Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here: The United States, Central America, and the Making of a Crisis

Content Warning: This section of the guide discusses genocide, graphic violence, and violent death.

In the spring of 1981, Juan arrived safely in Mexico City and settled into a house with a number of other Salvadorian men. He had several operations on his ankle and forearm and began to recover, although he suffered permanent nerve damage in his left hand. As soon as he could, Juan found work and began volunteering in a clinic to treat Indigenous Guatemalan refugees.

As he settled into Mexico and the rhythm of work at the clinic, Juan began to identify the lingering physical and psychological symptoms of the trauma he had suffered. He frequently had nightmares and flashbacks, as well as ailments like migraines and body aches. If Juan or one of the other men in the house woke up screaming, they were expected to hide their trauma “under the surface of manful denials and jokes” (91).

Juan saw many of these same symptoms in his Indigenous Maya patients who had escaped a genocide they referred to simply as “la situación.” Between 1981 and 1983, the government conducted brutal massacres among the Maya population to discourage support for the

Don't Miss Out!

Access Study Guide Now