REMHI Historical Memory Recovery Project

This collection integrates the four volumes of the Proyecto lnterdiocesano Recuperación de la Memoria Histórica (REMHI) Informe Guatemala: Nunca más ; It also contains the publications derived from this report, which allow us to understand why the project was carried out, the causes, social context, economic and political context in which the internal armed conflict developed, the consequences and repercussions resulting from 36 years of conflict and that even today remain in the victims and survivors.

The REMHI project was promoted by Monsignor Juan Gerardi Conedera; he directed it in a committed way, with the intention of recording the recent history of Guatemala through testimonies and documentation, arguing that knowing the truth about crimes and violations of human rights, during the 36 years of armed conflict, was essential for the social peace of the country.

Full scans of the titles listed below can be found at http://www.odhag.org.gt/publicaciones/remhi-guatemala-nunca-mas/.

1. "Informe Guatemala: Nunca más" Volume I, Impactos de la violencia (Impacts of violence)

From a psychosocial perspective, the consequences of the experiences of violence, the coping and resistance mechanisms of the survivors, their perceptions about the causes of the events they suffered, and their demands to the State and society are analyzed.

The Report tries to reconstruct that collective memory and respond to the expectations that people placed in the REMHI Project.

2. "Informe Guatemala: Nunca más" Volume II, Los mecanismos del horror (The mechanisms of horror)

The voices of the victims are collected, but also the revelations of the perpetrators help to understand some of the logic of destruction.

In the first part, the dynamics of the massacres are analyzed, especially between the period 1980-83, the use of torture and the modes of action of the military intelligence bodies.

Subsequently, the ways to involve the civilian population in the war and to reorganize the daily life of the population under military control are discussed. Finally, an analysis of the training mechanisms and group formation that have made atrocities possible is included. This memory of horror can become a key element so that the recent history of Guatemala does not repeat itself as a tragedy.

3. "Informe Guatemala: Nunca más" Volume III. El entorno histórico (The historical environment)

It is a historical review that is not entirely original. The sources of several chapters come from a valuable bibliographical heritage, although it is notable that the history of the armed conflict in Guatemala is still a pending task. There are at least two periods that, for different reasons, are scarcely studied from the perspective of the actors in the conflict: the first cycle, which corresponds to the 1960s, and the recent political process of elected civilian governments, which is precisely the time of the peace negotiations (1986-1996).

4. "Informe Guatemala: Nunca más" Volume IV. Víctimas del Conflicto Armando Interno (Victims of the Internal Armed Conflict)

Compendium of names of people killed (in massacres and individually), disappeared, and tortured, registered by the REHMI project. As explained in the methodological notes of each chapter, the names are accompanied by a series of data that help to identify the persons, to the extent that the declarants could offer this information: date of birth, place of rape, date of rape, and belonging ethnicity.

The spelling of the names has been fully respected, according to the declarant's version, to the extent that in most cases it was not possible to compare it with any personal identification document or in the civil registries.

Finally, the general recommendations of the REMHI project are presented.

5. "Memoria, Verdad y Esperanza". Versión popular del informe REMHI: Guatemala: Nunca Más "Memory, Truth and Hope. (" Popular version of the REMHI Informe Guatemala: Never More)

This report intends to recall the acts of violence suffered by the people who gave their testimony to the REMHI project. Many of these testimonies show us how the human rights of people and communities, especially indigenous people, were violated during the years of the armed struggle.

It is a summary of the four volumes of the Informe Guatemala: Nunca más, and has images that reinforce its content.

6. "La Memoria tiene la palabra" (Memory has the word). Systematization of the Interdiocesan Project for the Recuperación de la Memoria Histórica REMHI

It offers a systematization of the Interdiocesan Project throughout the first three phases: Preparation, Compilation, Processing/Writing of the Report.

It tries to make known what the REMHI Project was like inside: where its idea came from, how it came to fruition, what spirituality drove it, what were its concepts of memory, forgiveness and reconciliation, what was its technical quality; emphasizes the contribution of its actors in the different dioceses.

7. "Propuesta Pedagógica". Eduquémonos para el Nunca Más" (Pedagogical Proposal". Let's educate ourselves for Never More)

Since the creation and elaboration of the Proyecto lnterdiocesano Recuperación de la Memoria Histórica (REMHI) was thought about, four basic stages were envisioned: preparation, collection of testimonies, data processing and analysis, and return and follow-up. The latter left in its nascent stages by Monsignor Gerardi, who with his martyrdom and with his blood, fermented the work for the construction of the Culture of Peace and Reconciliation, based on truth, justice, reparation for damage and forgiveness.

Education, for its part, stands as one of the pillars for the building of this world. It is our duty to facilitate what we do not know or could do: tools for those who come to do it better. Eduquémonos para Nunca Màs, is the marriage between the demand for truth and the construction of the Culture of Peace.

A pedagogical proposal, aimed at teachers, so that they can work on the recent history of Guatemala, with their groups of students from primary to diversified.

8. "Movilizando la memoria: a 10 años del REMHI" (Mobilizing memory: 10 years from REMHI)

On the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the presentation of the Informe Guatemala: Nunca más, a study has been carried out on the process triggered by that report, which has included, over ten years, the participation of many actors in Guatemalan society, both from civil society and the state.

This document attempts to collect the different efforts for the search for truth, justice and reconciliation promoted by these actors at the national and international level; Solidarity and gratitude with all of them is already expressed, and at the same time an apology is offered to those who, due to various factors, it was not possible to access in carrying out this investigation.

9. "Conociendo nuestra historia construimos la paz". 01 Juntando los hilos de la historia (Knowing our history, we build peace." 01 Pulling together the threads of history)

It is a contribution so that in Guatemala we begin to build a more comprehensive history, closer to the truth of the communities.

It is an approach to the reality that the victims of the armed conflict experienced, their version of what happened and that at the time contributed and supported the Comisión para el Esclarecimiento Histórico (Commission for Historical Clarification).

It offers an overview of the history of Guatemala; It is based on “Tomo III: Entorno Histórico” (Volume III: Historical Environment) from the Informe Guatemala: Nunca Más and enriched with the contributions of the Comisión para el Esclarecimiento Histórico (CHC).

10. "Conociendo nuestra historia construimos la paz". 02 Los daños que nos ha dejado la violencia ("Knowing our history we build peace." 02 The damage that violence has left us)

In this publication a brief attempt is made to reconstruct a series of complex and different experiences that political violence left at the individual, family and community level, in childhood and for women. Emphasis is also placed on the way in which people searched for possible explanations for what happened and the ways of dealing with the violence they suffered in those years.

11. "Conociendo nuestra historia construimos la paz". 03 Así hicieron la violencia ("Knowing our history, we build peace." 03 That's how they made violence)

This issue shows the "Mechanisms of Horror", where a State whose institutions should have ensured the well-being of the population, fell into a State that harshly repressed it, which was organized in that sense, which planned actions of repression against all the ones who thought or gave a different opinion with the excuse of being at war.

This material offers to analyze and understand who did it and how.

12. "Conociendo nuestra historia construimos la paz". 04 Que nuestro corazón se haga fuerte ("Knowing our history, we build peace." 04 May our hearts become strong)

This fascicle is part of the voice that shouts to be heard. So that we can see what happened in Guatemala during the armed conflict. So that we understand the need to fundamentally change unequal relationships and thus, Human Rights violations of all of us so it will never again occur with impunity.