The ‘grey zone’ of justice: NGOs and rule of law in postwar guatemala

Abstract

Through the ethnographic exploration of the trial and murder conviction of military commissioners for their participation in the massacre of Rio Negro, the NGO-sponsored exhumation of clandestine cemeteries as well as other human rights NGO initiatives, this article discusses contemporary debates about truth versus justice, national security ideology and impunity, and the role of national and international NGOs. The author problematizes rule of law and the role (both real and potential) of NGOs in national and local peace-building initiatives. The Rio Negro court case is explored from the perspective of Maya massacre survivors, as well as the roles of the Guatemalan Forensic Anthropology Foundation, the Archbishop’s Office on Human Rights and the Commission for Historical Clarification in this case. This article calls attention to the myriad ways in which rural Maya have created and seized new political spaces in Guatemala’s nascent democracy and often done so in tandem with NGOs. Further, Maya human rights organizing is identified as a nexus of engagement between Maya citizens and the nation. This article points to the absolute necessity of Maya participation in constructing national and community political structures and practices for NGO projects to realize their creative intention to develop a new moral vision of equality and human rights in Guatemala.