Guatemala residents block search for remains of slain indigenous children
Last edited Thu Sep 30, 2021, 03:03 AM - Edit history (1)
1 DAY AGO
The massacre, one of many targeting Mayan communities during the civil war, occurred on May 21, 1988, in the remote Chiul indigenous community.
Arnulfo Oxlaj, a survivor of the massacre of children from the Chiul Indigenous community in Guatemala's civil war, meets with Indigenous leaders after local authorities prevented an exhumation at the site where the children are believed to be buried, in Nebaj, Guatemala (Luis Echeverria / Reuters)
Residents of a Mayan community in Guatemala prevented experts on Tuesday from beginning to exhume the remains of more than 100 children believed to have been buried clandestinely in a former military garrison during the country's civil war in the 1980s.
The search efforts in the village of Chiul, more than 120 miles (200 km) from Guatemala City, were scheduled to begin early on Tuesday morning but were suspended after residents disrupted the plans without offering an explanation for their opposition.
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The massacre, one of many targeting Mayan communities during the civil war, occurred on May 21, 1988, in the remote Chiul indigenous community. Witnesses say members of the armed forces captured hundreds of residents and took them to the military garrison, where they separated the children from their parents.
Between the ages of 2 and 15
According to Oxlaj, 116 children between the ages of 2 and 15 were tortured and thrown into what was then a well inside the facility, where they drowned.
More:
https://www.trtworld.com/americas/guatemala-residents-block-search-for-remains-of-slain-indigenous-children-50328
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Indigenous leaders meet after local authorities prevented an exhumation at the site where children from the Chiul Indigenous community massacred in Guatemala's civil war are believed to be buried, in Nebaj, Guatemala September 28, 2021. REUTERS/Luis Echeverria reuters_tickers
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Older article:
The remains of 31 indigenous Ixil Mayans, killed at the height of the Guatemala civil war, have been buried in the country's north-west.
Hundreds of people attended the ceremony in Nebaj, Quiche province, singing hymns and burning incense.
The army attacked the village of Xecax in 1982, accusing locals of supporting a left-wing insurgency.
An estimated 200,000 people were killed in the 1960-1996 civil war, the vast majority of them indigenous Mayans.
The bodies of many of those killed had been burned and dumped in mass graves. The remains were exhumed four years ago.
Eight of the 31 victims' remains have been identified for forensic experts
More:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-28578636