Essay

Dictatorship in Guatemala, genocide of extreme proportions Guatemala’s Reality If you read any “Guatemala Facts” under type of Government it will say: Constitutionally democratic. This was far from truth as Guatemala has endured over 3 decades of cruel dictatorships. Guatemala, with about 14 million people, is the most populous country in Central America. It is run by an oligarchy of wealthy landowners and big business interests that reap the country's agricultural and commercial rewards at the expense of the rest of the population. In the dark years of a civil war that Guatemala endured, the country was headed by military dictators and figurehead-presidents—the ultimate control belonged to the Army. Guatemala has been for the most part a country without social or economic justice, especially for the 8 million indigenous Mayan Indians who make up the majority of the population. There is a marked disparity in income distribution, and poverty is pervasive. From the mid 50’s to early 90’s Guatemalan indigenous people—descendants of the ancient Maya’s live in concentration camp-like conditions, as de facto slaves. They had no access to health care, and no access to safe drinking water. Education in rural areas is non-existent, hence why there’s 40% of illiteracy in the country half of the country's children suffer from malnutrition. Every day in Guatemala, a country in which everything grows, people go hungry. The real power in Guatemala is in the hands of the Army, and that power has been used to violently control the people, resulting in the worst human rights record in the world. During more than 30 years of civil war, over 200,000 Guatemalans have been killed or disappeared, tens-of-thousands have been forced to flee to Mexico or other countries, 1 million have been displaced inside the country, and more than 440 Indian villages have been destroyed. 75,000 widows and 250,000 orphans have been produced out of the massacres. And, for more than four decades, the United States government has consistently supported the Guatemalan Army and the ruling class in their policies of repression. It seems as if not much has changed since the early years—the harsh realities of present day Guatemala sprouted from the bitter seeds that were planted in its early history. Spanish conquistador Pedro de Alvarado (1485-1541) began the conquest and subjugation of the Mayan city-states in the 1500s. Land ownership, mineral production, and agriculture were organized to benefit the Spanish. Although independence came in 1821, United States control of huge banana and coffee plantations continued the patterns that developed in the colonial period, and Indian lands continued to be confiscated. How did it all Start—Foreign Monopolies in Guatemala In the 1920s, after a century of involvement in agriculture in Guatemala and the export of its food crops, the US established military missions in all Latin American countries. Guatemala's military was tied to the US military through training, aid, and a commitment to protect US economic interests, and the Army became a major force. Under Dictator Jorge Ubico (1931-1944), American-owned United Fruit Company (UFC) gained control of forty-two percent of Guatemala's land, and was exempted from taxes and import duties. The three main enterprises in Guatemala -- United Fruit Company, International Railways of Central America, and national electric company-- were American-owned (and controlled by United Fruit Company). Seventy-seven percent of all exports went to the US and sixty-five percent of imports came from the US. Repressive governments have plagued Guatemala throughout its history, with alternating waves of dictators being the rulers. But, between 1945 and 1954, there was a period of enlightenment -- an experiment with democracy called the "10 Years of Springtime" -- that started with the election of Juan Jose Arevalo to the presidency. While in power from 1945 to 1951, Arevalo established the nation's social security and health systems and a government bureau to look after Mayan concerns. Arévalo's liberal regime experienced many coup attempts by conservative military forces, but the attempts were not successful. Arévalo was followed by Colonel Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán who became president in democratic elections in 1951. At the time, 2% of landowners owned 70% of the land and farm laborers were kept in debt slavery by these landowners. Arbenz continued to implement the liberal policies of Arevalo, and instituted an agrarian reform law to break up the large estates and foster individually owned small farms. The land reform program involved redistribution of 160,000 acres of uncultivated land owned by United Fruit Company. United Fruit was compensated for its land. United Fruit was a state within the Guatemalan state. It not only owned all of Guatemala's banana production and