Armed Conflict In Guatemala

The government’s masking of the truth eluded the severity of the Guatemalan conflict, which delayed humanitarian aid from the problem. Justifications for the war were made when the government stated it was ongoing, which somewhat covered the traces of these massacres. Although the war started in 1960 and ended in 1996 , the “violence faced by the Mayan people peaked between 1978 and 1986” (Genocide). Since the war and genocide at one point occurred simultaneously, people were confused by the situation in Guatemala. Out of the approximately 200,000 people killed in this war, over 166,000 of them were Mayan (SILENT). The massive proportion of victims that were Mayan revealed the government’s purpose to wipe out the one group that may have threatened the government’s power. According to the United Nations, “genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group”. This definition is a parallel to the acts done by the Guatemalan military. The struggle for foreign countries to determine Guatemala’s situation between war and genocide helped the Guatemalan military to continue mass killing Mayans. Former dictator Rios Montt claimed that there was “no genocide, but a high cost during a bloody civil war” which many perceived to be true (Castillo). Since Montt was in a position of power, his words carried more

The author of this book is Juan Jose Arevalo and he was a professor of philosophy who became Guatemala’s first democratically elected president in 1944. He was elected after a popular uprising against the United States, backed by Dictator Jorge Ubico, which began the Guatemalan Revolution. He stayed in office until 1951 and had survived 15 coup attempts. During his presidency he had passed several social reform policies that included an increase in minimum wage and a series of literacy programs. He also directed and ministered the drafting of a new constitution in 1945. Arevalo focused much on the need of advancement with individuals and communities. After he was exiled as being a university professor he went back to Guatemala to help the new post-Ubico government, focusing on the areas of social security and drafting of a new constitution. He developed the term “spiritual socialism”, in which he defined his political philosophy as. The philosophy was pointed towards the moral development of Guatemalans with the intent to liberate man psychologically. Arevalo strongly believed that this theoretical doctrine was vital to the making of a progressive and peaceful Guatemalan society. He felt in order to create an ideal society it was necessary to allow the citizens the freedom to pursue their own opinions, property, and way of life. He proclaimed that protecting the freewill of the citizens creates more support for governmental institutions, which in turn ensures the security of

The Guatemalan Revolution was on October 1944 and it forced the resignation of Jorge Ubico. He was the President of Guatemala in the previous thirteen years. Ubico's government was a fear period in the country and it was called the “peace on the cemeteries”

Guatemala Genocide is very interesting so that one of the reason why i had chosen this genocide. It very interesting because they had another type of genocide and a lot of people usually don't talk about the Guatemala Genocide. This genocide is one of the genocide that had so many people killed. It about 60 percent of the population. Another reason why I had chosen the Guatemala Genocide because I had never ever heard about or ever learned about the Guatemala genocide so I thought I should learn about Guatemala. Learning about this Genocide made me realize alot of genocide such like african american and jewish weren't the only one being abuse. Genocide happened almost everywhere in the world and people will never know where else it couldn't of happened. My topic about the Guatemalan just cover everything about the genocide such as the army , how people were treated , how they felt and world response. Just doing research base on the question , there were ruf time to even read the articles. How they describe how the beat newborns and 3 years to death in front of their parent or its vice versa. Guatemala citizens lost everything during 1981-1983 genocide.

In 1980 El Salvador’s civil war officially began. Thousands of people were kidnapped and killed. Church workers were abducted, raped and killed, yet again the peace talks did not begin until 1984 and the Peace Accords of El Salvador was not signed until 1992. Between those twelve years 75,000 people died as a result of the civil war and most of these people were completely innocent.

United States’ system has its foundation on an agreement between the people and the government to ensure that individual liberties continue to prosper under a free society. The Declaration of Independence lists three important rights that the Founding Fathers considered natural and unalienable. They are the right to life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. Government exists to protect these rights. On other hand, the purpose of Guatemala’s government, according to the Guatemala’s Constitution, is to promote the common welfare, the consolidation of the regime of legality, security, equality, justice, liberty and peace. Both countries have its foundation on democracy; nevertheless, there are specific characteristics that mark a difference between them.

For twelve years (1980-1992), El Salvador suffered this brutal civil war and saw some of the worst human rights abuses in Latin American history. The government refused to attend peace talks by the FMLN and the FMLN refused to participate in elections knowing it results would be rigged. The military tried to kill all suspected rebels and the FMLN damaged anything that supported the government’s economy. Throughout the war there was so much human rights violations such as subjecting civilians to torture, forced disappearance, extrajudicial killing, mutilation, mass rape, massacres, summary executions, landmines and indiscriminate bombing. As the result, by the end of the civil war about 75,000 people were killed, sadly most of which were civilians in the wrong place at the wrong time. The intensity of military repression and constant fear provoked massive northern migration to the United States. By the mid-1980s almost one-fifth of the Salvadoran population was living in the United

