GUATEMALA: TWENTY-FIVE BODIES BELIEVED TO BE VICTIMS OF GUATEMALA'S 36-YEAR CIVIL WAR EXHUMED BY A COMMISSION SPONSORED BY THE UNITED NATIONS

Record ID: 648842

  • Title: GUATEMALA: TWENTY-FIVE BODIES BELIEVED TO BE VICTIMS OF GUATEMALA'S 36-YEAR CIVIL WAR EXHUMED BY A COMMISSION SPONSORED BY THE UNITED NATIONS
  • Date: 14th March 2001
  • Summary: SOLOLA, GUATEMALA (MARCH 14, 2001)(REUTERS) 1. PAN FAMILY MEMBERS WAITING FOR REMAINS TO BE UNEARTHED/CU OF POSTER (2 SHOTS) 0.16 2. SV/CU BOXES WITH REMAINS OF DEAD; HUMAN REMAINS, BONES (6 SHTOS) 0.54 3. MCU (Spanish) RELATIVE OF DISAPPEARED WHO LOST ALL OF FAMILY SAYING: "This story will never be left behind, it will always be on my mind until I leave this earth." 1.06 4. SV U.S. AMBASSADOR TO GUATEMALA, PRUDENCE BUSHNELL, SIGNING ACCORD SPONSORING EXHUMATION PROGRAM/ANOTHER OFFICIAL SIGNING (2 SHOTS) 1.19 5. SV (Spanish) U.S AMBASSADOR TO GUATEMALA PRUDENCE BUSHNELL SAYING: "I understand the importance of knowing the truth." 1.30 6. MCU/SV RELATIVES WAITING TO IDENTIFY EXHUMED BODIES; SCU HUMAN BONES AND COFFINS (7 SHOTS) 2.19 8. PAN OF GATHERING 2.43 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 29th March 2001 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: SOLOLA, GUATEMALA
  • Country: Guatemala
  • Reuters ID: LVA544SW0CQGKPHTN7VJ71ZZ0KY4
  • Story Text: Twenty-five bodies believed to be victims of
    Guatemala's 36-year civil war were exhumed, by a commission
    sponsored by the United States, the United Nations and several
    European nations. They were in an unmarked grave in a small
    town northeast of the capitol and have now been returned to
    their family members.



    Just one day after the signing of the accord
    sponsoring three more years of searching and exhuming mass
    graves, the commission got to work in a remote town located
    approximately 200 kilometers northeast of the capitol, in the
    state of Solola.

    "I understand the importance of knowing the truth," said
    U.S. Ambassador to Guatemala, Prudence Bushnell. It is the
    first time ever that a representative of the United States has
    signed and accord of this nature.

    Most of the relatives gathered at the site were clad in
    traditional Mayan dress. According to an exhaustive
    documentation of human rights abuses conducted in 1999 by the
    Guatemalan Truth Commission entitled, Memories of Silence, 83
    percent of the deaths or "disappearances" that occurred during
    the civil war, were of Mayan decent.

    "This story will never be left behind, it will always be
    on my mind until I leave this earth," said an unidentified
    Mayan relative who lost most of his family in the war.

    The truth commission findings registered 626 massacres
    and over 200,000 dead or disappeared in the 36-year-war, until
    a U.N. sponsored peace accord was signed in 1996.


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