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Image / Armed soldier smoking a cigarette, Guatemala, 1982

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Title
Armed soldier smoking a cigarette, Guatemala, 1982
Creator
Cross, Richard, 1950-1983
Date Created and/or Issued
1982-03-06
Publication Information
California State University, Northridge
Contributing Institution
California State University, Northridge
Collection
Richard Cross Photographs (Bradley Center)
Rights Information
Use of images from the collections of the Tom & Ethel Bradley Center is strictly prohibited by law without prior written consent from the copyright holders. The responsibility for the use of these materials rests exclusively with the user.
The Bradley Center may assist in obtaining copyright/licensing permission to use images from the Richard Cross collection. http://www.csun.edu/bradley-center/contact
Description
An armed soldier sits on a junk carwhile smoking a cigarette. He is wearing a large armband on his left arm that reads, "PM," which identifies him as a member of the military police. He is holding his Israeli IMI Galil rifle on his lap. Most soldiers forced to patrol as part of the "Patrol of Self-Defense" program in the 1980s were Mayan men. Patrols were used by the military to destroy civil organizing and to control any political networks of rural Mayans. The UN-administered Truth Commission, known as the Commission of Historical Clarification documented more tan 600 massacres committed by government forces against civilians in predominately Mayan areas between 1981 and 1983.
Un soldado armado yace sentado sobre un auto desechado mientras se fuma un cigarrillo. El porta un brazalete grande que lee "PM" lo cual lo identifica como miembro de la policía militar. El sostiene su fusil IMI Galil de origen israelí sobre sus piernas. La mayoría de los soldados obligados a patrullar como parte del programa "Patrulla de Autodefensa" en los ochenta eran hombres mayas. Las patrullas fueron utilizadas por los militares para destruir la organización civil y controlar a cualquier red política de los mayas rurales. La comisión de la verdad administrada por la ONU, conocida como la Comisión para el Esclarecimiento Histórico, documentó más de 600 masacres cometidas por fuerzas gubernamentales contra civiles en áreas predominantemente mayas entre 1981 y 1983.
Type
image
Format
Photographs
image/jpeg
color slides
Extent
35 mm
Identifier
99.01.RCr.sl.B12.05.23.11
http://digital-collections.csun.edu/cdm/ref/collection/p17169coll1/id/2611
Subject
Documentary photographs
Combat patrols
Guatemala. Ejército
Firearms
Guatemala--History--Civil War, 1960-1996
Soldiers
Military police
Place
Guatemala
Relation
99.01.RCr.sl.B12.05.23.11.tif
Richard Cross Photographs
California State University Northridge. University Library. Special Collections & Archives. Tom & Ethel Bradley Center

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