Guatemala Death Squad Dossier
The Guatemalan armed forces kept detailed records of
its death squad operations, according to a document recently recovered from
Guatemala's military archives: the Guatemalan Death Squad Dossier.
Replete with photographs of the 183 victims and coded references to their executions,
the 54-page document puts names and faces to the Guatemalan military's campaign
of abduction, torture and assassination waged against suspected subversives
during the country's 35-year civil war. By the war's end in 1996, some 200,000
people had been killed or "disappeared." This chilling dossier of political
murder -- the only known record of its kind -- provides concrete evidence in
support of the Historical Clarification Commission's conclusion that 93 percent
of the atrocities occurred at the hands of Guatemalan security forces.
The links below give some context to the document and provide background information
that will allow you to understand it better. To view the actual document
itself, go to the National Security
Archive.
Relevant Sites
Report of the Commission
on Historical Clarification (CEH)
CIIDH Online Reports and Data
- State Violence
in Guatemala A Quantitative Reflection: The Entire Book
- Chapter 8:
Urban versus Rural Violence: Urban Versus Rural Violence - this chapter
speaks to the different patterns in time of violence in urban and rural areas.
The disappearances and killings documented in the Guatemala Death Squad Dossier
occurred in the selective urban wave of repression in 1983-1985, which followed
the indiscriminate rural killings in 1981-1983.
- Chapter 11:
Selective versus Mass Killing: Selective Versus Mass Killing - this chapter
describes how violence occurred largely in massive groups during 1981-1983,
but in 1984-1985, perpetrators again committed killings and disappearances
against small groups of victims.
Related Sites with Material on the Guatemalan Death Squad Dossier
Statement of AAAS Staff Member (20 May 1999)
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