February 13,2024 commemorates the 42nd anniversary of the forced disappearance of Emil Bustamante, a university social leader. His families, friends and organized collectives gathered to march to the Matamoros military headquarters, where he was last seen alive in 1982. “This terrible ignominy was not 42 February (years) ago, it was today and will always be today”, “they have not managed to defeat us because that is why we are here, maybe we are few, but we are the ones who have to be, those who believe in the importance of life, of truth, of peace” said his families in front of the military headquarters.
A member of a collective of families of people who disappeared during the Internal Armed Conflict added: “As survivors and families of victims who disappeared during the Internal Armed Conflict, it is important to walk hand in hand demanding the clarification of the truth about the perpetrators and the location of their bodies. There are 45 thousand families who suffer and live daily the torment of forced disappearance, like the family of Emil Bustamante, the absence of our loved ones, the absence of our mothers and fathers, grandparents, uncles, aunts, brothers and sisters is endless and continues to affect the daily lives of those who survive in this country, because it means walking day after day wondering, where are they?”
From NISGUA, we join in solidarity with the survivors, family members, collectives and organizations that accompany them in the search for truth and justice for their loved ones, comrades in struggle and defenders of life, who fought for a different Guatemala, a Guatemala with social justice, against the military dictatorship that defended capitalist interests and those who committed genocide and repression against Indigenous People, leaders of urban organizations, students, unionists, such as Emil Bustamante, who was detained and forcibly disappeared for thinking differently.
📸 Photographs by: NISGUA. During the march to Matamoros military base, zone 1 of Guatemala City, called in commemoration of the 42nd anniversary of the forced disappearance of Emil Bustamante. February 13, 2024.
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