FREE ESSAY ON GENOCIDE IN GUATEMALA

GENOCIDE IN GUATEMALA

From Heaven to Hell
In the United States we often look to European and African countries for examples of
dictatorship, civil war, inequality and genocide. In the 1990s, several countries
experienced mass exodus, civil war, race war, religious war, and genocide. Yugoslavia's
Serbian population attempted to cleanse itself of Muslims and Croats, in Rwanda the Hutu
population exterminated almost the entire Tutsi population, while in East Timor and
several other countries refugees fled from the tyranny of "their" government. Less often
however do we look, or even realize that our neighbors to the south are experiencing
remarkably similar acts of violence, hate, and misuse of power. Bordered mostly by
Mexico, Belize, and Honduras Guatemala is known for its volcanoes, exquisite beaches,
gorgeous landscapes, ancient Mayan ruins, and a unique culture. However, it is also a
country tainted by oppression, injustice, servitude, racial inequality, and genocide.
Andrew Miller, a Penn State University student describes Guatemala: "Guatemala, it has
been said, is a country of extremes. Within can be witnessed the riches of breathtaking
scenery, natural resources and cultural diversity. Simultaneously, however, one sees
extreme poverty and exploitation of indigenous peoples which characterize the country's
history." Another view, by Jean-Marie Simon, describes the Guatemalan dark side, the
reality of all Guatemalans. "Guatemala is a place where the political, economic, and
social panorama is unfairly skewed in every possible way. ... In Guatemala, life gets
better for a minority, at the expense of millions of others." After centuries of race and
class wars, Guatemala teetered between peace and war during the "ten years of spring," or
ten years of democracy. Unfortunately, Guatemala finally plunged into complete darkness
and genocide followed. Guatemala's genocide now serves humanity, along with all other
occurrences of genocide, as a reminder that we are all capable of committing acts of
horror. History is the only reference that humanity has to use to answer the
"unanswerable questions" that surround any genocide. The questions include why and how
could this have ever happened, and what makes humans capable of terror? Through
understanding and studying the causation and actual genocide in Guatemala, it may be
possible to shed some light on the questions that humanity faces.
What, one may ask, causes a country with such obvious beauty and potential to recess into
a shadow of hate, racism, and classism that can only lead to one result, genocide?
Guatemala was not always teetering between genocide and no genocide. Rather the genocide
that occurred in Guatemala happened as a result of a sort of evolution from a
dictatorship to "a largely peaceful revolution" to conditions embracing hate, violence,
and finally genocide. Several factors influenced this transition from relative peace to
extreme violence. Economic issues regarding land and labor fueled the fire, as did
political issues. In fact, the United States of America greatly contributed to the
violence by training Guatemalan police in torture tactics in the late 1950s and early
1960s. "Between 1956 and 1963 annual U.S. military assistance to Guatemala multiplied by
tens times." Conflicts between races and classes also contributed to the evolution.
However, what remains amazing about Guatemala's genocide is that it followed ten years of
a relatively peaceful revolution from 1944 when Ubico was overthrown to 1954 when
President Arbenz resigned (due to a coup led by the United States). In his history of
Guatemala, Gift of the Devil Jim Handy, a Central America historian describes those ten
years as "Ten Years of Spring." Nevertheless, and while generally peaceful, the national
revolution between 1944 and 1954 provided Guatemala with a foundation for decades of
racial injustice, economic and political inequality, and "the worst genocide in the
Americas since the first arrival of the Europeans." 
General Jorge Ubico, who Handy describes as "the archetype of Guatemalan dictators," led
the dictatorship that existed before the ten years of spring. "To many Guatemalans, the
rule of Jorge Ubico too closely resembled the European and Japanese fascist dictatorships
they were now joined in struggle against." During the last years of Ubico's reign, from
the late 1930s to the early 1940s, Guatemala experienced a growth of workers, small
businessmen, professionals, and students. While the indigenous and poor workers of
Guatemala were the most involved in the opposition to Ubico, all of these groups of
Guatemalans proved critical to the revolution as they led the desire for reform. They
sought a new leader as well as economic and social reforms. Finally in 1944, students,
workers, professionals, intellectuals, and young military officers overthrew Ubico. A
year later, in 1945, a teacher was appropriately named president, Juan Jose Arevalo.
