WITNESS Media Archive: Footage from Rio Negro Massacre
By: WITNESS Media Archive
Posted: Oct 24 08
Witnessed: 1092 times
Guatemala
Impunity, International criminal court, Mass killings
archives, documentation, Guatemala, impunity, Maya Achi, rape, Rio Negro massacre, torture, WITNESS Media Archive, World Day for Audiovisual Heritage
On March 13, 1982, eleven-year-old Jesus Tecú Osorio watched the torture, rape and slaughter of 177 women and children in his village, including most of his family. The Rio Negro massacre was one of many mass killings carried out against Mayan civilians during a period of extreme and almost unimaginable brutality during Guatemala’s 36-year civil war.
This is a selection from the collection of the WITNESS Media Archive. All footage was shot by Jesus Tecú Osorio between 1996 and 2002. After surviving the massacre, abduction, and a three-year captivity at the hands of the killers, Jesus went on to become an internationally-known activist against impunity for these crimes. He has videotaped exhumations of mass graves, testimonies of witnesses and survivors, funerals and reburials of loved ones finally recovered years after their deaths, protests, and life in the community which was almost destroyed. The footage was used to create two advocacy videos: A Massacre Remembered and A Right to Justice.
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