Guatemala Human Rights Commission/USA

January 29, 2007

PRENSA LIBRE

Translated by Charlotte Colón

Victims of Burned Spanish Embassy to Receive Compensation

Thirty-seven families of campesinos, indigenous leaders, and employees of the Spanish embassy that burned to death on January 31, 1980 will receive economic compensation for their losses, twenty-seven years after the incident, although they continue searching for justice

Sergio Fernando Vi was seventeen years old when his father, an indigenous church catechist in Chajul, said goodbye to him for the last time. Gaspar Vi, Sergio’s father, had wanted justice for all the indigenous people that had been persecuted by the Army and who had been accused of collaborating with the guerillas.

This decision cost Gaspar his life on January 31, 1980, when the Spanish Embassy burned down, and with it, all of the protestors that had gathered hours before to demand an end to kidnappings. While the building burned, the Army and the police blocked the firefighters from entering the scene.

“Twenty-seven years later, they recognize us as the victims of the internal armed conflict, but that is not enough,” laments Vi.

The victims’ families wish that the economic compensation would also be accompanied by a State effort to bring those responsible to trial.

Vi is certain that the military government of 1980 is responsible for the death of his father in the Embassy and his mother in the mountains, which left him and his four brothers searching for ways to survive.

“Months before my father entered that Embassy, my family already knew how the Army worked,” said Vi, who was kidnapped along with his father and brothers in Chajul.

“They took us to an army base where we were accused of working with the guerillas. The Army tortured us for our confessions,” Vi said. “Because we had nothing to confess, they released us with the warning that if we continued collaborating with the Chajul church, they would kill us,” he remembers.

The Chajul church had many development projects in the area that were successful in working with campesinos, including education to decrease the high illiteracy rates in the area.

“If I remember anything about my father, it is that he told us that he would die with the machete in his hand, but that we should study and better ourselves,” said Vi. Vi could not fulfill his father’s dream, because after the incident, he was forced to flee to the mountains with his mother and brothers.

“The Army circled the mountains and burned all of the crops so we that we wouldn’t have food to eat. This resulted in the death of my mother in March 1983.”

Economic Consolation

The compensation for the families of the fallen will be twenty-four thousand quetzales (approximately $3,428). Rosalina Tuyuc, president of the National Reparations Committee, commented, “We have not yet documented all victims’ families, but we will compensate those who have completed the paperwork.”

“To me, it doesn’t seem bad to give reparations, even if it is only twenty-four thousand quetzales; but it doesn’t address our main demand - justice - which has been left to the side,” asserted Vi.

Rafael González also lost his brother that day, and agrees with Vi in his demand for justice. “I mourn the death of Romeo Lucas because he died without taking responsibility for the deaths of hundreds of people while he was alive, and that justice never came,” said González. “I hope that those still leaving will find it.”

The opening of the genocide case in Spain and the petitions to extradite those responsible has increased the hope of these families. But if the victims’ families are convinced of anything, it is that if there were justice in Guatemala, for crimes today as well as crimes in the past, the country would be very different.

The bodies from the Embassy fire were buried in a common grave in the general cemetery, where a small plaque now rests with a list of the victims’ names.

“It has been difficult to document”

Rosalina Tuyuc assured that she has been working as quickly and efficiently as possible to be able to compensate all the victims, a feat that as of January 31 will have taken twenty-seven years.

PL: Will the families receive compensation on the twenty-seventh anniversary?

Tuyuc: If not on the 31 st, because the families have a lot of commemorations planned for that day, it will be a day close to that.

PL: Will all of the families of the thirty-seven victims be compensated?

Tuyuc: We have registered twenty-five of the thirty-seven victims, and we do not have the complete documentation from everyone. At the end of the month, those who have submitted documentation will receive their money. Those who submit documents later will receive it then.

PL: Why is it so difficult to document the cases?

Tuyuc: In those days, many families did not even have their children officially registered and they lacked a lot of paperwork. For instance, we have one case of a ninety-nine year old woman who never had an identity card and lost her son’s birth certificate.

PL: Who will receive the money?

Tuyuc: The widows or widowers, or parents if the victim was not married, or else the children.

PL: Will the Reparations Program budget be fully executed this year?

Tuyuc: As we have said before, the budget will probably be lacking, but one never knows what will happen.

Attempts for Justice:

• 1999: Rigoberta Menchú presented a demand for genocide to the Spanish tribunals. The petition was partially accepted in 2000 for the victims of Spanish nationality and priests.
• 2005: Spain announced a genocide trial and petitioned the arrest of six military officials and two civilians.
• Those accused of involvement in the Spanish Embassy burning: Romeo Lucas García, former president (deceased); Donaldo Alvarez Ruiz, former government minister; Germán Chuoina Barahona, former police leader; Pedro García Arredondo, former command leader.

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