Honoring Guatemalan History in Rabinal, July 26

Our minivan is the perfect size: large enough for comfort, yet small enough to invite connection through conversation on our four-hour ride from the city to Rabinal. This indigenous community is home to the Maya Achi Association for the Integral Development of Victims of Violence (ADIVIMA), a longtime UUSC human rights partner. Their mission is to give dignity to the memory of victims of massacres in the 1980s through their struggle for reparations, community development initiatives, and research and information gathering.

The roads winding through the mountains were in fantastic shape, making for a very smooth ride. Charlie explained that Guatemalan roads were excellent along routes that led to suspected insurgent communities, guaranteeing that the miliatary would have expedient routes for carrying out their repressions, intimidations, and massacres of supposed guerillas.

Guatemala’s 36-year civil war, fomented by U.S. involvement, resulted in more than 400 massacres and disappearances, leading to 200,000 dead and one million internally displaced persons. Of these numbers, about 80 percent of these deaths were from the indigenous Mayan population.

In this quiet village of Rabinal, there were 20 massacres alone.