Thoughts on the Guatemalan Armed Conflict

To continue with my happy posts, I have to say that my stay here in Guatemala has been like camp plus intellectual stimulation. Im learning a ton, having so much fun with friends and my "Guatemalan family," and I feel so relaxed all the time.

This past week, there was one particularly poignant lecture for our group (during our first six weeks here we always have one or two lectures and a movie in the afternoons after class). Last Tuesday afternoon, a man who fought as part of the guerillas in the 1980s came to tell us about his experiences. I have been reading about this harsh 36 year long armed conflict for a while, but hearing about the atrocities in person was very moving. By the way, the guerillas, although they were not always completely just, fought against the government controlled armies on behalf of civilians during the civil war (it ended in 1996 officially).

The lecturer, named Vincent, talked about his time in the mountains, when for one month, they had no access to food at all and had to eat meat without salt...he talked about this for awhile, trying to convey how terrible it really was to try to fight with no sustenance. He also talked about a day when his troop fought against a special army troop called the "Kaiwiles" who were specially trained in torture (trained by the US military by the way...this is a whole other story). He described to us his fear as they retreated from the Kaiwiles for hours. It was quite emotional. He also talked about how hard it was for him to recover after the war, suffering from both epilepsy and insomnia.

Like I said before, Ive read about atrocities like this before, but hearing it from this man standing 5 feet in front of me was very poignant. Most Guatemalans do not talk about their experiences during the armed conflict, since it was so recent and horrific at points. But in the end of his talk, Vincent conveyed a lot of peace of mind to us. He talked about how he now has his own business based on natural medicine, which he uses to help people with similar medical problems that he had after the armed conflict. He talked about how its important to not look back on your problems in the past and stay positive in order to enjoy the life you have ahead of you. Coming from a man who had suffered so much, his message was particularly strong.