Sunday, June 3, 2012

Guatemala: government closes Peace Archive

In a clear attempt to hide the brutal democide and genocide under the military regime in the 1980s, the far-right Guatemalan government has closed the Peace Archive, which was being used to document the civil war. 

The decision was totally unexpected and was justified by the Secretary of Peace, Antonio Arenales Forno, as canceling jobs for which I find no meaning and the role of a direction for which I find no meaning.

Two million documents have already been digitalized, providing evidence for kidnappings and murder (forced disappearance) and child traffic under the dictatorship. It has provided key evidence in several high profile cases, including the trial for genocide against dictator Efraím Ríos Montt.

Both the current President, retired general Otto Pérez Molina, and his Secretary of Peace, have rejected the accusations of genocide against personalities of the dictatorship, to which they are way too close.

In the 1980s there was widespread institutional violence against communities, almost exclusively in the Maya areas of the country. Guatemala is the only state of North America that still retains a Native majority, however it has been traditionally ruled by the creole caste of Spanish culture and identity.

Source: Otra América[es].

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