Abstract

FLORES A., Carlos Y.. Apuntes sobre la dimensión cultural del conflicto armado entre los q'eqchi' de Guatemala. Desacatos [online]. 2002, n.10, pp.167-178. ISSN 2448-5144.

This essay examines responses to government violence and the way in which the counter-guerrilla war affected the perception and identity of the Q'eqchi in the North East of the Alta Verapaz region in Guatemala. The author looks into the social implications of the violence suffered by the communities of the Salawim area, where the army exploited the Q'eqchi perceptions of violence -which they interpreted as a supernatural punishment for their own sins- and thus led to a generalized feeling of guilt and social paralysis.The second part of the work focuses on the cultural and social reconstruction process in the same area; the reference point being the Sahakok community where a stone memorial was built in the form of a cross with the names of the 916 local victims of state repression.