User:Eb555/draft article on REMHI

The Recovery of Historical Memory Project (Spanish: Récuparación de la Memoria Histórica, or REMHI) was a secondary truth and reconciliation commission in Guatemala run by the Human Rights Office of the Archdiocese of Guatemala (ODHAG). The REMHI was established in response to the limited mandate of the government-run Historical Clarification Commission (CEH) and published its four-volume report, Guatemala: Nunca Más!, in April of 1998.

As part of the 1994 Oslo Accords, the Guatemalan government and the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unit (Spanish: Unidad Revolucionara Nacional Guatemalteca, or URNG) agreed on the creation of a government-run commission to “clarify past human rights violations and acts of violence that have caused the Guatemalan population to suffer” once the in-country hostilities ended. The CEH was to cover the entire period of armed conflict in Guatemala (1960-1996) and would run for six months with an additional six months possible if necessary. The commission was prohibited from naming perpetrators in its report and did not have the power to subpoena witnesses or perform searches.

While the establishment of the CEH was an important and powerful step, many criticized the mandate for its time and power constraints, noting that the inability to name names and recommend prosecution would “effectively sanction impunity for human rights violators.”  In addition, covering nearly three decades of war in six to twelve months hampered the CEH’s ability to thoroughly cover all events.

The Catholic Church established the REMHI in 1994 to augment the limited truth-finding capability of the CEH. The Archbishop of Guatemala City, Guatemala, Prospero Penados del Barrio, noted that the Church’s effort was “envisioned…as an initial form of support for the commission’s activities.”  The REMHI project, conducted primarily by a team of nearly 800 volunteer outreach workers, focused on recording the voices of rural indigenous communities that would prove difficult for the CEH to hear because of their physical isolation and linguistic diversity. After three years of information gathering, the REMHI published its report in April 1998, a year before the CEH’s report. The project gathered 5,465 testimonies that led to the documentation of 52,427 victims of human rights violations.

The final report, Guatemala: Nunca Más!, was divided into four volumes. The first volume, The Impact of Violence, uses excerpts of victim testimonies to explain the effect of the years of war on individuals, communities and culture. It also addresses the ways in which people attempted to resist or survive and shares survivors’ opinions on what should be done to prevent further atrocities in the future.

The second volume, The Methodology of Horror, specifically explains the types of violence experienced by victims and how those crimes were possible, including military techniques and government dynamics. It lists the place, date and responsible party for 410 massacres and reinforces the narrative with individual examples and testimonies.

The third volume, The Historical Context, gives a brief overview of Guatemala’s political history from 1871 to 1996. It lists every power change and explains the policies and actions of each new government.

The final volume, The Victims of the Conflict, provides information on the type of data collected by the REMHI and includes tables and statistics about human rights violations and who was responsible for them. Notably, the REMHI assigns responsibility to the government for 89.7 percent of atrocities and guerillas for 4.8 percent, while the CEH report figures are 93 percent for the government and 3 percent for the guerillas. This volume also lays out the REMHI’s recommendations for the future, including reparations for victims, government acknowledgement and legislative and social reform.