Healing starts in Guatemala amid threat of more violence Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit source - "GHRC" Boston Globe - April 14, 2002 Healing starts in Guatemala amid threat of more violence By Marion Lloyd, IQUIN SENAHI, Guatemala - The aging Mayan farmer stood by stoically as a team of forensic anthropologists unearthed the remains of his wife and five children, barely flinching as he caught sight of his infant son's shattered skull glinting in the tropical sun. "We never saw who did this. We only know that the violence came and they died," Celestino Calel said grimly, as the anthropologists placed the baby's bones in marked paper bags and moved on to the next bullet-riddled skeleton. Buried for 20 years, the children still could be identified by the shreds of woven clothing that clung to them like shrouds. The last time that Calel, 58, saw his relatives was June 1982, when soldiers stormed this Indian farming village 40 miles west of Guatemala City and opened fire indiscriminately. The massacre was one of dozens perpetrated by the military government against civilians during the height of the country's 36-year civil war, which killed 200,000. The fighting officially ended in 1996 with the signing of peace accords between the government and leftist guerrillas. But little has been done since then to reconcile the two sides or ease the pain of families torn apart. The work of the independent Guatemalan Foundation of Forensic Anthropology is an exception. Since its founding in 1992, the group has uncovered nearly 2,000 bodies in 191 mass graves. Most of the sites date from the worst years of violence, between 1980 and 1982, when the army slaughtered entire villages in an effort to stamp out the guerrilla movement. Often, the soldiers buried the bodies to cover up their work. In other cases, the victims' relatives hastily placed their dead in shallow graves to avoid their being eaten by wild animals. By diagnosing the cause of death and returning the bodies to the families for proper burial, the anthropologists say they are beginning the healing process. "You can't have any kind of reconciliation if you don't know what happened," said Jose Suasnavar, an archeologist who leads a 15-member field team that carries out the exhumations. But recently, the anthropologists also have become victims of ongoing violence. In February, Suasnavar's group received an anonymous letter containing specific death threats against 11 anthropologists. It ordered them to stop providing evidence that could be used in prosecuting past military officials, only a handful of whom have been convicted in connection with the massacres. Observers said they believe high-ranking government officials were behind the threats. They point to Efrain Rios Montt, the former military ruler who orchestrated the scorched earth campaign of the early 1980s and who is now head of Congress. "Rios Montt's people are all powerful in this country," said Nineth Montenegro, a human rights activist whose labor activist husband disappeared in 1983 after being arrested by the army. She accused Rios Montt of plotting to overthrow the civilian government of President Alfonso Portillo in an attempt to avoid being tried for war crimes. If Portillo were forced to step down, Rios Montt could take over as interim president, a post that would make him immune from prosecution. Portillo, who swept to power in 1999 vowing to implement the peace accords, has since seen his popularity plummet amid a series of corruption scandals. Meanwhile, there has been little progress in key areas such as land reform, demilitarization, and improving access to the legal system for the country's 7 million Mayan Indians. "The peace accords are hanging by a thread," said Montenegro, who now represents a small leftist coalition in Congress. She and other critics said Portillo lacked the power to stand up to Rios Montt, whose support the president needs to push reforms through Congress. The international community has also come down hard on Portillo's government. In February, the main group of donor nations met in Washington and voted to condition the remaining $1.3 billion in aid on significant advances in the peace process. "We are worried by the constant increase in threats and in attacks against human rights activists, journalists, judges, and prosecutors, which are suffocating the peace process," the US delegation said in a strongly worded statement. US officials also expressed frustration over the increase in Guatemalan military spending - in direct violation of the peace accords - as well as the rise in politically related violence. In February, Central Bank president Lizardo Sosa was kidnapped and freed several days later after the government paid a ransom, raising suspicions that the abduction was an inside job. Then last month, an opposition leader was gunned down after he called during an antigovernment protest for the president to resign. And a Roman Catholic bishop who lent support to displaced farmers who were threatening to take up arms against the government began receiving death threats. Washington and the other donors "are sending a clear message to Guatemala. They are saying to the government, respect human rights, reduce your military, and work toward the peace accords because that's the only way we're going to help you," said Helen Mack, a prominent human rights activist who represented nongovernmental groups at the February meeting. Guatemalan government officials say a lack of funds is preventing them from implementing the reforms at the pace they want. "The Guatemalan state is a weak state with few resources to be able to fulfill the peace accords," said Byron Barrera, spokesman for the president. "But what's for sure is that we have put the institutional framework in place. ... Now all we need is the money." Barrera added that the government intended to pay compensation to victims' families as soon as it had the budget to do so. But the family members say it will take more than cash to make things right. They want the government to provide schools, health clinics, housing, and access to the courts to empower the country's Mayan majority. "The victims were all poor Indians. The poor can't defend themselves," said Sebastian Calel, 35, the only child in his family to survive the massacre in Xiquin Senahi. "We lost so many children. They should still be alive to work the land. We deserve something in exchange for all these murders." 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