{"id":8978,"date":"2021-07-25T13:37:25","date_gmt":"2021-07-25T21:37:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/?p=8978"},"modified":"2021-09-03T00:04:28","modified_gmt":"2021-09-03T08:04:28","slug":"our-profound-memories-of-violence-and-repression","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/frontpage-en\/our-profound-memories-of-violence-and-repression\/?lang=en","title":{"rendered":"Our Profound Memories of Violence and Repression"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mercedes Calel<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI reclaim happiness without losing indignation\u201d\u00a0 from the Q\u2019eqchi\u2019 worldview.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

In the territory of Martires Poq\u2019omchi\u2019 Pantup in San Crist\u00f3bal Verapaz, hope and enthusiasm for transformation and social change are some of the most prominent characteristics of those who have settled there.\u00a0 The population located in this area belongs to other communities that have come together as displaced populations.\u00a0 These communities are victims, relatives of victims, and survivors of the thirty-six-year armed conflict in Guatemala.\u00a0 The severe violations of human rights, material and human losses, with wounds still unhealed; the military dictatorship and the peace processes are extreme trauma. For this reason, these communities have passed on ideals for social justice to the new generations.<\/span><\/p>\n

During the period of armed conflict, massive German immigration occurred due to the existing cronyism between authorities and landowners. Similarly, the installation of US companies, based on regressive legislation approved for the benefit of transnational companies and power elites, occurred.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Most people from the displaced communities currently work in informal businesses, domestic jobs, farm day laborers, and agriculture.\u00a0 Most of them do not know how to read or write; however, the painful past they lived through has made them thrive in other areas such as managing a business, accounting, and practical communication in their first language, Poq\u2019omchi\u2019, as well as Spanish. They adequately manage and distribute the community resources; they have the power to call for assemblies and raise their voices to represent their community to make changes and to transform the realities of the discriminatory and racist state we live in. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Photo by Maria C.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Nevertheless, there are still challenges.\u00a0 Ang\u00e9lica Hern\u00e1ndez Vargas, a member of the COCODE (Community Council for Development) in 2011, originally from Chicaman, El Quiche, mentioned, \u201cduring the formation of the residential area, successful processes were set up and resulted in development projects for the community.\u00a0 However, a while later, due to disagreement among leaders,\u00a0 scams occurred, causing delays in future improvements for the community.\u00a0 There were arguments that the projects were unnecessary, that there were actions that were not executed in the best way,\u00a0 devaluating the start-ups.\u00bb<\/span><\/p>\n

It is essential to recognize the skills put in place, the potential, the strengths of community leaders to face weaknesses and transform their community environments to benefit the whole.\u00a0 Because when immersed in struggle, life\u2019s lessons, resistance, defenses, awareness of relationships, and inspiring work, they still find themselves with open wounds, without a cure.<\/span><\/p>\n

The marks left by political insurgents and the genocide directly affect Mayan communities.\u00a0 Communities whose only goal was to honor and dignify the desire to be ever-present, supporting transformational processes out of narratives of violence, processes alive with their visions and legacy, as light and voice for coming generations and those denied everything since colonization.\u00a0 The internal conflict puts fear in the populace, and those memories, thoughts, and legacies will not disappear. They forged the need to struggle for human rights and initiate dimensions of awareness.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

We hate the farce they call the fatherland because that name takes our children from us so that they can serve the elites, seen merely as dogs, prisoners.\u00a0 They brutalize us in the name of the fatherland; they kill us in the name of the fatherland; they beat us in the name of the fatherland.\u00a0 And if we are so bold toto rebel, we already know what awaits us, a direct shot without any hesitation.\u00a0 They will never understand the language of the people.\u00a0 If we ask for justice or bread, they shoot and incarcerate us.\u00a0 What, then, is the fatherland?\u00a0 \u2014\u00a0 Virginia Bolten<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Cover photo by Maria Calel<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mercedes Calel \u201cI reclaim happiness without losing indignation\u201d\u00a0 from the Q\u2019eqchi\u2019 worldview. In the territory of Martires Poq\u2019omchi\u2019 Pantup in San Crist\u00f3bal Verapaz, hope and enthusiasm for transformation and social change are some of the most prominent characteristics of those who have settled there.\u00a0 The population located in this area belongs to other communities that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8982,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[453,1806],"tags":[3161,3162,3147,3146,3149],"class_list":["post-8978","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-frontpage-en","category-social-situation","tag-community-organization-guatemala","tag-indigenous-alta-verapaz","tag-internal-armed-conflict-victims","tag-poqomchi-peoples","tag-san-cristobal-verapaz-en"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/8.-mujeres-de-la-comunidad.-foto-mercedes-calel-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1920&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7ljt7-2kO","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":12754,"url":"https:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/women\/the-voices-of-those-who-live-in-the-mountains\/?lang=en","url_meta":{"origin":8978,"position":0},"title":"The voices of those who live in the mountains","author":"EntreMundos","date":"24 marzo, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"BY NEIDA SOLIS \/ TRANSLATED BY DAVID H\u00d6RHAGER Resistance of Guatemalan communities in the face of dispossession. 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