House on Ninth Street Book

Since 1966, 40,000 people have vanished into the bowels of the state security apparatus in Guatemala. Forty-six percent of all "disappearances" in Latin America occur here, where the method of eliminating persons, leaving no trace behind, was invented and refined. To live with the reality of "disappeared" loved ones is to live constantly in the permanent presence of an absence. This collection is based on the words of the relatives of the "disappeared" who, in spite of continued harassment and death threats, continue to demand explanations and justice. Larry Towell travelled to Guatemala in 1988 and 1989 to record the people's stories. He gives the voices a chance to be heard through interviews with GAM (Grupo de Apoyo Mutuo, or Mutual Support Group), an organization of family members of the "disappeared". The group was formed in June of 1984 when five persons who had repeatedly met while searching for the loved ones decided to band together in that search. Although GAM is not the only internal organization pressuring the government, it was the first to do so, and to endure. Although a venue of direct dialogue for general social reform began to open between the government and the social sector after the 1993 naming of Ramiro de Leon Carpio, the former human-rights ombudsman, as president, the issue of the "disappeared" remains unresolved, and not a single high-ranking military officer has been brought to trial.