Investigating the unsolved murder of a female law student and the pervasive violence against Guatemalan women that drives migration.
Part memoir and part forensic investigation, Textures of Terror is a gripping first-person story of women, violence, and migration out of Guatemala—and how the United States is implicated. Accompanying Jorge Velásquez in a years-long search for answers after the brutal murder of his daughter Claudina Isabel, Victoria Sanford explores what it means to seek justice in "postconflict" countries where violence never ended.
Through this father's determined struggle and other stories of justice denied, Textures of Terror offers a deeper understanding of US policies in Latin America and their ripple effect on migration. Sanford offers an up-close appraisal of the inner workings of the Guatemalan criminal justice system and how it maintains inequality, patriarchy, and impunity. Presenting the stories of other women who have suffered at the hands of strangers, intimate partners, and the security forces, this work reveals the deeply gendered nature of power and violence in Guatemala.
The Dark Truth Behind Migration through a Father’s Quest for Justice
The story of Jorge Velasquez’s quest for justice for the murder of his daughter and the stories of other women seeking help or safe haven from crime and terror simultaneously transcend the individual and teach us all something about humanity and ourselves.
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