AUGUST 9, 2000

GUATEMALA’S PRESIDENT ADMITS THAT NATION’S RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE PLAN DE SANCHEZ MASSACRE

In 1982, President General Efraín Ríos Montt suspected the village of Plan de Sánchez of harboring or supporting guerrilla groups. Armed forces & paramilitary allies killed over 250 people (mostly Achi Maya women & children). 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 granted amnesty to the suspected perpetrators. In 1996, survivors went to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), under the Organization of American States. On August 9, 2000, the President of Guatemala, Alfonso Portillo, in settling several cases before the IACHR, acknowledged the “institutional responsibility” of the State in the massacre. In 2004, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights issued 2 judgements establishing Guatemala’s liability and ordered monetary, non-monetary, and symbolic compensation for survivors and 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.html

Graphic:  CIA Worldwide Factbook.  Date unknown.  Public Domain.