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In print | Published November 20, 2008

The Phoenix’s Alexander Rolle recently interviewed Manuel Calel Morales, an indigenous human rights activist from Guatemala, after his lecture “Seeking Justice and Digging Up Bones: Human Rights in Guatemala” on Monday. The talk was sponsored by the Latin American Studies department. Mr. Calel Morales spoke through a translator, Amanda Martin. Ms. Martin is the director of the Guatemala Human Rights Commission. For more infomation about their work, visit www.ghrc-usa.org.

Alexander Rolle: Would you mind telling me about the lecture you’re giving tonight – “Seeking Justice and Digging up Bones?”

Manuel Calel Morales: We’re here seeking justice, and looking for who is responsible for the victims of war in Guatemala.

AR: I read the synopsis of your talk, and it sounds like you’re using forensic science to look at the graves of people who were killed over the last 30 or so years.

MCM: That is correct. We work with the Guatemala Forensic Anthropology Foundation to investigate the mass graves.

AR: And this is to give the families peace and also to hold those responsible accountable?

MCM: We work with the Guatemala Forensic Anthropology Foundation because they are the experts. They study the bones, they excavate the mass graves, they see what impact the violence left on the bones so that there will be evidence provided to uncover what happened to these people.

AR: So this is looking back at what happened in Guatemala. How would you describe the current state of affairs there?

MCM: There’s a lot of violence in Guatemala today, this violence is generated by gangs and by poverty.

AR: How’s the reaction been, both by the government in Guatemala and by international bodies, to the violence?

MCM: It’s a difficult situation. The Guatemalan government hasn’t been able to do anything to stop the outrageous levels of violence. What they’ve decided to do is focus on using the national police for public security.

AR: Both for those within Guatemala and for those here, what is something effective that can be done? What can students at Swarthmore do?

MCM: We ask that university students here at Swarthmore take action to send a message to the Guatemalan government to let them know that they need to be obeying the law.

AR: So the Guatemalan government is not just unable to do things, but they’re also breaking the law?

MCM: Because of poverty and because of violence, we are destined to repeat the same cycle in Guatemala. The only way that we can change this is by putting resources into educating young people so that they don’t repeat the cycle of violence. The government is looking to government security forces, such as the national police, to provide security for the people. However, the national police are corrupt entities who are guilty of human rights violations, and therefore they can’t be used to provide security — they are the ones who are breaking the law.

AR: I understand that you’ll be speaking at a protest at the School of the Americas. Could you tell us a little bit about the School of the Americas and why you’ll be protesting there?

MCM: I’m against the School of the Americas because that is where the Latin American security forces are trained — they’re trained to torture people, to kidnap people, and if you look at the specific example of the Guatemalan internal armed conflict, many of the military officials who were guilty of human rights violations were graduates of the School of the Americas.

AR: I understand that recently the School of the Americas has, at least outwardly, been undergoing some sorts of reforms. Do you think that progress is being made?

MCM: As long as there is poverty in Guatemala, there will be no peace, so I see these reforms as a makeover, and as long as this school exists there will continue to be training of Guatemalan military, and that will not help us reach peace.

AR: A number of Swarthmore students will be at that protest as part of the Students for a Democratic Society. Do you think that that type of protest is effective, or are there other things students should be doing?

MCM: It’s great that the students are going, that they want to shut the school down, but the students don’t know the other half of it, which is the reality of the Latin American countries where these graduates have been operating.

AR: Is there something we could do to gain a better understanding of that?

MCM: The communities need the presence of international organizations and delegations. They need this presence in order to achieve peace.

AR: You’re working with the Guatemala Human Rights Commission, is that right? Is this an organization that Swarthmore students could get involved with?
Amanda Martin: I’m the director of the Guatemala Human Rights Commission, and we take delegations of people to Guatemala, and we’re taking the next delegation in March of 2009. You can look at our Web site, www. ghrc-usa.org, and that is how we begin a relationship with these communities. The international presence helps bring security to the families that are being threatened due to their work, and we also have brought Don Manuel to the United States on a speaker tour, culminating in the School of the Americas protest. On the Web site we have many resources, we have lots of documents and programs and campaigns, people can respond to urgent action, which is another way you can participate. When someone like Don Manuel is threatened for his work, threatened by the people who massacred his family members in his village, we send out an urgent action, asking people to sign a letter that we send to the Guatemalan government, demanding a full investigation of the crime and for the perpetrators to be held responsible.

AR: How has the response of the Guatemalan government been to your efforts?

AM: It depends on who’s President and who’s Attorney General at the time. There is a new President named Alvaro Caballeros, and we’ve had not a fantastic response, but we haven’t had a negative response. We’re forming a relationship with him.

AR: Who chooses the President? How does he come to power?

MCM: This last election we had was transparent … it was a fair election.

AR: Many in Guatemala are reacting against the human rights violations. Are there factions within the society that are not bothered by these violations, [factions] that support them?

MCM: There are groups that are working to support human rights in Guatemala but there are also groups that are working against human rights.

AR: Are these the same people that are threatening you?

MCM: Yes, these are the same people who are responsible for the deaths and assassinations of people in our communities.

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