monopolized banana exports, it also owned the country's telephone and telegraph system, and almost all of the railroad track. In addition to redistributing United Fruit land, the government also began competing with United Fruit in the production and export of bananas. Important people in the ruling circles of the US, involved with United Fruit Company, used their influence to convince the US government to step in. In 1954, Eisenhower and Dulles decided that Arbenz finally had to go, and the US State Department labeled Guatemala "communist". On this pretext, US aid and equipment were provided to the Guatemalan Army. The US also sent a CIA army and CIA planes. They bombed a military base and a government radio station, and overthrew Arbenz Guzmán, who fled to Cuba. Aided by the US, Colonel Castillo Armas became the new president. The US Ambassador furnished Armas with lists of radical opponents to be eliminated, and the bloodletting promptly began. Under Armas, thousands were arrested and many were tortured and killed. Armas marginalized one-third of the voters by barring illiterates from voting. He closed down opposition newspapers and burned "subversive" books—“ Springtime" had ended. Dictators and repression The coup in Guatemala inaugurated an era of military rule in Central America. Generals and Colonels acted with impunity to wipe out opposition and gather wealth for themselves and their friends. And, the killing of defenseless people became state policy in Guatemala. Between 1954 and 1981, it is estimated that 200,000 people were murdered. Guatemala continues to suffer the worst record of human rights abuses in Latin America. The Armas regime was followed by a succession of repressive military dictatorships. As both protest and repression became more violent, civil war emerged, especially in the highlands. Industrialization in the 1960s and '70s helped the rich get richer, while the cities became increasingly filthy as the rural dispossessed fled the countryside to find urban employment. The military continued its violent suppression of anti-government elements, especially in the countryside, among the indigenous Mayan population, resistance grew, and a guerrilla army began to form. US participation—The Green Berets, CIA, and death squads During the 1960s and 70s, American military aid and training made Guatemala's army the strongest and most sophisticated in Central America. Between 1966 - 68, during the Johnson presidency, the Green Berets were sent to Guatemala to transform its Army into a modern counter-insurgency force and to conduct a war there. This is the origin of the killing machine that operated in Guatemala those days. The US mission and its advisors urged the military to take measures to establish a US base for counterinsurgency actions, in order to maintain cheap labor for the landowners and US corporations, and to preserve the System. Terror was the weapon, inflicting terror was their strategy; and the American CIA was the agent. Targeting guerrillas, peasants, students, labor leaders, and professionals, the Guatemalan military jailed thousands. And thousands more, struggling to overcome poverty and injustice, were murdered by military army trained by the CIA. As depicted in the film When the Mountains Tremble. In addition to US and CIA support, Argentina, and Chile provided expertise and aid to Guatemala's military. And, Israel has played a very important role in Guatemala since 1977, supplying weapons, building munitions factories, and training soldiers. Genocide: “The Politics of Racism” Genocide is an international crime classified within the worse crimes against humanity. Se entiende por genocidio cualquiera de los actos perpetrados con la intención de destruir, total o parcialmente, a un grupo nacional, étnico, racial o religioso, como tal. Genocide means any of the acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group as such. Estos actos comprenden la muerte y lesión a la integridad física o moral de los miembros del grupo, el exterminio o la adopción de medidas destinadas a impedir los nacimientos en el grupo. These events include death and injury to the physical or moral integrity of the members of the group, killing or taking measures to prevent births within the group. Una matanza por motivos de ideologías está en debate, pero no está firmemente considerado como genocidio. A kill for reasons of ideology is in debate, but not firmly as genocide. Esa definición es similar a la reflejada en la Convención para la Prevención y la Sanción del Delito de Genocidio, de 1948, y recogida en el Estatuto de la Corte Penal Internacional, de 1998, pero es objeto de cierta polémica en tanto a los grupos ya las acciones infligidas como a las causas por las que se llevan a cabo. This definition is similar to that reflected in the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide of 1948, and described