Justice in Peril in Guatemala

I had the honor of visiting the offices of the Guatemalan Forensic Anthropological Foundation (FAFG) for the second time this May. FAFG is renowned around the world for their work excavating mass graves, working with communities to identify remains and return them to family members for appropriate burial, and supporting other organizations and governments to pursue legal action.

This is painstaking, back-breaking, and high-tech work. From the remote, often hidden, and muddy sites where these mass graves are found, to the careful scientific analysis of the remains, FAFG documents the last moments in the lives of hundreds and thousands of men, women, and children, and helps family members, communities, and even nations reach a sense of closure and attain a degree of justice.

A year ago, a group of UUSC staff and trustees were invited to tour their laboratory in Guatemala City, a visit which deeply affected all of us. Though the human remains we saw being examined were treated with a palpable sense of reverence, it was impossible for us not to be moved and saddened when we saw the undeniable evidence of bullets, broken bones, and machete wounds. The smallest skeletons -- of children -- were particularly painful to see.

Even though our visit was difficult, we left FAFG with a great sense of admiration for what they are achieving. Guatemala passed through unspeakable trauma in the 1980s, and with the establishment of democratic processes more recently, some progress has been made in establishing responsibility for the crimes of the past. FAFG’s work has been central to this progress.

Nevertheless, Guatemala’s emergence from violence and intimidation is not complete. Many of those who perpetrated the violence against indigenous people in the 1980s walk the streets, even in positions of power and influence, while the families of many of the hundreds of thousands of victims still await justice.

This May, I spent an hour with Dr. Freddy Peccerelli, the executive director of FAFG. The day before my visit, the Guatemalan government had published a request for proposals for an ambitious and far-reaching program to exhume a large number of mass graves, provide legal support for investigations of these crimes, and psycho-social support to family members. Peccerelli seemed in a buoyant, positive mood, having nearly completed the FAFG proposal to the government to carry out the exhumation program. At the same time, he was looking forward with great optimism to the installation of Guatemala’s first DNA laboratory, which will enable FAFG to significantly increase the quality and accuracy of their forensic work.

But a few days after my visit, between May 25 and 28, FAFG and Peccerelli received a series of death threats and assaults, which gravely threaten all of this progress. Employees were assaulted, senior staff and their family members were threatened, and witnesses attest to the continued monitoring of the movements of staff and their family. The FAFG website contains images of some of the threats received, in the link entitled, “Actos de Intimidacion.”

UUSC has written to the president of Guatemala, Oscar Berger, asking that he intensify the investigation into these grave threats to FAFG and to human rights. We have asked that President Berger share the results of this investigation with FAFG. Finally, we have asked that security be greatly enhanced in the FAFG offices, and for staff and their families.