ABSTRACT
In giving testimonies about indiscriminate massacres, peasant sources often wondered what kind o f “sin” (pecado) children could possi bly be guilty o f to justify their m urder by state forces. Yet the army treated many Indian communities as uniformly hostile. Their rhetoric described all residents, even infants, as dangerous “communists? and worthy o f death-Patrick Ball, Paul Kobrak, and Herbert Spirer
did not attract the attention of many scholars of genocide studies until the last decade or so1 Fortunately, that was not the case vis-a-vis hu man rights organizations, human rights activists, and a small number of scholars (anthropologists, historians, and political scientists) who had a vested interest in Guatemala (i.e., had conducted research in Guatemala and had come to know the people who were being tar geted). Indeed, for well over thirty years now, various human rights organizations and activists have focused a laser-like light on the mass killings of men, women, and children by Guatemalan troops and their lackeys. In doing so, they have decried the destruction of 400 plus Mayan villages, the brutal torture and murder of Mayans of all ages, and the impunity enjoyed by the perpetrators of the crimes.
