University Murals

This morning during class, I went with my teacher and another teacher-student pair to the public university in Xela, San Carlos de Guatemela, to see the student-painted murals. They are all in reference to the 36-year Guatemalan civil war that officially ended in 1996. I'm not going to go much into that, but it was an incredibly brutal, horrific period in the country's very recent history. There is plenty of information out there if you're interested in learning more about it.

Most of the murals were in the building where students of agrigulture, medicine, and human rights study. I think that's an interesting and perhaps very fitting combination of disciplines. I'll do my best to translate and explain the murals when needed. A common motif in the murals is a person wearing a robe that looks a bit too much like a KKK robe for my taste. The students here wear these robes, especially during Semana Santa, as a way of symbolizing their assumed role as speaking for the people. In these murals, they represent that voice or the people in general. Another common symbol is a skeleton. Unlike in the States, this is not a scary or evil symbol, but rather a symbol of protection or as a way to commemorate the dead in the war.

This one reads: "Farmer, farmer, they changed your hoe for a worn out rifle. Your strength lies greater in your heart. What they could not destroy is your incessant struggle for a better homeland that still does not end." A big motivation for the war was the issue of land distribution and land reform, and so the campesinos (farmers) were big players in the conflict, actively and symbolically.

This one at the top says "Honor Rights." The big man on the right is Efrain Rios Montt, the president of Guatemala from 1982 to 1983, who presided over the most brutal period in the war. He is still involved in politics here, currently serving in the Guatemalan Congress, which I personally find appalling. He is standing on top of a farm worker, symbolizing his repression of the poor landworking majority. The man in the middle is Alfonso Cabrera who was president after Rios Montt. The people here called him pollo ronco, or hoarse chicken (I'm not sure why), which is why he has a chicken's body. Rios Montt is holding puppet strings because the people accused him of continuing to control the country even after he was out of power. The students on the left are holding a torch to illuminate the situation, and the one on the right is flicking off Cabrera and Rios Montt.

"No more will we produce to earn money, but rather to supply our needs. Now let us work for ourselves, not to make others rich. If one needs food, all will need food. If one has excess or surplus, it will be for all." This one looks like an import from the USSR.

"There are those who struggle one day for justice. There are men who struggle many days for justice, and these are better. But, there are MEN who struggle for justice all their lives, and these are the indispensables. Freedom and Peace!"

"We would shout stronger so that our voice would be heard to the last corner of the earth. However, we do not because we know that our message will arrive further than the universe from the simple fact of speaking the truth."

This picture was next to the writing above. In this picture, a student and the skeleton are putting Rios Montt and another president - I'm not sure which - in the trash.

I took this picture through a window, so it's not as clear, but it reads: "The ghost of the pueblos has no greater monument than the bones of their martyrs." It looks like it's a quote from Che Guevarra.

This mural was in the section where medical students study. It shows two of the presidents of Guatemala who have been accused of stealing huge amounts of money from the government getting away with the cash, being led of course by Rios Montt. A robed student is stopping them, and the skeleton is following their footprints.

This is of a woman weeping among headstones representing the villages most seriously affected by the war. She represents the sorrow of all mothers in the war.

This was on the outside of the psychology building. It says:

We only reclaimed the land of Cajola (a name of a village)
Let’s walk the homeland; I will go with you.
I will go down to the abysses you tell me.
I will drink your bitter cup.
I will stay blind so that you can have eyes.
I will stay without voice so that you can sing.
I will die so you will not die.
It has to be this way, without question.

It was written by a former student at the university. On the right, there is a gas mask of a National Policemen, and reflected in the visor is a group of people holding a banner which says the beginning lines of this poem.

It was neat to see such creative displays of resistance and witness. The students here take very seriously their voice and their ability to speak out for the people. The robes are a really important part of that, giving them more of an "everyman" quality. They are still unsettling for me to see, but I appreciate their meaning here.