VZCZCXYZ0000
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHGT #1458/01 3261110
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 211110Z NOV 08
FM AMEMBASSY GUATEMALA
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 6504

UNCLAS GUATEMALA 001458 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT PASS TO USAID FOR LAC/CAM EBOSTIC 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KCRM PHUM EAID PGOV KDEM KJUS SOCI GT
SUBJECT: EXHUMATIONS HELP GUATEMALAN FAMILIES FIND CLOSURE 
 
¶1. (U) Summary: Exhumations are helping bring closure to 
family members of the estimated 150 victims of a 1982 
massacre in Lacama Segundo, an indigenous community in 
Chichicastenango, Quiche Department, an area that saw intense 
fighting during Guatemala's internal conflict.  With the 
support of various Guatemalan NGOs, the indigenous community 
organization K'amalb'e has helped numerous families find and 
identify the remains of victims in this area.  While Lacama 
Segundo continues to suffer the negative effects of the 
conflict, including fear of the army and lack of economic 
opportunities, K'amalb'e has helped families find closure. 
End Summary. 
 
¶2. (U) On November 5, Poloffs and DAO attache traveled to 
Lacama Segundo, an indigenous community of about 1,200 people 
in Chichicastenango, Quiche Department, to witness an 
exhumation of victims of Guatemala's internal conflict. 
K'amalb'e, an indigenous community organization dedicated to 
helping families find victims' remains, organized the 
exhumation with the support of the NGO Families of the 
Detained and Disappeared of Guatemala (FAMDEGUA), the 
Archbishop's Office of Human Rights (ODHA), and the 
Guatemalan Forensic Anthropology Foundation (FAFG), which 
USAID supports. 
 
¶3. (SBU) According to Tomas Quino Mejia, president of 
K'amalb'e's executive board, the organization was founded in 
1996 in the wake of the Peace Accords, when families realized 
there was "value in speaking about the past."  It was not 
until 2000, however, that the organization conducted its 
first exhumation, when families finally felt safe enough to 
participate in the process.  The organization conducts 
approximately four to six exhumations each year and has 
completed 38 to date.  According to Quino, former Civil 
Defense Patrol (PAC, a citizens militia under the direction 
of the army) members, some of whom continue to live in the 
community, have threatened K'amalb'e members for conducting 
exhumations.  Perpetrators of human rights abuses committed 
during the internal conflict often fear that evidence from 
exhumations could be used against them in formal court 
proceedings. 
 
¶4. (SBU) According to Quino, on August 1, 1982, the 
Guatemalan Army killed 150 residents of Lacama Segundo, many 
of them women and children, for their alleged guerrilla 
support.  While some community members may have been 
guerrillas, according to Quino, he doubted that such a large 
segment of the population, including children and the 
elderly, were involved in guerrilla activity.  Jose Xon 
Tecum, secretary of K'amalb'e's executive board, speculated 
that a high-level military official from a nearby army base 
likely ordered subordinates to conduct the massacre.  ODHA 
representative Luisa Nicolau agreed, stating that military 
members, not PAC members, committed most of the killings in 
Lacama Segundo. 
 
¶5. (SBU) Representatives of FAMDEGUA, ODHA, FAFG, the Public 
Ministry, and approximately 20 relatives and friends of 
victims traveled with Poloffs to the exhumation site, where, 
according to Nicolau, military personnel tortured and burned 
to death the parents of a Lacama Segundo resident in 1982. 
FAFG's forensic anthropologists, with the help of family and 
community members, found remains in a shallow grave and 
transported them to their laboratory in Guatemala City to 
identify the victims, using its new DNA laboratory 
inaugurated on November 4.  Assistant Prosecutor Andres 
Gilberto Leon explained that the Public Ministry takes 
approximately 20 days to process the paperwork giving 
K'amalb'e legal permission to conduct an exhumation, although 
QK'amalb'e legal permission to conduct an exhumation, although 
K'amalb'e representative Quino stated that it could take up 
to four years.  According to both Leon and Quino, 
approximately one year after the exhumation, FAFG will return 
the identified remains to family members, who can then give a 
proper burial to the deceased. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Lacama Segundo, accordin to Quino, continues to 
feel the negative psychoogical, social, and economic effects 
of Guatemala's internal conflict.  Residents continue to fear 
and mistrust the Army and worry that the government could 
again commit atrocities.  Nicolau stated that some community 
members do not participate in exhumations out of fear that 
they will be identified by former PAC members who reside in 
the community.  (Note: Poloffs encountered a group of 
community members who seemed to oppose the exhumation.  One 
member referred to the remains with a derogatory Quiche term 
that means remains of an animal.  The individuals may have 
been former PAC members.  End note.) 
 
¶7. (SBU) According to Xon, the 1982 massacre created many 
orphans, who grew up with little access to education or basic 
health care.  Most community members are subsistence farmers, 
with little opportunity for other employment.  Given this 
reality, Lacama Segundo members support and appreciate 
K'amalb'e's work since, according to Quino and Nicolau, the 
process of finding and identifying remains brings closure and 
dignity to victims' families.  Some family members view 
exhumations as a form of vindication for the victims, 
according to Nicolau, even if the perpetrators may never be 
legally held accountable for their crimes. 
McFarland