The path to reconciliation
I've been thinking about the right way to go on the Guatemalan post-Internal Conflict peace process ever since we touched the subject in one of my classes and weren't able to reach an agreement (this in a class of not over 30 people, about the same age and general conditions... frustrating, I know).
The main disagreement was on what to do about the people accused of being responsible for the most horrible crimes that happened during that time (200.000 deaths and 150.000 disappeared in 36 years of internal conflict).
The Peace Agreements were signed on December 29th 1996 and they practically bestowed absolute amnesty over everyone. Ten years after, people feel like enough hasn't been done. Some people claim for formal trials, Nuremberg Trials like (only the N.T. happened months after World War II was over, not 10 years after), and others want everything to be done with.
Mayan Customary Law (Guatemalan) as well as Ubuntu (Southafrican) are conciliatory, not punitive. After watching "In my country" I was truly inspired. The movie takes place in the Southafrican post-Apartheid period in 1995. It shows the painful yet necessary process the victims had to go through in the road to reconciliation and peace thru recognising the truth. Harsh, but it worked.
Amnesty was granted on grounds of proportionality and with one condition: confession and participation in the hearings that took place all around the country. The hearings of the Commission of Peace and Reconciliation represented a space where the victims could tell their stories, with the participation of the perpetrators. That was the healing process needed to allow Southafricans to live together in harmony after the whole "peace movement" was over with and things got back to "normal".
As much as I would like to think this could happen in Guatemala, I don't. For many reasons: one, 10 years (!!!) have gone by, and responsibility has evaporated through the air. Two, the amount of money needed to promote this kind of process is larger than large; and three, giving the fact that Guatemala faces many urgent problems today (consequences of the Internal Conflict) reconciliation doesn't appear as a priority in the political agenda anymore (I wonder if it ever did).
So...I still don't know. But there is something I DO KNOW: whatever we are going to do needs to be done as soon as possible.
The main disagreement was on what to do about the people accused of being responsible for the most horrible crimes that happened during that time (200.000 deaths and 150.000 disappeared in 36 years of internal conflict).
The Peace Agreements were signed on December 29th 1996 and they practically bestowed absolute amnesty over everyone. Ten years after, people feel like enough hasn't been done. Some people claim for formal trials, Nuremberg Trials like (only the N.T. happened months after World War II was over, not 10 years after), and others want everything to be done with.
Mayan Customary Law (Guatemalan) as well as Ubuntu (Southafrican) are conciliatory, not punitive. After watching "In my country" I was truly inspired. The movie takes place in the Southafrican post-Apartheid period in 1995. It shows the painful yet necessary process the victims had to go through in the road to reconciliation and peace thru recognising the truth. Harsh, but it worked.
Amnesty was granted on grounds of proportionality and with one condition: confession and participation in the hearings that took place all around the country. The hearings of the Commission of Peace and Reconciliation represented a space where the victims could tell their stories, with the participation of the perpetrators. That was the healing process needed to allow Southafricans to live together in harmony after the whole "peace movement" was over with and things got back to "normal".
As much as I would like to think this could happen in Guatemala, I don't. For many reasons: one, 10 years (!!!) have gone by, and responsibility has evaporated through the air. Two, the amount of money needed to promote this kind of process is larger than large; and three, giving the fact that Guatemala faces many urgent problems today (consequences of the Internal Conflict) reconciliation doesn't appear as a priority in the political agenda anymore (I wonder if it ever did).
So...I still don't know. But there is something I DO KNOW: whatever we are going to do needs to be done as soon as possible.
rocio - 23. Feb, 01:27
