Promoting dialogue between civil war adversaries in Guatemala

When I was in Northern Ireland two years ago, I learned about several programs that brought together people from several sides of the conflict, victims and and perpetrators, victims and victims, and so on. The programs emphasized sharing experiences. When people asked me whether there were programs in Central America and South America that emphasized dialogue, I really couldn't come up with any.

Truth and justice were more the keywords in Latin America rather than reconciliation and forgiveness. Transitional justice processes in Latin America involved truth commissions of various shapes and sizes, amnesties, financial reparations, monuments and peace walls, and trials.

A program in Guatemala, however, is looking to change that.

Finding Guatemalan former enemies who are now willing to speak with each other publically is therefore extremely challenging. But at the end of November, DW Akademie organized the podium discussion titled "?Tu verdad? No, la Verdad" ("Your truth? No, the truth itself"). It brought together Julio Balconi, a retired general and former minister of defense, and Gustavo Meoño, once the commander of the insurgent "Guerilla Army of the Poor" (EGP), and now the director of the National Police Historical Archive (AHPN). For two hours the one-time foes spoke about the atrocities committed during the conflict. It was a controversial discussion, but at the end, the two men offered a gesture of reconciliation: they hugged.

This historic event drew nationwide media attention: some 40 journalists attended the dialogue, including staff from the national television stations TV Antigua and Gautevisíon, and reporters from rural areas. Balconi and Meoño discussed the wounds of the past and coming to terms with the brutality. Moderated by Luis Felipe Valenzuela, a journalist with the radio channel, Emisoras Unidas, the discussion demonstrated that dialogue is crucial and a prerequisite for reconciliation. "We see things differently," Balconi stressed, "but now we're at least talking to each other."

This isn't the first time that General Balconi has engaged publicly with those aligned with the guerrillas. Dirk Kruijt published a book on El guerrillero y el general : Rodrigo Asturias y Julio Balconi sobre la guerra y la paz en Guatemala that has been sitting on my shelf for the last few years. Hopefully, the dialogue can lead to some progress.

In 2012, I participated in a conference in El Salvador on memory and history concerning their civil war. The organizers were able to convince an individual from the armed forces who was in charge of that institution's archives to participate in a panel where he shared with the audience what materials were available for civilians to access and utilize in their research. It was a positive step forward, although not without its controversy. Unfortunately, I don't know what, if any, progress has come out of that initial encounter.