Guatemalan Civil War: Between 1960 and 1996, Guatemala experienced a 36-year-long civil war that had a profound impact on this Central American country^[1]. 1960 (MCMLX) was a leap year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1960 calendar). ... 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ... A civil war is a war in which parties within the same culture, society or nationality fight for political power or control of an area. ... Map of Central America Central America is the central geographic region of the Americas. ... This article describes country as a type of geographical or political entity. ...

Origin

In 1954, Operation PBSUCCESS, a CIA-organized covert operation, overthrew the democratically-elected socialist-leaning President of Guatemala, Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán. Former president Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán on the cover of TIME magazine in June 1954 after his overthrow Operation PBSUCCESS was a CIA-organized covert operation that overthrew the democratically-elected President of Guatemala, Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán in 1954. ...

In response to the increasingly autocratic rule of General Ydígoras Fuentes, who took power in 1958 following the assassination of de facto head of state Colonel Carlos Castillo Armas, a group of junior military officers revolted in 1960 and organized in what became known as Movimiento Revolucionario 13 de Noviembre. When they failed, several went into hiding and established close ties with Cuba. This group originated the forces that were in armed insurrection against the government, and its supporters abroad, for the next 36 years. A General is an officer of high military rank. ... José Miguel Ramón Ydígoras Fuentes (1895 – 1982) was President of Guatemala from 2 March 1958 to 31 March 1963. ... 1958 (MCMLVIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... De facto is a Latin expression that means in fact or in practice. It is commonly used as opposed to de jure (meaning by law) when referring to matters of law or governance or technique (such as standards), that are found in the common experience as created or developed without... Queen Elizabeth II, is the Head of State of 16 countries including: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Jamaica, New Zealand and the Bahamas, as well as crown colonies and overseas territories of the United Kingdom. ... Colonel (IPA: or ) is a military rank of a commissioned officer, with the corresponding ranks existing in nearly every country in the world. ... Castillo Armas wearing the presidential sash after his taking of power Carlos Castillo Armas (November 4, 1914 – July 26, 1957) was president of Guatemala from July 8, 1954 until his assassination in 1957. ... 1960 (MCMLX) was a leap year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1960 calendar). ...

Groups involved

Four principal left-wing guerrilla groups — the Guerrilla Army of the Poor (EGP), the Revolutionary Organization of Armed People (ORPA), the Rebel Armed Forces (FAR), and the Guatemalan Labor Party (PGT) — conducted economic sabotage and targeted government installations and members of government security forces in armed attacks. These organizations combined to form the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity (URNG) in 1982. At the same time, extreme right-wing groups of self-appointed vigilantes, including the Secret Anti-Communist Army (ESA) and the White Hand (La Mano Blanca), tortured and murdered students, professionals, and peasants suspected of involvement in leftist activities. Look up guerrilla in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The Guerrilla Army Of The Poor (EGP - Ejercito Guerrillero de los Pobres) was one of the four guerrilla organizations comprising the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity (URNG - Unidad Revolucionaria Nacional Guatemalteca) that negotiated and signed the Peace accords in Guatemala with the Government and the Army of Guatemala. ... Guatemalan Party of Labour The Guatemalan Party of Labour (Partido Guatemalteco del Trabajo) was a Communist party in Guatemala. ... Partido Guatemalteco del Trabajo Fuerzas Armadas Rebeldes Ejército Guerrillero de los Pobres Organización Pueblo en Armas The Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity (in Spanish: Unidad Revolucionaria Nacional Guatemalteca) (initials: URNG) was a guerilla movement which emerged in Guatemala in 1982. ... 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... White Hand, or Bela Ruka, was a secret, unofficial military organization in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (and later in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia). ...

