"I was in Lucida"

1. Why does the author say that she has been to Lidice?
When I read this poem the first time I interpreted it a little bit differently then what the author actually meant. When she said "I was in Lidice" I didn't know that she really had been in Lidice, I thought that she was really in Guatemala and it reminded her of Lidice. I think the author says that she has been in Lidice because it is an event that people are fairly familiar with and know to be horrible. I think making a connection between Lidice and Guatemala the author paints a vivid picture in the readers head of what kind of horrors went on in Guatemala.

2. The poet comments on how strange it is to look through atrocity through windows at museums. How is this emotion unique from actually being involved in the atrocity?
Simply hearing stories about something or looking at pictures of something is completely different from actually being there. You can only try to imagine what it was like but you can't actually know because you weren't there.

3. Esquivel writes, "And now, my heart in shreds,/ I think of the Super-Nazis/in the Pentagon/who created more then 200 Lidices/ In my little Guatemala/ Sheltered by the diplomatic marketplace,/ of false western democracy." What does she mean by this? why does she reference the the Pentagon and "false western democracy" Please expound on what you know and research any questions that you might have.

She is expressing the grief that she feels about the state of her home country. When she says "200 Lidices" she is talking about different massacres in Guatemala. She is implying that the American government is corrupts and paints a false image. America played a very big part in Guatemala's problems but got away with it because they tried to make it seem like they were doing something good, but in reality they were helping out the wrong side.

4. Esquivel speaks to the fact that massacres are not a new concept in Guatemala. DO some research about one massacre that has occurred in Guatemala. Be sure to include the location as well as how many people were affected.
The Panzoz massacre occurred on May 29, 1978. Up to to sixty Q'eqchi Indians(men, women, children, elderly) were killed during a peaceful protest after being fired on by the Guatemalan army. The protest was meant only to be a petition to the mayor for land reform; no harm meant. The government justified the massacre by claiming that the troops were trying to turn back a revolt of the peasants. This massacre was not an isolated event but sadly a part of a chain of similar atrocities.