Guatemala’s Race to Preserve Conflict Archives

Guatemala is in a race against time to secure approximately 60,000 testimonies contained in files of victims from the internal armed conflict (1960-1996) who sought reparations for the abuses endured. This must be done before the progressive President Bernardo Arevalo’s term ends in January 2028.

The files were collected over about a decade by the National Reparations Program (PNR), which was established in 2003 following the signing of the Peace Accords in 1996. These accords ended the war, aiming to compensate victims through projects and financially. Over the past eight years, under the administrations of former Presidents Jimmy Morales (2016-2020) and Alejandro Giammattei (2020-2024), the program stalled, was neglected, and ordered to be liquidated without safeguarding the testimonies within.

“Wet boxes, piled up, incomplete, torn files” are part of what workers currently attempting to save the archive found, according to Erick Briones, an archive assistant. They are part of a project funded by UNESCO, aiming to recover the PNR archive and eventually designate it as a world documentary heritage to ensure its preservation and accessibility for anyone wishing to learn about the history lived in the Central American country during that era.

Among the files is that of Manuel Botom Uz, one of over 100 files documenting disappeared children. His family recounted that in 1982, at four years old, he vanished. The testimony states that Manuel and his four siblings, all minors, were attacked in their community in Quiché by army members and civil patrols who performed control and surveillance tasks for the army in their communities.

The file of Botom Uz explains that his siblings were handed over to relatives, but he disappeared. Twenty years later, his body was found in a clandestine grave. After exhumation, his family buried him.

“There was an intention by the Morales and Giammattei governments to erase collective memory, destroy a heritage built over many years based on victims’ testimonies. Hence, it’s crucial to recover this memory and safeguard these testimonies, making them part of the living memory of this country,”

stated Elvin Díaz, Presidential Commissioner for Human Rights, who now ensures the protection of the archives.

Díaz emphasized that the aim of the PNR was humanitarian aid and reparations. However, he noted “there is relevant information for a criminal investigation.”

In blue plastic boxes, organized by department, thousands of testimonies detail extrajudicial executions, murders, sexual assaults, forced disappearances, and forced recruitment of men, women, and children during the war between the army and guerrilla groups. Reports indicate the conflict resulted in 200,000 deaths and approximately 45,000 disappearances.

In the future, the project plans to digitize the archive for universal access. The preliminary observations report from the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, which visited Guatemala last month, noted that “mainly under the Morales and Giammattei governments, a systematic policy of dismantling institutions for peace and justice operated.”

The files will become part of the Reparations and Dignification Plan for victims of the armed conflict announced last month by President Arevalo. This plan aims to integrate and centralize dispersed information in public institutions and in the hands of civil society organizations to continue victim reparations. Furthermore, cases where a victim remains missing will be included in the Humanitarian Search Mechanism for missing persons during Guatemala’s internal armed conflict.