A woman scatters pine needles on the road before a Catholic procession, in Antigua, Guatemala.
This project explores the complexities of post-civil war recovery and the struggle to find peace and security from the Guatemalan Civil War among the indigenous populations, who suffered the most violence. Guatemala is the only country in the western hemisphere that experienced genocide in the 20th century. During the country’s 36-year civil war (1960-1996), about 200,000 people were killed, and another 50,000 ‘disappeared’ and buried in mass graves throughout the country. This left a brutal legacy of violence on the social fabric of this highly indigenous country. 93% of human rights abuses were attributed to the military. The Mayans in the western highlands of Guatemala have been largely forgotten by the state for decades until the 2012 genocide trials for former military dictator and president, Efrain Rios Montt. During his term, the military under his command, terrorized the Ixil Mayan population between 1982 and 1983. He was quoted in 1982 as saying, “The guerrilla is the fish. The people are the sea. If you cannot catch the fish, you have to drain the sea.” The military systematically tortured, raped and killed the indigenous population who were accused of supporting leftist guerrillas, Guerrilla Army of the Poor. There were over 600 massacres in the highlands, the mountainous region which suffered the greatest violence in Guatemala. Today, although deprived of basic services to education, health, access to clean water and sanitation, the Mayan people have continued their traditional way of life as farmers and weavers even after the war. Rios Montt has largely enjoyed immunity for years as a member of Congress, but in January 2012, his 14-year term ended, and charges against him were allowed to proceed, but still has yet to be formally charged because of the country’s failed judicial system. I starting photographing this project in 2012. With the opportunity to return, the intention with either film or digital format will be more defined.
Nebaj, an indigenous town in the Ixil region, where thousands were massacred. They do not talk about the war. It was in this plaza where former military general Otto Perez Molina, now president, was based. He stationed soldiers in the bell-towers and forced men into civilian patrols – such as fathers, brothers, uncles, cousins, neighbors – and were often forced to kill suspecting guerrillas, those very family members or friends they’ve known their whole life, during public executions in the plaza.
A mother, left, takes her daughter and grandchildren, to Uspantan where they will talk to a judge about domestic violence abuse by her daughter’s husband. Many indigenous Guatemalans were accused by the government of helping leftist guerrillas. Villagers here fled to the mountains where they lived for 12 years when the military came and burned their homes, raped the women and forced men into civic patrols.
Residents in a Semana Santa procession in the highlands of Uspantan, Guatemala, on March 30, 2012. This area suffered heavy violence against the residents during the civil war, where the military publicly executed possible guerrillas in the plaza.
Many indigenous Guatemalans were accused by the government of helping leftist guerrillas. Villagers here fled to the mountains where they lived for 12 years when the military came and burned their homes, raped the women and forced men into civic patrols, in the department of Quiche, Guatemala.
Mothers and their children walk to a clinic, in the San Marcos Department, Guatemala, on Tuesday, August 2, 2011. Despite being the world’s fifth largest exporter of sugar, coffee and bananas, Guatemala has the highest rate of child malnutrition in Latin America. In September 1989, known as “Black September”, 27 indigenous men were kidnapped, killed and disappeared. Relatives of the victims said members of the army in civilian clothes are eliminating peasants who they suspect of being guerrillas or of selling food to the leftist rebels
A woman washes clothes on a rock, in the department of Jalapa, Guatemala. During the civil war, vigilante groups headed by Ladino landowners burned homes and arrested and killed landless, poor indigenous Mayans. They justified these killings by saying there was guerrilla activity and the indigenous were providing guerrilla support.
A woman looks out her home, in a village in the Quiche department, Guatemala. Villagers here fled to the mountains where they lived for 12 years when the military came and burned their homes, raped the women and forced men into civic patrols.
A woman scatters pine needles on the road before a Catholic procession, in Antigua, Guatemala.
