Focus on Guatemala

ISLA Editorial: Guatemala 1999

This is the beginning of the Ancient Word, here in this place called Quiché. Here we shall inscribe, we shall implant the Ancient Word, the potential and source for everything done in the citadel of Quiché, in the nation of Quiché people. --Popol Vuh

The ancient nation of Quiché people is today known as Guatemala. More than half of Guatemala's population descends from the authors of the Popol Vuh (epic creation story of the Quiché Maya), an oppressed majority that has suffered the worst human rights abuses imaginable over the last five centuries. The hunting down of suspected communists ever since the CIA-backed coup that toppled president Jacobo Arbenz in 1954, turned into a series of genocidal campaigns against indigenous communities. Only during the early eighties, over 440 Maya villages were wiped out. This immense suffering, however, has not deterred the indigenous peoples of Guatemala, who are now organizing in many ways to regain their rightful place in the nation's history.

ISLA dedicates this issue of our web site to all Guatemalans (including the mixed-blood ladinos and the black Garifunas), who suffered four decades of a civil war that officially ended on December 29, 1996, with the signing of the Peace Accords between the Guatemalan government (headed by president Alvaro Arzú) and the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity (URNG) guerrilla movement.

But as the articles gathered here show, signing the accords hasn't guaranteed the attainement of justice. Political murders such as that of Bishop Juan Gerardi (brutally killed on April 26 of 1998, a day after making public the Catholic Church's human rights report), still go unpunished. President Arzú has purged corrupt personnel from the security forces, and the army has been reduced, but not a single army official responsible for the massacres carried out during the 1980's has been brought to trial. Instead, dismissed military and paramilitary individuals have been allowed to go free and continue their criminal activities in civilian life. Guatemala's homicide and kidnapping rates are among the highest in Latin America.

Although much of the population is skeptical about real change, there is reason for hope, especially given the convergence of several organized groups such as the Mutual Support Group (GAM), the Assembly of Civil Society (ASC), the National Coordination of Campesino Organizations (CNOC), and the Coordination of Mayan Peoples' Organizations of Guatemala (COPMAGUA). Two progressive political parties will challenge the ruling National Advancement Party (PAN) during the upcoming elections of Fall 1999: the ex-guerilla URNG, and the New Guatemala Democratic Front (FDNG).

1999 is another historical year for Guatemala. One of the Peace Accords' main agreements was to carry out a series of reforms to the Guatemalan constitution. However, it was agreed that these reforms should first be approved by the population through a referendum (consulta nacional), slated for February this year. A setback to the public referendum occurred on February 9 when the Constitutional Court decided to postpone it due to intense lobbying by the Center for the Defense of the Constitution (Cedecon). On February 17, the Guatemalan Congress resolved to approve a proposal presented by the FDNG to restate the referendum with four questions addressing different issues within the reforms. This is an improvement over the original framework, which called for the population to vote with a blanket "yes" or "no" on ALL the reforms. After much debate, the referendum has been re-scheduled for May 16.

Meanwhile, on February 25 an important step towards justice was taken with the public announcement of the Commission for Historical Clarification report on human right abuses (titled "Guatemala, Memory of Silence"). This report was received with great enthusiasm by Guatemalans seeking justice, since it establishes responsibility for the massacre of over 200,000 people during the civil war. Responsibility lies not only with the Guatemalan army and tyrants such as ex-president Efraín Ríos Montt, but also to the United States government, through the CIA's active sponsorship of these crimes. President William Clinton is scheduled to make an official trip to Guatemala on March 11, and it will be interesting to see his response to the report.

While the report recommends damage repair, it remains to be seen whether those responsible for the crimes will be brought to justice. Moreover, the Guatemalans who were involved in putting the report together fear violent retaliation, as happened with Bishop Gerardi. But as recent examples of international justice show (General Pinochet still awaits the House of Lords' new decision in London), impunity is becoming increasingly difficult for human rights abusers. Memory is finally emerging out of the silence.

Antonio Prieto
February 28, 1999

Update of May 1999: Constitutional reforms rejected.

Special thanks to the Guatemala News and Information Bureau and to Peace Brigades International for helping us put this issue together.