30 September 2024
On 22 September 2024, a mural was inaugurated in memory of Father Walter Voordeckers, and the victims of the armed conflict in Santa Lucía Cotzumalguapa, Escuintla, Guatemala.
The Belgian priest Walter Voordeckers, parish priest of Santa Lucia Cotzumalguapa, was murdered on May 12, 1980, for defending the labour rights of peasants that worked in the large sugar plantations in the south of Guatemala.
What happened in Santa Lucía Cotzumalguapa in 1980?
In February 1980, more than 80,000 sugarcane workers participated in one of the largest strikes in the country’s history, demanding a wage increase and better working conditions. The government and the sugarcane landowners agreed to increase the workers’ wages, but soon afterwards a wave of persecution and repression against the strike leaders and those who supported them began. Father Walter was one of the first victims; he was murdered in front of the church of Santa Lucia Cotzumalguapa on May 12, 1980, and in the following months more than 100 peasant leaders disappeared.
The mural was painted at the spot where Father Voordeckers was murdered. A plaque that reads: “At this spot, Father Walter Voordeckers was murdered on May 12, 1980. Greater love has no one than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. (John 15:13)”, was also placed on the wall. This was an initiative of the Association of Memory, Dignity and Hope (AMDE), made up of survivors and relatives of victims of the conflict in Santa Lucía Contzumalgupa, with the support of Impunity Watch. The event was attended by Father Walter Voordeckers’ nephew, Carlos Colson, who travelled from Belgium, representatives of the Municipality of Santa Lucia Cotzumalguapa, civil society organisations and members of the community.
The mural was inaugurated on this date because most of the enforced disappearances occurred in September 1980 and to take advantage of the visit to Guatemala of a delegation from the organisation Guatebelga. They were in the country to publicise the sentence obtained in Belgium against five former Guatemalan military personnel and officials for crimes against humanity against four Belgian missionaries in the 1980s, including Father Walter Voordeckers.
In October 2023, after more than 20 years of seeking justice, Guatebelga succeeded in having a Belgian court convict Ángel Aníbal Guevara, former Minister of Defense, Benedicto Lucas, former Chief of the Army General Staff, former head of military intelligence Manuel Callejas, former Minister of the Interior Donaldo Álvarez Ruiz, and Pedro García Arredondo, former police chief for the murder of Walter Voordeckers and Ward Capiau, the kidnapping and enforced disappearance of Serge Berten, and the kidnapping and torture of Paul Schilderman, all of whom were missionaries of the Belgian congregation Immaculate Heart of Mary (CICM).
During their visit to Guatemala, the Guatebelga delegation met with Guatemalan President Bernardo Arevalo and members of the Presidential Commission for Peace and Human Rights (COPADEH), civil society organisations and the media.
Impunity Watch is honoured to have collaborated with this initiative that contributes to the dignification of victims and the preservation of historical memory on the South Coast of Guatemala. It is important that new generations know what happened in the country’s recent past. This initiative was made possible thanks to the support of the Wellspring Philanthropic Fund.
Learn more about the inauguration of the mural and the ruling in Belgium in these videos:
Read more on the media coverage of this event:
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