13
None of the victims found inside the house could be recognized, due to the high
temperatures to which their bodies had been subjected. The remains of the victims
located in the yard were partly covered by the roof of the house that had fallen on
them, and they had firearm wounds mainly in the head, chest and back. In the
afternoon, some domestic animals began to eat the remains of the burnt victims;
42(23) the military commissioners of Chipuerta and Concul who arrived at the place
went to the military base at Rabinal to ask what they should do with the bodies of
the victims. They returned to the village between 3:00 and 4:00 in the afternoon
together with members of the local PAC, and they ordered the survivors to rapidly
bury all the corpses at the site of the massacre, threatening that if they did not do it
within one hour, the community would be bombed. Most of the bodies were buried at
the same site of the massacre. Several relatives of the victims from the village of
Concul took the bodies to bury them at their cemetery;
42(24) members of the commando plundered and destroyed the dwellings, stole their
belongings, their food, their animals and their personal effects, such as: marriage
certificates, identification documents and land titles; they returned several times to
the village of Plan de Sánchez for this purpose and they threatened the townspeople
who had returned. Out of fear of being murdered, the survivors took turns watching
the entrances to the village, to be able to continue with their chores and their work
in the fields;
42(25) those who survived the massacre, fearful due to what had happened, the
threats and harassment by the commissioners, the members of the PAC and the
army, decided to gradually leave the village during the weeks and months after the
massacre. Some of the survivors sought refuge in the mountains and in other places
such as Chol, San Gabriel, and the capital. Those who sought refuge in the
mountains took no food with them and had little clothing. Given their precarious
conditions, they became ill, especially the children and the elderly, and some even
died. The displaced persons were chased by the PAC and by the army. The displaced
survivors stayed away from the community for several years;
42(26) two and a half years after the massacre, siblings Buenaventura Manuel
Jerónimo, Benjamín Manuel Jerónimo, Juan Manuel Jerónimo, and Salvador Jerónimo
Sánchez returned to the municipal capital of Rabinal and went before military
commissioner Lucas Tecú, who allowed them to remain in the area, threatening them
into entering the PAC and patrolling villages near the municipal capital. The military
commissioner ordered that they should not be allowed to work on their land, rebuild
their dwellings, or live in the village of Plan de Sánchez. They had to live for a year
in the village of Coxojabaj, two kilometers from that of Plan de Sánchez. Other
families of displaced survivors who returned were forced to live in the municipal
capital at Rabinal;
42(27) afterwards, the survivors were allowed to work on their lands. In 1985 they
were authorized to live in the village of Plan de Sánchez, under constant watch and
threats by the army and by the military commissioner. Many survivors, lacking
financial means for their livelihood, were forced to enter the army as the only means
to earn enough to buy seed, wood, sheet metal and roof tiles to be able to establish
themselves once again in the community of Plan de Sánchez.
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