"Children were basically ordered à la carte"

Marco Antonio Garavito on the trade in Guatemalan war offspring

The civil war in Guatemala ( 1960-1996 ) not only massacred the indigenous population, but also launched a human trafficking network in which small children were sold to wealthy Western European families. What psychological problems do those affected show who are supported by your organization Liga Guatemalteca de Higiene Mental?

ND ImClub_Stephan Hermlin. Along the poet

There are basically two syndromes: abandonment and guilt. Guilt prevails in biological families. In society, it is prescribed as a cultural concept that parents have to protect their children. In a rural area, we were able to document a case: in the midst of a military shootout in a village community, a family fled and left their child behind. Later they said to themselves: If only we had gone back, even if they had killed us. They assumed it was their fault - not the war, not the military, no, themselves. The adoptees suffer from a complicated abandonment syndrome. Ever since they were little, they have asked themselves: Why am I here in Europe? Didn't my parents want me? Why did they leave me? This feeling of being abandoned often manifests itself in anxiety, depression, social isolation, and the consumption of alcohol and other drugs.

INTERVIEW

Marco Antonio Garavito is a psychologist,

ex-guerrilla and leader of the Liga Guatemalteca de Higiene Mental (Guatemalan League of Mental Health). He spoke to »nd« about pathological power elites, the responsibility of western adoptive families and the importance of psychological support for those affected.

Why is psychological support needed for those affected? Can't they just start their search on their own and find their parents?

In France I knew an adopted boy. He had learned Spanish. The boy decided to go on his own to find his real parents. He had located an address from archival documents of his case. He said to himself: I'm going there. He went to the house and knocked on the door. A woman came out and the boy said: I am your son, I am from France and I was adopted. The woman replied: Yes, you are my son - but I do not want to see you. And she closed the door. Then he fell into a deep depression – it cost him a lot to get out of it. After that we found out: The problem was that nobody else knew about the existence of this child. It was a secret. The adopted son is often the first born. About this firstborn child the mothers tell, who then have more children, nothing. It is advisable to design a process in which it is determined which is the best strategy. A reunion that is not carried out properly should be left alone.

During the Civil War, a criminal network was created that abducted countless babies and young children and gave them up for illegal adoption. But even after the end of the war, human trafficking continued to flourish. How could that be?

Because the notarial procedure made the whole thing very easy back then. It was incredibly easy to adopt a child in Guatemala. Guatemala was adoption paradise. We fought a lot with our organization to get the National Adoption Council (CNA) created in 2008. At the time, many lawyers were reluctant to do so because it thwarted their criminal business.

It seems hard to believe that nobody from the adoptive parents ever asked critical questions. In the '80s and '90s, the capital's hotels were packed with couples from wealthy white nations. They stayed in the country for two weeks and returned home with an adopted baby.

One of the peculiarities of our people is silence. It wasn't talked about. Even for people from Canada or Europe, the civil war in Guatemala was something many didn't know about. There has never been an armed conflict in Latin America as tragic as ours. And yet it is the least known. What the families knew was that the process in Guatemala was quicker than in any other country.

Thats the point. The alarm bells should have rung then.

I agree. But the adoptive families have also become victims. Unbeknownst to them, they supported a criminal network of human traffickers. They told them a different story, made them understand that they were doing something good. enable children to have a better life. Those who knew and were heavily involved were the private placement agencies in France, Belgium and Canada. Such as the organization "Hacer Puente" (build bridges) - which still exists today. There were also worse cases. For example that of a French couple in a private hospital here in the capital. They brought there twins from the Chimaltenango region. The doctor at this hospital was known to issue fake certificates. The couple went back to France and the Guatemalan twins were suddenly the couple's biological children. The doctor confirmed that he was present at the birth.

Corruption was so massive back then.

Adoption is - from a human point of view - a legitimate procedure. The problem is that at that time the principle of adoption was reversed: in the case of adoption, one usually chooses a suitable family for the child. In Guatemala it was the other way around. Suitable children were selected for the family. Children were ordered à la carte.

How do people reach such a level of inhumanity?

The power in this country is very special. It is pathological; I can say that as a psychologist. The same inhumane structures that surfaced in the adoptions are those that have ruled this country for centuries. It's about business - at any price. Before the adoptions, it was the issue of appropriating the farmland. The Guatemalan elite is unique in all of Latin America. It's going to cost us dearly to yank them from power - and I don't think I'll live to see it happen.