Massacre Survivor of the Rio Negro Fights to Memorialize, Not Forget, Victims

Global Voices Online has highlighted the unsettling testimony, yet inspiring work of Maya Achí activist Jesús Tecú Osorio. Tecú is one of the few survivors of the Río Negro Massacre, considered “one of the most horrific massacres of Guatemala’s armed conflict” and his recount of what happened is disturbing and graphic:

“The military and paramilitary forces rounded up all of the women and children and accused them of collaborating with the guerrillas. Together they proceeded to rape, torture, and murder everyone. Some 177 human beings, including 107 children, were massacred on the 13th of March, 1982, in Rio Negro. The few survivors, mostly young boys, were forced into slavery. In The Massacres of Río Negro, survivor Jesús Tecú described being enslaved by a leader of the Xococ PAC, a man who ripped his youngest brother out of his arms and swung him by his feet, smashing his brains against rocks in front of his eyes because his wife was “not used to caring for [such] a small child.”

After forced to work under the oppression of his brother’s murderer, Tecú is now leading work that is exhuming the mass graves of the victims and bringing murderers to justice. In the meantime, he is also helping residents, both surviving victims and perpetrators live together in peace within their small communities.

Click here to view the entire Global Voices Online article and related video.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, September 24th, 2009 at 12:51 pm. It is filed under activism, alive, Guatemala, Latin America and tagged with Achí, activism, armed conflict, GT, guate, Guatemala, guerrilla, Jesús Tecú Osorio, justice, massacre, Maya, Maya Achí, memorilize, murder, rape, Río Negro, Río Negro Massacre, slavery, survivor, torture, victim, Xococ, Xococ PAC. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.