Guatemala Civil War Photographs ~ Traveler Photographs.com

Guatemala Civil War Photos

The following photographs are from the Guatemalan civil war that lasted for 37 years- from the 1960's into the 90's. These photos show the modal communities, which were essentially internment camps, children adrift in times of war, Nebaj, and May Day demonstrations. These photos are used with the permission of the Friends World Program of Long Island University.

To read the article that I wrote about the Guatemalan Civil War go to Guatemala 1980
To read the full interview that I did with a Guatemalan refugee in Costa Rica go to Interview with a Guatemalan Refugee

Children in Nebaj, Guatemala.

"There was this guy that studied architecture, and they just dragged him out of his house. You know, it was night time, they opened his door with an ax and just dragged him out in front of his family. There were also two guys on a public bus, and they just dragged them out and they were heard from never again. Guatemala at this point has more than 40,000 disappeared, and that was the way they disappeared. A van would pass by and you could be walking down the street and they would drag you into the back." From the interview with a Guatemalan Refugee

Villagers at work near Nebaj constructing a 'modal village' for themselves. "You destroy the village and then you move them somewhere else. So they have model villages that are totally militarized. You know with control, because in indigenous communities there are houses spread all over. So they put them all together in a town that is square with military posts on each side, and to go in and out you had to have a card." Read the full article on the Guatemalan Civil war

"Living conditions behind the market in Nebaj." As quoted from the back of the photo.

May Day celebration in Guatemala in the 1980's.

"So at that point, in 1980, just in that year, they killed about 13,000 students and faculty. So anybody that has a progressive perspective, or had any kind of social concern, or was involved in any kind of movement [pause] lots of people were killed. People that were in my organization, we worked with kids a lot, and also with farmers, some of them were disappeared. They just dragged them out of a bus, a public bus." Read the full interview with a Guatemala Refugee