ABSTRACT
Emoltecos attempt to set la violencia within an over-arching frame in terms of traditional, religious or political concepts. Women’s lack of forewarning of la violencia produced anxiety about the future: the world had become a less predictable and more punitive place. People say that la violencia was caused by the K’iche Y immoral conduct, and that this is what God wants to change through la violencia. As people become politicized, they are more likely to link la violencia to the ‘organization’ and the armed forces than the ancestors. People’s explanations about the causes of la violencia are not static but operate according to several exegeses simultaneously with one interpretation not necessarily being more accurate, complete or final than another; each is a version of the truth as understood at the time. In the case of the drastic changes brought about by la violencia, the K’iche’s’ experience of the situation was perhaps even less comprehensible.