Juan Jose Arevalo wanted to create a capitalist economy while leading a democratic and
nationalistic revolution that was sympathetic to the working man and woman. In his
inaugural speech he proclaimed, "Now we are going to begin a period of sympathy for the
man who works in the fields, in the shops, on the military bases, [and] in small
business." This is a monumental proclamation. In Guatemala it was and remains rare for
any political figure with power to openly support the indigenous majority. For decades,
the white minority had ruled with an iron fist creating barely bearable living conditions
for the working man, woman, and child. Arevalo sought to change all this, and began by
signing into law the 1945 Constitution.
The 1945 Constitution reflected Arevalo's first four political reforms. First, the
constitution created new voting regulations. This is a substantial reform because it
allowed illiterate men and literate women the right to vote. As well, the new voting
regulations allowed Guatemala to catch up in voting rights with fully developed
democratic nations. In the United States the 19th Amendment granted women the right to
vote in 1920, the 15th Amendment granted black men the right to vote in the US in 1870.
The second major provision of the 1945 Constitution attacked Guatemala's history of
dictatorships. It prevented the re-election of any president. This, in theory, ensured
that Guatemala would no longer be subjugated to dictatorial rule and ensured democracy
for the future. Thirdly, the new Constitution required the military to be apolitical and
uphold the 1945 Constitutional decrees. Making the military apolitical is another device
that Arevalo used to prevent future dictatorships. An apolitical military is only a tool
for the government, and cannot act as the government in any way, thus preventing a man
like General Jorge Ubico from taking power. Finally, the 1945 Constitution paid tribute
to the students who had fueled Ubico's overthrow. The Constitution allocated money to the
University of San Carlos and granted it autonomy and the right of association. This of
course ensured that there would always be students and intellectuals to counter
aspirations of dictatorial rule. Arevalo did not stop his reformation of Guatemala with
the 1945 Constitution; in fact, he almost immediately embarked on creating health and
social reforms for Guatemala.
Truly revolutionary, the health and social reforms instituted under Arevalo targeted the
poor and working class individual. The first four reforms focused on health and safety
issues, while the fifth and sixth reforms were social in nature. Arevalo first instituted
rural health clinics, and then projects to provide potable water in isolated villages.
White Cross-clinics were also set up and the infrastructure improved in the poor
neighborhoods of the cities. To ensure a healthier lifestyle Arevalo set up sewage
systems in poor neighborhoods as well. The social reforms included a higher income (wage
reform) and freedom for unions to organize and operate, which Ubico did not allow during
his dictatorship. In 1946, Arevalo also instituted the Social Security Law and began his
school reform that would last until 1950. The Social Security Law did several things for
Guatemala to ensure good health and prosperity. It "establish[ed] the Guatemalan Social
Security Institute (IGSS) and provid[ed] injury compensation, maternity benefits and
health care." The school reforms Arevalo created from 1946 to 1950 also did several
things to ensure future prosperity for Guatemala and all its citizens. Arevalo allocated
more money to schools for the expansion and improvement of the schools, and instituted
literacy campaigns. "By 1950 the Arevalo government was spending over $7 million on
educational projects." Never before had the Guatemalan government cared for or spent so
much on the education of not just the white minority but also the indigenous and peasant
majority. 
The ten years of spring also saw major attempts at labor and wage reform under Arevalo.
In 1947, the Arevalo government passed into law the Labour Code. The Labour Code took
steps towards providing economic equality and dignity for all Guatemalans. This is
significant because it attempted to bridge the gap between the elite minority and poor
majority. The Labor Code first provided workers with the right to strike. Before the
Arevalo's Labor Code workers who went on strike faced serious punishments including
torture, imprisonment, and even death. While the Labour Code did not completely abolish
such acts of employer violence, it at least made them illegal and punishable under the
law. The Labour Code also gave workers the right to collective bargaining, which is a
tool for unions. In addition, the code set minimum wages, restricted child and female
labor, and legislated working hours. Finally, the Labour Code created labor courts.
Designed to deal with "labor-management" problems the labor courts often "reimbursed
[workers] for lost wages if a strike was found to be the fault of [the] management." In
addition, in 1947, the Arevalo government created the Agrarian Studies Commission. The
government designed the commission to evaluate the use and ownership of Guatemala's lands
and to study agrarian reform in other countries, with the intent of producing a report
with recommendations for agrarian reform in Guatemala. Arevalo also in 1947 abolished the
Vagrancy Law and adopted Law(s) of Forced Rental. 
