The Ixil, Life After Genocide:
The Ixil Mayan region, comprised of the municipalities of Nebaj, Chajul and Cotzal, suffered the most punishing repression by Guatemalan State forces during an open counterinsurgency campaign in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Aimed at the local population in order to cut the supply to the growing guerrilla forces, the Army's scorched earth campaigns razed dozens of villages and killed thousands of civilians.
On May 10, 2013, former de facto head of state Efraín Ríos Montt was sentenced to 80 years in prison for genocide and crimes against humanity for the systematic killing of 1,771 Ixil Mayan people in 1982 and 1983. Even though the sentence was annulled a few days later, it ratified the heinous crimes perpetuated against the Ixil Mayan population.
Three decades later, the survivors continue to search for their lost loved ones hoping to close the torturous cycles of uncertainty.
Ixil Region, Quiché, Guatemala. 2013-2014.