The Role of Cultural Contexts in Transitional Justice Processes Maya Q’eqchi’ Perspectives from Post-Conflict Guatemala Lieselotte Viaene Ghent University, Belgium Law Faculty Doctoral Dissertation in Law Promotor: Prof. Dr. Eva Brems Co-Promotor: Prof. Dr. Stephan Parmentier Academic Year 2010-2011 Photographs front and back cover: Community mayejak, 23 May 2008, Xalab’e All photographs copyright © Lieselotte Viaene Except photographs on pages 100-101: courtesy of Bernard Dumoulin Cover design and lay-out: Pieter Demeester, Puntanderelijn (http://www.puntanderelijn.com) Printed in 2011 Contact author: [email protected] The Role of Cultural Contexts in Transitional Justice Processes Maya Q’eqchi’ Perspectives from Post-Conflict Guatemala Lieselotte Viaene Ghent University, Belgium Law Faculty Doctoral Dissertation in Law Promotor: Prof. Dr. Eva Brems Co-Promotor: Prof. Dr. Stephan Parmentier Academic Year 2010-2011 Note to the reader Note to the reader This doctoral dissertation is written along the concept of a Ph.D. on articles. As defined by the Faculty Board of the Law Faculty of Ghent University (4 October 2006 and 10 February 2010), a Ph.D. thesis can consist either of a book or of a collection of (3 to 5) articles in peer-reviewed journals or books of a high level and with a high impact. It is required that the articles make a personal and creative contribution of high academic level to a discipline within the legal science. The articles should be interconnected, for example through a common research theme or a common research methodology. The collection of articles must demonstrate an added value by the presentation of coherent insights or a useful synthesis. The faculty rules require moreover that connecting texts be added so as to create coherence among the body of articles. These connecting texts should include at least an introductory chapter situating the work within the relevant research field, the development of the research question(s), a description of the research methodology and a concluding chapter. At the time of submission of the Ph.D. thesis, the majority of the articles have to be either published or accepted for publication. Co-authored articles are allowed if the Ph.D. student is the first author. The present Ph.D. thesis contains an extensive introduction, seven chapters and a concluding chapter that also include recommendations. The first two chapters discuss the case study of post-conflict Guatemala and the research methodology of this doctoral dissertation. The following five chapters contain five articles that have been or will be published in international peer reviewed journals. As this doctoral dissertation intersects the fields of human rights, transitional justice and anthropology, I have opted to publish in journals that address these different academic audiences. At the time of submission, three articles have been published, and a fourth has been accepted for publication in international peer reviewed journals two of which have an “A1” ranking (meaning that they are included in the Social Sciences Citation Index). The fifth article is under review with the Journal of Latin American Study (also A1 ranking) and has recently received comments of the different anonymous reviewers. The present study contains the version of the article submitted for review, but in the near future before the public defence this article will be revised. Two of the five articles mention a co-author. The article in chapter five was written by myself, yet the co-author, Alfonso Huet, has added insightful and substantial comments. The article in chapter seven was written jointly with my supervisor Prof. Eva Brems, both co- authors having made equal contributions. Furthermore, chapter six has been enriched Voices from the Shadows, 2010 with additional reflections and insights derived from the ethnographic data in order to complement the findings discussed in the article. To enhance a common lay-out of the thesis I have opted to create one style template for all chapters. Yet, the spelling, citations and reference style of each journal has been preserved. Voices from the Shadows, 2010 Contents v Contents Preface vii Acknowledgements xiii Abbreviations xvi Glossary xx Introduction 1 The Place of Cultural Contexts in the Transitional Justice Field Chapter 1 25 Transitional Justice and Cultural Context in Post-Conflict Guatemala Chapter 2 63 Methodological Choices when Going Local in Post-Conflict Guatemala Chapter 3 103 Dealing with the Legacy of Gross Human Rights Violations in Guatemala: Grasping the Mismatch Between Post-Conflict Macro Level Policies and Micro Level Processes International Human Rights Journal, first published on 30 September 2010 (iFirst), 1-22 Chapter 4 133 Life is Priceless. Mayan Q’eqchi’ Voices on the Guatemalan National Reparations Program International Journal of Transitional Justice, Vol. 4, No. 1, 2010, 4-25. Voices from the