Under the charge of supplying the guerrillas with materials, they fired from outside the house and then they set it on fire. The community of Río Negro did not accept the proposals of the State.Since that incident, members of the Army began visiting the community of Río Negro. On July 25, 1994 were arrested three members of the Civil Patrols who participated in the slaughter of March 13 and was raised indictment against him.
Eighteen surviving children were taken away by the attackers towards the community.The INDE has not yet complied with the commitment to provide equal or better land to the homeless. Moreover, the inhabitants of Xococ still considered as guerrillas to the survivors of Río Negro, while they latter consider the former murderers.The next day the Army commented on the fact saying that the community had influence from the guerrillas and that was the factor that explained their refusal to leave their lands.
They played marimba music and forced them to dance, in the words of the soldiers, as they danced with the guerrillas. If explorers did not find many Indians along the Rio Negro during the 17th century, it is likely that their populations were reduced because of new infectious diseases and warfare rather than low river productivity. Today in Río Negro live a total of twelve families, all in extreme poverty. The Patrol Xococ, armed, trained and guided by the Army, was confronted since then with the residents of Río Negro.Faced with this situation, the INDE acknowledged that "the problems that occurred in the resettlement were: a) misunderstanding of the affected population on the need for the construction of the project, b) attachment to their region and the land that had affected villagers c) the difficulty in obtaining land in the region necessary for relocations that took place ".Meanwhile, soldiers and patrol had breakfast, eating food they found in the houses. A number of young women were taken apart and raped.By this time, the Peasant Unity Committee (CUC) taught literacy and human rights, supported and advised residents of Río Negro in their lawsuits against INDE. The INDE noted the existence of 50 religious ceremony ancestral sites distributed throughout the valley, on the terraces bordering the river, that would be flooded.On August 23, 1993 four members of the community, with the advice of the Mutual Support Group (GAM), reported the facts filed in court. All the houses were burnt.In 1975 the National Electrification Institute (INDE) presented the project for the construction of a hydropower dam in the river basin Chixoy to solve the problem of electricity in the country, under the auspices of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the World Bank. This, unlike other villages which have voluntarily accepted the transfer to safer places and where they have better life expectancies".The community of Río Negro, settled on the banks of the river Chixoy, in the town of Rabinal, Baja Verapaz department, lived on agriculture, fishing and the exchange of goods with the neighboring community of Xococ. The pit was covered with stones and branches. An eyewitness says that the captain told them that the peasants of Río Negro "were already trained by the guerrillas. A person who gave testimony said that Río Negro "was the model community of the area, with the best organization, was the most prosperous in the region, and that was one of the reasons why this community was not as easy to fool as all others."
A person who witnessed the events said: "It took shovels, tools and tape recorders and stole everything that was in the houses".The construction of the dam was imminent. An inhabitant of the region recognized: "In the community before we were safe and in peace; but after the construction of the dam many problems emerged”.Months after the slaughter of March 13, 1982, the INDE began to fill the reservoir.
Those who wanted to negotiate, fine, and for those who did not, we used force".Then they gathered the women. "Father Melchor [pastor of Rabinal and expert on the situation of the villages] said that there was a pact so that the people of Xococ were to cooperate fully, in exchange of not being killed". We remain stranded and without spirit since that day".After the 1983 amnesty, the survivors came down from the mountain. Given these circumstances, and in order to avoid the repression of the army, community representatives went to the military zone of Coban and the military detachment of Rabinal to apologize by w hat happened on May 5.
We came back and took a suitcase and went to the mountains. The INDE pledged to find and deliver to the displaced equal or better lands than those that would be flooded. The older idea that these are "hunger rivers" is giving way, with new research, to the recognition that the Rio Negro, for example, supports a large fishing industry and has numerous turtle beaches. In 1978, in the face of civil war, the Guatemalan government proceeded with its economic development program, including the construction of the Chixoy hydroelectric dam. When they finished eating, they looted the village. We were told to bring weapons because if not, they were going to make ash to Río Negro". The reaction of the military was to accuse them of guerrillas and threaten them with death.