00:00:08.120 --> 00:00:11.960
The idea is for you to kick the door...

00:00:12.080 --> 00:00:14.560
...while I record the sound.
- Okay.

00:00:22.920 --> 00:00:26.760
This story begins with a search
for six sounds.

00:00:26.880 --> 00:00:35.600
Footsteps, a radio, a banknote,
a machete, a barking dog...

00:00:35.720 --> 00:00:37.880
...and finally a door being kicked.

00:00:40.280 --> 00:00:41.960
Okay, that was good.

00:00:42.080 --> 00:00:45.240
A strange request, right?
- Yes.

00:00:45.360 --> 00:00:47.480
Thank you very much.

00:00:49.800 --> 00:00:53.400
Together, these sounds tell a story
about Central America.

00:01:05.240 --> 00:01:09.240
I have lived and travelled
in this region for 15 years.

00:01:09.360 --> 00:01:12.760
Sounds are around you all the time,
everywhere.

00:01:12.880 --> 00:01:17.880
I'm recording the sounds of this square.
All kinds of sounds.

00:01:18.000 --> 00:01:21.280
You can call it noise,
or the joy of life.

00:01:23.760 --> 00:01:25.800
But silence is rare.

00:01:26.800 --> 00:01:28.800
And yet, if you listen carefully...

00:01:28.920 --> 00:01:33.280
...you will hear a silence
in this specific story.

00:01:34.760 --> 00:01:37.320
It sounds complicated,
and a little pretentious.

00:01:37.440 --> 00:01:39.400
But it will become clear.

00:01:49.040 --> 00:01:50.560
Hands.

00:02:15.120 --> 00:02:21.840
Between the Americas
episode 4: the silence of Guatemala

00:02:26.040 --> 00:02:28.520
Where are they?

00:02:28.640 --> 00:02:35.040
All the men and women
abducted during the war.

00:02:35.160 --> 00:02:38.920
What was done to our loved ones?

00:02:40.800 --> 00:02:44.680
We have kept quiet for a long time.

00:02:44.800 --> 00:02:49.200
For us, the indigenous population...

00:02:49.320 --> 00:02:56.040
...it was a silence of terror,
trauma and pain.

00:02:57.320 --> 00:03:03.720
We bottled up all our emotions...

00:03:03.840 --> 00:03:07.640
...because we couldn't talk about it.

00:03:07.760 --> 00:03:12.520
How long has this silence
been going on?

00:03:12.640 --> 00:03:16.360
More than 36 years.

00:03:16.480 --> 00:03:22.520
That's a very long silence.
- Yes, it feels endless to us.

00:03:23.800 --> 00:03:27.840
In essence, this story is about
the silence of this woman...

00:03:27.960 --> 00:03:31.760
...and of her husband Felipe Poyon.

00:03:35.120 --> 00:03:38.920
You might say that together
they symbolise Guatemala...

00:03:39.040 --> 00:03:41.920
...then, now, and always.

00:03:42.040 --> 00:03:48.240
What happened to them has everything
to do with the six sounds I mentioned.

00:03:48.360 --> 00:03:50.960
I found the kicks against the door.

00:03:51.080 --> 00:03:56.360
But how did I get footsteps, radio,
banknote, machete, and a barking dog?

00:04:06.920 --> 00:04:08.320
Hello.

00:04:08.440 --> 00:04:13.520
May I please record the sound
of your footsteps?

00:04:13.640 --> 00:04:15.080
Of course.

00:04:17.200 --> 00:04:23.160
Maybe you could move your feet,
so I can record the sound?

00:04:23.280 --> 00:04:26.640
I mean walk.
- Oh, you want me to walk.

00:04:27.960 --> 00:04:30.200
A little faster.
- Like this?

00:04:46.200 --> 00:04:48.800
What's his name?
- Badminton.

00:04:48.920 --> 00:04:50.840
The kids came up with that.

00:04:52.000 --> 00:04:56.440
Do you happen to have
a twenty-quetzal banknote?

00:04:59.560 --> 00:05:02.960
Perfect. Thank you.

00:05:03.080 --> 00:05:08.560
What is it for?
- I want to add sounds to a story.

00:05:08.680 --> 00:05:11.720
A story about Guatemala.
Thank you, madam.

00:05:16.800 --> 00:05:20.280
I'm looking for the sound of a machete.

00:05:22.760 --> 00:05:24.640
I'd like to record the sound.

00:05:24.760 --> 00:05:28.400
May I record the sound of you
getting your machete out?

00:05:28.520 --> 00:05:31.120
Let's see if we can hear it.

00:05:37.560 --> 00:05:40.480
I managed to record the kicks,
the footsteps, the banknote...

00:05:40.600 --> 00:05:43.080
...the barking dog and the machete.

00:05:43.200 --> 00:05:46.120
Now all I need is
the simplest of the six.

00:05:50.200 --> 00:05:52.680
Hello, sir.
- Pardon?

