Padre Diego Agapito Santiago González, pastor of Santa Maria Nebaj Catholic Church in the Diocese of Quiché, Guatemala visited his sister parish of St. Pius X in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin from September 7-13, 2010. Padre Diego was appointed pastor of Santa Maria Nebaj parish in May of 2009. This was his first visit to the sister community of St. Pius X.
x
Established by the Spanish in the 16th century, Santa Maria is a very large parish whose members are primarily Mayan. The main parish church is located in the town of Nebaj in the central highlands of Guatemala, about six hours north of Guatemala City. The parish includes 90 aldeas, or small farming communities spread throughout the region of Quiche Department.
x
Padre Diego was born on August 8, 1969 and is a native of Nebaj. His first language is Ixil, the language of the majority of his parishioners. He also speaks Spanish. Padre Diego is assisted by a newly ordained priest, Father Bernardino Grave Mejia. Together the two priests try to visit each of the 90 villages three times a year. Some of the villages are only reachable by foot or on horseback, a journey that can take anywhere from 2 to 6 hours.
x
The Guatemalan civil war lasted from 1960-1996 and over 200,000 Guatemalans were killed. The war was a genocide against the indigenous people of Guatemala. The years 1978 to 1983 were the most brutal years of the war. In the early 1980s the Army massacred hundreds of Mayans in and around Nebaj and burned crops and villages, accusing them of being communists. [Thanks to Nathan Kolbe of St. Pius X for providing background information.]
x
Intimidation and oppression continued even after the Peace Accords of 1996. At 3:00 in the morning of February 21, 2002 a fire broke out in the parish house in Nebaj. Witnesses say it was arson. There were no victims, since the priest was in the departmental capital that night and the two people sleeping inside the house were able to escape, even managing to save some computers, so not all of the parish documents were lost. Nevertheless, in addition to the original parish records of baptisms, marriages and other community events, the flames consumed original documents related to the Recuperation of Historical Memory (REMHI) investigation and others belonging to the team of forensic anthropologists who have been carrying out exhumations in Nebaj. It was well known that several communities known as Populations in Resistance were established in the Ixil Triangle at the time of the terrible scorched-earth operations against towns in the three municipalities and especially in Nebaj in the early eighties. The leading role played by the diocese of El Quiché and its bishop, Monsignor Julio Cabrera, in preparing the REMHI report were also well known, as is that of Nejab’s pastor at the time, Father Rigoberto Pérez, in the Peace and Reconciliation Commission in the diocese of El Quiché.
x
Eight days later, forensic anthropologists working in three human rights organizations received death threats. With each passing day, former Civil Self-Defense Patrol (PAC) members and retired military officers in general had become more rigidly opposed to the exhumations of people killed in massacres during the war. Amnesty International’s extensive, detailed and impressive 2002 report on Guatemala, Guatemala’s Lethal Legacy, which documents impunity for past crimes as well as new human rights violations, reports that soldiers and former PAC members had "warned possible witnesses" in suits filed in Guatemala City against former President Lucas García, former head of state and now president of Congress Efraín Ríos Montt plus members of their governments for responsibility in these massacres. "Forget the bones," was the warning. "If you want to make noise about what happened in this town, it’s going to happen again." [Source: http://www.envio.org.ni/articulo/1572]
x
St. Pius X parish has been sistering with Santa Maria Nebaj since 2003. Parishioners are planning a delegation to Santa Maria at the end of July 2011.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
