Captured Guerrilla Weapons Found By Guatemalan Armed Forces In Quiché
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A group of international journalists are shown a cache of weapons recently found by the military in a Ejército Guerrillero de los Pobres, Guerrilla Army of the Poor, EGP, safe house with General Benedicto Lucas García, far right, at the regional military garrison in Santa Cruz del Quiché, Guatemala, February 1, 1982. Colonel Byron Lima Estrada, the Santa Cruz del Quiché garrison commander, center, observes the guerrilla equipment. In 1981 the military regime and the Guatemalan army initiated a brutal counterinsurgency program of scorched earth tactics to consolidate control over civilians and counteract the influence of the guerrilla insurgency. The genocidal policies enacted by President Fernando Romeo Lucas García and later by Efraín Ríos Montt were also intended to eradicate the culture and identity of the indigenous population. For his role as army general in the internal armed conflict, General Benedicto Lucas García was sentenced on May 23, 2018 to 58 years in prison for crimes against humanity, aggravated sexual violence, and enforced disappearance. Col. Lima Estrada was convicted in 2001 for the 1998 murder of Catholic Bishop Juan José Gerardi Conedera, which is considered one of the most infamous crimes of Guatemala's post-war history.