in the Statute of the International Criminal Court, 1998, but is the subject of some controversy in both groups and actions inflicted as to why they are held. La violencia tuvo un aumento considerable, que marcó la presidencia del general Romeo Lucas García (1978-1982).Humanity is a big word when you hear, but tiny when we live, especially when speaking of genocide, a crime, a violation of human rights and a crime against humanity; These are only names which referred to any act committed with intent to destroy total or partially a national, ethnic, racial or religious group as such; in this way is interpreted as provided in the Convention on the prevention and punishment of the crime of genocide, adopted by the United Nations in 1948. The genocide is one of the crimes more inhuman that they carried out throughout history, but it has unfortunately empty huge in the way as criminalizing, therefore not always takes into account political or social groups, that they have also been exposed to this curse. The Mastermind of Guatemala’s Genocide Efrain Ríos Montt – head of the military regime (1982–1983) that was responsible for having defeated the guerrillas through the beans for guns, program, starting the end of Guatemala's 36-year civil war. The war ended with a signature of a peace treaty in 1996. The civil war pitted left-wing rebel groups against the army, with huge numbers of Mayan peasants caught in the crossfire. At least 200,000 Guatemalans were killed during the conflict, making it one of Latin America's most violent wars in modern history. It is an unforgiveable fact that people like the “genocidal mastermind” of Efrain Rios Mont can walk freely after the massacres that he committed. When Daniel Jonah Goldhagen interviews him during the filming of: Worse than War: Genocide; Rios Montt is very nonchalant when asked if he is responsible for the genocide of the country' He says that NO, the UN defines Genocide as the elimination of an ethnical group, religious group, etc. Goldhagen corrects him, telling him that the UN actually defines genocide as the “partial or total elimination of these groups”. To which Rios Montt simply replies,” take me to a court and prove it”. Justice for Guatemala—a tiny light shines at the end of the tunnel Rigoberta Menchu, the Advocate of Indians, who suffer the loss of all her family members to the genocide that Guatemala suffered; and a Nobel Prize Laureate has been the voice of all the Mayan people and has never ceased to bring the “mastermind of Rios Mont” to justice. The genocide occurred from 1960 to 1996. In this 36 year period, the people of Guatemala suffered mass murders, rapes and disappearances. It is believed 200,000 people were killed in the genocide. Today United Nations, historical clarification commission, U.S. government and several American corporations are being accused and facing charges for their role in the Genocide. Rios Montt is now under house arrest awaiting trial on April 12—although it can do little to get this now old man to jail to pay for his massacres; at least the thousands of widows and orphans will have some sort of closure to the devastation they have live. As Yates said when she finished When the Mountains Tremble: “The wrenching scenes of state violence and indigenous resistance in When the Mountains Tremble affected me greatly as a college student in the 1980s, "Guatemala wrapped its arms around my soul and would never let me go." I feel the exact same way and I hope that her new film: Granito: How to Nail a Dictator sheds some light (evidence) to prosecute Rios Montt for good and have him pay a little bit of the terrible damage he caused. Works Cited Oglesby, Elizabeth. "Reckoning With Guatemala's Genocide." NACLA Report On The Americas 44.6 (2011): 40-44. Academic Search Complete. Web. 2 Apr. 2012. Ryan, Zoe. "Former Guatemalan Dictator To Stand Trial." National Catholic Reporter 48.9 (2012): 5. Academic Search Complete. Web. 2 Apr. 2012. Grandin, Greg. "It Was Heaven That They Burned." Nation 291.13 (2010): 25-34. Academic Search Complete. Web. 2 Apr. 2012. Grandin, Greg. "The Instruction Of Great Catastrophe: Truth Commissions, National History, And State Formation In Argentina, Chile, And Guatemala." American Historical Review 110.1 (2005): 46-67. Academic Search Complete. Web. 2 Apr. 2012 Martínez Turcios, Luis Mario. "Construyendo La Paz En Guatemala, El Peso De La Memoria. (Spanish)." Tiempo De Paz 102 (2011): 54-59. Academic Search Complete. Web. 2 Apr. 2012. When the Mountains Tremble is 1983 documentary produced by Skylight Pictures, Docudrama; New York, NY: Distributed in the U.S. by New Video, [2004] Worse than War: Genocide; Film/Directed by Mike DeWitt Written by Mike DeWitt and Daniel Jonah Goldhagen Produced by JTN Productions and 13/WNET Granito: How to Nail a Dictator; Film/Documentary by Pamela Yates Produced by Skylight Productions; 2011