Guatemala: The Secret Files from the Civil War
(This image is a memorial of the Santiago Atitlan massacre.)
Through a fellow Twitterer, Worldstechpod, I found out about an interview he conducted with Guatemalan human rights investigators and Benetech, regarding Guatemala's violent 36-year bitter Civil War. Thousands of archived papers from the 1950's onward were discovered in a warehouse, evidence of a very brutal war that killed thousands of innocent Mayans, suspected to be guerillas, or communists. Because these documents needed to be scanned and digitalized for historical safe-keeping, Benetech stepped in and offered their assistance.
The interview is now online, at FRONTLINE/World. You can see an amazing video about the secret files here.
See the timeline of Guatemalan's violent history (1944 - 2008) here.
The brutal civil war resulted in the deaths or "disappearance" of more than 200,000 Mayans, intellectuals, human rights activists and more. More than 40 villages were wiped off the map. It was a devastating time of Guatemalan history, with the origins closely tied to the US.
Recommended readings:
1. Silence on the Mountain by Daniel Wilkinson
2. Searching for Everado by Jennifer Harbury
3. Unfinished Conquest: The Guatemalan Tragedy by Victor Perera
4. The Art of Political Murder by Francisco Goldman