The Conflict, Memory and Transitions program brings together speakers from Latin America, Europe and the United States to address the subjects of violence, memory, fear, truth commissions and postwar reconciliation.

Russell Cohen and Matt Eisenbrandt
“The Archbishop Romero Case: Legal Accountability in U.S. Courts”

No one has been held accountable for the 1980 assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romero, an outspoken critic of human rights abuses in El Salvador, until now. In August 2004, a California judge ordered Alvaro Saravia to pay $10 million in damages for arranging the assassination on behalf of Roberto D’Aubuisson, founder of the ARENA party which still governs El Salvador. The judgment has prompted calls for the Salvadoran government to renew its investigation into the assassination and served as an example of how U. S. courts can be used as a means of combating impunity.

Russell Cohen, of Heller Ehrman White & McAuliffe LLP, and Matt Eisenbrandt, of the Center for Justice & Accountability, are two of the attorneys who brought the case against Romero’s killers.

Website reporting the verdict in the case against Alvaro Saravia

Wednesday, September 29, 4:00 pm
Room 3, LeConte Hall

Analysis and photos of the event

Rudy Monterroso
“50 Years Under the Gun: The Real Legacy of `Regime Change’ in Guatemala”

Despite the end of armed conflict in 1996, human rights violations continue to plague Guatemala and remain a serious obstacle to efforts to rebuild society. Many current and former members of the military are still in positions of power, both openly and clandestinely, across political and economic lines. This talk will focus on militarization and its consequences; efforts to investigate and prosecute clandestine security apparatuses; and victim’s reparations.

Rudy Monterroso is the Program Coordinator for the International Center for Research in Human Rights (CIIDH), founded in 1993 to research the impact of militarization and to promote, defend and disseminate information on human rights in Guatemala. Much of Monterroso’s recent work has focused on reparations issues.

This talk will be held in Spanish.

Thursday, October 7, 3:30 pm
CLAS Conference Room, 2334 Bowditch Street

Photo of the event

Beatriz Manz
“The Legacy of a Coup: A Guatemalan Village Perspective”

Fifty years ago the CIA orchestrated its first coup in Latin America. The overthrow of the democratically elected government in Guatemala was hailed by the U.S. as a victory for freedom and democracy. However, when viewed from a Guatemalan perspective the Cold War years had more to do with military dictatorships, death, destruction and dislocation, a legacy that is still hard to undo.

Beatriz Manz is Professor of Geography and Ethnic Studies at UC Berkeley. She is the author of Paradise to Ashes: A Guatemalan Journey of Courage, Terror and Hope, a social and political history of a village in the Guatemalan rainforest.

Monday, November 15, 12:00 – 1:15 pm
CLAS Conference Room, 2334 Bowditch Street

Analysis and photos of the event

Rigoberta Menchú
“The Legacy of War in Guatemala: Continuous Human Rights Abuses”

Rigoberta Menchú received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1992 for her work on indigenous people’s rights. Born to a poor K’iche’ Maya family, Menchú became involved in social reform activities in the late 1970s. After several members of her family were tortured and killed by Guatemalan government forces, she became increasingly active in the Committee for Peasant Union (CUC). Forced to flee to Mexico in 1981, she continued her involvement on behalf of poor peasants in Guatemala and assumed an international role in exposing human rights violations in her war-torn country. In 1983, the story of her life, I, Rigoberta Menchú was published and has since been translated into more than a dozen languages. She currently heads the Rigoberta Menchú Foundation with offices in Guatemala City and Mexico City.

Thursday, November 18, 2:00 pm
Lipman Room, 8th Floor, Barrows Hall

Photos of the event