12 where there is a conflict, and who must receive special protection from the State. Identification, trial and punishment of the direct perpetrators and masterminds would in part bring relief to the family, but it will not allow them to recover her brother. Adequate reparation would involve knowing the truth of what happened to Marco Antonio and to recover his remains. She also believes it essential to find out who committed those acts, to try and to convict them. She and her family do not want what happened to be forgotten, they want to ensure that it does not occur again, that preventive and protective action is taken, that respect for human rights is truly ensured, that new generations of police officers understand that their duty is to protect people’s rights, as well as that the military receive human rights education, so that they understand that their main role is to ensure people’s right to humane treatment. History must be taught the way it actually happened. There must be actions in remembrance of the victims, such as establishing a hall at the Museo Nacional de la Cultura in remembrance of the missing “boys and girls.” The Comisión Nacional de Búsqueda de la Niñez Desaparecida must exist legally, it must have State support, and the State must be in the forefront of efforts to find out what happened and where the missing children are, and to recover their remains or facilitate family reunification. She supported her parents in the search for Marco Antonio. She and María Eugenia published two ads in the daily newspaper El Gráfico. After the 1983 coup, when General Efraín Ríos Montt became Head of State, they issued two public letters addressed to Marco Antonio, seeking to move the Head of State, but they obtained no response. In 1987 or early 1988 they submitted a letter to representatives of the Guatemalan Attorney for Human Rights, who were visiting Costa Rica; in that letter, they filed a petition about what had happened and the reply they received was that this case was one more among the various cases that they were in charge of. In 1997 she went to Guatemala to submit the case before the Proyecto Interdiocesano de Recuperación de la Memoria Histórica headed by Monsignor Gerardi, and the case was mentioned in the Informe de Guatemala “Nunca Más” (hereinafter “REMHI” Report). She also brought the case before the Comisión para el Esclarecimiento Histórico. At that time, a special inquiry procedure requested by the attorney for the Grupo de Apoyo Mutuo de Familiares de Desaparecidos of the Supreme Court of Justice was reactivated. Her two sisters, her mother, and she herself were involved in that procedure. This is how the case was reactivated and brought to the Inter-American system in 1998 with support from CEJIL. Her family suffered a breakdown after her brother’s disappearance. They did not want to see each other or talk to each other out of fear that the enormous grief they felt might be impossible to control. Each member of the family blamed him or herself for what happened, and they also blamed each other. It was extremely difficult for them to recover as a family. She has become a distant woman, almost incapable of tenderness, of expressing warmth, and it has been very difficult for her to recover those aspects of life. She also underwent psychological treatment for 8 years, from 1991 to 1999.

Seleccionar párrafo de destino3

Conectar a un párrafo
Connect to an entity
Disable highlights
Añadir a la tabla de contenidos