Reverend Dario Caal, a Mayan Catholic priest from Guatemala, recently dropped by The Nation to speak about the life of Native people in his country.
In Guatemala, the land is owned by the few and the rich. The Native people who have lived there for thousands of years are on the margins of society.
Rev. Caal spoke of the 35-year civil war between Guatemala’s U.S.-funded army and the mostly Native peasants. The war has claimed 100,000 lives. December 7 will be the 14th anniversary of one of the greatest tragedies of the war, the massacre of over 800 men, women and children in the peasant community known as The 2Rs.
The rebels and army are now in peace talks, but these talks aren’t dealing with the reasons the fighting broke out in the first place, says Rev. Caal. He said the army is still in control of the country, Native people haven’t gotten their ancestral lands back and they have no political voice in Guatemala.
Thanks to Mary Ellen Davis for translating Rev. Caal’s remarks. Mary Ellen has made an award-winning film about the life of the Mayan people and other peasants in Guatemala called “Tierra Madre” (“Sacred Earth”). Rev. Caal speaks in the film, which was recently shown in theatres in Montreal. Copies are available from Cinéma Libre at (514) 849-7888.
The Nation: What is the situation of the Native people in Guatemala?
Rev. Dario Caal: During the last 500 years, few things have changed for the Native people, except some details in the form of domination and oppression. The problems have changed only in name in the past 500 years.
How many of the Guatemalan people are Native?
Out of 10 or 11 million Guatemalans, 60 or 70 per cent are Native people. But the people who have arrived from Europe are the ones who are leading the country now. The Native people today are not even considered by the ruling class to be the descendants of the Mayan civilization. They say that the Maya disappeared or even left.
There is an ancient Mayan tomb from those days, and some people claim that the tomb is devoted to an astronaut who came from another planet, and then he went back. So they say the Mayas have gone, and these people who are still here are just “Indians”— peasants.
In Spanish the word “Indios” is a put-down. They are even considered to be the cause of the country’s poverty because they’re supposedly uneducated and backward.
The problems go back more than just 35 years, when the guerrilla war started. They go back centuries. But since the 500th anniversary of the arrival of the Europeans, there has been a rising of awareness of the Native people. This is very positive.
Within the political system, there is no participation whatsoever of Native people. But recently, a political party was formed, the Democratic Front of New Guatemala, which is concentrated on popular organizations, Native people, unions, human-rights groups. This is very good.
They can become a real alternative if they address the issue of the participation of the Native people. Or they can follow the usual route of a political party and just be there to represent themselves.
The idea of creating a new political party, this is not the solution by itself. The solution is to advance an alternative way of doing politics.
We’ve heard about the violence of the military and the death squads in Guatemala. Is it mostly directed toward the Native people?
First of all, you have to understand that the Guatemalan army is one of the most criminal ones in the history of Latin America. And most people outside the country know that.
For example, there is one military battalion called the Kaibils, which is like the Green Berets (U.S. Special Forces) and was trained by U.S. military advisors. They have been one of the most violent groups in the repression.
A peace agreement was recently signed to reduce the size of the army and reintegrate the fighters on both sides—the army and the guerrilla—back into the society. But people have doubts about this agreement because the army is so numerous, and they actually keep growing. When they are reduced, how much will they actually be reduced?
The military are very, very numerous. They are all over the country. There are military zones in every small town. The military is involved in all aspects of Guatemalan society. Will this reduction mean that they will get out of all the affairs that should be dealt with by the civilian government?
There is education—they have their own secondary schools all over the country. They have a bank.
The military?!
Yes, it’s part of the army! They have a TV channel—Channel 5 is theirs. They have their own supermarkets. They control all the maps of the country. The building of bridges and roads. So how much are they going to lose and how much are they going to keep?
The higher levels of the military are the ones that control the whole country. They manipulate the people. They’ve managed to militarize the whole culture of the country. And who forms the troops of the military? The Native people. Before, they were recruited forcibly. Now, they want to get in because they need jobs. They are promised education and a wage.
