Ex military base

Many of the tactical operations were implemented using military techniques that were not included in the army instruction manuals, but put into practice the counterinsurgent strategies and were incorporated in each one of the operations. The selective repression of people accused of being part of or collaborating with the guerrilla was one the military techniques used by the army.

 In many cases, the people caught by the army were tortured to obtain their confessions, in order to find out if they belonged or if they were collaborators of the guerrilla, as well as to obtain information about other members or collaborators.

The Commission of Historic Clarification (CEH) reported that some of the places used as torture locations were the military detachments that were the base for the military zone’s command, or clandestine detention sites. Later, in many cases, the prisoner was arbitrarily executed or if the person died during the torture, their remains were abandoned or disappeared.

FAFG has recovered skeletal remains in locations that were military detachments or army quarters during the armed conflict, for example the exhumation of the area where the military base was located in Comalapa, Chimaltenango. In two excavations performed, 220 victims’ remains were recovered. Another example is the case investigated in the former military base in Rabinal, Baja Verapaz, where 74 remains were exhumed.