Positive outcomes from Arevalo's reforms included wage increases, creation of unions and
relative peace in a normally, internally hostile country. "Urban wages increased 80
percent during Arevalo's term in office." The National Institute to Encourage Production
(INFOP) was created as a result of Arevalo's desire to create a society with equality for
all. As well, INFOP promoted indigenous enterprises and acted as the director of
development. INFOP sought to accomplish its tasks in a "socially productive manner." As
well, the right to strike proved to be an effective reform. In 1950 "a series of strikes
on government-owned fincas... soon spread to large private estates, with the result that
at least on many large fincas wages went from 5 to 20 cents a day to 80 cents." Thus, the
poor indigenous working class reaped social and economic benefits during Arevalo's
presidency. Unfortunately, six years was not enough time for the revolution to reach or
change much of Guatemala. "The pattern of minifundia-latifundia remained intact and the
bulk of the population in the highland left with... little land." Neither did the balance
of power in Guatemala change. The white landowners maintained their dominance over the
economy while also retaining political influence. Arevalo addressed the problem of the
landowners upon leaving office. "To achieve [reform] in Guatemala we had to combat the
peculiar economic and social system ... of a country in which the culture, politics and
economy were in the hands of 300 families." The church, which opposed the revolution
openly, also maintained influence over society and the people of Guatemala. 
The church is one of three forces that opposed Arevalo's reforms and revolution. The
landowners of Guatemala also opposed Arevalo, as did the military. While the church and
landowners were not easily reckoned with, the military posed the most serious threat to
Arevalo. The most serious challenge Arevalo and his government overcame was an attempted
coup by Arana supporters in the military. The attempted coup occurred following Colonel
Francisco Arana's death in 1949. While the Arevalo government successfully resisted the
coup attempt, it left 150 dead and 300 wounded. Following the attempted coup Arevalo
replaced a forth of the military's officers. This was not the only coup attempted on the
Arevalo administration. In fact, the Arevalo administration withstood 30 attempted coups.
Arevalo and his administration were also was subjugated to propaganda created by the
press and military. The military and press both worked together to create a communist
image for Arevalo. To Guatemalans, "communism had long been used... to defame any
movement towards social reform." Thus, the military and press essentially told the public
that Arevalo did not seek social reform, but wanted to maintain the social and racial
injustices from the past. While Arevalo was not actually a communist, the propaganda
remained a serious threat to his presidency and thus revolution.
In 1950, the people of Guatemala elected Arbenz to be the next President of Guatemala.
The following year on March 15, 1951 Arevalo left office. Unfortunately, Arevalo did not
leave optimistically. Indeed, Arevalo was worried and quite pessimistic about the future
of the revolution. "Prophetically, Arevalo's greatest concern was not for the forces of
conservatism from within, but for how 'perishable, frail and slippery the brilliant
international doctrines of democracy and freedom were.'" He realized that much of the
fuel for the revolution had met powerful resistance from conservative forces, and while
he made possible future reforms, the revolution was far from being a success.
When Arbenz took office in 1951, he, like Arevalo, announced what types of reforms he
would work towards. However, while Arevalo had had a more broad focus, Arbenz focused in
on the economy. In his inaugural speech, he set forth the three objectives of his
administration. First, "to convert our country from a dependent nation with a
semi-colonial economy to an economically independent county." Secondly, he announced
plans to "convert Guatemala from a backward country with a predominantly feudal economy
into a modern capitalist state." Finally, Arbenz declared that he planned to "make this
transformation in a way that will raise the standard of living of the great mass of our
people to the highest level." Arbenz's desire to reform the Guatemalan economy found its
foundation in the reports done by the Agrarian Studies Commission and the International
Bank of Reconstruction and Development (IBRD). The reports indicated the need for an
increased yield in agriculture. The IBRD report not only stressed the need for increased
output of crops, but crop diversification as well. The report also focused in on the need
for agrarian reform in the highlands of Guatemala. "The basic poverty of Indian highland
agriculture permanently hampers not only any agricultural progress but the whole economic
growth of Guatemala; for the Indian population constitutes the bulk of the potential
internal market, without which industry cannot develop adequately." Thus, Arbenz
encouraged both agricultural diversity and increase in output. Arbenz also continued and
expanded Arevalo's reform measures. For example, Arbenz increased the education budget to
$11 million by 1953. However even here Arbenz focused in on agrarian reform. Under Arbenz
the village schools narrowed in on agricultural education, teaching how to harvest crops
for the greatest yields for example.
