JULY 18, 1982

PLAN DE SÁNCHEZ MASSACRE OF ACHI MAYA BY GUATEMALA PARAMILITARY

In the village of Plan de Sánchez, armed forces and paramilitary allies killed over 250 people (mostly Achi Maya women and children).  In 1982, President Gen. Efraín Ríos Montt, suspected the village of harboring or supporting guerrilla groups.  After the massacre, the village was abandoned and survivors were threatened if they spoke about the incident or located the mass graves they were forced to dig.  In 1992, a National Reconciliation Law had granted amnesty to the suspected perpetrators.  Survivors then went to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), under the Organization of American States, in 1996.  The IACHR received a partial recognition of the state’s institutional responsibility.  In 2004, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights issued two judgements in which it established Guatemala’s liability case and ordered monetary, non-monetary and symbolic forms of compensation for the survivors and the next-of-kin of the deceased. 

Source:  “Report No 31/99, Case 11,763, Plan de Sánchez Massacre, Guatemala, 3/11/1999,” IACHR.  Retrieved 7/6/2019,  http://www.cidh.org/annualrep/98eng/Admissibility/Guatemala%2011763.htm
Graphic:  CIA Worldwide Factbook.  Date unknown.  Public Domain.  Photograph taken by an officer or employee of the United States Government as part of that person’s official duties under the terms of Title 17, Chapter 1, Section 105 of the US Code.