Also, during the worst violence, it was Native people who had enrolled in the army themselves who were conducting the massacres, enforced by the higher powers. This is the result of the militarization of the whole country.
People have been turned against each other.
Yes. They’ve turned a Native person as a wolf against another Native person.
Right now, the army is promoting itself as an alternative. They don’t want to lose anything in this peace process. What they’re doing is convincing people to join them by promising them an education, promising them a wage when there’s no work. So when they reduce the army, the only people they will reduce is the foot soldier and the higher levels will be left untouched.
Do you feel it is important for the Church to work to stop
these injustices?
The Church owes not only through charity, but moral obligation. The demands will come from the people in their struggle for improving their lives, for their social and political concerns.
Because of the Church’s work, relations with the private plantation owners have deteriorated quite badly. They see the Church’s work with the people as a sin. But we feel that we still must go ahead to support the people in their attempts to play an active role in their own historical process. If this means the plantation owners must respect the law and respect the workers, then that should be done.
Have any people in the Church been targeted for the repression?
Right in the region where my parish is, the Polochic River, the plantation owners formed an organization—they call it the Plantation Owners’ Organization of Guatemala—that has enormous power. They wrote a document of 100 pages where they justify the existing inequalities in the country, and also accuse the Church of promoting disorder and counseling the peasants in forms of protest. In this document, they publish the names of the priests and of the people who work with the peasants and the Native communities. And they feel that this work is diabolical. It’s not only the priests—it’s also the lay preachers, who are called catechists in Guatemala.
There is an organization called the Confederation of Religious Congregations of Guatemala, who have a list of all the priests and lay preachers who over the years have fallen, paid with their lives to the repression.
There is another part of the country, San Marcos, where last April or May there was an open letter written by an organization which has no address. There is a situation in San Marcos where Native people are occupying private land, and this letter accused the Church of being behind the situation. They openly threatened the Bishop and certain nuns with death. If they didn’t leave that area, they would risk their lives. And they did this openly in the media with no acts against them and everybody knew who wrote it.
There is a strong reaction right now against the Church’s involvement with matters that are of fundamental importance. Still, we feel that the Church should be occupied with spiritual matters, but also day-to-day matters of the people. That’s why now there are certain private plantations where they don’t even let us in. Anybody from the Catholic Church is persona non grata (unwelcome). Even though it’s a public road, they have a barrier there and they won’t let us in.
There are three problems which are not going to be resolved by the peace process, which is now finishing. That’s the issue of the land, the military problem and the active participation of the Native people in the politics of the country. Unless this new party offers an alternative to the usual politics, these problems will not be resolved.
For the Cree people, there is a strong attachment to the land. Is there the same feeling among Native people in Guatemala?
The land, for us, is what gives us our feeling of identity. We are totally linked with the land we live on. The whole spiritual view of the Native people of Guatemala is linked to the land, their whole view of the world and life. It’s fundamental in their spirituality.
What is the situation with the land in Guatemala?
There is a very unequal distribution of land. On top of that, the concept of private property is not something natural to the Native people, who cannot conceive that land can be broken into pieces and sold or rented in small lots. Not only is the Native concept of property not respected, but the few private plantation owners who own most of the land are not interested at all in selling or giving their land away. The government is not going to start buying land for the peasants. So the basic issue of lack of access to land is not going to be resolved in the near future and is not considered part of the peace treaty.
This means the private landowners did not react negatively to the peace agreement. They did not feel threatened by it. The land is not going to be given back to its historic owners. It is not even contemplated.
The signing of the peace agreement is okay in the sense that it will give a little pause, a little breathing room to people. But what is going to happen later on? Something must happen.
The government has tried to improve its image and has attacked certain problems like corruption and drug trafficking. That’s good. But they’re not addressing the issue of justice for the Native people.
The country has been suffering from pressures of drug trafficking and general violence in the streets. Guatemala is a bridge from drugs from South America.
Is the drug trafficking condoned or done by the government also?
There is a famous case happening right now. The government has had to accept responsibility because it was unveiled that generals in higher parts of the military were involved in corruption at the customs office related to drug trafficking. The Defense Minister had to resign in that scandal.
