He was jovial and joking with his many close friends the summer afternoon in 1985 when I had lunch with General Manuel Benedicto Lucas García. The former chief of the General Staff of the Guatemalan Army I knew, was an evil man. It was common knowledge that he oversaw massacres of hundreds of indigenous people.
Nobody, except for the CIA, knew the real numbers: approximately 15,000 killed. Between 5,000 and 15,000 Guatemalans disappeared after falling into the hands of security forces.
This nightmare happened in just one year, 1981 to 1982, his term as chief.
As I sat down to have lunch with him in a Guatemala City restaurant, he asked that I not sit too close to him in the dining booth. A Uzi submachine gun was tucked against his right thigh.
“The communists I have been fighting for years,” he said, “will never stop trying to kill me. So I need to always be on guard.”
Lucas Garcia, within minutes of my arrival, launched into a diatribe about his work and that of his brother in saving Guatemala from becoming another Cuba. Fernando Romeo Garcia, his brother, was the dictator between 1978 and 1982.
The Guatemalan war lasted 36 years, from 1960 to 1996. The Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity, an alliance of several leftist insurgent groups, fought to overthrow a succession of brutal military dictatorships.
Washington lavished hundreds of millions of dollars on the Guatemalan government throughout the war. The CIA had numerous assets in the military. The agency was also aware in real time of the atrocities committed.
Moreover, the CIA had a close alliance with the killers.
My luncheon host would eventually be charged with genocide, mass murder, disappearances, torture, and sexual violence. A verdict was due in November 2024, but defense lawyers have been able to delay the proceedings.
Without Washington’s unflagging assistance, Guatemala’s monsters would have been unable to survive. In addition to money, the American government provided extensive military training. The general was one of many Latin American military thugs to attend the United States’ School of the Americas. The CIA provided extensive and regular intelligence.
As soon as I left the restaurant, one of the invitees, a middle-aged woman, caught up to me as I walked. Looking down, she whispered a warning. Do not associate with that man. He is treacherous and dangerous. If he suspects that you are not pro-government, you could be killed.
We went our separate ways, and I thought about her counsel. I also reflected on the general’s affability.
He is the epitome of evil’s banality.
Ricardo Chavira Chicano 