Truth Delayed: Accounting for Human Rights Violations in Guatemala and Spain

This article discusses two situations in which the truth of human rights violations was suppressed until generations later: the truth of the Arbenz presidency and overthrow in Guatemala and the truth about the Spanish Civil War victims. In each of these instances, starkly different although with similarities, the impetus for finding out the truth came from unexpected sources: in Guatemala, from an insistent family and an international commission; in Spain, from a journalist who came upon the remains of his grandfather. What occurred and is still occurring in these situations offers insights into what victims of human rights abuses want and need. It also offers effective ways for a government to respond if it hopes to move forward into building a more just society. It argues that acknowledgement is as important as knowledge; that truth alone, while necessary, is not sufficient.