Abstract
The purpose of this case is to familiarize students with a recent period in Guatemalan history. To have them imagine a livelihood very different from their own. To question and challenge their values, positions, and beliefs concerning violence, justice and family. To confront their own feelings of gender, race, and class discrimination. The case study concerns the social, political, economic, cultural, and religious conditions of a young Mayan peasant highlander in Guatemala. The year is 1982, the height of the Guatemalan government's Scorched Earth Program. The military perceived Mayan peasants to be supporters of or future candidates for insurgent groups. In a direct attack on Mayan villagers, twenty-three people were brutally tortured and mutilated in the highlands of Quiché. The main character is a fifteen year-old Quiché woman who has just fled the violent holocaust of her village. She is alone and must make a decision.
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Introduction
Guatemala is at the apex of the Central American isthmus bridging North and South America. It is unique with its vast biodiversity, socio-political condition, as well as being the only Central American country with a majority indigenous population and having the longest running guerrilla force in all Latin America. It is perhaps best known for its heavily documented cases of human rights violations: Amnesty International dubbed Guatemala the worst violator of human rights in the Western Hemisphere.
Background
This case study concerns the social, political, economic, cultural, and religious conditions of a young Mayan peasant highlander in Guatemala. The year is 1982, the height of the Guatemalan government's Scorched Earth Program. The military perceived Mayan peasants to be supporters of or future candidates for insurgent groups. In a direct attack on Mayan villagers, twenty-three people were brutally tortured and mutilated in the highlands of Quiché. The main character is a fifteen year-old Quiché woman who has just fled the violent holocaust of her village. She is alone and must make a decision.
Setting
Claudia was born in the Quiché highlands, a rural region far from urban cities and their technology. Raised by her mother, father, and community elders she had several siblings whom she worked alongside with in the seasonal harvesting of her family and communal land. As a young child she noticed the absence of her father and many other men who would leave the village to look for work in other regions of Guatemala. The village was largely kept by the elders, woman, and children who remained. As the economic situation worsened, as was often the case, the village would be abandoned for the majority of the year. Families would seek work in local fincas (plantations). Many times they were coerced by military threats and private thugs to leave their homes and work on the fincas.
Claudia always had a special attachment toward her father. He was a dignified and well respected leader in the village with a number of responsibilities. The only time Claudia ever saw her father bow his head to another person was when he took her to the city to speak to a government official about the village land title. She was perplexed, for she had never seen her father take off his hat, bow his head, and speak in a meek passive voice. He portrayed humility, yet she knew it was not genuine and he did not enjoy this act of "humbleness."
Claudia and her mother also had a special relationship. Claudia's mother was a strong woman who tended to the needs of the family as well as the village community. She was the protector and provider of not only her family but several people in the fincas on which she was forced to work. She prepared the meals and was the local curandera who tended to the sick.
In Claudia's latter years, there was a severe change in her village region. Exploitation, racial denigration, hunger, and poverty were common. Beginning in 1979 there was an upsurge of violence and military threat in the highlands. More and more people were being killed, mutilated and raped. Claudia's sister witnessed many of her friends and relatives undergoing horrific acts of inhumanity: she saw the military burn infants, sever the heads off children, rape women in front of their husbands, and electricute the testicles and nipples of men. In a huge struggle for land and the rights of campesinos, her mother and father decided to join the Peasant Unity Community
(CUC), a campesino organization whose mission was to fight against these very same conditions.
Claudia:
Last night I fled from my village when I had the chance. Two weeks ago the G-21 was all around and had turned my village into one of their camps. They said they were looking for guerrillas and accused us of being sympathizers. They even said they had proof that some of us were in the guerrilla forces. It is true some guerrilleros would stop by: they would talk to us and if they needed we would give them a place to sleep, but never food. We did not have any food to share with them. But we would do the same for military soldiers, no different. What choices did we have? Both groups carried guns and we were defenseless. It is true the guerrilleros did not threaten us. They attempted to be our friends, teach us how to read, and explain the conditions in Guatemala. Whereas, the military soldiers always scared me.
Yes there were problems in the village, but as long as the military and government did not intervene, they were our problems. Everyone in the village of course did not always agree and at times there may have been much tension, but all this never deterred any of us from what was important: the harvest. Each family had their own little plot of land, but there was communal land for harvesting we all shared. Although there were several hardships in the village it was my home, my land, and my air. It is what nourished me and allowed me to breathe. Our land was so important to us my father was willing to die for it.