00:05:52.800 --> 00:05:57.960
I'd like to record the sound of a radio.

00:05:58.080 --> 00:06:02.000
We don't have a radio here.

00:06:02.120 --> 00:06:07.120
You never listen to the radio?
- Just to one of those small ones.

00:06:07.240 --> 00:06:09.520
But not very often.

00:06:09.640 --> 00:06:13.800
Look at that.
It's even an Apple.

00:06:32.960 --> 00:06:36.840
So what do these sounds tell us
about Felipe Poyon?

00:06:36.960 --> 00:06:40.840
We go back 40 years
for an explanation.

00:06:40.960 --> 00:06:42.520
Please follow me.

00:06:52.160 --> 00:06:56.560
Back to a Guatemala
locked in armed conflict.

00:06:56.680 --> 00:06:58.640
Come on through.

00:07:06.080 --> 00:07:07.840
So this is where it happened?

00:07:07.960 --> 00:07:14.200
In 1981, they came to the house
at 11 o'clock at night.

00:07:14.320 --> 00:07:19.920
They came in
and took my husband away.

00:07:20.040 --> 00:07:24.560
The army soldiers forced their way in.

00:07:24.680 --> 00:07:32.320
A man in a balaclava shouted at us
to open the door.

00:07:32.440 --> 00:07:35.080
Then he kicked the door in.

00:07:35.200 --> 00:07:41.760
The man said: 'Felipe Poyon, get up.'

00:07:41.880 --> 00:07:44.880
'Come with us,
we have a few questions.'

00:07:45.000 --> 00:07:49.080
'Then we'll bring you home
safe and sound.'

00:07:49.200 --> 00:07:52.080
They said: Don't cry, don't scream.

00:07:52.200 --> 00:07:59.720
But my husband stayed put. He clung
to the doorpost and didn't let go.

00:07:59.840 --> 00:08:03.160
But the man who was inside
pushed him out.

00:08:03.280 --> 00:08:10.680
When they took him, I said:
'We'll never see him again.'

00:08:13.920 --> 00:08:20.280
This was taken on our wedding day.
It's a wedding picture.

00:08:20.400 --> 00:08:24.680
He's standing here.
- Ah, there he is.

00:08:24.800 --> 00:08:28.280
That's him. Felipe Poyon.
And this is me.

00:08:28.400 --> 00:08:32.520
My godparents,
my mother with no shoes...

00:08:32.640 --> 00:08:37.440
...my father with no shoes.
We didn't have shoes back then.

00:08:37.560 --> 00:08:42.680
This is a picture of my husband.
- Felipe.

00:08:42.800 --> 00:08:47.200
A modest, hard-working man.

00:08:47.320 --> 00:08:52.240
Not a guerrilla fighter?
- No, far from it.

00:08:52.360 --> 00:08:57.840
Did he ever criticise the government?
- Never.

00:08:57.960 --> 00:09:01.400
He was active in our church,
that's all.

00:09:07.600 --> 00:09:13.040
The civil war in Guatemala was
one of the bloodiest in Latin America.

00:09:14.040 --> 00:09:16.600
Run, run. The army is coming.

00:09:20.160 --> 00:09:24.840
It was an ethnic war in which Indians
were recruited to kill other Indians...

00:09:24.960 --> 00:09:27.040
...or make them disappear.

00:09:28.200 --> 00:09:31.120
It started because the American
United Fruit Company...

00:09:31.240 --> 00:09:34.480
...tried to control the banana farmers.

00:09:36.200 --> 00:09:40.120
But they called it
the struggle against communism.

00:09:40.240 --> 00:09:43.480
Just like in El Salvador and Nicaragua.

00:09:43.600 --> 00:09:49.240
The war lasted 36 years.
200,000 people were killed.

00:09:49.360 --> 00:09:53.280
50,000 more disappeared
and were never found.

00:09:59.840 --> 00:10:02.800
I...

00:10:02.920 --> 00:10:10.240
I'm trying to record the sounds
of the genocide in Guatemala.

00:10:10.360 --> 00:10:14.400
Do you remember
the sounds you heard...

00:10:14.520 --> 00:10:18.440
...on the night they took your husband?

00:10:18.560 --> 00:10:23.960
Yes. I heard the sound of boots
as they came into the house.

00:10:24.080 --> 00:10:28.480
There was a lot of noise.

00:10:28.600 --> 00:10:35.080
I heard the barking of the dogs.
They had started to bark.

00:10:38.800 --> 00:10:44.400
I heard how the guy pulled his knife.

00:10:45.880 --> 00:10:52.960
And I heard him taking something
over there. A twenty-quetzal bill.

00:10:53.960 --> 00:11:00.160
He also took a radio. I heard that too.

00:11:00.280 --> 00:11:06.240
I heard the sound of them
kicking in the door.

00:11:11.120 --> 00:11:15.360
And I heard my husband cry.

00:11:15.480 --> 00:11:20.560
He cried as he said goodbye to us.

