Guatemalan Civil War

Cassandra Wilson
March 6, 2019


For 36 years, from 1960 to 1996, Guatemala’s military was at war with its own indigenous people.  Army commanders backed by the United States of America took control of the country in 1954, under the leadership of Colonel Carlos Armas, to stop the Guatemalan Revolution which put communists in charge of the country in the early 1950’s.   Six years later, a far more brutal leader, General Fuentes, took power by assassinating Colonel Armas, and began a large scale conflict against former supporters of the leftist movement, and armed rebel groups who lived mainly in the country’s northwestern interior. About two hundred thousand people, mainly indigenous Mayans, were either killed, or simply disappeared.  
As the civil war raged on, ordinary citizens protested against the actions of the military, and they and their families also became targets. By the 1980’s there was almost no remaining opposition and the military ruled the country with unquestioned authority.  At the height of this period, General Effrain Montt was in charge of the country and conducted widespread genocide, with attacks destroying 404 Mayan villages.
In 1985 the United States, after decades of seeing conditions in the country fall apart, encouraged the military to bring back civilian government. But continuing fear and violence resulted in the election of military-friendly far right politicians who allowed the military to keep control of the country behind the scenes for another decade.A renewed peace effort began in 1993, led by the Catholic Church, and accelerated in 1994.  Eventually an election in 1996 led to a declaration of peace between the government and the armed guerrillas, and the true end of military rule in Guatemala.

The information that has come to light in the aftermath of the civil war paints a brutal portrait of uncontrolled state-sponsored violence against its people.  A study in the early 2000’s estimated that of the human rights abuses committed in the civil war, only 3 percent were committed by the communist guerillas. 93 percent were committed by government forces (including the military, police, and the president’s own intelligence teams). Disgusted by the past, courts and NGO’s have moved to hold high ranking officials, including former president Montt accountable for the genocide, and other crimes against humanity (including rape and torture of innocent people).
As more and more convictions occurred, Guatemalans were becoming more confident in their justice system.  Over 30 senior military officers and politicians are either in prison or under house arrest.  But the current government under president Jimmy Morales appears to be on the verge of taking his country back into chaos. In January 2019, he expelled a United Nations team investigating human rights and corruption. In addition, President Morales tried to remove 3 supreme court judges who ruled against him on laws designed to stop further prosecutions of civil war criminals. Demonstrations in the capital have so far failed to get the President to change his mind. The most controversial law would grant immunity for government officials of crimes during the civil war, and would result in the freeing within 24 hours of those already convicted. The United Nations and many other countries, including the United States, strongly oppose the law as it violates international laws on war crimes. General Montt died under house arrest two years ago and President Morales feels it is time for the country to move on. But for the hundreds of thousands of family members of the victims of the war crimes, it is way too soon to forget..

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