The Olin Lounge was filled beyond capacity Wednesday night for a talk by Elena Ixcot, a Mayan Guatemalan refugee who fled the country in 1982 to escape political repression.
Ixcot recounted her story in highly personal and emotional language. "It's very sad to speak of genocide," she began, expressing anguish about the situation in Guatemala and atrocities committed all across the globe.
The lecture's tone was serious, especially when Ixcot discussed her personal history. "In my childhood I saw the misery," she said. "My father just earned 35 cents a day [working] very hard. Women earned 10 cents a day."
Ixcot left Guatemala in 1982 and went to Mexico, before moving to the United States in 1984. She currently lives in a convent in Vermont.
Guatemala gained its "supposed independence" in 1821, Ixcot said, explaining that the new government excluded the Mayan people. The country is home to 11 million people, 80 percent of whom are ethnically Mayan, as are 22 of its 25 languages.
She said the poor in Guatemala worked not only to support themselves, but also to "support the wealth of the wealthy."
In 1978, the first Mayan massacre occurred when the Guatemalan government sent soldiers to seize oil-rich land from the poor and built gun and bullet factories. All of this was done "over the blood of the Mayan people," Ixcot said.
Ixcot's brother was killed at the time by supporters of the Guatemalan government. "He died because he loved his country," she said.
Ixcot attributed her troubles of her country and others around the world to the difference in values between the rich and the poor. "We are a part of mother earth, we give worship to each element that gives us life," she said of poor people. "For the wealthy people, their god is money."
Wealthy people will do anything to acquire more money, including murder innocent people, Ixcot said. Four hundred villages were destroyed during the massacres, according to Ixcot. "The people live in trauma."
Attendees posed questions about the role of the international community, reparations programs, and Ixcot's personal feelings about her situation.
The U.N. sent a delegation to Guatemala to address human rights issues in 1995. Despite the government's expressions of support and cooperation, Ixcot said it was eager for the U.N. workers to leave.
"After signing [for] peace nothing changed," she said. "The guns were quiet but the roots of the problem were still there." The government did not want the U.N. to see the examples of the "worst human rights violations" in the country, she said.
Ixcot also discussed her personal sentiments regarding Guatemala's history. When asked if she would want to move back to her native land, she answered, "my heart is in Guatemala even though I'm
living here."
Only the weather, language, and food have changed, she said. "The land here still gives me happiness: I plant corn, potatoes, beans," she said. "I'm happy here, happy to share my culture with another."
Students reacted positively to the event, saying that Ixcot presented her emotional and upsetting topic in a powerful, personal way.
"I thought it was depressing [but] she did a great job and it was from the heart," freshman Joe Brown said.
Ixcot's lecture was organized by seniors Shannon Karam and Heather Decker, who co-teach a class called "Violence, Genocide, and U.S. Involvement" through the Experimental College, which sponsored the event along with several other departments and organizations.