00:11:20.680 --> 00:11:26.040
So then we all burst into tears as well.

00:11:26.160 --> 00:11:27.880
How did he say goodbye?

00:11:28.000 --> 00:11:35.960
He said: 'Farewell, Carmen, farewell
forever. Look after my children.'

00:11:36.080 --> 00:11:38.160
And then he was gone.

00:11:38.280 --> 00:11:43.480
That voice will be in my head
for all eternity.

00:11:43.600 --> 00:11:50.000
And all of this will be
in my heart forever.

00:11:50.120 --> 00:11:52.080
I will never be without it.

00:11:52.200 --> 00:11:57.480
I feel that by talking about it,
the trauma starts to surface a little.

00:11:57.600 --> 00:12:05.160
It helps me relax.
Because all of this really happened.

00:12:06.160 --> 00:12:08.760
That also goes for the genocide...

00:12:08.880 --> 00:12:13.560
...committed by the army
during this armed conflict.

00:12:17.160 --> 00:12:22.080
What this woman says here,
that it's true what happened to her...

00:12:22.200 --> 00:12:24.680
...is an important part of this story.

00:12:28.040 --> 00:12:30.160
She wants public acknowledgement.

00:12:30.280 --> 00:12:34.720
The sounds of that night
are in her head and her heart...

00:12:34.840 --> 00:12:38.480
...but there is a movement in Guatemala
that won't talk...

00:12:38.600 --> 00:12:42.240
...about the kicks against the door
and the machete being drawn.

00:12:43.480 --> 00:12:50.240
They deny that there were Felipes
who were taken and never seen again.

00:12:50.360 --> 00:12:54.440
The UN has proven that entire
Maya villages were slaughtered...

00:12:54.560 --> 00:12:57.280
...for ethnic reasons.

00:12:59.640 --> 00:13:03.600
But genocide deniers
are in power today.

00:13:06.160 --> 00:13:11.120
So how much does the next generation
know about the Felipes of Guatemala?

00:13:13.840 --> 00:13:17.440
Do you know who these people are?
- No idea.

00:13:18.440 --> 00:13:22.920
What do you learn in school
about these people?

00:13:23.040 --> 00:13:26.320
That they are people of the genocide.

00:13:28.520 --> 00:13:31.080
That's all I know.

00:13:33.640 --> 00:13:40.400
It says: 'victim of state violence'.

00:13:40.520 --> 00:13:45.400
Do you feel they tell you
everything about this event at school?

00:13:45.520 --> 00:13:47.720
No.

00:13:47.840 --> 00:13:52.920
What do you reckon?
- They're hiding things from us.

00:13:53.040 --> 00:13:55.440
We only hear a few parts.

00:13:55.560 --> 00:13:57.960
They don't tell us the whole story.

00:13:58.080 --> 00:14:03.920
Just the part that suits them.

00:14:04.040 --> 00:14:08.480
Do you go to a public school?
- Yes, a state school.

00:14:11.160 --> 00:14:16.000
Thanks for your time and friendliness.
- Thank you.

00:14:29.360 --> 00:14:33.080
Soon after, the whole school lined up
outside the Holocaust Museum.

00:14:33.200 --> 00:14:37.480
An Israeli NGO built it
here in Guatemala.

00:14:37.600 --> 00:14:42.600
A museum showing what happened
in Guatemala itself doesn't exist yet.

00:14:50.440 --> 00:14:52.040
Access granted.

00:14:52.160 --> 00:14:56.840
The only place offering information
about this recent history...

00:14:56.960 --> 00:15:01.480
...is the blue tables
of the Forensic Institute.

00:15:20.840 --> 00:15:25.160
Do you always work in silence?

00:15:25.280 --> 00:15:28.440
I usually have some music on.

00:15:28.560 --> 00:15:30.920
With ear buds.
- What kind of music?

00:15:36.880 --> 00:15:40.800
Heroes of Silence.

00:15:45.360 --> 00:15:49.320
The band name is symbolic
for the silence.

00:15:49.440 --> 00:15:52.920
I hadn't thought of it like that.

00:16:13.200 --> 00:16:17.640
At the moment we're listing
dental information.

00:16:17.760 --> 00:16:20.880
Here we have two types of teeth...

00:16:21.000 --> 00:16:25.440
...because the person was
between 3 and 5 years old.

00:16:25.560 --> 00:16:32.320
So we see milk teeth
as well as adult teeth.

00:16:32.440 --> 00:16:40.440
I record how many milk teeth there are
and how many adult teeth.

00:16:40.560 --> 00:16:44.040
Is it clear to you
what happened to this child?

00:16:44.160 --> 00:16:50.080
Yes. There's evidence of trauma
through fractures.

00:16:50.200 --> 00:16:55.080
The fractures were caused
by a huge energy transfer...

00:16:55.200 --> 00:16:58.160
...that blew part of the face away.

00:16:58.280 --> 00:17:00.880
We think due to a fired bullet.

