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THE SURVIVORS ORGANIZE

After fleeing the site of the March 13, 1982, massacre, Carlos Chen Osorio spent five years hiding in the forests and mountains, dodging army patrols and bombing raids. He eventually emerged and went to work on the south coast of Guatemala. It was not until 1992 that he returned to Rabinal to rejoin those of the Rio Negro community who survived and were now living in the settlement of Pacux, near the town of Rabinal.

Jesus Tecu Osorio, one of the 18 survivors of the March 13, 1982, massacre, lived in a state of slavery with his captor for two years before he managed to escape. By 1986 he too had returned to Pacux along with some of the other survivors. They found patrolmen living in the houses that had been promised to the villagers by INDE.

In 1993, Carlos Chen joined with Jesus Tecu and Pedrina Burrero Lopez, a survivor of massacres in another village, to form the Widows and Orphans Committee of Rabinal. Their goal was to work for justice and improve the terrible living standards in the Pacux settlement. The committee evolved into a broader organization known as Adivima (Association for Development for the Victims of Violence in Maya Achi Verapaz), which now covers between 20 and 30 communities that suffered from violence in the 1980s.

The creation of the committee and the start of its public campaign lifted morale among the survivors. By 1994, the committee had about 800 members.

Rights Action (formerly Guatemala Partners), which has supported Adivima since 1995, lists some of the committee's achievements in the last seven years. These include forcing a review of the Chixoy resettlement plan and securing new farm land; building an income-generating carpentry workshop; establishing a scholarship fund for indigenous youth; giving hundreds of popular education courses in human rights; offering training courses to run local enterprises and self-help organizations; establishing a legal aid clinic; carrying out exhumations; erecting monuments to the truth; opening a mobile museum to celebrate the Achi culture; and pursuing legal causes against civil defense patrollers who participated in massacres.

In some respects, this is a model community-based campaign against impunity. It begins with exhumations. Once a community locates a mass grave, it works through a human rights group in the capital Guatemala City to request an exhumation. The actual work is carried out by one of three forensic teams operating in Guatemala.

The victims of the March 13, 1982, massacre at Rio Negro were exhumed in late 1993. There were 140 bodies recovered, but only a few could be positively identified. In June 1994, the remains were given a Mayan burial, and the survivors erected a small monument at the site that carried the names of the perpetrators.

On June 2, 1994, the monument was torn down. Given that it was situated next to a military base, the survivors assumed that those responsible were from the military, and they protested vigorously through the press-a small sign of the changing times in Guatemala. They then erected a second, larger monument, with support from EPICA, the Washington-based Ecumenical Program on Central America and the Caribbean organization (web site: www.igc.org/epica/index.html).

Exhumations are now a well-established part of the process of peacebuilding, but they never fail to have a shocking impact on those immediately affected. In deference to their mother earth, which has been doubly defiled-first by the crime and now by the exhumation-the Mayan-Achi place simple votive offerings at the lip of the gravesite. This can be a lit candle or even a bottle of soda.

In 1999 Rights Action assisted Adivima in setting up a legal clinic, the "Bufete Juridico Popular." The Bufete staff lawyers who are qualified to help local people in filing requests with the district court, press charges, file complaints about intimidation, or straighten out property disputes. Jesus is a full-time employee of the Bufete and spends his days driving villagers to Salama (the municipal seat of Rabinal), guiding them through the procedures, and translating from Achi, the local indigenous language, to Spanish for them.

Pedrina described one project of the Bufete: "The Bufete is helping people file charges against the criminals and is helping displaced people with property problems. We are advising people how to return to their communities. Right now, for example, there are around 200 people who were displaced from Laguna and Hacienda villages, living in Rabinal, Nimacabaj, and Palimunix. They have no money, work, or homes. They are in a worse position than the people of Rio Negro. We are working to get the government to buy land for these people, but they haven't given us a yes or no answer yet."

The activists of Rabinal show no sign of slowing down their efforts. There is scarcely any alternative. Pedrina told the Advocacy Project, "Almost all of the villages around here are full of people who feel the same way. This is why we are struggling. We must continue our work."

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THE FIGHT FOR COMPENSATION

On April 18, 2000, Carlos Chen met with a group of senior officials from the World Bank. For Carlos, the meeting capped a whirlwind week of speaking engagements and rallies in Washington on the occasion of the World Bank's spring meeting.

Carlos received a standing ovation when he spoke to one meeting and called to denounce the Bank's guidelines on dams and resettlement. These guidelines require that anyone displaced by a Bank-supported dam must be restored to a standard of living at least equivalent to that enjoyed before they were moved.

The World Bank maintains that this commitment has been honored. In 1999, it succeeded in pressuring the Guatemalan authorities to purchase a new farm for the Rio Negro villagers at Sahomax, in the Alta Vista highlands. Sixty-three families held land titles at the Sahomax farm when the Advocacy Project visited it earlier this year.

With this, the Bank feels it has met almost all of its outstanding obligations. World Bank officials told the Advocacy Project in Guatemala City that the Bank would continue to search for ways of providing more assistance, but within the framework of the Bank's program for support to the government of Guatemala. Among other things, says the Bank, this provides funding for the Guatemalan peace process and several anti-poverty programs.

The Rio Negro survivors see this as totally inadequate. They point out that the Sahomax farm is far from their current homes at Pacux. Even with the new farm, they have only received a third of the land they cultivated before being displaced. They argue that they have yet to receive adequate compensation for the loss of trees, livestock, crops, fishing rights, and cultural artifacts. Carlos Chen, Jesus Tecu, and the other Rio Negro survivors insisted that the Bank has a responsibility to indemnify them for the losses.

In addition, 44 others had been barred from receiving compensation, even though they were related to victims of the 1982 massacres.

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