This is from the Comalapa Community from 1982 - abuse of the women, violations and other examples of humiliation is very, very frequent in this area. The soldiers come from the camp in Chimaltenango and they are part of the 7th company of the 2nd battalion - they have some reputation... The whole Comalapa area is more or less dominated by the guerrilla. Partly because the Panamerican Highway passes through - it's a focal point - who ever is in charge of this territory, also controls the traffic, its the army's main road and of course also the guerrilla's. The guerrilla only has two possibilities: They can either move very slowly walking through the mountains or drive very quickly by the road.  
 
     Comalapa also has a heliport - which is very important - they've had several bombings there... This is a drawing I made in Comalapa of the dead people before they are transported to Chimaltenango. In this area the violence in very special, because a lot of the bodies disappear - because they have a big crematory in Chimaltenango. This means that contrarily of the majority of the villages in Guatemala - where the bodies of the dead are transported by night and disappear to be brought to the secret cemeteries - most of the people who are murdered in the Chimaltenango area are cremated - this way they disappear and leave no trace of evidence... 
 
      This is why its very common to see the women in Chimaltenango searching among the piles of dead bodies that are being brought in... And this is a drawing of one of the piles of dead bodies ready for transport to Chimaltenango... in the early '80s. 
 
       
 
 
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