Perpetrators of Rio Negro Massacre Must Be Punished
an interview with survivor Jesus Tecu Osorio
November 19, 1998 - from CERIGUA Weekly Briefs
Guatemala City, November 19. For Jesus Tecu Osorio, the trial currently underway in Salama, Baja Verapaz province, against three former Civil Defense Patrollers (PAC) is a watershed in Guatemalan history. The trio are accused of participating in the 1982 murder of almost 200 people from his village, Rio Negro, in nearby Rabinal.
"The hearing is very important for all Guatemalans because one of the worst massacres that occurred in the country is on trial," says the 26-year old Achi Maya.
Tecu, a key witness for the prosecution, was one of a handful of people who survived the slaughter. Before his eyes, soldiers and PAC members tortured and killed 107 children and 70 women, among them his neighbors and family members. One of the patrollers now on trial took the 10-year old Tecu and enslaved him for the next two years.
Although pleased to see the case go to court, Tecu cautions that both those who participated directly in the bloodshed and the military officers behind it must be punished. Obtaining justice against those who ordered the massacre is problematic, however.
"What we want the Justice Department to do is investigate the military chain of command that was in place (in the Rabinal region) in 1982 when the massacre occurred," he says.
But according to Tecu, the Justice Department has not pursued this tack.
"It probably feels somewhat threatened... and is perhaps afraid," he said.
Meanwhile, the trial of the three patrollers, which began November 9, has generated mixed feelings in the young man.
"These men are indigenous. They are part of my people," he says.
Tecu says he is aware that the army forced indigenous men into service in the paramilitary PACs, a cornerstone of the government's counterinsurgency campaign. The patrols "were a government maneuver... to divide the indigenous people so that they fought each other -- so the regime could govern without problems," he says.
Because many former PAC members in the region live side by side with their victims, witness and survivor safety is a concern. According to Tecu, former patrollers and military officers have threatened locals associated with the case.
"In Rabinal, this is the first massacre to go to trial. So, if these three are convicted, it raises the possibility that the same fate could await the authors of the other sixty or so clandestine cemeteries here," he says.
Nevertheless, Tecu says that the resolve of witnesses, survivors and relatives has not wavered. Support has been forthcoming from other communities as well as national and international human rights organizations, he added.
Locals have also asked the Justice Department to increase the presence of the new National Civilian Police (PNC) in the area. At the moment, six police officers are responsible for all 35 communities in Rabinal.
The ultimate goal is to remove the army garrison in Rabinal and replace it with a PNC station, the young man says.
Tecu, who won the Reebok Human Rights Award in 1996 for his work with the Maya-Achi Association of Widows and Orphans, says the international community has a key role to play in ensuring that justice is applied in the Rio Negro case and in other massacre cases not yet brought to trial. Pressure from human rights organizations, in particular, would "constitute extremely important support... because, by ourselves, we don't have much strength," he said.
"We're not seeking vengeance. We're ensuring that the truth is told and justice done," Tecu concludes.
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