We remember so that it does not happen again
By: Cristina Jerez, Rabinal Community Legal Clinic Intern
In February 1982, a group of armed men set fire to the market in Xococ and killed five people. The Guatemalan army associated this event with the guerrilla and the community of Río Negro. On February 6th of that same year, Xococ civil defense patrollers (PAC) ordered members of the community of Río Negro to present themselves in the town centre. Upon arrival they were accused of being guerrilla members and having set fire to the market. They confiscated their identity cards and told them to return the following Saturday to retrieve them. On February 13th, they returned to Xococ where the PAC and the army killed 54 men, 8 women, and 9 children.
The scenery on the day of the commemoration for the Xococ massacre.
FNE students, Lupe and Elian waiting to board the bus to Xococ.
43 years later, the New Hope Foundation (FNE) and the Rabinal Community Legal Clinic (ABJP) led students to the mass grave site to honour the lives of the victims of the Xococ massacre. We met outside the FNE and ABJP offices early in the morning and piled on to a school bus to make our way to Xococ. The kids were enthusiastic and looking forward to the day ahead. The teachers served them atol and tayuyos for breakfast. We got off the bus and hiked for a few minutes until we arrived at a shallow river. I took off my shoes and rolled up my jeans to walk through. Once I was on the other side, I looked back and saw some of the organizers of the commemoration ceremony driving through with their pick-up truck. The students who hadn’t crossed the river yet, piled on the back of the truck one on top of the other and laughed as they crossed trying not to fall off. We then walked through a milpa field and down to the ceremonial site.
The scene as we get off the bus and arrive in Xococ.
Students pile on the back of the pick-up truck to cross the river.
The milpa field we crossed in Xococ to get to the commemoration site.
When we arrived some of the older students helped prepare for the commemoration by taking the petals off the flowers they brought and setting up the ceremonial area. The ceremony consisted of a circle with two lines intersecting each other, made out of sugar. Around the border, the students placed copal pom, a material made from tree resin which in Mayan spirituality is used as an ofrenda or “offering”. They continued spreading flower petals, panela, firewood, and candles. They also placed meat on top. “The meat,” the abuelo or elder who was leading the Mayan ceremony explained, “is offered to the forefathers, because they were not able to live like us. We can eat meat every day. They might have only been able to have it once a year. So we offer them meat to show them what we have overcome and achieved.”
As this was going on, the students began to choose their spot to watch the ceremony, some brought umbrellas to cover themselves from the sun. They laid down to eat their snacks and bought mango from local women. As they finished setting up the ceremony, Don Romulo, a teacher at FNE began to explain to us that:
“This [commemoration] is part of our history, it is a special day…Through this we remember our grandparents and martyrs… We remember so that it does not happen again.”
Further, he explained that this is an important visit for the students so that they know where the events took place beyond the textbooks. Don Romulo introduced Don Jesus Tecu Osorio as the representative and founder of the FNE.
Don Jesus reminded the students that last year when they visited Xococ, they learned what memory and historical memory was, so they already had an understanding of these two terms. Then, Don Jesus began to talk about the events in Xococ, where armed groups committed a massacre against civilians. He explained what distinguished civilians from combatants was that civilians are not armed. As Don Jesus recounted the events to the students, emphasizing the atrocities without leaving out any details, the students listened attentively.
He also explained to the students how forensic evidence related to the Xococ massacre further proved that those who were killed were civilians and not guerillas.The exhumation in 2001 revealed a mass grave where the remains of the victims were found. These remains showed the victims lying face down with their hands tied behind their back and a rope around their neck.
“Were these guerrilla members?” Jesus asked.
“No,” the students replied.
“In combat, the wound would be in the front.”
“…and what I just told you is?” Jesus asked the students.
“Historical memory,” they replied in unison.
“The teacher told you that this is so that it does not happen again. Mainly, so that if one day you join the police or the army, and someone tells you to go do something like this, you turn around and leave.”
Don Jesus then asked us to turn our attention to the abuelo who spoke about the forefathers who gave their lives for their wellbeing. Those who said “if the rich man has 10 houses, we too should have 10 houses.” He said that because of their efforts, they have things like cars, meat, education, etc. today.
“One day this has to turn around. Their memory cannot be in vain,” the abuelo explained. “Today we honour the lives they gave so that we can have our education. Today we are joined by lawyers of our Indigenous race and at that time that was not possible.”
To begin the ceremony, the abuelo led us in the convocation of the animas through the four cosmic points. The animas are the souls of their ancestors. One man played the violin and another played the adufe, a wooden drum-like instrument to invoke the animas. Then, students approached the ceremonial area one by one and spread candles in a counterclockwise motion around the circle. The abuelo also spread alcohol, tayuyos, and atol in the circle. This was followed by three prayers in Maya Achí where we all kneeled. Once the last prayer ended, everyone picked up their garbage and helped bring the materials back to the bus. We stopped at the river to have some tamales, bread and hibiscus juice, and made our way back to Rabinal together.
Students help to set up the area for the Mayan ceremony.
Mayan commemoration ceremony for the victims of the Xococ massacre.
Tamales and bread were served for lunch after the ceremony.
As I begin my placement at the Rabinal Community Legal Clinic, I am grateful to be able to witness the ceremony in Xococ to honour the lives of the victims. In my first weeks I have spent a lot of time reading the testimonies from local people who are witnesses and survivors of massacres and other crimes included in the Vecinos de las Comunidades del Pueblo Maya Achi en Rabinal case. As I read them, I am overcome with feelings of sadness, frustration, and worry. Sadness for the lives lost at the hands of the state, frustration with the impunity that prevents bringing these perpetrators to justice, and worry over the outcome of the Vecinos case long after the end of my placement.
Joining the FNE in the commemoration at Xococ reminded me how, despite the roadblocks in the justice system and obstacles in the fight for justice, there are ways to seek peace and closure at the local level. This commemoration provided a space to honour the 71 innocent people from the community of Río Negro and remember these events so that it does not happen again.
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