An indigenous family poses for a portrait in Jalapa, Guatemala, on Wednesday, July 28, 2011. Despite being the world’s fifth largest exporter of sugar, coffee and bananas, Guatemala has the highest rate of child malnutrition in Latin America. During the civil war, vigilante groups headed by Ladino landowners burned homes and arrested and killed landless, poor indigenous Mayans. They justified these killings by saying there was guerrilla activity and the indigenous were providing guerrilla support.
The remains of a church that was burned by the Guatemalan military in their hunt for leftist guerrillas, in a remote village outside of Uspantan, Guatemala, on March 28, 2012. Many indigenous Guatemalans were accused by the government of helping leftist guerrillas. Villagers here fled to the mountains where they lived for 12 years when the military came and burned their homes, raped the women and forced men into civic patrols.
Exhumation of bodies of the “disappeared,” or “XX” – Sin Nombre – from the civil war, at one of Guatemala’s mass graves, at La Verbena Cementary, in Guatemala City, on Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2011. Guatemala is the only country in the western hemisphere that experienced genocide in the 20th century. During the country’s 36-year civil war (1960-1996), about 200,000 people were killed, and another 50,000 “disappeared” and buried in mass graves throughout the country.
Acul, is a model village, in which the Guatemalan army burned the original village and built a new one designed to isolate civilians from the guerrillas, in the Ixil Triangle, Guatemala.
Nebaj, an indigenous town in the Ixil region, where thousands were massacred. They do not talk about the war. It was in this plaza where former military general Otto Perez Molina, now president, was based. He stationed soldiers in the bell-towers and forced men into civilian patrols – such as fathers, brothers, uncles, cousins, neighbors – and were often forced to kill suspecting guerrillas, those very family members or friends they’ve known their whole life, during public executions in the plaza.
A man, 30, center, reunited with his biological father and his family after being separated for 30 years during the civil war, in the Ixil province, Guatemala. They pray after the formal reunion. Many indigenous became evangelicals during the civil war to keep from being accused of supporting leftist guerrillas. At the time, the military dictator and president, Efrain Rio Montt, was also an evangelical preacher.
Acul, is a model village, in which the Guatemalan army burned the original village and built a new one designed to isolate civilians from the guerrillas, in the Ixil Triangle, Guatemala.
Men hold incense before a procession during Holy Week, or Semana Santa, in Antigua, Guatemala.
A man with his family walks up a path to reunite with his biological father after being separated for 30 years during the civil war, in the Ixil province, Guatemala.
During the height of the civil war, a military tactics such as “scorched earth” campaigns were enforced. Soldiers recruited men into civil patrols, raped women and burnt their villages and churches. This was common. There were over 600 massacres in the highlands. Thousands fled into the mountains to live for over a decade. Laq Chimel, near Uspantan, Guatemala. March 30, 2012. Story: During the height of the civil war, around 1981-82, the Guatemalan military enforced tactics such as “scorched earth campaigns.” Soldiers recruited men into civil patrols, raped women and burned villages and churches. This was common throughout the indigenous highlands of the country. There were over 600 massacres. Thousands fled into the mountains to live for over a decade. Guatemala is the only country in the western hemisphere that experienced genocide in the 20th century. During the country’s 36-year civil war, (1960-1996), about 200,000 people were killed and another 50,000 “disappeared” and buried in mass graves throughout the country. It left a brutal legacy of violence on the social fabric of this highly indigenous country.
Bio
Lianne Milton is an American editorial and documentary photographer based in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Her work focuses on the effects of politics on people and their environments, in places such as, SE Asia, Latin American, as well as the U.S. Lianne began her freelance career in 2009, after working as a newspaper photographer for three years. She is a member of Panos Pictures. Lianne is also a recipient for the 2013 PDN Photo Annual in documentary and 2012/2013 Latin American Photography Award for her project in Guatemala: La Vida No Vale Nada. After receiving her BA in Photojournalism from San Francisco State University in 2004, Lianne worked for a newspaper for three years but was laid off in 2009 due to challenging economic circumstances – a blessing in disguise which enabled her to pursue stories she deeply cares about. Lianne currently lives in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where the City meets the Ocean. When she is not photographing, she’s out there surfing.
