Élida narrates how she and others survived the “May Guinda” in 1982 by waiting until nighttime to walk in order to avoid detection by the military.
- Chapter:
- Chapter 3: The Years of "Guindas"
- Interviewee:
- Élida
Transcription
Then there was another operation that happened in May 1982, which was the Guinda de Mayo. We were told, “look, comrades, we’re letting you know a strong military operation is going to happen. Let’s go.” We knew it would happen, so we left El Portillo and we left Rama Caída. We thought we would be okay there once we left and came here. But the operation was in fact stronger than usual. There were 14,000 soldiers, as they say, and they surrounded this whole area all the way from the Sumpul River to here. We left Rama Caída and headed towards Los Amates on the side of Portillo Norte. In Los Amates, they had cooked up a cow and we made some soup. We grilled some meat to feed the children. We got a small piece, it wasn’t a very big piece, to give to the children, but it wasn’t for us. Then we heard gunshots. There were more than 1,000 of us there in Los Amates. When we left that place, I didn’t see them anymore. Well, I only saw a few wounded people by a doorway and they said, “comrades, don’t leave us, don’t leave us. María, don’t leave us, María Chichilco.” Those wounded people couldn’t walk, and we were already carrying the kids, so we couldn’t help them. Then we left and got to the Sumpul. We got across in a small canoe because the river had grown a lot due to the rains. We couldn’t wait any longer and the helicopters flew above us while we attempted to cross. My husband put the boy right here, and I held on to him while I carried the backpack with everything we had. Our feet barely touched the ground so we were on our tiptoes because the water came all the way up to here. Some people drowned, they say, but we were able to dodge the planes that were throwing bombs. Some of the roads there were very flat. Some would take you some place, others would take you to another. It was all a disaster and it makes me remember a moment we had in a place we spent about eight days. We would walk from place to place, we would walk at night and during the day, but more and more the army closed in around us. There were about 100 of us together in a forest, including women and men. A coordinator who was with us said, “look, at this point, each person just has to run for their life. I am leaving and we can’t do anything else here. We can’t be in a group anymore, no one can. Everyone just fend for your own life. I’m leaving.” Then he left, he left us and we also left. We heard gunshots here, there, everywhere. Then, my husband, my cousin and his wife Ms. Santos (Rosa’s sister) and her two sisters stayed with us. They said, “We are going with you, and we’ve decided to give whatever we need to.” We walked the entire night and I lost my shoe. I had so many blisters on my feet. It was very difficult. The next day was hard for us. The next day was the toughest. Then, after we left there we got to a place where we had nothing to eat. We spent about three days in a shelter, hearing the helicopters pass by again and again. We couldn’t see if they were leaving or not, but in the end they retreated and we decided to get out of there. We got severe malaria and had to leave towards Mesa Grande, Honduras.