Poli Sci/Hist 233: Guatemala

Since Tuesday was one of the most packed days of the trip, Samee and I did not originally write about everything that we did on that day. If you look back at our post, we focused in depth mostly on the anthropological lab and our visit with the military. However, looking back on the trip, our other experiences on that day were incredibly significant to our overall experience, and I wanted to make sure that we published at least a little bit about these other experiences.The first place we visited after the military’s presentation was to a secret police archive that was only recently discovered in 2005. The documents were piled so high they were seen through the windows of the building. Out of the 80 million documents in the archive, there are 8 million that have been worked on and 5 million that have been digitalized. It was exciting to learn about how the archives are being preserved in order to gain retrospective insight into the conflict, especially as evidence of crimes that were committed. Researchers have started with records from the years ‘75-’85 when the worst human rights violations have been committed. It was really an incredible source and an incredible opportunity to see it.Also during lunch, we heard from an activist named Mario who worked with the human rights organization, GAM. All around on the walls of the building were pictures of Guatemalans who had been disappeared by the military. He emphasized that these people were still gone and that what happened during the war still is impacting all of Guatemalan society today. He told us about the different tactics that the government used to make it seem like those people were still alive and criticized them for ignoring and denying the past. Both here and at the anthropology lab, it was emphasized that these organizations are still receiving threats today for the work that they do.The last event we fit in at the end of the day was a visit at a cafe with Jose Garzon, a foreign service officer for the past twenty years. He considered himself an expert in democracy, but not in Guatemala. His work in each country lasts only a few years at a time. He emphasized that he is a facilitator working with diplomats primarily from the central government in the country to implement democracy. In general, I think we as a group were frustrated by this focus after having seen the complete devastation that confronts the Lake Atitlan community. Personally, I believe that basically sustainable living conditions are a prerequisite for a stable democracy, and that the best way that the United States can help in other regions is by having a primary focus on humanitarian aid. While diplomacy and encouraging democracy on a governmental level is important, we witnessed the poverty among the country’s indigenous first hand and were generally frustrated that Jose Garzon did not seem to be very aware of this or to be giving it the significance that we thought it deserved in his work. We had some heated conversations about this during the trip and I would invite others to comment on their ideas in the blog, since there were some very strong ones.