Unfortunately, Arbenz immediately faced problems. The United Fruit Company (UFCO)
monopolized Guatemala's economy carrying exclusive rights to the railroad and telegraph
system, as well as monopolizing Guatemala's ports. However Arbenz did not give up,
instead he attacked the UFCO by funding "the construction of the Atlantic highway and a
new port at Santo Tomas." His most significant reform came in 1952, his agrarian reform
law. It "called for expropriation of all idle lands exceeding 223 acres in size." While
this reform would ultimately cost him his presidency, Arbenz's agrarian reform law
benefited five hundred thousand Guatemalans.
In 1954, the ten years of spring came to an end. The United Fruit Company, Arbenz's
greatest enemy, called upon its political friends in the Central Intelligence Agency
(CIA) of the United States for assistance in countering Arbenz's reforms. U.S. Secretary
of State John Foster Dulles and CIA director Allen Dulles began to campaign against
Arbenz using communist propaganda to promote the belief that Arbenz was a Soviet
sympathizer. While neither Arbenz nor Arevalo before him were communists some of their
reforms did unfortunately aid the propaganda. For example, under the Labour Code the
workers of Guatemala were able to organize unions. Some of the unions organized were
communist in nature. The Guatemalan Worker's Party (PGT) was, for example, a
communist-based union. Unions like the PGT only aided the propaganda as evidence for its
message. In June of 1954, the CIA led a coup on the Arbenz administration. On June 27th
Arbenz resigned announcing that the UFCO and United States were responsible for the
destruction of Guatemala's democracy. 
The United States appointed Guatemala's next president, Col. Carlos Castillo Armas.
"Castillo Armas was flown into Guatemala in the U.S. Ambassador's plane and the coup
marked the beginning of systematic repression in Guatemala." However the killings did not
begin, and would not until the early to mid 1960s. Instead, the Guatemalan government,
with the help of the CIA and the Committee Against Communism, began to "[draw] up a black
list of 70,000 political suspects taken from rosters of Arbenz sympathizers, political
parties, and urban and rural organizations." Consequently, an exodus of Guatemalans
occurred. Thousands fled to neighboring countries such as Mexico. A mere three years
after the Arbenz coup in 1957, Armas was assassinated; his successor was Miguel Ydigoras
Fuentes. During his presidency Fuentes allowed anti-Castro Cubans to secretly perform
military training in Guatemala which led to a Guatemalan military revolt on November 13,
1960. The officer's rebellion of 1960 gave way to the Guatemalan guerrilla movement. And
"while the Guatemalan guerrillas never numbered more than 500 in the 1960s, they provided
[the military with] the rational for killing thousands of unarmed civilians. Thus began
the first phase of the Guatemalan Civil War, which would last into the late 1970s. In
1962, the first Guatemalan guerrilla group, known as Rebel Armed Forces (FAR), was
created. As well during 1962, the United States began its counterinsurgency by helping
the Guatemalan military training. During the elections of 1966, over 50% of registered
voters voted. Julio C. Mendez Montenegro won the elections with 44.4% of the votes.
During the Mendez Montenegro presidency the peak of the counter insurgency occurred, in
which FAR was wiped out. "The elections of 1966 marked the beginning of the end for the
guerrilla forces of that era. Taking advantage of the guerrillas' unofficial truce, the
army unleashed a brutal counter-insurgency under the command of Colonel Carlos Arana
Osorio." As well, 1966 and the Mendez presidency saw the formation of "death squads." The
first death squad to appear was Mano Blanca, or white hand. The government and Mario
Sandoval Alarcon, a right-wing political leader of the National Liberation Movement (MLN)
organized Mano Blanca. By 1967, a year after it's formation, Mano Blanca was accompanied
by over 20 other death squads that targeted over 500 individuals whose names appeared on
"the lists." The death squads that came into being during this time consisted mainly of
off duty police officers and soldiers who acted as a sort of vigilante. During this time,
the United States became even more involved with Guatemalan politics. The
counterinsurgency was "a campaign that included the use of U.S. advisers and American
pilots flying napalm attacks on suspected guerrilla strongholds from the U.S. base in
Panama." 
