It’s Monday today. I’ve now been here a little over a week and thus it
seems a good time to update everyone on what I’ve been up to so far. Oh, and
maybe I should tell you about work stuff, just so you don’t think I’ve been
slacking off this whole time.
I came to Guate in order to visit the country's main archive: The
Archivo General de Centroamerica (AGCA). I finally made it there on Wednesday,
after spending my first two days with Sergio’s family, trying to track down
info on his grandfather.* Luckily, before I left the US, I was able to look at a finding
guide for the AGCA's Foreign Ministry records. I was given the
finding guide as a set of photos by another – very generous – historian. But
you see, the guide was a little bit mysterious. It was divided into three
parts, with all the documents listed in the first two parts ending around 1945 –
the exact starting point of my
project. The third part, however, had no dates at all. And it just happened to
have two main folders that were of interest to me: one on Guatemalans abroad
and another on foreigners in Guatemala. So, I headed to the AGCA armed with my
photos. I told the very kind, helpful archivists that I would like to look at the
documents identified in Part III of the finding guide … and was promptly
informed that they were not at the AGCA. One hour in the archive and it was
apparent that there was nothing there for me. Time to regroup.
The archivists suggested that the documents might be at the Foreign Ministry itself, so I spent Thursday online, trying to locate information on a possible archive
at the Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores. Coming up empty, I began digging around in another
archival database that might be of use: The National Police Archive (NPA). Now, when
I came down here I had no intention of looking into the National Police
Archive, which was kind of a ridiculous oversight on my part, I must admit. The
NPA was discovered by accident back in 2005, after an earthquake led officials
to inspect a number of old buildings in zone 6. Much to their surprise, they
found a cache of documents dating back to the late nineteenth century. 80
million documents, to be exact, which was the largest such cache ever discovered. What
followed was a massive international effort to preserve and digitize the
documents, many of which were at risk of rotting away to nothing. Since then, the
NPA has proved invaluable in efforts to prosecute former members of the
Guatemalan military and high-level government officials for crimes against humanity committed during the
country’s thirty-six year civil war. I’ve been following these developments for
a few years now, but it never occurred to me that there might be something of
use to me in the NPA – until the other day. The University of Texas has been at
the forefront of the NPA project, and hosts a database of the 12 million
documents that have now been digitized. So far, I’ve been able to dig up
records on a few of the individuals I'm tracing, but none of the ones I want have yet been
digitized. My intention in searching the database was to see if it was worth taking a trip to zone 6. It turns out, however, that I can put in a request and they will digitize
the records I need within three months, which means that I don't need to brave zone 6. Back to the Foreign Ministry
archives…
After much digging online, it was in no way apparent that
there was an archive at the Foreign Ministry or that they would let me in if there was one. So,
on Friday morning I found myself at the front desk of the Guatemalan Foreign
Ministry, asking to see their archive. To my surprise, they pointed me down a
hallway and told me to hang a left and head up the stairs. Could it really be
so easy? Not likely. When I reached the desk upstairs, I informed the
archivists what I was looking for and they immediately asked if I would like to
read the Historia General de Guatemala. I politely declined and they handed me
a book of laws related to the foreign ministry in 1945. Slightly puzzled, I
took the book and found myself a quiet place to read. And then the archivist
brought me another book…and another. I decided to humor them and flipped
through the books they gave me, which yielded a couple new names for my list of
exiles. When I was done, I gave back the books and asked if I could now see
their documents, to which they responded with a somewhat perplexed expression. “This
is the archive?” I asked. No. This was the library. The archive was downstairs
and I would need a pass to get in. Back to the front desk I went. Again, I told
them I would like to visit the archive and this time, rather than sending me to
the library, they told that I would – of course – need a pass to access
the archive. Of course. I handed them the copy of my passport and they informed
me that, unlike the AGCA, a copy would not suffice. So I resigned myself to the
fact that I would have to go back…after the weekend.
So is the joy of archival research. I’m just happy that I’m
still moving forward at this point – that there is still the possibility that I’ll
find the documents I’m looking for. My concern on Friday was that they wouldn’t
let me in or, worse, that they wouldn’t have the documents. And they might not.
But at least there’s still the chance that I’ll find what I need. If so, I’ll
spend the rest of my time in Guate at the Foreign Ministry. If not, I’ll have
to regroup and a find a way to make the most of my time here, which probably
means heading to Antigua, where I will (hopefully) be able to access the
personal papers of former president Jacobo Arbenz and his wife, Maria Vilanova.
We’ll see.
*To my dismay, it seems as though any records he left were likely burned to avoid being taken by the military.
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