Global Courant 2023-04-27 04:28:22
Hundreds of Guatemalans paid tribute this Wednesday, with a mass and a march in the center of Guatemala City, to Bishop Juan José Gerardi Conedera, assassinated in the Central American country in 1998.
“Monsignor Gerardi worked mainly for human rights and the search for the truth,” declared Archbishop Gonzalo de Villa, during a mass celebrated in honor of Gerardi in the Metropolitan Cathedral of Guatemala City, in the presence of some 300 people.
After the mass, religious, social and indigenous leaders led a walk towards the parish of San Sebastián, where the bishop was beaten with a blunt object on April 26, 1998.
The participants of the walk carried wooden crosses, red carnations and white t-shirts with Gerardi’s face printed on the front.
In addition, Gerardi’s followers denounced during the tour that many of the crimes committed during the internal armed conflict (1960-1996) by the security forces of the Guatemalan State remain unpunished.
25 years after the crime
25 years ago, Gerardi Conedera was assassinated a few meters from his home and the crime occurred just two days after he published a report entitled “Guatemala: Nunca Más” in which more than 54,000 human rights violations were documented during the Guatemalan civil war.
The report prepared under Gerardi’s coordination included the identification of the perpetrators of the massacres and dozens of testimonies from the victims.
“Gerardi is still alive and this is a day to remember that the military forces assassinated him to silence him but there are still thousands of families demanding to know the whereabouts of their disappeared loved ones,” Rosalina Tuyuc, human rights defender and survivor of the internal armed conflict.
According to Gerardi’s document, more than 90% of crimes against humanity were committed by the Guatemalan Army, in a conflict that left more than 200,000 dead and at least 45,000 disappeared.
For the murder of Gerardi, the priest Mario Orantes and three soldiers were convicted, in a final sentence since 2005: Byron Lima Estrada, Byron Lima Oliva and Obdulio Villanueva.
This Wednesday several people marched to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the assassination of Bishop Juan José Gerardi. (Free Press Photo: Esbin García) People gathered at the Metropolitan Cathedral with wooden crosses and shirts with the bishop’s face. (Free Press Photo: Esbin García) More than 300 people marched to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the assassination of Bishop Juan José Gerardi. (Free Press Photo: Esbin García) This April 26 marks the 25th anniversary of the assassination of Bishop Juan José Gerardi. (Free Press Photo: Esbin García)
