Speaker
1: |
The
last time that [Estair] saw her son, Petro, was 17
years ago when she followed him to the military base. Since then, she has
been looking for him but now, it is only for his bones. |
|
Survivors
say at least 24 people were killed in an army attack in [Kumate
Mango]. She has come here with a friend to see if she recognises the clothes
of her son or at least can find any sign of his disappearance. For the people
of Guatemala, it is one of thousands of common graves after 36 years of civil
war that killed more than a 180,000 people. |
|
Forensic
experts say that more than 90% of the bodies haven't been found. 24 people
are alleged to have been buried down the well and the process of finding the
remains could take months and maybe years to realise how many people were
killed. It's almost turning into a macabre archaeological dig. |
Speaker
2: |
I've
been looking for my son since the 15th of May 1993 and that's why I come
wherever they're exhuming in the hope that one day I'll find the remains of
my son. I think that maybe they didn't bother to take him to a place like
this. |
Speaker
1: |
Pedro
was not the only one. Here at this laboratory where they're studying the
remains of Guatemala's missing people, it's thought nearly every countryside
community has at least one common grave and often the victims were women and
children. But for those searching into the past, the government call for
immunity hasn't helped. |
Speaker
3: |
The
last elections are the best example of impunity in Guatemala where even though
someone is being accused of having been responsible for so many deaths, they
can reach Congress so easily or when this ... Even the president who was
accused of killing two people in Mexico. |
Speaker
1: |
Alfonso
Portillo confessed to the killing but despite that won a landslide victory in
Guatemala first presidential election since the end of the war. He was
originally a left winger but Mr. Portillo has turned increasingly to the
right from one political party to another finishing up in the Guatemalan
Republican front. The party led by one of the most notorious dictators in
Latin America, General Efraín Ríos Montt. This
gives him a difficult task now in power. |
Speaker
4: |
We've
had military impunity not only within the military, it's found in the whole
of society. The best examples of impunity are not only the crimes that are
not investigated and prosecuted but a huge number of arrest warrants that
don't take place or the vast number of cases without sentences, or the jails
that are full of poor people. It looks like the powerful people don't commit
crimes because they're not jailed. That's the best example of the worst
cancer in this country is impunity. |
Speaker
1: |
The
countries civil war gave great power to the army. It developed links with
paramilitary groups. Its intelligence was far-reaching. It controls civilian
policing and even politicians were not immune from the military police. But
Portillo had already started his war against the military. He appointed a
colonel as head of the armed forces. He [inaudible] automatic exit of the 19
generals and one vice-admiral. |
|
Here
in Congress, the president aim was to take away the power from the military
elite, specifically General Efraín Ríos Montt.
Although he is not president of Congress and despite his period of rule in
the country overseeing some of the wars worst brutalities, he is now barred
from running for president but he has 64 of a 113 seats in the house. |
Speaker
5: |
I'm
a senator that's been democratically elected with the largest number of votes
in Guatemala and historically, I've been accused of murder. I'm here ready
for whatever they want to do with me. I'm not looking for protection. |
Speaker
1: |
Ordinary
Guatemalans say that General Montt is the real force behind the presidency.
One recent poll found that three-quarters of Guatemalans think the General
holds the strings of power. It will be a tough enough job for President
Portillo to push the army reforms to Congress. It will be harder still to
implement them. After so many years of conflict, it is evident that the
people of Guatemala are going to take some convincing before they feel that
justice is finally arrived in their country. Perhaps the most difficult task
for president Portillo will be to bring members of the armed forces to answer
for crimes committed during and since the war. The best-known case is the
murder of Bishop [Pond Gerardi] who headed the
Catholic Churches human rights office. He was beaten to death in April 1998,
two days after publishing a 1,400 page report that blamed the army and its
collaborators for 90% of the wars brutal crimes. |
|
Since
then, prosecutors have collected evidence of army involvement in the killing
of the Bishop shown here shortly before his death. Many people looking into
the case have received death threats after which one judge, one prosecutor,
and at least three witnesses have fled the country. President Portillo has
said he will ensure the murder is solved, no matter where the trail leads.
The churches human right office has given him six months. |
|
But
Gerardi's position on the Catholic churches human
right office has been replaced by General [Riasmonts]
brother. Bishop Riasmont appears to have the
support of the people but others worry about his role given his relationship
with his brother. Even though his brother is still Guatemala's strong man,
he's afraid of the consequences of his job. |
Speaker
6: |
To
say that I'm not afraid will be a lie but they told me to come here so here I
am. The fear that I have doesn't stop me from saying what I have to say. We
haven't been created for that but to lead and we think that after this life,
there's a better life. |
Speaker
1: |
Since
the end of the civil war, Guatemalans have begun the costly task of
rebuilding their country, the horror finally over. But thousands of people
died or disappeared and about one million were left homeless. Health and
education services are almost non-existent. Nearly half of adult Guatemalans
cannot read. Eight out of 10 people in rural areas live in poverty. People
come to the city looking for work that doesn't exist so they have to survive
the best they can. So politicians now concentrate more on economic policies
than on laying the blame for the past. The work of forensic experts and the
perseverance of the thousands of parents whose children disappeared are
getting hope for the countries' reconciliation. Perhaps for people like Estair, the new president will mean new hope. |