They burned our homes and took some of us prisoners. I can't even describe what they did with the children. After all this I was numb, I did not know what to think or what to do. I was lucky not to have been killed, but after seeing what they did to my family and my people, I wish I was dead.
As I said, they were in our village for about two weeks. They kept asking us where the guerrillas were and how we communicated with them. They accused the girls of dancing with them and being courted by them. The G-2 then began to raid our homes and destroy our belongings. They ate our food and left us with nothing. The whole village soon became a prison camp. They called us dirty Indians and began to beat us with their rifles. They, the G-2, laughed as they crushed the heads of our elders and did bad things to the women--to my mother.
With the first chance I got I fled the camp after the sun went down. I was alone, never seen. At first I moved slow, quiet, and careful. It seemed forever, but I did not dare move fast, I was afraid to be heard. It was difficult to see in the dark. I moved further until I was sure I could not be found. And then I had a rush. It was as if I was going crazy, I ran deeper and deeper into the jungle, my only light was the moon and the stars. I was flying and I could not stop. I was tired and thirsty but my legs would not listen, they just kept running and images of family . . .
Background
Father:
Mija, as a young woman there is much you must learn. I cannot teach it all to you. Your mother, aunt, and sisters must provide the knowledge I do not have. But there is much I must teach you, much I do know. The most important thing we have is our land. It is what gives us life and nourishes our spirit. In order to preserve our land we must fight with all of our strength. The military, government and finca owners want to take our land from us. Not because it is rich. They own much better land. They do not need our land, nor do they truly want to use it. But they threaten to take it from us so we have no other choice but to work in their cotton and coffee fincas. They call it work, but you know it is nothing more than slavery. Although our land is not the richest for harvesting it is what we have and we must guard it with our lives.
As you well know, I was selected by the village elders to take on the responsibility of our legal claim. For eight years I went into the city to speak to the officials about our land title, and for years they have lied and cheated us. I was forced to leave home and work hundreds of miles away, not seeing my family for most of the year. You, your mother, sisters, and brothers have had to work in the local fincas. Many times we have been forced to abandon our village, but we have always returned. As I have said, our land is not the richest, but it is our home. A few year ago in 1977 the officials lied to us and convinced us to sign a contract. Of course we could not read it and so we demanded they read it aloud to us. They assured us we were signing a contract that gave us full right to our land title. Two years later they returned and told us we signed a contract agreeing to forfeit our land and move. That is not true, that is not what we agreed to!
I was furious. After going into the city for years and speaking to them so they would understand the importance of our claim, they turned around and lied to us. They cheated us out of our homes. This was not the first time they had done these kinds of things, but this time they almost won. A compañero of mine told me about this union called the CUC (Peasant Unity Community). He said they fought battles against the government for these very same problems. I began to go to the meetings and told them what was happening. Well my story was not any different than what hundreds and thousands of others were undergoing. Many times we are in our own village and do not realize people in villages far away have the same hardships. I began to attend the meetings regularly. We worked on campaigns to save land: not only our own, but for other compañeros as well. We worked as a team. This is where I was trained and learned many things, such as organizing. This is what you must learn. You must learn to defend yourself. You must learn Spanish, learn how to organize, learn how to read and how to write. All of these are our greatest weapons.
It is a risk. It is not easy work. As I have said you are a young woman who must learn many things, but I worry for you. I know you are strong and you want to fight for our village, but you are very beautiful and must therefore be careful. The military, those men, they do things--very bad things. There will be times when you will have to hide. There will be no food and no water. You will be tired and in very much danger. You must be prepared just as I am, Claudia. You must be prepared to die, to die for our village and for the many compañeros.
Yes there have been times I wanted to kill. To kill the military, to hurt the officials, and beat the finca owners. But mija, that is not the way. We must organize and teach our families and children about what threatens us the most. The military act like devils, but we must not. We can not resort to violence. God has taught us that we must be strong and fight for what is just, but we must do so by his command and not resort to being devils ourselves. Mija, follow God for He shall guide you.
