Day 1 May 23
Part 2




We passed by this village with its tranquil "main street". The crude roadblock was not a warm welcome on our first day, but at least it did not come with any police or military. We would see armed soldiers throughout the country (even in discotheques!), but mercifully, not yet for now.




Rural scene near the ghostly "roadblock" town.




Guatemala is a predominantly agricultural country. According to a 1982 USAID study, it then had the most inequitable distribution of land in Latin America. Dirt-poor Maya peasants toiled the land for a handful of aristocratic ladino or white families that reaped most of the benefits.

Undoubtedly, the economic instability was the principal cause of the civil war that had shaken the country in recent years. The Cerezo administration (the first democratically elected one in decades) was largely ineffectual in curbing the violence. The Guatemalan army was still in command and, by force of arms, had veto power over any elected government. Paramilitary death squads terrorized the cities and countryside with impunity, summarily executing even women and children in the name of anti-communism.


Some Who's Who in Guatemalan history



Guatemala, probably from the Aztec Quahtemallan which means "land of trees".

Pedro de Alvarado (16th century). Ruthless conquistador who was Cortes's hatchetman in the conquest of Mexico. He led the expedition that thrust Spanish culture and genes upon Guatemala and many parts of Central America.

Tecún Umán. The Quiché Maya leader who marshalled the final battle against the Spanish. According to popular account, he died fighting Alvarado himself.

Rafael Carrera. Led a backcountry revolt that brought the collapse of the United Provinces of Central America and the restoration of Conservative and Church power in Guatemala. He became virtual ruler of the country in 1838. As US ambassador to Central America, John Lloyd Stephens saw Carrera as both an ignorant fanatic and an honest patriot.

Justo Rufino Barrios. Overthrew Carrera's Conservative successor in office, and imposed liberal policies by dictatorial means. Although credited for building roads, opening the country to foreign capital, and introducing coffee as a cash crop, Barrios ignored the poor and native Guatemalans in his reforms. Indeed, he introduced a system of Indian forced labor to man the coffee plantations. Guatemala's economic, and ultimately, political dependence on the US, finds its origin in his regime.

Manuel Estrada Cabrera. Encouraged economic development in the Barrios tradition (for example, he made concessions to the US-owned United Fruit Company), and ruled Guatemala for many years until the assembly declared him insane in 1920. The archetypal Central American dictator, Cabrera began the much-imitated practice of ignoring human rights and summarily disposing of his critics.

Jorge Ubico. He wished to be known as "Tata" (father) to the Indians, but he had no qualms in herding them for forced labor. His paternalistic regime was another "liberal" dictatorship that trampled on individual rights while benefiting economically only the rich and powerful. A general strike in June, 1944 forced Ubico to resign, clearing the way for two remarkable presidents.

Juan José Arevalo and Jacobo Arbenz. Arevalo inaugurated a favorable labor code and a social security system. He transferred power from the military to a popular group led by organized labor. Succeeding Arevalo, Arbenz made land reform the main project of his administration. This radical achievement brought him the enmity of the United Fruit Company (the biggest absentee landowner in Guatemala), then the CIA, which concluded that he was a communist. In the name of democracy, the CIA engineered a coup, ensuring that the dictator who replaced Arbenz would bow to US commercial interests.

Castillo Armas. Castillo Armas saw to it that the CIA got its money's worth when it financed his bid for power. He undid most of Arbenz's reforms and unleashed a reign of terror that wiped out the labor and peasant unions. Eventually, the violence he started caught up on him; he was assassinated in July 1957.

Arana Osorio. Made liberal use of death squads to rid the country of "habitual criminals" and leftist guerillas. His regime started the tradition of massive electoral fraud to ensure victory for the government's candidates such as

Lauregud Garcia and General Romeo Lucas Garcia (1970s and early 1980s). These dictators continued with the repression begun by Armas and Osorio. Lucas Garcia was especially bloodthirsty. "Genocide" best describes the numerous massacres of Indian peasants perpetrated under his regime. The Spanish embassy was bombed (probably by the military) when it opened its doors to some prominent indigena activists.

Efraín Rios Montt. Cheated by the government in his first presidential bid, Rios Montt was swept to power by a coup in 1982. As Guatemala's first evangélico president, he loved to deliver Sunday-night sermons against immorality and godlessness on national television. The reality was that the violence and terror worsened during his rule, and his economic policies were largely ineffective.

Vinicio Cerezo. Guatemala's president when I visited. The first civilian head of state in a long time. In the background, the military watches his every move.

Rigoberta Menchú. Indian-rights activist who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1992. Her parents and younger brother each suffered some combination of kidnapping, torture, mutilation, burning and rape before being murdered by government counter-insurgency forces. Her best-known work is her autobiography I, Rigoberta Menchú, which is both the story of her life and a proud affirmation of the indigena world view.

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Into Guatemala 1989. © 1999 J. L. Pe