Country: Guatemala

Group: Q’eqchi’ (Kʼekchiʼ)

Date Finalized: 3/22/2020

Team: Sophia Agne (Lead), Rayna Castillo, Kimberly Prete

Content warning: genocide, homicide, war

Approximate Time Period: 1960-1996

The Q’eqchi’ are an indigenous group in Guatemala who have faced years of targeted violence. The violence hit a climax in 1982, when the Guatemalan military created a military outpost in the Q’eqchi’ community of Sepur Zarco to settle “land disputes” (UN Women, 2018). The military used brutal tactics to suppress and terrorize the Q’eqchi’ people such as: forced disappearances, torture, murder, and sexual violence. It is alleged that more than a dozen men were abducted by the military, kept in custody, and eventually murdered (Grandin, 2011).  The women of the community were subsequently forced into slave labor and sexual slavery (Patterson, 2018). As a result, many women were left with severe physical and psychological trauma (Patterson, 2018). Under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, “rape, sexual violence, enforced prostitution” and “forced pregnancy” constitute elements of genocide (ICC, 1999). Mass graves have been exhumed in Sepur Zarco and forensic experts have determined that many of the bodies exhibit signs of torture (Patterson, 2016). There is a strong indication a genocide occurred based on the forced disappearances, sexual violence, and mass graves. The data quality is rated a 3 given the extensive documentation from multiple sources.

Sources

  1. Grandin, G. (2000). Chronicles of a Guatemalan genocide foretold: Violence, trauma, and the limits of historical inquiry. Nepantla: Views from South, 1(2), 391-412.
  2. Sepur Zarco Case: The Guatemalan women who rose for justice in a war-torn nation. (2018, October 19). UN Women. https://www.unwomen.org/en/news/stories/2018/10/feature-sepur-zarco-case
  3. Rome Statute International Criminal – ICC – CPI. (n.d.). Retrieved February 22, 2020, from https://www.icc-cpi.int/NR/rdonlyres/EA9AEFF7-5752-4F84-BE94-0A655EB30E16/0/Rome_Statute_English.pdf
  4. Patterson, E. M. (2018). Reconciling Indigenous peoples with the judicial process: An examination of the recent genocide and sexual slavery trials in Guatemala and their integration of Mayan culture and customs. Revue Québécoise de Droit International, 29(2), 225–252. https://doi.org/10.7202/1046514ar