Mother:
Now that we have some time alone I must share many things with you Claudia. Your father is gone now and you must prepare for your obligations. You are old enough to take on the responsibilities necessary for our village. You are young and therefore have the opportunity to still learn many important things. When your father would take you into the city to tend to matters concerning our village, he was exposing you to a little of what you must now do. You must go into the city and speak to the officials. You must learn to speak, read, and write Spanish. You must meet very important people in the city that can help us: help not only our village, but other compañeros as well.
I know it will be difficult speaking with ladinos2. Many of them are bad and sometimes I want to spit on them. But we must remember there are a few, very few that are good. Some of them are in the union and others are lawyers, doctors, and teachers. No matter how much hate you have for the ladino you must be prepared to work with them. I know it will be difficult to trust them. You have seen many of them lie and cheat us. They have stolen our goods and hurt women of our village, but you must work with them.
Claudia, you must learn how to organize. But remember it is very different for you and me. We are women and have many responsibilities. It is not easy. Sometimes we are not taken seriously, even by our own compañeros. They call themselves revolutionaries, but when it comes to accepting women as equals in the organizing it is very different. I have been to many meetings and all you see is men. When you ask them where their wives are their mouths stay shut. They are too ashamed to admit their machismo. If they were truly revolutionaries they would not keep their wives from going to those meetings. The most ironic thing about it is that we women are better organizers than them. Men, although beautiful creatures God created, are very lazy. They can only do one thing at a time; whereas, we can do five even ten things at one time. As women we are better communicators, planners, and managers. It comes very natural for us. Men, huh, they don't even know what to do with their thumbs. We women are leaders and founders of unions, committees, and programs. There are many battles that would have been lost without women. We even have to do more because we continue to cook and care for the children. As I have said, we women can do many things at one time.
Organizing is not easy, Claudia. You must go from village to village and attempt to learn the different Indian languages. In Guatemala there are twenty-three different languages. This makes communicating difficult and time consuming. But you must remember who you are. You are Quiché and therefore have gone through many things they are going through. Sometimes ladino organizers grow impatient because the villagers do not speak Spanish. You will have to improve your Spanish, but do not become like the ladino. Do not become impatient. You must respect all the other Indian languages, just as they and everyone else must respect yours.
You must be careful of Ladinoization, this is what your father called it. This means becoming like the ladino: impatient, selfish, hypocritical, hateful, abusive, and ugly. The ladino is the Spaniard, the colonizer, and the rapist. The ladino can be very evil, self-centered, and violent. Yes you are Indian, you are Quiché, but it is very easy to become like them. In fact, many of the soldiers are indigenas. You will have to work with them and against them. You will have to go to the city and learn their language.
People will look at you different. They will not like you because you are Indian, but what is even worse is that you are an Indian woman. Being an Indian woman is worse than being a pig to the people of Guatemala. People will walk away from you because you do not wear shoes, because your hands are not as clean or as soft as theirs, or because you do not bathe every day. Their culture is very different. They treat us like dirt because we are not like them. They like the clothes we make, the colors and the designs, but they do not care about the people who make them. You must be patient, and you must be strong. They will say things, but you must not give up fighting for our village.
This is what your father died for. He died for our people and land to be respected. He was in a campaign in the Oriente. A big march he helped organize turned into a larger demonstration than they suspected. The movement was growing stronger and more and more Indians joined the struggle, along with ladino campesinos. The military was called in and they began shooting. They arrested some of the leaders, your father was one of them. Claudia, they did things to him. This is why I struggle and organize and this is why you must do the same. I do not cry very easily, Claudia. But everytime I think about what they did to your father, I cry. I will never stop fighting to end our poverty, feed our children, and protect our land. This is what your father died for, this is why he was killed. How can I stop now?
When you begin organizing you will be accused of many things. Campesina women may accuse you of sleeping with their husbands. Entire villages may say that you are sent by the government to spy on them. Although you are there to help, it does not mean they will trust you in the beginning. You will have to be patient and earn their trust. Remember, they have many reasons not to trust you. But that is not all. The government will accuse you of working with the guerrilla forces. They will say you are an informant and are perhaps carrying messages from village to village. They may even accuse you of being a communist. Huh, this I laugh at the most. The government and finca owners accuse all campesinos and villagers of being communists. We do not even know how to read, how could we be communists? We don't even know what communism is. To tell you the truth, I don't think they even know what it is. All I know is that communism in Guatemala is a dark word. No one wants to be accused of it. Even most revolutionaries in Guatemala won't use the term, they prefer the word socialism. All I know is that we must organize. We must protect our land from being stolen from us; we must end the violence and military torture that is killing and raping our people; we must stop poverty and exploitation in the fincas, we have to fight for better health care and education so that we may learn and never be sick, and we must be able to feed our children so they do not have to cry themselves to sleep at night because they are hungry--this is our struggle, Claudia. And if that's communism, then yes, I am a communist.
