Juan José Gerardi Conedera

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
In this
Spanish name, the first or paternal surname
is Gerardi and the second or maternal family name is Conedera.
Juan José Gerardi Conedera
Bishop Emeritus of Santa Cruz del Quiché
SeeDiocese of Santa Cruz del Quiché
Appointed22 August 1974
Term ended14 August 1984
PredecessorJosé Julio Aguilar García
SuccessorJulio Edgar Cabrera Ovalle
Orders
Ordination21 December 1946
Consecration30 July 1967
by Bruno Torpigliani
Personal details
Born(1922-12-27)27 December 1922
Guatemala City, Guatemala
Died26 April 1998(1998-04-26) (aged 75)
San Sebastian Church, Guatemala
NationalityGuatemalan
DenominationRoman Catholic
Previous post(s)
  • Bishop of Verapaz, Cobán (1967-1974)
  • Auxiliary Bishop of Guatemala (1984-1998)
  • Titular Bishop of Guardialfiera (1984-1998)

Juan José Gerardi Conedera (27 December 1922 – 26 April 1998) was a Guatemalan

Roman Catholic bishop and human rights defender
who was long active in working with the indigenous Mayan peoples of the country.

In the 1970s, he gained government recognition of indigenous languages as official languages, and helped secure permission for radio stations to broadcast in indigenous languages. In 1988 he was appointed to the government's National Reconciliation Commission to begin the process of accounting for abuses during the civil war. He also worked on the associated Recovery of Historical Memory Project, which was sponsored by the Catholic Church.

Two days after he announced the release of the project's report on victims of the Guatemalan Civil War, Guatemala: Nunca Más!, in April 1998, Gerardi was attacked in his garage and beaten to death.

In 2001, in the first trial in a civilian court of members of the military in Guatemalan history, three Army officers were convicted of his death and sentenced to long prison terms. A priest was convicted as an accomplice and also sentenced.

He was declared a martyr by Pope Francis in 2020, clearing the way for his eventual beatification.

Early life

Gerardi Conedera, of partial Italian ancestry, was born in Guatemala City on 27 December 1922.[1] He studied at the city's seminary and won a scholarship to study theology in New Orleans, United States. On 21 December 1946, he was ordained a priest and served in several rural areas of Guatemala such as Mataquescuintla, San Pedro Sacatepéquez and Palencia, as well as in the capital city.

Bishop

On 9 May 1967, he was elected

Bishop of Verapaz, assuming office the following 11 August. In this position, he emphasised pastoral work among indigenous communities of Mayan peoples. During the country's on-going civil war in the 1970s, Gerardi was a strong proponent for the official recognition of Guatemala's indigenous languages, to improve the status of the indigenous peoples. He was instrumental in securing authorisation for two radio stations to broadcast in Mayan languages
.

In 1974, he was appointed

Maya origin
, were brutally murdered. Gerardi repeatedly asked the military authorities to control their actions.

While serving as president of the

Archdiocese of Guatemala
.

National Reconciliation Commission

In 1988 the Conference of Bishops assigned Gerardi and Rodolfo Quezada Toruño to serve on the National Reconciliation Commission established by the government. This later led to the creation of the Office of Human Rights of the Archbishopric (Oficina de Derechos Humanos del Arzobispado; ODHA). It continues to provide assistance to victims of human rights violations.[citation needed]

Guatemala: Nunca más, the REMHI Report.

Work began on the Recovery of Historical Memory (REMHI) project, to collect the facts and history of Guatemala's long civil war and confront the truth of those years. On 24 April 1998, REMHI presented the results of its work in the report Guatemala: Nunca más. This report summarized testimony and statements of thousands of witnesses and victims of repression during the Civil War. "The report laid the blame for 80 per cent of the atrocities at the door of the Guatemalan Army and its collaborators within the social and political elite."[2]

The task of historical recovery that Gerardi and his team pursued was fundamental in the subsequent work of the

National Army for the vast majority of deaths during the civil war. The UN Truth Commission Report, released in February 1999, came to similar conclusions as the REMHI report.[citation needed
]

Assassination

On 26 April 1998, two days after the publication of Guatemala: Nunca más, Bishop Gerardi was attacked and bludgeoned to death in the garage of the parish house of San Sebastian Church, where he was the pastor.[3][2] His assailants used a concrete slab as the murder weapon. The bishop was so damaged in the brutal attack that his face was unrecognisable and identification of the corpse was made by means of his episcopal ring.[citation needed]

Aftermath

On 8 June 2001, three army officers: Colonel Byron Disrael Lima Estrada and Captain Byron Lima Oliva (who were father and son), and Sergeant José Obdulio Villanueva (a

Pavon prison when he was shot dead along with several other prisoners.[7][9] He was believed to have been a longtime leader of an organized crime cell which was centered from within Pavon prison.[7][9]

Legacy

Gerardi was declared a martyr by Pope Francis in 2020, clearing the way for his eventual beatification in the Catholic Church.[10]

In popular culture

The book The Art of Political Murder: Who Killed the Bishop?, written by Francisco Goldman, was published in 2007.[11] In 2020, the documentary film The Art of Political Murder, directed by Paul Taylor and based on Goldman's book, was distributed by HBO Documentary Films.

See also

References

  1. ^ Cheney, David M. "Bishop Juan José Gerardi Conedera profile". Catholic-Hierarchy.org. Archived from the original on 2003-03-16. Retrieved 2016-07-30.
  2. ^ a b Stanford, Peter (16 March 2008). "Review of The Art of Political Murder: Who Killed Bishop Gerardi?, by Francisco Goldman". The Independent. London, UK. Retrieved 25 July 2016.
  3. ISBN 978-0-985-82041-1
    . Retrieved 2013-12-07.
  4. ^ a b "Guatemala: Death of army intelligence official implicated in Gerardi-murder must be investigated" (PDF) (Press release). Amnesty International. 2003-02-13. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2023-11-04. Retrieved 2023-11-03.
  5. The Free Library
    .
  6. ^ Monbiot, George (2001-10-30). "Backyard terrorism". The Guardian. London, UK. Archived from the original on 2013-08-25.
  7. ^
    Fox News Latino. EFE. 2016-07-18. Archived from the original
    on 2016-07-20. Retrieved 2016-09-11.
  8. ^ Malkin, Elisabeth; Wirtz, Nic (2016-07-18). "Byron Lima Oliva, Bishop's Killer, Dies in Attack at Guatemala Prison". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2017-09-13.
  9. ^
    Dudley, Steven (2016-07-25). "The Murder of Guatemala's Prison 'King' Byron Lima: A 'Self-Coup d'etat'? (Part III)". InSight Crime. Archived
    from the original on 2018-02-10. Retrieved 2016-09-11.
  10. ^ Cairns, Madoc (February 2020). "Guatemalan martyrs granted recognition". The Tablet. London, UK. Archived from the original on 2020-04-06. Retrieved 2022-02-09.
  11. ISBN 978-0-8021-1828-8 – via Internet Archive Book Reader
    .

Further reading
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