Every June 30, the Guatemalan military parades down the streets of Guatemala City in full pomp and splendor to commemorate “Army Day.” The parade celebrates the Army’s role in society and is devoid of any acknowledgement of the atrocities committed by the military and its proxies over the course of the country’s 36-year civil war, during which more than 200,000 Guatemalans—most of them Maya indigenous—were killed and 44,000 disappeared. The U.S.-backed government was responsible for most of these human rights abuses, which have been swept under a rug of silence.
The Guatemalan group HIJOS, which stands for Sons and Daughters for Identity and Justice Against Forgetting and Silence, was founded in 1999 by the children of the genocide victims. Their mandate is to ensure that the government’s past and present atrocities are not forgotten. (It is independent of similar organizations, with the same acronym, in Argentina and several other countries.) Though not all of the group’s members are actual relatives of the disappeared, all members are committed to raising public awareness about crimes committed by state security forces in the hope of achieving justice.
HIJOS targets its awareness-raising campaigns to the country’s youth, many of whom remain uninformed of their country’s sordid past. HIJOS attempts to reach this generation through music festivals, street theater, murals, graffiti and protests. Its annual counter-mobilization on Army Day is one of its bigger events, attracting attention from a mainstream media that usually ignores the group. The protest in 2000 succeeded in embarrassing the Army to the point that it cancelled the following year’s celebration.
By promoting awareness of past and present injustices that the Guatemalan government would prefer to ignore, HIJOS has itself become a target of state security forces. In January 2005, police raided the organization’s offices and those of associated groups. Computers, agenda books and sound equipment were stolen. The raid compromised not only the activities of the group, but also the safety of members whose personal information was contained in the stolen items. During a second raid in May, unknown perpetrators unsuccessfully attempted to kidnap a member.
Filiberto Celada, a 22-year-old member of HIJOS, explains that some difficulties faced by the group are more insidious and pervasive than simply repression from the authorities. “Many youth are apathetic, and that makes them very hard to reach. They are caught in the global culture of consumerism. They care about what is on TV, but do not know or care that Guatemala even had a civil war.” Nevertheless, says Celada, “Some are very open to the message, and want to learn.”
While HIJOS primarily focuses its work on a national level, the organization also works to establish relationships with groups and people in other countries. HIJOS seeks to spread awareness of its cause beyond Guatemala’s borders, not only to promote international solidarity, but also to draw attention to the transnational nature of the problems facing the country. Although peace accords were signed in 1996, the U.S. government continues to provide aid to the Guatemalan Army, which in turn is often used to quell local protests against foreign corporations—as in January 2005, when the Army was deployed against an anti-mining demonstration and one activist was shot dead.
HIJOS was also active in the campaign against the recently passed Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA). In fact, many suspect the office raids of 2005 were in response to the group’s opposition to the trade deal. HIJOS fears that the wider leverage given to foreign multinationals by the agreement will result in more funding for the military, which will continue to protect foreign business interests and repress those struggling for social justice on behalf of the 75% of Guatemalans living in poverty. International solidarity is, therefore, essential to HIJOS’ efforts to challenge the global power structures that contribute to both the agents of repression and the denial of justice.
About the Author
Suzanne MacNeil is a student at Cape Breton University in Nova Scotia, Canada.