Shadows, 2010 vi Chapter 5 159 Recovery and Dissemination of Historical Memory in Guatemala. Locally and Culturally Driven Experiences Journal of Latin American Studies, under review Chapter 6 187 The Internal Logic of the Cosmos as ‘Justice’ and ‘Reconciliation’. Micro-perceptions in Post-Conflict Guatemala Critique of Anthropology, Vol. 30, No. 3, 2010, 287-312 Some Reflections about the Mayan Q’eqchi’ Normative Order 211 Chapter 7 223 Transitional Justice and Cultural Contexts. Learning from the Universality Debate Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights, Vol. 27, No. 2, 2010, 199-224 Conclusions and Recommendations 251 Annex 272 Map 1 272 Map 2 273 Map 3 274 Map 4 275 Map 5 276 Bibliography 279 Voices from the Shadows, 2010 Preface vii Preface On a rainy Monday morning in mid-October 2002 I was dropped together with Don Manuel in the village of Quixal located in the municipality of San Cristobal. This village is well known because it hosts the power station of the famous Chicoy hydroelectric dam that was built during the late 1970s and early 1980s. The construction of this dam affected the surrounding villages of the Chixoy River and forcibly displaced around 3,500 Maya Achi people. When the community members opposed to relocation they were tortured, kidnapped and massacred. These massacres became known as the Rio Negro massacre. Yet, Manuel and I weren’t in Quixal because of this dam and its past human rights tragedy, but to start a five-day journey to several remote Q’eqchi’ villages where Manuel would give training sessions about traditional agricultural techniques. These communities had suffered the scorched-earth campaigns of the Guatemalan military during the early years of the 1980s. Our visit started in Quixal and after a day’s hike following mountain trails crossing surrounding green mountains we would reach our first village. That morning in Quixal I was quite nervous. I thought that I had prepared my backpack well, but now I had the feeling that it was far too heavy for such a short trip. Also, my right forefinger was still bleeding a bit. The evening before, just before I went to bed, I cleaned my Swiss army pocketknife but I had trouble retracting all the small knives. Suddenly my knife jumped out of my hand and the main knife pierced my right forefinger. It bled profusely and I even saw some white bone. But it was too late in the evening to look for a doctor so I taped the wound with some plasters. That morning, Alfonso Huet, a Belgian cooperant living in Cobán for 30 years, picked me and Manuel up in Cobán and brought us to our starting point Quixal. When Alfonso saw my finger he was quite worried and insisted on me seeing a doctor and cancelling my trip. However, since my arrival in Cobán I was really keen to visit a rural Mayan Q’eqchi’ community. He had arranged that I could accompany Manuel, a worker of a Cobán-based NGO during this five-day trip to the isolated region of Chamá Grande, although from the beginning, Alfonso had advised against me taking on this trip because of the distance, the remoteness and the basic accommodation of the area. I convinced him that as I was an experienced hiker so the trip would be no problem. Now I didn’t want my wounded finger to spoil this journey. The wound would heal during the trip, I said. That morning I didn’t realise that this trip would change my view of the world nor that it would lead to a doctoral dissertation. Of course, I surely underestimated the heat, the weight of my backpack and the distance during these five days. The first day, after an hour of walking I got desperate about the muddy trails and kicked off my professional walking boots and switched Voices from the Shadows, 2010 viii them for the cheap rubber boots that I had bought the day before in the local market in Coban. Despite my physical good condition we arrived that day at dark after seven and a half hours walking to the first village. Fortunately the fireflies lit the path to the main saloon where we would stay the night. Shortly after our arrival, Manuel explained to me that there were some problems in that community and during the rest of the evening he would assist a nightly ceremony (mayejak) with several elders. I was invited to attend the intimate ceremony, although the conversations would be in Q’eqchi’. That night I couldn’t feel my feet anymore, my shoulders felt stiff and my neck had a crick in it, but I was too curious to refuse the invitation. When Manuel took a red band out of his moral (bag) and draped it around his head, I understood that he was more than a technical worker for ADICI - he was also a spiritual guide. While observing how the flames absorbed the candles and incense, how the fire reacted to the moves of Manuel and how the old men and Manuel interacted, I realised that that day I had entered physically and mentally a material and spiritual world the existence of which I was unaware.