Panabaj is a tiny village in Guatemala with one big distinction: The military can never enter.
I visited as part of a relief trip in the aftermath of Hurricane Stan, and was horrified to learn that the military had massacred 13 villagers there in 1990, during the Guatemalan civil war. The municipality declared itself a “military free zone,” not trusting the military to set foot in the community.
Throughout the 36-year Guatemalan civil war, the Guatemalan government systematically targeted indigenous communities like Panabaj with murder, disappearances, torture, and displacement.
In just his first month in office in April of 1982, General and President José Efraín Ríos Montt oversaw the killing of 3,300 Guatemalans. Despite evidence of genocide, Ríos Montt maintained close ties with the U.S. throughout his rule, as did subsequent Guatemalan presidents during the civil war. In 2012, Guatemala formally indicted Ríos Montt for genocide and crimes against humanity. But at 89 years old and in poor health, the former dictator and military leader will likely never serve his sentence.
The U.S. was complicit in this violence, supporting the Guatemalan government as part of its anti-communist Cold War policy. The Central Intelligence Agency provided weapons and training to Guatemalan forces in its efforts to counter Maoist insurgents — with deadly results.
There was no Atrocities Prevention Board at the White House during the Guatemalan civil war. There was no staff trained and dedicated to the prevention of violent conflict and mass atrocities at the State Department or USAID or any of the other agencies of the U.S. government. In fact, American foreign policy itself was running counter to its stated goal of protecting freedom and human rights. That’s why the U.S. needs permanent structures in place to advance peacebuilding and prevent future atrocities.
We cannot count on justice for the perpetrators of atrocities, nor can we bring back the people who lost their lives. We must focus instead on preventing atrocities in the first place — and ensuring that the U.S. does not contribute to more violence.
