Genocidio, violencia sexual y memoria en Guatemala

Abstract

In this paper, the authors explore the suitability of the category of genocide to describe the mass slaughter that took place in Guatemala. The authors also reflect on the way in which counterinsurgent memory reacts in relation to this event and the memory of the survivors and of the victims’ relatives. The memory of the genocide becomes problematic because it is linked to penal law, just as the truth is related to historical judgment. The authors analyze one of the blind spots of memory, sexual violence, which is concealed by the victims themselves. Today, a sort of continuation of the past internal conflict exists in Guatemala in the struggle to keep memory alive and to combat oblivion.