Assassination of Father José María Gran, witness to la violencia in the 1970s

Voices and images: Mayan Ixil women of Chajul

TABLE OF CONTENTS 

Chapter One: La Violencia and Its Effects

2. Assassination of Father José María Gran, witness to la violencia in the 1970s

The Catholics of Chajul remember how the pastor of Chajul died on 4 June 1980. Each year, when they commemorate it, the people of Chajul feel sad. They accused the priest of being a guerrilla because he used to go out to the villages to celebrate Mass, to speak about the truth. He had accompanied the funeral in the capital after the Spanish Embassy had been burned with the leaders of campesino organizations inside. Among the people killed were two women and a man from Chajul.

Five months later, the priest was assassinated, machine-gunned down while riding on his horse, along with his sacristan, Domingo Batz, when they were returning from the villages. The priest was assassinated with bullets used by the army and the Treasury Guard who were repressing the people of Chajul at that time. Before Father José María Gran was assassinated, they had already kidnapped various people. The army together with the Treasury Guard used to beat up many innocent campesinos in our town.

For us, it was a terrible time that we will never forget. It left us in extreme poverty and caused us to lose many of our family members.