In 1964, Guatemala was being run by a military junta, violence was a part of every day life, the economy was in shambles, and jobs were scare (Cuevas, 2011). It was in this setting that a young man, my future father-in-law, took a chance at a better life for he and his family. Enticed by rumors of prosperity in the United States, Alex and his brother Rene saved their money to journey to Chicago, leaving their families behind in a search for hope that was borne of desperation. Alex left his wife Ruth with 20 Guatemalan Quetzal, the equivalent of $20 dollars, and their three children, Vivien, 5, Ingrid, 3, and Marvin, a newborn baby. What experience lay in store for he and his family? How would they fare in an unknown country, without

Death squads and disappearances caused mental anguish to so many citizens of countries plagued with war all over Latin America, just like Lupe and her family. Gabriel Garcia Marquez poses the question, “why could social justice not be a goal for Latin America?” Countries in Latin America like Nicaragua, Guatemala, EL Salvador, Argentina, and Chile were striving for social justice. Some even had democratic elections and were on the right path but the fear of communism that plagued the United States since the beginning of the Cold War halted any of the progress Latin American countries could have even made. Any sort of progress, whether it was farmers and peasants like José forming unions and organizations fighting for human rights, or democratically elected presidents like Arbenz or Allende that fought for agrarian reform and nationalization of resources was completely shut down either directly or indirectly by the United States. Social justice was definitely a goal for Latin America. The region is not filled with savages that can’t grasp democracy; even Marquez “rejected the idea that ‘violence and pain’ was the natural condition of the region.” The United States halted and set aside any progress for social justice in Latin America because it feared losing its powerful influence in the

Born in Blood and Fire text describe and explain Chasteen’s perceptions on the effect that important invents that occurred in Latin America had during the Cold War. Chasteen’s visions of the period were precise and outstanding. First Chasteen’s ideas reflect how during the Cold War Latin American governments started turning into a military rule with the United Sates as an ally and founder of their army. He explains how countries started revolutionary movements in order to fight for nationalism. Marxist ideologies and communist revolutionary guerrillas rose as well as anticommunist governments. Chasteen’s argues how during the Cold War period there was a constant increase of civil right abuses from the government’s army who impose their power with violence and brutality. Chasteen’s ideas are reflected and confirmed in the Guatemala Reader documents by describing specific events that occurred in Guatemala during the Cold War period. The Guatemala Reader goes beyond Chasteen’s ideas by giving detailed documents and historical facts of the social injustices that people had to go through every day. Born in Blood and Fire texts and the Guatemala Reader documents show the rise of civil wars and a period of political struggle in Latin America during the Cold War.

There has been many long term effects from the civil war in El Salvador. The war lasted about 12 years from 1980 to 1992, and El salvador is still dealing with old issues from that time. It was the darkest times in El Salvador’s history. The inequality of social classes, poverty,and military rule led Salvadorians to revolt against their own government.

This week, we had a variety of reading that discussed the Dirty Wars that occurred in Latin America and the aftermath these conflicts had, specifically, the Dirty Wars in Guatemala and the reaction to them. During the Dirty Wars in Guatemala, several crimes against humanity took place, with nearly 60,000 dead and forty thousand missing. One of the articles discusses the massacre that took place in Dos Erres, Guatemala, in which Guatemalan government sent troops disguised as guerrilla fighters to the area, and they killed nearly an entire village, except two small children as they were in hiding in the initial slaughter, and when they were found, they were spared due to their skin color. I find it interesting how so many people could partake

The Central American counties of the Northern Triangle: Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador are considered the most dangerous countries in the world that are not at war. The region is very unstable due to weak governments and gangs. The gangs in these countries rule the streets taking innocent lives, sex trafficking and rapimg women and children, while the government does little to stop them. The violence started at different times in these countries. In Honduras during the 1980s the right- winged rebel group, the Contras housed themselves in the country. El Salvador’s violence dates back to 1979 with the Civil war. This war was between the government’s military and the leftiest

Those people ranged from low end soldiers who made their money by raiding villages. To higher end lieutenants. To become a lieutenant for the governments military it seemed as though you had to kill as many people as possible. Outside of the governments military their were bands of guerillas who fought to bring a new government and change to the Guatemalan society. They would attempt to do this by fighting against all people who they saw is believing the government was right. The other type of people in the society around them was the government workers and officals themselves who promised all these small villages such great things but just keep the money themselves instead. If you were defy the government you would be killed, imprisoned or tortured.

Until the 1930s El Salvador had been ostensibly governed by the military but was truly controlled by the country’s inherited elite. During this time military leaders had leaned toward fascism and were in support of right-wing ideologies which supported strong authoritarian government and went against the essence of liberalism which called for a decentralized government. This strong authoritarian government would intervene in the common life of the citizens. These influences truly subjugated the working-class and clashed with the majority’s ideals. Something that was predicted by supporters of liberalism that suggested decentralized government would advocate for liberty and equality in the long run. By 1932 there began a change in politics in