Massacre Evidence Found In Guatemala

Anthropologists have found the burned remains of 167 people massacred by the army in a clandestine cemetery in the highlands state of Quiche, human rights officials said Tuesday.

The remains were found in 17 large plastic bags in Agua Fria, a village outside of Uspantan, about 50 miles northwest of the capital.

He said the victims were killed in April 1982 when the army swept through, burning villages and massacring suspected leftists as a part of a “scorched earth” policy of Gen. Efrain Rios Montt, who governed Guatemala in 1982-83.

Polanco said the exhumations took place between Feb. 20 and Feb. 24 with the help of the Guatemalan Forensic Anthropologists’ Team, human rights activists, and neighbors and family members of the victims.