00:17:01.000 --> 00:17:03.680
The same goes for the thorax...

00:17:03.800 --> 00:17:09.600
...where normally the ribs
are connected to the spine.

00:17:09.720 --> 00:17:13.720
Eye witness reports tell us
that this was a family...

00:17:13.840 --> 00:17:20.480
...who were all shot and killed
by the army, in their own home.

00:17:20.600 --> 00:17:28.520
Since a child's body is only small,
it was riddled with bullets.

00:17:28.640 --> 00:17:33.960
This also goes for the other thirteen
family members. A mother and siblings.

00:17:34.080 --> 00:17:37.120
They were all killed?
- Yes.

00:17:37.240 --> 00:17:42.640
The idea of so much violence
done to a child makes me shudder.

00:17:42.760 --> 00:17:48.920
It's appalling to see this level of
destruction in the body of a toddler.

00:17:49.040 --> 00:17:52.400
A child is obviously not a soldier.

00:17:52.520 --> 00:17:56.600
I mustn't dwell on this.
I have a three-year-old myself.

00:17:56.720 --> 00:18:04.400
I compare my son's bones and
development with this skeleton.

00:18:18.160 --> 00:18:23.280
Does this work get government support?
- No.

00:18:23.400 --> 00:18:28.040
They act like none of this
ever happened.

00:18:28.160 --> 00:18:32.960
It's not on the news.
It's never in the papers.

00:18:33.080 --> 00:18:37.400
Like they want to erase the past?
- It seems that way, yes.

00:19:00.840 --> 00:19:04.680
The next sound is the sound of justice.

00:19:04.800 --> 00:19:08.240
Normally it would be a judge's gavel.

00:19:08.360 --> 00:19:13.240
But in Guatemala the only president
ever found guilty of war crimes...

00:19:13.360 --> 00:19:16.200
...died before the court case was finished.

00:19:16.320 --> 00:19:19.200
So we'll have to make do with this:

00:19:19.320 --> 00:19:24.120
The sound that Jorge, a controversial
artist, and his quiet indigenous friend...

00:19:24.240 --> 00:19:26.720
...make outside the parliament buildings.

00:19:41.960 --> 00:19:43.720
Who are these people?

00:19:43.840 --> 00:19:46.200
Some of these are responsible...

00:19:46.320 --> 00:19:49.640
...for the disappearances
and mass murders in Guatemala.

00:19:49.760 --> 00:19:55.120
They're military men, or men connected
with the army or the police.

00:19:55.240 --> 00:19:57.560
They're important people.

00:19:57.680 --> 00:20:01.960
Big names, then?
- Big sons of bitches.

00:20:03.320 --> 00:20:08.680
But we can't blame the bitches
for having sons that are scum.

00:20:09.960 --> 00:20:13.640
Are these the people
you want to put in the pillory?

00:20:13.760 --> 00:20:17.720
Yes. And then move them on
to the guillotine.

00:20:19.440 --> 00:20:23.240
They all went unpunished.
No one of them were convicted.

00:20:23.360 --> 00:20:28.600
They always get off scot-free.
- Yes. God won't punish them either.

00:20:28.720 --> 00:20:32.960
Is the pillory not a bit medieval?

00:20:33.080 --> 00:20:35.640
We're in the Middle Ages here.

00:20:35.760 --> 00:20:42.400
We may have cars and cellphones...

00:20:42.520 --> 00:20:45.600
...and HD and 4G.

00:20:45.720 --> 00:20:48.400
But life is medieval here.

00:20:48.520 --> 00:20:52.440
This is not a civilised society.
There is no justice.

00:20:52.560 --> 00:20:59.880
This country is kept together by us,
the hard-working people.

00:21:00.000 --> 00:21:03.080
That's the only reason why
there's any progress.

00:21:03.200 --> 00:21:09.760
Hopefully one day these medieval
ways of thinking will pass.

00:21:48.720 --> 00:21:53.200
Every year, on 25 February,
the silence is temporarily broken.

00:21:53.320 --> 00:21:58.240
Until justice will be done.
Until we can have the truth at last.

00:21:58.360 --> 00:22:01.800
We will never forget our loved ones.

00:22:01.920 --> 00:22:07.600
The armed conflict claimed the lives
of more than 200,000 people.

00:22:07.720 --> 00:22:13.200
Maya Indians from all over come to
the capital to let their voices be heard.

00:22:13.320 --> 00:22:19.240
They were taken by soldiers,
colonels and commanders.

00:22:19.360 --> 00:22:26.200
Day after day many parents still
wonder where their children are.

00:22:39.880 --> 00:22:42.920
This is a story about the silence
of Guatemala...

00:22:43.040 --> 00:22:47.040
...and about an attempt
to capture that silence in sounds.

00:22:47.160 --> 00:22:49.680
But what good is it to the Mayas?

00:22:49.800 --> 00:22:52.760
Their drama eclipses
any creative initiative...

