Truth and Consequences in Guatemala

Abstract

occurring. As in other nations, the parties seeking to negotiate a transition from war to peace in Guatemala agreed to establish a truth commission to address human rights violations. The Commission for Historical Clarification1 marked the first instance that an official body addressed the extraordinary violence that had dominated Guatemala. From its conception, through its gestation, during its brief (18 months) period in operation, and finally, with the publication of its final report, 'Memory of Silence', (February 1999), the Guatemalan truth commission was extremely controversial. Sectors competing for the power to establish 'the truth' about the history of violence struggled over ever detail of the truth commission: its powers, its practices, and the production of its final report. For some, that struggle concerned defeating Guatemala's notorious system of impunity by establishing a record of the violence complete with 'all the details' (as the accord which mandated the truth commission stipulated) including those responsible for the atrocities. For others, the truth commission would explain the violence experienced by Guatemalan society as a by-product of the battle between two armies, caught up in the 'winds of the Cold War'.2 And for thousands of Guatemalans, the truth commission represented the hope of discovering what happened to a missing relative, to locate physical remains, and to attempt to deal with the pain of the past through a proper burial. This article traces the establishment, experiences, and impacts of the Guatemalan truth commission. As in other truth commissions, twin goals were expressed in its mandate: the prevention of future violations of human rights, and the social healing and reconciliation engendered by the project of truth telling. This research demonstrates the difficulties such truth commissions have realizing these goals. The Guatemalan truth commission did, however, serve a different and critical purpose: It created a site of struggle in which debates about the meaning of the past influence transformations in future power relations. Truth commissions as sites of struggle