Genocide in Guatemala

Re “Can Genocide End in Forgiveness,” by Michael Shifter, Opinion, March 7: The recent reports concerning the Commission for Historical Clarification in Guatemala provide us with the opportunity for some clarification of recent moral dilemmas in the U.S. Spokespersons for the right wing in America have decried the lack of morality that characterizes the president and the majority of the American people who support him. They seem intent on claiming the moral high ground. However, the recently released report from Guatemala puts these moral issues in some perspective.

The genocide against the Mayan people and other unspeakable horrors in Guatemala escalated dramatically when Ronald Reagan took the reins from Jimmy Carter. The goal? To stop communism, of course. But was this really the goal? The grim statistics from the commission answer this question in an unusually unambiguous manner. The U.S.-trained and -backed military (and paramilitary) committed 93% of the atrocities. The guerrillas were responsible for 3%. Is it any surprise that the American people do not listen to the Reagan-era ideologues and religious-right-wingers who supported this horror in Guatemala and other places in the world, in the name of anti-communism?

Give us a president who knows how to pursue American interests without promoting genocide, torture and mass murder--and we will forgive much in his personal life. Furthermore, we won’t feel like we have given up the moral high ground.

JIM DWYER

Monrovia

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Shifter argues that collective forgiveness is essential for closure of Guatemala’s dirty war. The experiences of Cambodia, South Africa, Argentina and Chile provide weak, if not inconclusive, support for this approach.

A more equitable approach would be to compensate the families of the victims for “wrongful death.” And since, as Shifter states, “The U.S. government, including the CIA, was closely allied with national political parties and elite sectors supportive of the repression,” the U.S. should be made to participate in the compensation process.

PAUL GILON

Palm Springs