The June, 2012, issue of SOJOURNERS magazine includes an article, “Can These Bones Live?” The author, Rev. Emilie Teresa Smith, who is a Canadian Anglican priest living in Guatemala, reports on her visit to the Guatemalan Forensic Anthropology Foundation (FAFG) site where workers are laboriously attempting to identify bones of people who were thrown into “bone wells” during the Guatemalan civil war, 1978 – 1984. The U.N. commision that investigated the war and genocide estimates that 200,000 people lost their lives. FAFG believes that some 44,000 people were detained and disappeared.
Many of the people in the Guatemalan community in Bergen County experienced these atrocities, which were carried out under the training and direction of the U.S. CIA. This story, from the point of view of “Mr. Elias”, is told in the CoFiA/Grupo Ella Tu video, “Why I Am Here.” Many other people tell us they have similar stories.
For more information on the video, or to order, go to “Contact Us.” The videographer and subject are also available to present public screenings.