Lucía remembers early experiences as a girl attending political meetings with her parents, and the killing of her mother and others; and reflects on exhumation process.
- Interviewee:
- Lucía
Transcription
Well, we've seen a lot of things. At my age, these are things I always remember. What I remember is when I was little; my parents participated in this whole process of starting the war. They would have meetings and because I was little, I joined them. They had meetings and there was always a leader in charge who organized the people. They helped people become aware and informed them of how things were going to be. That's where this all started, everything that happened. One time on our way to a meeting, the soldiers showed up and shot at all of us. That was a massacre. That's when they killed my mom, and shot one of my brothers. They also shot others, including a girl, the daughter of a woman who almost got her buttock blown off. The girl ended up dying at about 10 at night at the house we were at. The next night, they went to pick up all the dead bodies and half-buried them. That same day we left for another valley. They stayed buried there while we went to the other valley. Thank God at this point those people have been taken out from where they were. It was very hard. I never thought I was going to see their remains, and feel almost like they're my own. Before, I used to think that when people died, you wouldn't get to see their remains, because you just bury them. One time when one of my brothers living in Las Flores told me, "We're in the process of taking out our mom's remains from where they are." When they said that, I wondered, "How is that?" "Well, yes," he said, "they're going to take them out." I felt happy and also a bit sad. I thought to myself, "Oh no, having to see my mom's remains and all of that…" I felt very sad actually. But afterwards, I felt content. On the Day of the Dead in November, we used to have to go all the way from here to Cerro Grande. At least now it's a lot closer to go see her. I'm also happy about the chapel they made because they're all going to be kept there safely.