Memory and forgetting in Guatemala: Catholic Church sets the war record straight

[Judi Lynn]

The beatification of ten Catholics killed by the Guatemalan Army and local militias several decades ago is a powerful symbol of change in Guatemala

ESPAÑOL
Sergio Palencia-Frener
6 June 2021, 12.00am



Candelaria de los Mártires Parish in Quiché, Guatemala, 2015. | Sergio Palencia-Frener

On 23 April, the Catholic Church beatified three priests and seven co-religionists, the youngest of whom was 12, who were murdered by the Guatemalan Army and local militias in Quiché, north-west of the country’s capital, several decades ago.

The ceremony was a powerful symbol of change in Guatemala, where conflict raged between 1960 and 1996, leaving more than 200,000 people dead. During the civil war, the church was persecuted for its advocacy of the dignity and rights of the poor. In the beatification mass, broadcast on national television, several bishops declared the Quiché dead, who were killed between 1980 and 1991, as martyrs.

Most of the newly beatified were Indigenous Maya, while the priests were European. All died at the hands of the army or the civilian self-defense patrols, militias created by the government of Guatemala’s late dictator, Efraín Ríos Montt that were notorious for perpetuating human rights abuses. Montt was convicted in 2013 for trying to exterminate the Ixil, a Mayan community whose villages were wiped out by his forces.

With the beatification of two Ixil, it is worth exploring the historical context of the deaths of the ten newly beatified Catholics. The murders have a regional resonance; as a Central American phenomenon, the persecution of the church was common to the dictatorial regimes of Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala. Some Catholic priests remained in their parishes despite receiving multiple threats. But their decision to share the danger faced by their parishioners sometimes ended in tragedy.

More:
https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/democraciaabierta/memory-and-forgetting-in-guatemala-catholic-church-sets-war-record-straight/