Our struggle is not an easy one and we will not reap the benefits in my lifetime. It is already too late for the change to happen in your lifetime as well. But Claudia, you must fight for the children you will one day have, and your grandchildren. Our problems will not just disappear, they will only be solved by organizing. Our Father Jesus was the best organizer there ever was. He was born poor and lived with the poor. He worked with, struggled for, and died poor. When he saw the conditions around him, he decided to organize. At first there were a few, but then more and more people began to join the struggle. Our Father Jesus did not preach in large beautiful temples, no, he preached in the countryside. He preached and organized where the people who sow the land worked and lived. Of course there were people who did not believe him, but one must have faith. Just as there were those who did not have faith in Him, there are those who do not have faith in me and other campesino organizers. But if we, the campesinos and the poor, are to liberate ourselves we must have faith.
Campesinos can be very patient. Day after day they are overworked in the fincas; lied to by the contractors about how much credit they owe and how much longer they have to work, humiliated by being forced to live in sheds with forty or fifty people with no privacy; threatened by the pesticides fumigated by planes without any warning to leave the fields; cheated by the foreman for not providing better sanitation and hygiene conditions; and deprived of clean drinking water and of good food, seven days a week beans, beans, beans and tortillas, tortillas, tortillas--this is all they eat. But there are times when campesinos grow impatient and get mad. When campesinos get mad it is very dangerous because they turn their tools into weapons (machetes). One of our biggest problems as organizers is calming campesinos when they are very angry and want to fight. This can be very dangerous for us as well. Although they look to us as leaders and have much respect for the work we do, all of this is forgotten and no longer matters when they are angry. Non-violence is our strength in this struggle. We can not resort to violence, or else we will lose everything. The government and the finca owners have the money and the resources for guns and soldiers. We campesinos, do not have any of that.
Claudia:
(To her sister) You've been gone for so long. We had no word. We weren't sure if you were OK. We heard rumors you were killed, others said you were hurt in battle. Later I was told you were captured by the G-2. I got so scared. I thought they had done the same to you as they had to our father.
Margarita:
I know I have been gone for a long time without being home or sending a message. I apologize dearly for that, but you must understand that it is very difficult for me or any of the compañeros to make contact with our families. Although I love all my compañeros in the mountains, I long to be with my family. It becomes very lonely. But you must understand that I have made a decision. Not one by mere choice, but rather one of no other alternative.
Claudia, there is a war in Guatemala that must be fought. This war is not only against the military, it is against hunger, poverty, and the violation of basic human rights. In the highlands all of these are our enemies. It may appear that the military is the bigger enemy, yes it is perhaps the most violent, but to have poverty and hungry children in a land of rich vegetation is also violent. This war did not begin thirty or forty years ago, it began over four-hundred fifty years ago. This is a war we must all fight. The Guatemalan military is well funded and trained by the United States and Israel, this makes them an elite professional force in the art of counterinsurgency, military strategy, and torture techniques. Israel has trained the Guatemalan military in tactics they use against the Palestinians and the United States provides them with state of the art equipment. This is why we live in a land of tyranny. I know this perhaps does not make any sense to you now, but these are all things I have been taught by the Guatemalan Army of the Poor
(EGP). The compañeros taught me how to read, write, and speak Spanish. They helped me to understand the conditions in Guatemala and how it is influenced by the wishes of the Gringos. But what is most important is that the United States does not entirely dominate our land and our lives. This means internal change in Guatemala is possible, for the betterment of our people.
We are aware of the military massacres in hundreds of villages. The military accuses the villagers of aiding us. They know this is not true. What they really fear is that villagers and campesinos will rise up and join our forces in a revolution. This is their greatest fear. This is why they terrorize, rape, and mutilate the villagers. It is an unwritten official policy of the military to kill and burn all village children and babies, for fear of them growing older and joining the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity (URNG)3 in the struggle for liberation.