00:22:52.880 --> 00:22:55.880
...and may be too big
to capture in sounds.

00:22:57.040 --> 00:23:00.600
Perhaps this story should be
about reconciliation from now on.

00:23:18.000 --> 00:23:20.680
What message would you like
to record...

00:23:20.800 --> 00:23:26.440
...for the families of the victims
of the armed conflict?

00:23:26.560 --> 00:23:31.360
Hello, fellow countrymen.
It's hard to lose a family member...

00:23:31.480 --> 00:23:34.920
...if the reason is not the will of God.

00:23:35.040 --> 00:23:37.680
But we must all carry on.

00:23:37.800 --> 00:23:42.960
Be brave and set a good example
for your children.

00:23:43.080 --> 00:23:47.360
I'm here with my daughter.
We support you.

00:23:47.480 --> 00:23:52.240
Courage to all the victims
of this internal armed struggle.

00:23:52.360 --> 00:23:58.160
Here in Guatemala we're entitled
to the truth and to justice.

00:23:58.280 --> 00:24:02.040
This must end. We want justice.

00:24:02.160 --> 00:24:06.080
We continue the struggle. Our country
is strong, together we are strong.

00:24:06.200 --> 00:24:09.640
I took part in the armed conflict.

00:24:09.760 --> 00:24:12.680
I was a soldier in the army.

00:24:12.800 --> 00:24:19.160
I was forced to join in but I didn't
agree with what was happening.

00:24:19.280 --> 00:24:21.840
I have a message for all those...

00:24:21.960 --> 00:24:29.720
...who lost their loved ones
during this conflict.

00:24:29.840 --> 00:24:35.320
I want to ask for your forgiveness.

00:24:35.440 --> 00:24:39.080
I hope justice will prevail soon.

00:24:46.240 --> 00:24:50.200
Mom, what will it take for you
to forgive this soldier?

00:24:50.320 --> 00:24:53.360
Can you forgive him?

00:24:54.800 --> 00:25:01.920
It's hard for me to forgive him
because of all the pain we suffered.

00:25:03.280 --> 00:25:09.240
I won't find forgiveness until I die.
And that goes for him too.

00:25:09.360 --> 00:25:14.840
I can't forgive him
just because he asks me to.

00:25:16.720 --> 00:25:22.400
The suffering he caused
is hard to forgive.

00:25:22.520 --> 00:25:25.760
We were suddenly on our own.

00:25:25.880 --> 00:25:31.800
My mother didn't have enough food
for us sometimes. We were hungry.

00:25:31.920 --> 00:25:36.400
She had to be the father
as well as the mother.

00:25:36.520 --> 00:25:39.400
After my father disappeared...

00:25:39.520 --> 00:25:44.520
...we never heard a thing
about where he might be.

00:25:44.640 --> 00:25:48.400
We never heard anything at all
about him.

00:25:49.400 --> 00:25:54.000
It must be hard not to know where he is.

00:25:54.120 --> 00:25:58.520
He vanished and we haven't got a clue
where he went.

00:25:58.640 --> 00:26:01.080
We know nothing at all.

00:26:20.080 --> 00:26:23.280
Relax, relax.

00:26:24.320 --> 00:26:26.880
Put your hand in the right place.

00:26:27.000 --> 00:26:33.320
There's a lot of sorrow.
A lot of pain. A lot of anger.

00:26:33.440 --> 00:26:37.880
The things Martina went through
are almost identical to Carmen's.

00:26:38.000 --> 00:26:42.440
Your arms are painful.
You carry a heavy burden.

00:26:42.560 --> 00:26:46.120
Husband abducted by the army.
No reason why.

00:26:46.240 --> 00:26:50.600
He was no fighter, not politically
active. She never saw him again.

00:26:50.720 --> 00:26:52.320
So much pain.

00:26:52.440 --> 00:26:56.840
The women try to comfort each other
with alternative therapy.

00:26:56.960 --> 00:27:00.360
You can scream if you want.

00:27:02.280 --> 00:27:06.240
No, don't. This is normal.

00:27:06.360 --> 00:27:08.800
This is part of it.

00:27:11.640 --> 00:27:17.760
Breathe in deep through your nose
and out through your mouth.

00:27:22.040 --> 00:27:26.920
Let all your tiredness and pain
fade away.

00:27:38.800 --> 00:27:46.240
Do you feel better after the therapy?
- Yes. A little better.

00:27:47.240 --> 00:27:49.800
A little.
- Yes.

00:27:52.680 --> 00:27:55.840
A lot of people say nothing happened.

00:27:55.960 --> 00:28:00.160
RĂ­os Montt, for example,
has denied the genocide.

00:28:00.280 --> 00:28:02.280
But there is a lot of proof.

00:28:02.400 --> 00:28:05.080
While he was in power...

00:28:05.200 --> 00:28:10.240
...entire villages were massacred.

00:28:10.360 --> 00:28:17.040
That's why we are convinced
we can in fact call it a genocide.

