Following are excerpts from two of Marielos Monzon’s columns for Prensa Libre

The Countless Victims

By Marielos Monzon

The article begins with a series of quotes from testimonies given to the truth commissions by witnesses of some of the many massacres carried out by the Guatemala army in indigenous communities during the civil war. Monzon then writes:

I could go on quoting testimonies of the terrible things that thousands of compatriots suffered during the years of repression and war.

The REHMI and CEH reports [the reports by the official and Catholic Church truth commissions], are full of stories of death and brutality. But they are also full of the courage shown by thousands of victims who were brave enough to break the silence and relate what happened so that the truth could be known and justice be done. So that the memory of the dead and the disappeared could be honored and their families compensated.

But we see none of this now. The criminals who raped, tortured, massacred and killed walk the streets unpunished. The criminals who thought up and put into place the apparatus of terror now hold government positions and continue to control the clandestine, parallel organizations. Now it is even suggested that paramilitary groups should be compensated for the dirty work they carried out during the war. Now former human rights activists devise government strategies and ruses to obstruct justice in such cases as the murder of sociologist Myrna Mack.

Peace cannot be built on a foundation of silence and forgetfulness. Let there be truth, justice and compensation for the victims and their families.

Back, and Alive

Trial and punishment for instigators and perpetrators of the lynching of Judge Hugo Martinez

By Marielos Monzon

The brutality of the crimes committed during the armed conflict left us with a tragic heritage; ours is a society buffeted by violence and used to it. It would seem that the thousands of dead, missing and tortured were not enough. Even after the signing of the peace accords, human rights violations have continued and hundreds of Guatemalan families still suffer grief and anxiety.

It is incredible how the organized gangs of criminals and the clandestine groups continue to operate with complete impunity. It is shocking to see such ineffectiveness and lack of political will to confront these evils and apply justice. We are sick of speeches. These are human beings, Guatemalans of flesh and blood who continue to be the victims of violence, intolerance and the hidden, parallel powers.

Yesterday was the end of the second month since the disappearance of Antonio Pop Caal, one of the leaders who has contributed most to the struggle for the recognition and respect of the rights of the indigenous peoples. Without fear of repression and the prevailing racism, Pop has taken a courageous and determined stance and has stood by it. He has shared and debated his views with others. He has trained new generations in respect for differences and in the struggle against all forms of discrimination. He has denounced the historical domination, dispossession and exploitation of the indigenous peoples.

Anyone in our country who refuses to conform and who questions the system and its rulers becomes the target of the most reactionary and conservative groups. Drug traffickers, organized crime and the clandestine, parallel apparatuses of power are all branches of the same tree, and amalgam which is extremely dangerous and difficult to analyze and identify, and which uses the smokescreen of common crime to hide its political crimes.

How much longer will we let this continue? Are we going to wait and see how long the list of victims can get? Are we going to allow our past of grief and death to become our new daily reality? University academic Mayra Gutierrez disappeared just a few months ago and already everyone seems to have forgotten. The investigators drew a blank and her whereabouts are unknown.

We demand the immediate release of Antonio Pop Caal and all the other Guatemalans who are being held captive. We also demand investigation, trial and punishment for all those responsible and an end to the audacity of a government that preaches without becoming a convert itself.