I have shared much with you. I have told you this because it is important for you to know the true conditions in Guatemala. Although we have many supporters and sympathizers, the military is aware that the villagers are not part of our forces. I know this may be difficult to believe since the G-2 comes here often, but my lack of contact with all of you makes it a hundred times safer for you.
Claudia:
Margarita, but I do not understand. Mother is fighting the same war, but she does not use rifles and guns. She has chosen a path our Father Jesus commands. She has chosen to use the Spanish language, words, organizing and protest as her weapons of combat. How different are you from the military if you carry a gun and kill? That is not what the Catholic missionaries have taught us. They taught a path ...
Margarita:
Claudia, I love mother very much and respect her decision for popular organizing. In this war we need people at every level. Popular organizing and insurgency is all we have. Just as I respect her decision I hope she respects mine. Mother and I have very different experiences and this has directed us in different paths. Father was a very strong man as well, but he did not experience what I did. They did not witness what I did. What mother does now is very important, and what I do is important as well. I know this can be very difficult to understand, but I believe violence must be fought with violence. We are not advocating violence, we are merely defending ourselves and fighting this bloody war with the same tools the military uses.
As we grew up, the missionaries taught us many important things about our Father Jesus and the holy scriptures. They shared many truths with us, but they did not tell us everything. I am not exactly sure why, but I have my speculations. There are many things we must understand about our country and our people. The fight for land and liberty is the most essential. But we are constantly threatened. We have no food because our original land was taken by the government and given to the finca owners. The land of this village is good, but it is not as rich as the land they stole from our antepasados (ancestors). We must realize our problems will not be solved by mere prayer. Our Father Jesus was a revolutionary who challenged the conditions that created poverty. This is why he was crucified, this is why he was killed. The missionaries told us this time and time again, but never in this way. Never in a way that makes us realize that if we are to truly follow the path of our Father Jesus we must challenge the conditions that created poverty. The day I am killed, I will know I died for our people--just like our Father Jesus.
Here in this village their are many hardships, but when I married and went to live with my husband in
Ixil, I saw many worse things. The military was much more present there. They were much more cruel. They accused us of being guerrilleros. They raided our village and burned our huts. All the men were either killed or taken prisoner. Being taken prisoner by the military automatically means you will be killed. They took my husband prisoner. Him and six other men were publicly tortured. They forced us to watch. They threatened to kill us if we did not. Some of us were tied down, so as not to turn our heads. Claudia, I saw my husband as they pulled his finger nails off with pliers and smashed his hands with large stones. He was crying for mercy and I could not do anything to stop it. They fastened his testicles with string and made him run. They cut the skin off his face and pulled down the layers of skin to expose the fleshy part of his face. They then threw salt on his head. He cried louder than ever. They began to slice his skin in different parts of his body, but they were careful to not cut any main arteries. They did not want to kill him yet. They wanted him to suffer. My husband was tied to a wooden stake, just as our Father Jesus was. They left him their for four days without food or water. His lips were as dry as the sand. He could no longer cry. His body could no longer make tears. On the fifth day all seven men were burned. The military poured petrol on them. And before they lit the match they said, "this is what happens when you help the guerrilleros." My husband and six other men were lit by a match and torched by my very eyes.
On the ninth day the military began to have their way with the women. They brought four of the male prisoners out and forced them to point out their wives. The Sergeant ordered four soldiers to rape and sodomize them with a knife in front of their husbands. When the soldiers were done they stripped the women of all their clothes and laughed, humiliating the women and their husbands. To them it was a game, Claudia. They were enjoying themselves. One of the male prisoners was killed by the Sergeant because he refused to rape one of the women. The four women were then positioned to have their heads chopped off before their husbands. After this, the massacre of the entire village began. The military randomly began to kill everyone in sight, except for the children. They saved the children and babies for last. They poured petrol on the children. They then made them run as one of the soldiers would chase them with a lit match. The babies Claudia, what they did to the babies. It was a sport to them. They would pick the babies up and throw them in the air, only to catch them with the blade of their bayonets. They made bets as to who could catch the most babies. Claudia, what they did to the babies!
