AHPN: Key documents for justice

In 2005, at the National Police in Guatemala City, about 80 million sheets of paper were found by chance. The papers, that were stored in stacks in very poor conditions, contain documents from 1882 until 2003. These documents also hold evidence of the involvement of the National Police of Guatemala in gathering intelligence on citizens and in participating in disappearances, torture and murder during the civil war.

Because of the poor condition of the documents the first task of the Historical Archives of the National Police (AHPN) has been to restore the documents, which is a meticulous work made by hand. Once restored, the archives then need to be sorted and indexed.

Alberto Fuentes explains that it is important to take into account the context that the individual document was found in and that seemingly insignificant documents can play a key role. For example, if a witness has seen a family member be forced into a car by such a simple document as a record of the vehicles owned by the National Police at the time can work as a compelling evidence of that the National Police is responsible. Fuentes emphasizes that testimonies, exhumations and documentation play a key role in the pursuit of justice.

Finally, the documents are digitalised and publicized. By cooperating with the University of Texas at Austin the documents are made available online.

These documents are an invaluable resource in the search for the truth and a way for relatives to find out what actually happened to their loved ones. Although I have just passed a few weeks here in Guatemala I am stricken by that the wounds that the civil war left still are wide open. There is a will to struggle for justice and a great need to find out the truth in order to get a closure.