The Centre for Human Rights Legal Action (CALDH) was created to seek justice for the serious human rights violations perpetrated during the IAC. A milestone in this struggle was the Centre’s work on behalf of victims in the Ixil Genocide case, which resulted in a historic genocide conviction in 2013. And though this sentence was overturned by the Constitutional Court ten days later, the case was retried and reached the same conclusion in 2018: YES, there was genocide. However, the Guatemalan state has failed to comply with reparation measures. As a result of the state’s failure to comply, CALDH created a site of memory to raise awareness about the violence suffered by thousands of victims, as well as their strategies for survival, ensuring that they would not be forgotten. The testimonies of the IAC survivors, gathered during different events on racism and human rights, were the foundation for the initial phases of the Museum of Memory, which opened in February 2014 on 13th Street between 2nd and 3rd Avenue.
A year later, the Kaji Tulam House of Memory, as the museum is called, moved to a more central location, one block from the Church of San Sebastián on 6th Avenue. New approaches are now included, like specific spaces dedicated to commemorating women and to illustrate different periods in which the structural social, economic and political problems that define the country’s history were in the making. Young guides, trained at the House of Memory, explain the events and invite visitors to reflect on the structural causes of the IAC: racism, violence and inequality which, in some regions, culminated in genocides against Indigenous Maya peoples. Far from having disappeared, these problems remain present; violence is clearly a constant in Guatemalan history. But the focus is not only on different forms of violence, but also on recognizing and valuing the resistance that existed, exists and will continue to exist as long as these problems persist.
The museum also hosts temporary exhibitions, as well as artistic and cultural activities, talks, book launches, etc. During the COVID era, the House of Memory created a virtual exhibition that can still be visited on its website. It also offers a mobile exhibition, which can be taken to schools, as well as public activities in streets and town squares.
Location: 6 avenida 1-71, Zone 1, Guatemala City.
Contact Information: +502 3054 1265 / casadelamemoria@caldh.org.gt
Website: https://casadelamemoria.org.gt/
Hours: Monday to Friday, 9:00 to 13h and 14 to 17h.