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The men who survived found second wives among women from other communities,
because very few women were left in Plan de Sánchez after the massacre.
He could not tell anyone what had happened. Many people knew about the
massacre, but no one had the right to speak about what the Army had done; the
authorities said that anyone who spoke out about it was against them. After a long
time, they filed a report through CALDH, which took their testimonies and submitted
them to the Attorney General’s office. However, justice has still not been done, and
the proceedings have not yielded any results. Violence, corruption and discrimination
against indigenous people and peasants prevent justice from being done. Also, the
judges have been threatened.
They represent all the departments where massacres occurred, because there is no
difference between them. What happened in Plan de Sánchez occurred in other
communities, so they are representing everyone.
He hopes that justice will be done, that the facts will be acknowledged, that those
responsible will be prosecuted, and that this never happens again. It has been very
difficult to recover all the property they lost, but the lives of their loved ones are
priceless. They are protesting because there is no justice in everything they endured
and continue to endure. They hope to improve their lives and that the State will
respond to their needs in the areas of health, education and land. The community
also needs a typing or computer center, and for the roads to be improved. Moreover,
if the State started up a housing program, it would be a form of reparation. He
considers that the State must comply with all the provisions of the Peace
Agreements.
c)
Testimonial statement of Narcisa Corazón Jerónimo, victim
She was born in the village of Plan de Sánchez and lived there with her mother and
sister until the day of the massacre. As a child she spoke Maya-Achí and she learned
Spanish when she was 18 or 19 years old.
On the day of the massacre, the yard around her house was filled with soldiers. The
soldiers pointed their guns at her and warned her not to move and, since she did not
speak Spanish, she only understood that they were asking for her father and mother.
Then they left her house and began to “herd” all the victims, her aunts and her
nephews and nieces, like animals. The small children screamed, crying out for help in
their mother tongue, and no one helped them. When she saw that they were taking
everyone, she thought that she should cry out for the soldiers to come back for her.
The witness had no one to comfort her and wondered what the soldiers were doing.
She hid in a ditch and could see when they took her grandfather by force to the
place where they were going to burn everyone. She waited a while and went to look
for someone who could explain what was happening to her. Some people say that
indigenous people are ignorant, they do not accord them any importance, they are
prejudiced against them, they discriminate against them, they do not pay any
attention to them; consequently, the witness felt that she had no one to comfort her.
The witness heard her mother, who was walking through the village, scream and saw
when they seized her 9-month old nephew from her mother, with its shawl and
everything, and took them to the house where all the people were gathered. Shortly
afterwards, the soldiers began to pour on gasoline, fire shots and then set fire to the
house. At the time of the massacre, she was 13 or 14 years old. She lost her mother,
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