00:28:19.560 --> 00:28:27.080
This is a message for people
who deny the Guatemalan genocide.

00:28:27.200 --> 00:28:33.360
A genocide took place.
My father was abducted.

00:28:33.480 --> 00:28:40.320
And he was not the only one.
Several villagers were abducted.

00:28:40.440 --> 00:28:45.320
Not only men, but women too.
The women were raped.

00:28:45.440 --> 00:28:48.320
The men were indigenous men.

00:28:48.440 --> 00:28:53.040
My father had done nothing wrong,
but they took him anyway.

00:28:53.160 --> 00:28:57.520
He had nothing to do with the guerrilla,
but they took him anyway.

00:28:57.640 --> 00:29:01.920
So a genocide did indeed take place.

00:29:02.040 --> 00:29:07.160
If it really were a genocide,
would she still be alive?

00:29:07.280 --> 00:29:11.480
No, she wouldn't. She'd be dead.

00:29:11.600 --> 00:29:16.040
How can she call it a genocide
while she's still alive?

00:29:16.160 --> 00:29:22.800
Genocide is the extermination
of an ethnic or religious group.

00:29:22.920 --> 00:29:27.280
That's what genocide is. Okay?

00:29:27.400 --> 00:29:30.720
No better place
for straightening things out...

00:29:30.840 --> 00:29:33.440
...than this room full of
former military men.

00:29:33.560 --> 00:29:36.440
But before we heard their defence
when accused...

00:29:36.560 --> 00:29:40.280
...of one of the worst genocides
in Latin America...

00:29:40.400 --> 00:29:42.920
...we looked for more evidence first.

00:29:49.160 --> 00:29:52.320
The clothes worn by the individual.

00:29:59.000 --> 00:30:04.520
These are the pants worn by
the individual there on the table.

00:30:04.640 --> 00:30:10.040
Which family member was he?
- I assume he was a son.

00:30:10.160 --> 00:30:13.920
But maybe it was three generations,
with grandparents present.

00:30:14.040 --> 00:30:18.520
I don't think these people
were resistance fighters.

00:30:18.640 --> 00:30:23.760
They were regular citizens.
You can tell by their shoes.

00:30:23.880 --> 00:30:29.360
They're made of the rubber
from car tires.

00:30:29.480 --> 00:30:32.720
They were poor people,
judging by their shoes.

00:30:32.840 --> 00:30:35.040
This is the other one.

00:30:35.160 --> 00:30:39.600
Old car tires were made into shoes?
- Yes.

00:30:39.720 --> 00:30:43.480
That's the reality in our country.

00:30:43.600 --> 00:30:48.080
People can't afford shoes,
so they find other ways.

00:30:48.200 --> 00:30:49.920
Shocking, isn't it?
- Yes.

00:30:50.040 --> 00:30:55.080
It made a big impression on me too
when I first saw this.

00:30:55.200 --> 00:30:59.600
Mainly because of what is in the boxes.

00:31:04.440 --> 00:31:08.520
Also shocking: the amount of
indigenous clothing found.

00:31:08.640 --> 00:31:11.200
Do you find a lot of indigenous clothes?
- We do.

00:31:11.920 --> 00:31:17.360
It really is mainly Mayas
found in the mass graves.

00:31:17.480 --> 00:31:22.840
83 percent of the victims represented
in these boxes were indigenous.

00:31:22.960 --> 00:31:27.800
And still some people maintain
there was no ethnic motive.

00:31:28.640 --> 00:31:34.480
Is it important to break the silence
around these events in Guatemala?

00:31:34.600 --> 00:31:36.240
Yes, very important.

00:31:36.360 --> 00:31:41.480
There is silence, and there is denial.

00:31:41.600 --> 00:31:46.360
Silence reigns among the people
who survived this.

00:31:46.480 --> 00:31:52.240
They are scared.
They're afraid to speak their minds.

00:31:52.360 --> 00:31:59.680
On the other side there's denial.
We see that in the perpetrators.

00:31:59.800 --> 00:32:04.680
But how can you deny it when
the evidence is on these tables?

00:32:04.800 --> 00:32:10.880
One of their arguments is that
these people were killed in war.

00:32:11.000 --> 00:32:15.320
They're said to be guerrilla fighters
killed in combat.

00:32:15.440 --> 00:32:18.960
Do the injuries look like
combat wounds?

00:32:19.080 --> 00:32:24.520
In many cases people have their hands
tied behind their backs.

00:32:24.640 --> 00:32:30.160
A lot of them are blindfolded.
Their hands and feet are tied.

00:32:30.280 --> 00:32:35.200
Obviously that indicates
they were not fighting at all.

00:32:35.320 --> 00:32:38.880
They were in fact defenseless.

00:32:39.000 --> 00:32:44.640
We also see bullet wounds
that indicate unlawful executions.

00:32:44.760 --> 00:32:46.600
Straight in the skull.

00:32:46.720 --> 00:32:54.320
It's highly unlikely that anyone could
aim so precisely in a combat situation.