We are very concerned that the government, in trying to improve its image, will manage to convince international opinion that now everything is okay, the war is finished and people will walk away and not check on the accomplishments of the peace process. I am worried about that.
How important is the support of the U.S. and Canada to the Guatemalan government? If the government of Guatemala didn’t receive that support from the outside, would it be able to remain in power and continue its repression?
Canada, I don’t know. But for the United States, Guatemala has always been the backyard garden of the U.S. Not only does the military read the American newspapers and they see the money from the U.S., but they are trained by U.S. military advisors.
My parents lived in one of the “militarized zones” (where the army conducted the heaviest repression —Ed.) and they saw U.S. military planes unloading tanks and soldiers and equipment. There was recently the case of Alpires, which received international attention. The CIA (U.S. Central Intelligence Agency) had employed a Colonel of the Guatemalan army in the assassination of not only a guerrilla fighter, but also a U.S. citizen.
It’s not only a question of local justice. We will also have to consider the responsibility of the U.S. in what happened in Guatemala. Right in the middle of the peace process, before it was even finished, the U.S. announced they were going to reinstate military aid to the Guatemalan army.
We feel that our people can live without weapons, without an army. I find it hard to understand how the U.S. can increase military aid, instead of reducing it at this time in our history.
Muchas gracias.
Gracias.
“The Earth is our Mother”
Excerpts from the film “Tierra Madre” about life in Guatemala by Mary Ellen Davis:
“The earth is our mother. She gives life to humanity. The land belongs to God. It belongs to the people. We don’t view the land as private property. We understand land as a divinity and a mother. The earth divinity, Mother Earth, is also bonded to the human kind. The land nourishes humanity. The land allows us to live, to survive.”
—Rev. Dario Caal, Mayan Catholic priest
“Our authorities have never asked themselves what it really means for the Native people to live and work at a community. Instead, they insist on imposing programs, studies and so-called “agrarian laws,” based on the individual, instead of the community. The notion of private property is unknown within Native people’s thought, their view of the world. Instead they see a bond between mankind and earth.
“In their view, there should not be any dividing lines, or borderlines. According to their rules of life, it would be a sin! Tzuultaq’a forbids it Tzuultaq’a is the God who sees and does everything. Their mystical God. It may seem odd that I, who am not Native, know about these traditions, about their mystical world. The truth is, I’m part of the cultural conquest of the Native people! I admire their cultural strength and above all the Q’eqchi’, who hold on to their traditions.”
—Fredy Ochaeta, lawyer
Q: Why did you move to the Péten? “There was no more land left in the south. But there was some here, so I came with my brother… We wanted land. We found some at The 2Rs… And the years went by. Some 10 or 11 years later the great tragedy happened. And I was left alone. My wife died, along with my brother, his wife, his kids. And also a nephew of mine, who lived with us. My brother’s six children, and his wife, and my wife, and my nephew.”
—Survivor describes Dec. 7, 1982 massacre at The 2 Rs by the army
“It all began on Sunday. The dogs were barking so loud you just couldn’t sleep. And we heard the rumbling of convoys, and of canvas-covered trucks, carrying army troops. They arrived on Sunday night, and they took the dirt path to The 2Rs.
“We were told later that part of the troops went in by the path, in trucks, and another part marched in by the savannah: a battalion of Kaibils (army special forces —Ed.), who apparently came from La Pólvora. And they surrounded them. According to some survivors, they started coming in, saying that they were from the guerrilla. And then, with their weapons, they started rounding up everybody on Monday…”
—Another survivor
“They ruined our cardamom. Our plants feel pain. They spoiled our pepper, annato and coffee trees, and uprooted our corn. They pulled up everything. And now, what are we going to do? We are distressed: they killed our plants. So let us now fight back. We are angry at what he did to us. God help us defend our land now. Together we must not yield to the rich man. We are simple farmers, but we also want to live better. Let us not give in to the man who frightens us. If he flies over us again tomorrow, let us not be scared. Let us stay here and not move. We shall be brave and rebuild. The law will help us. Let’s see if the law helps us, or not.”
—Elder
