On June 19, PBI-Guatemala posted: “PBI accompanies Conavigua Guatemala in commemoration of the 3rd anniversary of the ‘Land of Memory’ memorial in Comalapa, Chimaltenango for the victims of the internal armed conflict.”

In 2018, a memorial that holds the bones of 172 unidentified victims of the internal armed conflict was established at a former military camp in the village of San Juan Comalapa, about 80 kilometers west of Guatemala City.

CONAVIGUA is a women’s organization that fights for the individual and collective rights of Mayan women and indigenous peoples.

The internal armed conflict killed an estimated 200,000 people and displaced more than one million people between 1960 and 1996.

45,000 people are still unaccounted for, including 5,000 children.

The conflict between state military forces and guerilla combatants was underpinned by the poverty, marginalization, and racism against Indigenous peoples.

The United Nations-backed Commission for Historical Clarification determined that the Guatemalan military was responsible for 93 percent of the atrocities – including forced disappearances, massacres, and torture – and that 83 percent of the victims were Indigenous Maya peoples.

The Commission concluded that acts of genocide occurred during the war.

PBI-Guatemala adds that the gathering in Comalapa comes on the eve of the National Day Against Forced Disappearance on June 21.

The National Day against Forced Disappearance commemorates the 27 trade unionists from the National Central of Workers (CNT) who went missing on June 21, 1980, and all the victims of enforced disappearance.

#PaisajesdelaMemoria (Land of memory)

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