Millions of Police Documents Found in Old Vault in Guatemala – Could Send Former Officials to Prison
A vault full of millions of old police documents has been found in the national police archives in Guatemala. The moldy documents are covered in rat and bat droppings, but what is in those documents could put many former officials in the Guatemalan government in prison.
The police documents contain clues about what really happened during the Guatemalan Civil War that lasted almost four decades. It ended in 1996. These documents portray a picture of government repression and have provided prosecutors with evidence needed to start trying former government officials.
Hector Bol de la Cruz, who was the national police director, has been charged in the disappearance of a 27 year old student who disappeared in 1984. Fernando Garcia was never seen again. Garcia’s family hopes to finally learn what happened to their loved one.
The archive of log books and papers are still being scrutinized. Each piece is scanned digitally and then uploaded to secure servers in another country. Prosecutors will continue to go through the files in hopes of solving many of the crimes that were committed during the civil war.
The process is expected to take years. There are only three cases right now that are coming to trial. There are believed to be 80 million documents. Some of the documents go back to the 1800s. Family and friends of more than 45,000 activists who are missing have contacted the various rights groups in hopes of finding answers to how their loved ones disappeared.
The trial of de la Cruz is seen as the first step to solving so many disappearances, as well as ending the impunity of those who ordered murders, torture, and abduction of leftists. The civil war is believed to have cost more than 250,000 people their lives and the “Truth Commission,” which was backed by the United Nations in 1996, believes that 85 percent of human rights violations were at the hands of the military.
