Petronila Castro Acabal

September 20, 2004, Letter to Christopher Curran

Dear Christopher:

I send you warm greetings, wishing you success in your daily endeavors. For me it’s a pleasure to write to you, as we discussed, about my life and the situation I find myself in.

My name is Petronila Castro Acabal, I’m 17 years old, and I was born in the village of Xix, in the municipality of Chajul, in the department of El Quiché. My father is José Castro Itzep and my mother is María Acabal Itzep. There are eight children in my family, and with my parents we are ten people. I’m studying accounting, working hard, and with God’s help I will do well this year. My father works as an agriculturalist and earns Q20 a day (US$2.50). This is a little money but it doesn’t go far enough. My mother works in our home, but unfortunately my family can’t cover all of our expenses.

I will always have confidence in you and in Marielos, and Marielos will look for a place for us to stay. It’s a shame that we’re poor, but for that reason we have to look hard for a way to continue studying next year. We also have to arrange where we will stay since we have only a month left here, by about October 20 we will leave to go back to our communities and we’re worried about where we will study next year. But we will stay in communication, thank God we can communicate over the internet.

Well, Christopher, I would like to tell you the story of my community during the armed conflict. I will begin in 1982, when soldiers arrived in the village of Xix. Before, houses were spaced out from each other and people had animals, cows, hens, corn, and beans. Now the houses that are there are very close together, because the soldiers destroyed everything that was there before. They killed the animals and burned the corn and bean crops. When the military came, the soldiers first gathered together on a hill that was called Chún. People had no idea what was going to happen. When the soldiers arrived, people began to scream and they fled to the mountains, how the children cried. The soldiers went to the house of one of the men in the community, and this man and his family knew nothing of what was happening; they were eating lunch in their house. The soldiers started hitting the man and then killed him with a knife, just like they would kill an animal, they killed him that way and his wife died of fright. Their children began to cry, and the soldiers closed and locked the door, trapping the family inside. Then they set the house on fire and the family died, they couldn’t get out because the door was locked shut. Two of the sons of the man were able to escape and save their own lives, but they suffered a great deal. They were left as orphans, and they were wounded. The soldiers killed many people, men, women, children, and also animals. The houses and trees were burned, and the people fled to the mountains where they lived in hiding during ten years, surviving the rain, sun, and the military bombs. When soldiers kill people, they do it with bombs, weapons, knives; they kill them and then they gather all the dead people to burn them. This was a horrible sorrow, the people suffered very much in the mountains, and afterward they went to a place called Santa Clara. This was one of the C.P.R.’s (Communities of the People in Resistance). There was nothing to eat there, the water was dirty, and they ate herbs without salt. There were some trees called malanca whose roots they ate, they ate the things that people had eaten long ago. They didn’t have clothes, they truly suffered greatly. It was something they can never forget. They looked for ways to live. But now the community is a little better. When people began to go back to the community, some didn’t return but instead went to other places because they were afraid to go back to their communities. It’s a shame what the military does, but they will pay their debt with God. That is the story of my community, it was horrible.

But thank God we are all right now, the only thing we’re lacking now is money.

I wish you well and thank you for your understanding and your kind attention. We look forward to the will of our lord Jesus Christ.

May God bless you and keep you always.

I won’t say goodbye, but rather ‘so long’.

Sincerely,
Petronila Castro Acabal

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