Only one person survived the genocide. She was a young woman. Very scared and very fragile at this point. The military kept her. Every day for two weeks she was raped by at least twenty men, except for one day, a Wednesday, when they were all too drunk to even stand. The young woman was in shock. She could no longer feel her body. A higher ranking officer then came to the village and saw her. He noticed her condition and gave her a bag with a pound of beans and half a pound of corn. He then told her to leave the camp and start a new life. Claudia, that young woman was me. I do not even know how many days I wandered in no direction. I was not hungry nor was I thirsty. The only thing that saved me were the compañeros.
Claudia, in this world love is very important. The love we have for our children, for our family, for our village, and for our land is very sacred. But Claudia, I can not love my enemy. I can not love the military. I can not love the conditions that created the military. There are many battles that must be fought. In the fincas, we must fight for better pay, better health and hygiene conditions. In the villages we must fight the government and latifundistas from taking our land away. We must fight hunger and poverty. We must fight rape, torture, and mutilation. We as indigenas must feed our children and sow the land for the next harvest. But how can we when we are humiliated, denigrated, and starved. When we are beaten, raped, and tortured it is our God-given right to pick up arms and defend ourselves, our children, our homes, our spirits, and our land.
Dilemma
Claudia:
I ran until the sun kissed the earth. I stopped by a water hole and washed the dry tears off my face. I sat there forever. I was numb again, I couldn't feel a thing.
Ah, my head hurts, I just want to go to sleep. I wish my father was here. I don't know what to do. Where do I go? Ay
Virgen, pido tu apoyo y espero tu mensaje.
Notes
1 A branch of the Guatemalan armed forces specialized in infantry and counterinsurgency.
[return to text]
2 Ladino is a social classification distinguishing those of mixed blood, Spanish and Maya.
In Guatemala, the term also applies to indigenas who have forfieted their language and culture,
adopting Spanish and Western culture.[return to text]
3 Insurgent group composed of four factions founded at various times in Guatemala's history. In the 1970's the four factions combined for practical strategical
purposes. [return to text]
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Teaching Notes
Purpose
The purpose of this case is to familiarize students with a recent period in Guatemalan history. To have them imagine a livelihood very different from their own. To question and challenge their values, positions, and beliefs concerning violence, justice and family. To confront their own feelings of gender, race, and class discrimination and to then make a decision.
Key Issues
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Violence vs. Non-violence in political struggle
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Significance of agency in political struggle
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Sexism, racism, and classism among the Left
Courses
This case is designed for courses which concentrate on Latin American or Third World development, revolutions and social movements, and gender, race, and class. The following fields are applicable: Sociology, Political Science, History, Latin American Studies, Women Studies, and Ethnic Studies. Because this case focuses on a specific time and place, background reading on Guatemala and Central America are essential in providing students with the tools to examine it in a much broader context. The case is written to extract discussion on guerrilla warfare, popular organizing (non-violence), human rights (torture and rape), divisions among the left (sexism, racism, and
classism), and the legacy of colonialism. Therefore, it best used during the middle or end of the quarter/semester.
Study Questions
Read the case study and select one of the following: father, mother and sister. Review the characters story and position, and prepare to defend his or her view.
Teaching
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Who can tell me something about Guatemala?
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Describe Claudia's world.
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Who are the characters in the case?
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How does Claudia's father assess the situation?
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What advice does Claudia's father offer?
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What is his position on violence, for what reasons?
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How does Claudia's mother assess the situation?
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What advice does Claudia's mother offer, and how does her teaching differ from the
father?
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What is her position on violence, for what reasons?
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What drives Claudia's parents to organize?
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What is Margarita's story?
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What is her analysis, how does she view violence?
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How does she view non-violence, does she see a collaboration between the two?
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Role Play/Discussion
Select volunteers to play Claudia's father, mother, and sister. Have them role play by offering their advice to Claudia. The remainder of the class will play Claudia and have the opportunity to ask questions. Students are recommended to follow the case in the beginning and encouraged to be creative, while keeping the perspective of their character.
Decision
Conclusions
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What is your position on violence, did it change, was it reinforced, did you question it?
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How do you assess the divisions among the Left (racism, sexism, and
classism)?
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How can the Left work to resolve these problems?
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What have you learned from this case?
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