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. Financed in large part by the
World Bank and
Inter-American Development Bank, the
Chixoy Dam was built in
Rabinal, a region of the
department of
Baja Verapaz historically populated by the
Maya Achi. To complete construction, the government completed voluntary and forcible relocations of dam-affected communities from the fertile agricultural valleys to the much harsher surrounding highlands. When hundreds of residents refused to relocate, or returned after finding the conditions of resettlement villages were not what the government had promised, these men, women, and children were kidnapped, raped, and massacred by paramilitary and military officials. More than 440 Maya Achi were killed in the village of
Río Negro alone, and the string of
extrajudicial killings that claimed up to 5,000 lives between 1980 and 1982 became known as the
Río Negro massacres. The government officially declared the acts to be
counterinsurgency activities - although local church workers, journalists and the survivors of Rio Negro deny that the town ever saw any organized guerrilla activity.