The story of Guatemala is similar to the stories of other inhabited nations. Since the Europeans came to settle Latin America, they have been in power. For centuries, they robbed the indigenous people of their land and culture while setting up social and financial systems that kept them in virtual slavery, 2.2 percent of the population owned over 70 percent of the country's land. Only 10 percent of the land was available for 90 percent of the population (www.mayaparadise.com). Those in power exempted themselves from taxation and over-taxed the poor. The majority of the population lived in destitute poverty. In 1944, there was a social revolution in Guatemala and a series of leaders sought to redistribute land more fairly, improve social services and infrastructure, make taxation more equitable and a number of other anti-poverty, pro-equality policies. Guatemalans refer to this era as the golden age.
The golden age did not last. The policies of the democratically elected Guatemalan presidents conflicted with American interests. The United Fruit Company owned a significant amount of land in Guatemala. Some of the land that they owned was unused and under the land re-distribution act it would have been eligible for redistribution to poor, indigenous farmers. The Fruit folks were not too happy about losing some of their land (even though they were not using it). Allan Dulles, who served on the board of trustees for the fruit company and happened to be the head of the CIA, colluded with big brother John Foster Dulles, the secretary of state. In 1954, they used their influence to stir up fear about a communist presence in Guatemala and overthrew Guatemalan president Arbenez. They installed a general who was much more sympathetic to US financial interests in Guatemala.
The Guatemalan people, who had been oppressed for centuries, watched their hope disappear before their eyes when Arbenez was removed from power. In the span of about 10 years, various groups began to unite in protest against the government and by 1970; a relatively organized insurgency began to show its face. Among their demands were labor rights, social reform, access to land, fair taxation and education. They fought because the electoral system did not work and they saw no other means to make their voices heard.
The civil war lasted for 36 years.
The military did 93% of the killing. They used a brilliant tactic of terror which was overseen by American military personal and informed by an American psychological research project called Project Camelot. The army went to random villages and indiscriantly killed inhabitants (men, women, children and elderly). This caused widespread fear in the neighboring villages. They also tortured people. People were dismembered, burned alive, raped, urinated on, other things too horrible to mention. The exhumations of mass graves and recovery of corpses is the evidence.
In total, a million people were displaced. Two hundred thousand highland Indians are dead. Countless others were disappeared. Some 440 Mayan communities are gone. In 1996 the Guatemalan peace accords were signed, but the cumulative effect of death and emigration is such that 43% of the population is now under 14 years of age. Most of these children live in poverty.
Eight years after official peace, some things have changed but many things have not. Guatemala is still a violent place. The per capita murder rates are similar to those of New York and LA during the gang wars of the early 1990s. 97% of murders are not investigated. I recently read an article on BBC news about the murders of 700 women and girls within Guatemala City since 2001 (http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/americas/3294659.stm).
1981 to 1983 were particularly bad years of the war. Approximately 100,000 were killed or "disappeared" and between 500,000 and 1.5 million displaced, fleeing to other regions within the country or seeking safety abroad. Rios Montt, aka “the general” was president during those years. He was also a leading candidate in last year’s presidential election. It is hard to tell how much has changed.
The lack of justice and the rule of fear is an ominous shadow lurking over the Guatemalan story. It has affected the soul and psyche of every Guatemalan: the powered, the disempowered, the women, the men, the young and the old. This is their story and unfortunately, it is also our story. Most Americans don’t know where Guatemala is, much less our country’s role in its history.
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