Impunidad

Impunidad, impunity n. “exemption from punishment”. In 1954 a CIA-backed military coup toppled the democratic government in Guatemala allowing full control by the Army over the citizens of Guatemala. During the 1960’s and 1970’s a guerilla movement established itself throughout large areas of the country-side, and in the late 70’s the Army took on a “scorched earth policy” destroying 440 villages, with 100,000 civilians murdered and 45,000 missing. In a land shrouded in silence where 2.1% of the population own 72% of arable land, 86% live in poverty and 1,000,000 are internally displaced, Australian filmmaker, Helen Gaynor, worked undercover to reveal the continuing violence between the armed forces and the indigenous peoples, the terror and corruption which still allows the army to continue acting with impunity. 65% of the 10 million population are indigenous Mayan Indians, and despite 500 years of oppression, many facets of their culture survives. Though fewer in number, the disappearances, torture and massacres are still occurring today. Narrated by Jenny Seedsman In English and Spanish with English subtitles.