A violent legacy of trauma
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The Guatemalan Civil War, which was predominantly fought between the government and leftist rebel groups, started in 1960 and ended in 1996 with a United Nations-brokered peace agreement. The 36-year war marked a particularly bloody period of Guatemalan history. The seeds of the conflict were planted in 1954 when the U.S. CIA supported a coup against the democratically-elected Guatemalan president, Jacobo Arbenz because he supported “land reform to benefit the largely indigenous peasantry (at the expense of the US-based United Fruit Company and other private interests).”
Six years later, in 1960 left-wing guerilla groups started to battle the government and express frustrations against the then autocratic leader, General Miguel Ydigoras Fuentes. Throughout the 36-year conflict, officially the fight was between the military and leftist guerillas, but the reality looked very different with the military targeting “anyone seen as sympathetic to the rebels, including Catholic priests and nuns and entire indigenous villages.”
The UN Truth Commission found that the government had “inflicted multiple acts of savagery and genocide against Maya communities,” whom they viewed as natural allies of Marxist guerrillas. However, despite the threat of these Marxist insurgent groups, the Commission for Historical Clarification found that the government responded in an egregiously disproportionate manner and that the government was responsible “for 93% of the war’s crimes including disappearances, murder, rape, and torture.” Of the roughly 200,000 people who disappeared or were murdered during the conflict, 83% were Maya.
During the Civil War, the indigenous population suffered disproportionately as government entities attempted to suppress and eliminate indigenous culture and people. The ruling military junta committed acts of terror and genocide against the Maya communities in part “to destroy the cultural values that ensured cohesion and collective action in Mayan communities.” This systematic targeting of indigenous peoples and culture has left a deep, personal, and emotional pain on the indigenous population.
Further, the role that the U.S. played in the Civil War, in support of the military has left many distrustful and angry at U.S. policy and interests in the country. U.S. government documents from the time revealed that not only was the U.S. “intimately involved in equipping and training Guatemalan security forces that murdered thousands of civilians in the nation's civil war,” but that the CIA and U.S. officials were aware of the killings and that “paramilitary allies were massacring Indian villagers” at the time. This U.S. complacency and support of the genocidal actions pose a potential threat to future U.S. and external involvement which is notable for media organizations who want to work in the region.
There still exists a struggle for equality, justice, acknowledgment of the genocide committed by the Guatemalan government against its indigenous population. Genocide denial, as well as justifications for why the peasant, farmers, and indigenous people in Guatemala brought violence upon themselves, are commonplace. During the 2013 trial of ex-President and dictator Efrain Rios Montt which convicted him of genocide and crimes against humanity, there were was a national reckoning with the painful truth.
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However, weeks later Montt’s sentence was overturned by the highest Guatemala court. This trial particularly showed how elite interests fought to control what stories and perspectives were covered in the media and therefore gained traction. Many, including prominent politicians, society leaders, and countless others continue to deny the violence and existence of the genocide, the truth of survivors' stories, and the validity of the trial of Montt.
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In 2014, a congressional resolution, introduced by the party founded by the former dictator Montt, was passed with support from 87 of the 158 legislators, that denied the genocide claiming that “it is legally impossible that genocide could have occurred in our country’s territory during the armed conflict.” This shows that for many survivors and families of victims, the violent memories and effects of the war are very quotidian. The fact that genocide denial is still so prominent shows that many indigenous Guatemalans must still fight for their truth and to tell stories of survival.
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The fight for the right to collective memories of violence and trauma is relevant to current and future media work in the region. Organizations and projects must realize that the act of naming or highlighting stories of genocide has immense power. Storytelling holds power to be a healing action in and of itself. Media organizations have powerful tools that can be used to amplify the stories of the survivors of the genocide or to contribute to the lasting legacies of trauma by disregarding the truth of said trauma.
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Media organizations who aim to have more indigenous inclusion in their Guatemalan work but acknowledge the painful histories that plague the countries memory and the continued battle for the public recognition of the genocide and outside involvement in support of monied interests at the expense of indigenous communities.