In the four years of the Mendez presidency, over 30,000 Guatemalans lost their lives. The
indigenous peoples, during this time, were murdered, disappeared, tortured, raped, and
beaten. A decade earlier the people of Guatemala lived in relative peace, now they lived
in state of terror. "Between 1966 and 1970, on the pretext of eliminating communism, some
10,000 non-combatants were killed in order to assassinate an estimated 300 to 500
guerrillas who retreated to the northern Peten jungle to recover and regroup." While the
guerrilla movement had virtually stopped by 1970 when Carlos Arana Osorio took office
"disappearances," which most often led to death not only continued but also according to
Amnesty International peaked during the 1970s. "Between 1970 and 1974, 15,325 Guatemalans
'disappeared.'" Nevertheless, peasant organizations began to form during the mid-1970s.
Much of the organization of peasant groups and unions was due to the Christian Democrat
arty and the Catholic Church. Two prominent unions emerged at this time, the National
Workers Confederation (CNT) and the Autonomous Trade Union Federation of Guatemala
(FASGUA). As well by 1974 when Laugerud Garcia was inaugurated the guerrilla movement had
regrouped and grown. In addition to the previous guerrilla groups a new one emerged, the
Guerrilla Army of the Poor (EGP). The Guatemalan government and military responded
forcefully to the growing guerrilla groups. "Under the Laugerud Garcia government, army
penetration of the rural countryside began, establishing in many areas the groundwork for
later occupation." In 1976, Guatemala received another blow; this one however came from
Mother Nature. On February 4, 1976 an earthquake, that registered 7.5 on the Richter
Scale, hit Guatemala. It "killed 22,000 people, injured 77,000, and left one million
peasants homeless." Nevertheless opposition groups and recouped continued to grow, and on
May 1, 1978 the Committee for Peasant Unity, or CUC, publicly announced its existence.
Rigoberta Menchu, an indigenous peasant woman from Guatemala turned human rights
activist, explains how her father, a "political prisoner" and other peasants started the
CUC. 
"So my father came back very proudly and said, 'We must fight the rich because they have
become rich with our land, our crops.' That was when my father started to join up with
other peasants [in 1977] and discussed the creation of the CUC with them. A lot of
peasants had been discussing the Committee but nothing concrete had been done, so my
father joined the CUC and helped them understand things more clearly. ... That's how the
CUC began to form as such. It organized the peasants both in the Altiplano and on the
coast. It wasn't a formal organization with a name and all that [at first]: more like
groups of communities, at the grass roots, that sort of thing," (emphasis added). 
Nevertheless, while peasant and student organizations grew along with guerrilla groups
the repression continued. "Massive violence began during the last year of the Laugerud
Garcia government, with mounting selective assassinations in Guatemala City and
large-scale army repression in the countryside." 
Such violence continued into the Lucas Garcia government. An example of this repression
and violence is apparent in the Panzos massacre of 1978. The government's "scorched
earth" campaign against isolated peasant villages believed to support the opposition
carried a deadly toll, with a massacre at Panzos in May 1978 being perhaps the best known
military operation of this type. On May 29, 1978, 500 to 700 Kekchi, an indigenous Mayan
group from Guatemala's highlands, gathered in Panzos to protest their expulsions from
their land to the Mayor and an official of INTA. Once in the central square the military
ringed the square and opened fire killing over 100 protestors. The dead were put into
mass graves, supposedly dug beforehand. The government later asserted that the Indians
had started the violence, and only admitted to killing 38 people. The violence and
repression did not end unfortunately with the Lucas Garcia government either. While Rios
Montt declared in 1982 after a coup that he led, "that there would be no more
assassinations" and fair trials from those who violated the law, "rural repression soared
immediately after the coup," and continues, though in lesser amounts, today. 
"Since 1982 Guatemala has lived through two presidential elections, two military coups,
two states of alert, two Constitutions, an eleven-month state of siege, a three month
state of emergency, at least four amnesty periods, and four heads of state - three of
them army generals." Could all of this and the genocide of Guatemala been prevented
during the ten years of spring? Possibly if Arbenz and Arevalo had restricted union
organization to non-communist unions, which would have, in theory prevented U.S.
involvement. However it remains unlikely that this would have been enough. The UFCO and
United State could have found, or created other reasons for the coup, which ultimately
destroyed the democracy and peace in Guatemala. Now Guatemala is left with the remnants
of genocide, oppression, and political instability. Terror remains a driving force in
Guatemalan society, and to think it all could have been avoided if the United States had
not led the coup on the Arbenz administration.
Bibliography
Andrew Miller: http://www.west.net/~tmiller/gh/
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Handy, Jim. Gift of the Devil. USA: South End Press, 1984. Pg. 156.
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