Rumors of Insurgency and Assassination in the Ixcán, Guatemala

Abstract

Abstract In the late 1960s, landless campesinos partnered with the Maryknoll Catholic order to form a colony and cooperative in the lowland jungles of northern Guatemala. The Ixcán Grande colony became profitable and fell in line with state development and agrarian policies. Yet by the mid-1970s, this dramatically changed when the colony began experiencing increased government repression as Guatemala’s ongoing civil war escalated. After Father William Woods, the colony’s priest, died in a mysterious plane crash in 1976, multiple accounts of that fateful day circulated: the official version recorded it as an accident while unofficial versions maintained that the military-state had assassinated him. This event shaped the relationship between Ixcán residents and the state from that moment on and continues to influence historical memory in the present. This article first explores the circulation of rumors of insurgency, leading to the Ixcán Grande project’s reputation as an unstable, dangerous space. Then, it examines the competing historical narratives surrounding Father Woods’s death. Finally, it links rumor creation and utilization with historical memory, ending with a brief conclusion about the utility—and the necessity—of giving proper attention to rumors as archival traces.