00:32:54.440 --> 00:32:59.480
And in combat you usually have
more than one injury.

00:33:05.320 --> 00:33:09.160
When a peace deal was signed
in 1994 in Oslo...

00:33:09.280 --> 00:33:14.360
...a report was published with the
lovely title Memory of Silence.

00:33:14.480 --> 00:33:20.400
It said: If the truth is not revealed,
the victims will not be acknowledged...

00:33:20.520 --> 00:33:24.760
...and the perpetrators will not
recover their dignity.

00:33:27.560 --> 00:33:31.360
The dignity they lost
through their own actions.

00:33:42.200 --> 00:33:45.920
We're afraid of journalists here.
- Why is that?

00:33:46.040 --> 00:33:51.480
In Europe they distort the facts.

00:33:51.600 --> 00:33:54.040
But not all journalists do that.

00:33:54.160 --> 00:33:58.480
This is the board of the
Association of Former Soldiers.

00:33:58.600 --> 00:34:01.200
They were in charge
during the civil war.

00:34:01.320 --> 00:34:04.720
We are anti-communists.
- We're on the far right.

00:34:04.840 --> 00:34:08.800
The far right?
- Yes, but we're not Nazis.

00:34:08.920 --> 00:34:11.280
So, not Nazis. Okay.

00:34:11.400 --> 00:34:16.280
Were you all in the army
during the armed conflict?

00:34:16.400 --> 00:34:17.920
Yes.

00:34:18.040 --> 00:34:22.520
And who among you had to kill people?

00:34:22.640 --> 00:34:24.720
All of us.

00:34:24.840 --> 00:34:29.960
Do you ever have nightmares
about what happened?

00:34:30.080 --> 00:34:36.160
Or do soldiers not have nightmares?
- Our conscience is clear.

00:34:36.280 --> 00:34:38.400
They say we committed genocide.

00:34:38.520 --> 00:34:42.680
But we never set out
to hurt our people.

00:34:42.800 --> 00:34:45.240
The news in Europe...

00:34:45.360 --> 00:34:51.840
...is manipulated by
communist resistance groups.

00:34:51.960 --> 00:34:54.640
They distort the truth.

00:34:54.760 --> 00:35:01.040
The army was blamed
for the bloodbath at El Aguacate...

00:35:01.160 --> 00:35:06.680
...so the Organization of American States
sent a human rights guy to investigate.

00:35:06.800 --> 00:35:10.400
He had this urgent question:

00:35:10.520 --> 00:35:15.480
Did we throw little children
into the air...

00:35:15.600 --> 00:35:19.440
...to catch them on our bayonets?
Like, 'squish'?

00:35:19.560 --> 00:35:23.040
He asked me if he could see
the bayonets.

00:35:23.160 --> 00:35:27.560
But we never even used bayonets.
It was all a lie.

00:35:33.640 --> 00:35:37.160
I had actually counted on
some recognition for the victims.

00:35:37.280 --> 00:35:40.800
Not the age-old argument that
the communists are to blame...

00:35:40.920 --> 00:35:42.760
...and the genocide never happened.

00:35:42.880 --> 00:35:49.160
No. They were killed because
they were guerrilla fighters.

00:35:49.280 --> 00:35:54.200
A genocide is when groups of people
are exterminated.

00:35:54.320 --> 00:35:56.800
I tried, but I couldn't get through.

00:35:56.920 --> 00:36:01.120
Is there such a thing as
a failed genocide?

00:36:01.240 --> 00:36:03.560
No.

00:36:03.680 --> 00:36:07.040
No, because that order
was never given.

00:36:07.160 --> 00:36:13.120
It's a lie, carefully constructed
by left-wing revolutionaries.

00:36:13.240 --> 00:36:15.160
It really makes no sense.

00:36:15.280 --> 00:36:18.960
They would never admit
that mistakes had been made.

00:36:19.080 --> 00:36:22.280
Not even if someone were prepared
to forgive them.

00:36:22.400 --> 00:36:27.040
Would you like to hear
a lovely message of forgiveness?

00:36:28.280 --> 00:36:31.240
Who wants to hear it?
I'll play it for you.

00:36:34.600 --> 00:36:39.400
This massacre was carried out
for no reason at all.

00:36:39.520 --> 00:36:43.680
No reason for our Mayan nation.

00:36:43.800 --> 00:36:49.920
They wanted to exterminate us.
They wanted to eliminate us.

00:36:50.040 --> 00:36:54.680
What they did was not good.

00:36:54.800 --> 00:36:59.760
We still suffer the consequences
of the war and the genocide.

00:36:59.880 --> 00:37:04.720
And yet we bear no grudge.

00:37:04.840 --> 00:37:08.520
We forgive them
from the bottom of our hearts...

00:37:08.640 --> 00:37:12.920
...because we must not wish evil
on those who hurt us.

00:37:13.040 --> 00:37:17.320
We wish them well, infinitely.

