Spanish embassy in 1980
has started recently. The fire killed 37 people, most of them were
indigenous farmers. The father of Nobel Peace Prize winner Rigoberta
Menchú Tum was among them. Menchú Tum has fought vigorously for justice
in this matter and is now a plaintiff.
In another court, proceedings are underway against an
army colonel and a former military commissioner accused of being responsible
of the rape and sexual slavery of Q’eqchí women in Zepur Zarco during
the armed conflict. “The search for justice is part of redress,” explains
Manuela Alvarado, a K’iche’ Maya and former member of parliament (1996–1999).
“For justice, the state needs to create political, economic and social
conditions that make it possible for women to regain their voice and
zest for life. They need to be able to live in dignity and participate
in public life and policy-making. Their worth and their courage need
to be recognised.” – Third World Network Features.
-ends-
About
the author: Patricia Galicia is a radio journalist
based in Guatemala City.
patigalicia@yahoo.com
The
above article is reproduced from Development and Cooperation (D+C),
5 December 2014 (printed edition no. 12 2014, 2014/12)
When
reproducing this feature, please credit Third World Network Features
and (if applicable) the cooperating magazine or agency involved in
the article, and give the byline. Please send us cuttings. And
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