Re-defining a Sense of Justice in Guatemala

In the past decade, over 5,000 women have been murdered in Guatemala.

Only 1% of the killers are sentenced.

Guatemala has been compared in size to the state of Tennessee.

For the last three years, I have been working on a documentary about the raising rates of killings of women in Guatemala. I’ve been following Rebeca Eunice Perez, a strong-willed woman who is determined to see that Ricardo, her sister’s killer, receives an appropriate sentence.

Rebeca is a 34 year old single mother, raising 5 of her own children, in addition to the three her sister left behind. When she’s not making tortillas over a wood fire or taking odd jobs to make end’s meet, she’s pounding the pavement to do everything within her very limited power to keep her sister’s case alive. She becomes clerk, investigator, advocate, and in turn, a leader in her community.

What is it that drives her?

It’s her love for her nephew and nieces. It’s her love for her sister. It’s her sense that her sister’s death must not be in vain.

Even more so, it’s her resolve that she will not be a victim. She is a survivor of violence. She will not allow the system to immobilize her. She will not let fear overcome her. She knows that speaking out, she will make too much noise for anyone to retaliate. She’s already caused too many problems; now everyone’s looking in her direction and her enemies no longer have the reign to terrorize her.

If it sounds like I am idealizing Rebeca, I am a little. It’s a challenge to embody your politic 100%. You make concessions in your personal life. She still has her own personal issues with men. As do I, the self-proclaimed feminist filmmaker. More to come about that in future posts.

Beyond her resolve to not back down, Rebeca talks about the drive she has from knowing that her sister is still present. But her other sisters also talk about spirituality, and sometimes they resolve to “leave it in God’s hands.”

Activism alone is not enough. Identification alone is not enough. Religion or spirituality alone is not enough. I think it’s a mix of all of these things, plus a good degree of hindsight. Rebeca refers to her sister’s murder as “something she can’t erase.” She has the ability to be in a moment of grief, frustration, anxiety, and overwhelm, and yet at the same time, recognize that she’s in an unimaginable process of growth and learning. That hindsight is powerful.

My most recent interactions with men, both in the States and in Guatemala, have led me to think that very few men have hindsight. I think as women, we find it easier to tap into the ability to find the positive in a situation as it were, so that it promotes our spiritual, emotional, and psychic health and growth. I admire my main character Rebeca for her deep hindsight. It’s a perspective that has made her invincible to the system. In a system where justice is not always dished out accordingly, she must find justice in her own terms by making a good life for herself. In this, she refuses to be re-victimized and re-defines a sense of self.

For more information about my film JUSTICE FOR MY SISTER, please see http://kck.st/93aEam. We are currently fundraising for our crew’s last shoot in Guatemala and you have a couple more days to help us make it happen!