Ronaldo is not his real name, but the name that he took on for securityreasons when he joined the Guerrilla force in Guatemala in 1990. But to begin to understand how this man, who has lead me and others up mountainsand to various other cultural sites saftely, you need to also know whathappened to him and his family when he was 7 years old.
The 80`s were a difficult time of repression in Guatemala. At this time Lucas Garcia and Rios Montt were actively into their scortched earth program in which anyone who was organizing the population were accussed ofbeing guerrillas and disappeared (ie. kidnapped, tortured and usuallykilled). The motivation for the army was to intimidate and instill fear in the population to crush any desire to join the popular fight. Ronaldo`s father was a catholic catechist, a campesino (farm worker) leader, and had been organizing a cooperative in his village. He was sympathetic to theguerrillas but not a member. He was a target it turned out.
Ronaldo was seven the night when his family home was surrounded by 80 EXPAC (civilian military force) members and his father was disappeared. The family thought that they would find him dead in the street the nextmorning-- what usually happened, unless the army decided to burn the bodyto limit the number of victims known. But after 15 days of being tortured in a clandestine cemetary, his father was left there alive. He managed tomake it back to his town and was recognized by a priest since he was acatechist... he was naked, and his body was swollen and completely black from the beatings he had received. His father remained in his house almostunconscious because they had no money for the doctor (or food for thatmatter without him working) and it was too dangerous to move him because he was a wanted man.
The community got behind Ronaldo`s family and brought sugar and corn tofeed them. Ronaldo said that he remembers his father yelling day and night because he was in such pain and they only had natural medicine to treathim... for 8 days the family remained in the house. Then they received news that the army was going to come and kill the father and the rest of the family (an EXPAC member who was a friend of his father told the family, a miracle in itself) so they needed to flee and take refuge in Mexico. The father, mother and grandmother did not want to go at first...the father couldn`t even walk after all. But many people helped the family and convinced them that they needed to leave. An uncle found some horsesand they left for Chiapas.
It took them three days to reach Mexico... they had to go on foot where no other people would spot them and could only walk at night. It was a miserable exit... especially since the father could not eat... and the border was almost entirely controlled so every minute contained fear.
Mexico brought new problems... the father couldn`t work and the mother and brothers could not either, and they needed food and clothing. The Catholic Church helped by giving food and medical treatment to the father. The church also contacted another church that was working with other, most Guatemalan, displaced refugees. The refugees in this location did not live in camps but were provided logistical help. The helped they received was wonderful but they were second class (at best) citizens in Mexico. They were only allowed to walk in certain areas of town and not allowed toofficially attend school-- didn`t have the right papers, so could sit in class but were not given graduation certificates when completed. The church set up projects for the refugees so they could work which benefited all the refuges.
During this time, Ronaldo began to study the true situation of what was happening in Guatemala... and he decided to return and do something for his country. He felt that he had to fight for a better future for his country. (He still today said this with such conviction.) He knew the lackof health care, education, and land rights in his country. He knew about the exploitation of workers in fincas, the discrimination towards theindigenous... As he said... I was not forced to go into war but decided onmy own to join the Guerillas.
So he decided to leave his family in Mexico... which was very hard because after what had happened to his father, his mother thought he would be killed. But Ronaldo thought it was necessary, so with that resolve he leftand went into the mountains.
It was very hard in the beginning... food was the most difficult... but the struggle to learn to live in the mountains made the need to have resolve for your decision to join all the more important. At first in the mountains the new members are given basic military training... how to usedifferent weapons, etc. taught by conrads that had been in the war for 4-5years so brought weapons and experience. They were also taught politics because it was very important to be clear on your politics because you were going into war with a weapon. Ronaldo only had 15 days of this training, usually it was more, because their was a combative taking place so they were needed.
In their first combat, all the new people were placed next to experienced people. This was necessary, and it didn`t matter if it was a man or woman that you were matched up with, only the experience mattered. The first few combats were the worst... you were afraid, afraid to lose body parts not necessarily to die... but you still believed it was necessary that you fought and as experience increased fear decreased.
They had several kinds of camps... principal camps deep in the mountainswere they might stay for 1-4 weeks. In these camps, when they were not fighting they would have breakfast between 1 and 5 in the morning and then dinner at 6pm... this way their smoke would be be hidden in the clouds andnot detected. They would eat rice and beans and if possible corn tamallas.The camps of passing would be simply for sleeping or rest. In these camps they would only receive rice and just one meal a day.
While in the mountains, they could march during the day. Men would have 80-90lbs packs on and women 50lbs, walking up hill in volcanos and mountains. Out of the mountains, they would walk at night between 6pm and 3am to avoid being detected... and would not have lights either as they were going through villages. In combat the situation would change... they would go without food for 3-6 days and only have drinking water. They would walk through rain, areas that were controlled in which they had to eat plants or green bananas, and had only 1lb of rice for 10 people. In the mountains in areas with no plants they would not have food for 2-3 days, and had to deal with humidity, and cold temperatures with only a nylon tarp and possibly a small blanket. They would have to let their clothes dry on their bodies if they got wet. Bottom line, if they didn`t have conviction, they wouldn`tbe able to continue under the conditions.
They studied politics, military positioning, why they were involved in the war, and analysis of the present situation in Guatemala... they would also teach those who couldn`t read or write how to do both. Fighting was their principal task but they also had other work such as getting firewood,digging up mailboxes that were buried under ground with information and weapons in them, traveling to other bases to visit contacts, internal security, planting land mines, and cooking.
Ronaldo was 18 years old when he joined. He was in the guerrillas from1990 until the peace accords in 1996. His family has returned to Guatemala and have been resettled in a community of resettled refugees called New Dawn.
As he says... This is my story, not the whole story. Other conrads have different stories. History is not just created by us but by others as well.
