A trip to Guatemala in January 2013 continued to wake me up and gave me a good shake to ensure that I would not just hit the snooze button. While I toured Antigua after days spent in Izabal, I heard the story of two little girls murdered in Guatemala City. Kidnapped, murdered, and bodies in pajamas discarded on the street, I felt that same sobering feeling I had felt before. Child murders happen in the United States, but never does the victim's body get left on the street for the whole world to observe with silent horror. This act of leaving the body on the street not only attempts to diminish the humanity of the victim, but also turns the body into a threat for others. It became an expression of impunity. The murderer leaves the body on the street as a way of saying "Look what I did and look what I will get away with it." A mindset that has come to dominate the Guatemalan culture.
This mindset has not only permitted senseless violence to dominate, but it has also justified violence against women. Every year, hundreds of women die in Guatemala just for being a woman. Their bodies are treated with no respect as they are raped and disfigured. Their murderers live without consequences and their government fails to promote their well-being.
Recently, I met a woman from Guatemala living here in the United States. As we talked and met a couple of times, she willingly shared her story of violence. She spoke of how her husband beat her and how she feared for life. After years of maltreatment, she gathered what she could and fled. No longer feeling secure in her homeland, she made her way to the United States to begin a new life. Hearing the hurt in her voice as she shared her story, the issue became even more personal.
Her story does not differ from the stories of a number of other women, stories that go unheard as impunity dominates their home and country. Their husbands live life without fearing major consequences for beating their wives. Some of the perpetrators do face punishment for their actions, but often women feel too intimated to report it to the police (if one has enough faith that police will actually do something about it). As the aggressor continues to live in "peace," justice will never reach the victim.
For years the victims of genocide have sought justice for the crimes done against them. They have called for the arrest and conviction of Ríos Montt, a Guatemalan ex-president and general responsible for the slaughter of 1,700 Ixil Mayans. Despite these efforts, their calls often fell into silence. The government justified the action of Ríos Montt as necessary to establish stability, so no punishment would be required. In other words, impunity silenced all in the name of preserving the peace.
2013 has become a year of change and the silence has started to break. Ríos Montt was finally placed on trial for the crime of genocide. With the whole world watching, the painful testimonies of the victims emerged from the shadows of fear. No longer could Montt sit there as a man who did his "job," but a man that ended the lives of innocent people. The court agreed and found him guilty.
His conviction not only signifies justice for all those hurt and broken, but also shows that impunity has started to weaken. If this once powerful man now has to face the much delayed consequences of his actions, then the rest should as well. Violence in Guatemala, especially that against women, persists just because one get away with it and this needs to stop. The trial of Ríos Montt not only became a critical trial for the victims genocide, but a symbolic trial for the victims of femicide as well. The women of Guatemala need their justice. Impunity has ruled for far too long.