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Lianne Milton
“The guerrilla is the fish. The people are the sea. If you cannot catch the fish, you have to drain the sea.”
Latin American dictators are so much more eloquent than our Republican presidential candidates who just come out and say they want to kill the families of suspected enemies with no metaphorical flourish whatsoever.
It’s kind of nice to see young people discover, get outraged, and attempt to educate more people about the American enabled mid-to-late twentieth century murder sprees in Latin America. I wouldn’t get my hopes up though, as back then a lot of people were energized, yet had little or no effect on policy, and their efforts are at least as forgotten as the atrocities they protested and tried to publicize (seems to me there was some pretty devastating real-time photography, but I can’t cite it. Photo historians?). But, hey, it’s a good thing to do. Go for it, I say.
I’m a bit surprised by the relative low image quality of most of the photos. I don’t necessarily mean that as a negative criticism, but I’m curious as to why?
Agree with MW ….
a small child during the end of Vietnam, I was politicized all the wars in C.America, much of which involved ugly, horrendous American involvement and policy…..where the same clamour among the young still true today…alas…
anyway, I want to suggest (at the request of Michael) a few great photographers who covered those wars and events in C.America that Lianne may want to look at:
Start with John Hoagland (whose son, Eros, is a wonder guy, tough guy and a surfer :) )…John was killed in Salvador…but his work IS CRITICAL to understanding: http://www.icp.org/browse/archive/constituents/john-hoagland?all/all/all/all/0
Susan Mileas: her work in Salvador and Nicaragua IS defacto viewing: http://www.magnumphotos.com/C.aspx?VP3=CMS3&VF=MAGO31_10_VForm&ERID=24KL535EQH
Nachtwey, Towell, etc……
BUT START WITH HOAGLAND and read about his life…
I would also read Robert Stone’s extraordinary novel “Flag for Sunrise”..the greatest american novel about the insanity of C.American/American politics…as well as Joan Didion’s “A Book of Common Prayer”…and the poems of Carolyn Forche……
also, please read the great Central American novelist Horacio Castellanos Moya (Salvador, but living in US)…..
It is always very difficult and troubling (to me) for outsides to ‘photograph’ the ‘history’ of a place without a long and specific connection, otherwise, it seems like so much outsiderism and voyeurism and vestige of colonialism gone ‘right’….and I LONG for these kinds of stories to be told from within the community, from the Guatemalan perspective, from the children whose families perish….and THAT is what i require in stories such as this…
that is NOT to suggest that Lianne isn’t heart-deep into this story….i just see or feel it yet….and from one surfer-photographer to another, I know she understand that the kind of effort to tell a story like this requires giving up other things…one cannot surf without surrendering…and so too a story such as this….ghosts need alot of sitting into oder to be listened too….
gently, i’d say: if this story is that profound and important to you (and i sense that in some of the pics, but not all) that you need to spend alot more time there…..meaning comes from time, not just desire …
photographs of ghostly places are NOT ENOUGH….but it is a place of entrance….
take a look how Matt Black has dealt with poverty and also the ghosts of Mexico…
lots of hope for you to delve deeper and more richly and with more time…
hope this doesn’t sound too harsh
all the best
bob
I guess I pretty much agree with MW too. I think I might understand the reason the images with poor technical quality were created, as I have done largely the same thing many times when the light was too low for whatever technology I was working with at the time, or I simply made a mistake in exposure but wanted to salvage the feeling of the image.
Lianne, you have some excellent images in this mix. I look forward to your future work.
Bob, you are a regular, walking, breathing, talking, writing museum of photographic history. Thanks for the links. I had seen much of this work before but could not think where or by who, but you took me right to it.