“It Fills My Heart with Sadness”

Abstract

In December 1997, I assisted the FAFG in its forensic investigation of the April 1981 army massacre of civilians in Acul and its subsequent report to the Commission for Historical Clarification. To reach Acul from Guatemala City, you leave the noise and grit of the city by taking a scenic and winding four-hour drive through the green grass and red earth of the lowland mountains of Chichicastenango and Santa Cruz del Quiche. You leave Santa Cruz on a dirt road. You drive for another hour or so, passing small communities of subsistence corn farming on a dirt road that covers everything with dust in the dry season. The looming purple and blue mountains in the distance suddenly appear closer as you reach the seemingly fertile oasis of Sacapulas and the river you must cross. If you are lucky, the bridge is not “out of order.” If you cannot use the bridge, then you look for the place where the river is widest and, if you are like me, you hold your breath when the water rushes over the top of your engine hood as you drive across the river.