00:37:17.440 --> 00:37:22.080
Because terror was spread.
And that is a bad thing.

00:37:22.200 --> 00:37:27.360
But we want to spread something else,
and that is goodness.

00:37:27.480 --> 00:37:29.200
Thank you very much.

00:37:29.320 --> 00:37:33.040
Our Guatemala will flourish again.

00:37:34.720 --> 00:37:38.760
These merciful words come from
a spiritual leader of the Mayas...

00:37:38.880 --> 00:37:43.000
...in the mountain village of Xejuyup.

00:37:47.680 --> 00:37:51.920
Every Sunday, he blesses the players
in a very special football match.

00:37:56.800 --> 00:38:02.000
In the 1980s, in the midst of civil war,
a football team was gathered.

00:38:02.120 --> 00:38:07.080
We expect you on the pitch
at ten thirty...

00:38:07.200 --> 00:38:09.680
...for the competition match.

00:38:09.800 --> 00:38:13.960
Club Deportivo Xejuyup
against Debutantes.

00:38:16.920 --> 00:38:20.920
This football team, called
Club Social Deportivo Xejuyup...

00:38:21.040 --> 00:38:26.160
...plays in traditional attire to show
their pride in their indigenous origins.

00:38:37.400 --> 00:38:40.920
I really love your football shoes.

00:38:41.040 --> 00:38:45.840
Are they Maya shoes?
- Yes. The fabric is Maya.

00:38:45.960 --> 00:38:50.120
Does the colour red stand for something?
- Yes, it's the blood.

00:38:50.240 --> 00:38:52.320
The blood?

00:38:52.440 --> 00:38:54.600
And brown stands for the earth.

00:38:54.720 --> 00:38:58.840
Whose blood?
- The blood of mankind. And of love.

00:38:58.960 --> 00:39:03.120
Is blood important to the Mayas?
- Yes.

00:39:03.240 --> 00:39:09.920
Without blood in our hearts
we can't fall in love or love others.

00:39:10.040 --> 00:39:12.120
It's also the heart of the earth.

00:39:12.240 --> 00:39:17.400
That's beautiful.
- Yes, our culture is important to us.

00:39:17.520 --> 00:39:21.600
Some people say
we Mayas have no value at all.

00:39:21.720 --> 00:39:25.480
They chopped us down,
like you chop down a tree.

00:39:25.600 --> 00:39:32.160
And they thought we were dead.

00:39:32.280 --> 00:39:37.440
But they forgot that our roots
can grow back again.

00:39:44.880 --> 00:39:46.400
Listen.

00:39:46.520 --> 00:39:50.000
You who are in the heavens.

00:39:50.120 --> 00:39:52.080
Heart of the heavens.

00:39:52.200 --> 00:39:54.560
You who are in the earth.

00:39:54.680 --> 00:39:56.840
Heart of Mother Nature.

00:39:56.960 --> 00:39:59.920
God of Maya football.

00:40:00.040 --> 00:40:03.440
May their rivalry be limited
to football only.

00:40:03.560 --> 00:40:06.680
May it not degenerate
into personal rivalry.

00:40:06.800 --> 00:40:12.720
May they be good to each other.
May no one be hurt or injured.

00:40:12.840 --> 00:40:14.840
And may no one cheat.

00:40:14.960 --> 00:40:20.760
May they enjoy the match.
Today they defend our culture.

00:40:26.480 --> 00:40:30.120
Guatemala,
the heart of the Maya world.

00:41:08.840 --> 00:41:11.640
If Guatemala is
the heart of the Maya world...

00:41:11.760 --> 00:41:16.640
...did these sounds tell a story of
the heartbeat of Central America?

00:41:16.760 --> 00:41:19.760
About how this heart beats?

00:41:22.280 --> 00:41:25.400
Every time it seems to be doing well,
there are counterforces...

00:41:25.520 --> 00:41:28.160
...that undo the positive developments.

00:41:29.440 --> 00:41:32.840
The thirty victims last identified:

00:41:45.920 --> 00:41:49.840
This is the story of the heartbeat of
a nation that wants to move forward.

00:41:49.960 --> 00:41:51.720
Step by step.

00:41:53.160 --> 00:41:56.480
And meanwhile they wonder
how many generations it will take...

00:41:56.600 --> 00:42:01.040
...to move on together after
all the bloodshed. And how to do it.

00:42:01.160 --> 00:42:05.280
What did they do to our loved ones?

00:42:23.360 --> 00:42:27.480
Despite everything I love this place.

00:42:27.600 --> 00:42:32.760
It's very emotionally charged,
and yet it's fantastic here.

00:42:32.880 --> 00:42:39.360
There's so much energy and power
here. I don't feel that anywhere else.

00:42:40.920 --> 00:42:45.120
You suddenly see things
from a different perspective.

00:42:45.240 --> 00:42:47.800
They think it's a toy.

00:42:47.920 --> 00:42:50.160
How amazing is that?