Early years of conflict

Shortly after President Julio César Méndez Montenegro took office in 1966, the army launched a major counterinsurgency campaign that largely broke up the guerrilla movement in the countryside. The guerrillas then concentrated their attacks in Guatemala City, where they assassinated many leading figures, including United States Ambassador John Gordon Mein in 1968. Between 1966 and 1982, there were a series of military or military-dominated governments. The title of President of Guatemala has been the usual title of the leader of Guatemala since 1851, when that title was assumed by José Rafael Carrera, who had been acting as head of government as general and caudillo since 1840. ... Julio César Méndez Montenegro (1915 – 1996) was President of Guatemala from 1 July 1966 to 1 July 1970. ... 1966 (MCMLXVI) was a common year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1966 calendar). ... National Palace of Culture Guatemala City (in full, La Nueva Guatemala de la Asunción; locally known as Guatemala or Guate) is the capital and largest city of the nation of Guatemala. ... An ambassador, rarely embassador, is a diplomatic official accredited to a foreign sovereign or government, or to an international organization, to serve as the official representative of his or her own country. ... Ambassador John Gordon Mein (September 10, 1913-August 28, 1968) was the first US ambassador to have been assassinated. ... 1968 (MCMLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1968 calendar). ... 1966 (MCMLXVI) was a common year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1966 calendar). ... 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

1982 coup d'état

On 22 March 1982, army troops commanded by junior officers staged a coup d'état to prevent the assumption of power by General Ángel Aníbal Guevara, the hand-picked candidate of outgoing President and General Romeo Lucas García. They denounced Guevara's electoral victory as fraudulent. The coup leaders asked retired Gen. Efraín Ríos Montt to negotiate the departure of Lucas and Guevara. Ríos Montt had been the candidate of the Christian Democracy Party in the 1974 presidential elections and was widely regarded as having been denied his own victory through fraud. March 22 is the 81st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (82nd in leap years). ... 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... A coup d’État (pronounced ), or simply coup, is the sudden overthrow of a government through unconstitutional means by a part of the state establishment — mostly replacing just the high-level figures. ... General Ángel Aníbal Guevara Rodríguez is a Guatemalan soldier and politician. ... Fernando Romeo Lucas García (born 1924) was the President of Guatemala from 1 July 1978 to 23 March 1982. ... José Efraín Ríos Montt (born June 16, 1926) is a former dictator of Guatemala, army general, and former president of Congress. ... The Guatemalan Christian Democracy (Democracia Cristiana Guatemalteca), founded 24 August 1955, is a political party in Guatemala. ... 1974 (MCMLXXIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday. ...

Ríos Montt was by this time a lay pastor in the evangelical protestant Church of the Word. In his inaugural address, he stated that his presidency resulted from the will of God. He was widely perceived as having strong backing from the Reagan administration in the United States. He formed a three-member military junta that annulled the 1965 constitution, dissolved Congress, suspended political parties and cancelled the electoral law. After a few months, Ríos Montt dismissed his junta colleagues and assumed the de facto title of "President of the Republic". Main article: Minister of religion A pastor is the head minister or priest of a Christian church. ... The Four Evangelists, by Jakob Jordaens It has been suggested that Christian evangelism be merged into this article or section. ... Protestantism is a general grouping of denominations within Christianity. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ... This article discusses the term God in the context of monotheism and henotheism. ... Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was the 40th President of the United States (1981–1989) and the 33rd Governor of California (1967–1975). ... 1965 (MCMLXV) was a common year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1965 calendar). ... The Congress of the Republic (Spanish: Congreso de la República) is the unicameral legislature of the Republic of Guatemala. ... Election law is a discipline falling at the juncture of constitutional law and political science. ... In modern usage, junta (pronounced as in Spanish HUN-ta or HOON-ta) typically refers to a military dictatorship, especially in Latin America, which is officially run by a committee of high-ranking military officers. ...

Guerrilla forces and their leftist allies denounced Ríos Montt. Ríos Montt sought to defeat the guerrillas with military actions and economic reforms; in his words, "rifles and beans". In May 1982, the Conference of Catholic Bishops accused Ríos Montt of responsibility for growing militarization of the country and for continuing military massacres of civilians. General Ríos Montt was quoted in the New York Times of 18 July 1982 as telling an audience of indigenous Guatemalans, "If you are with us, we'll feed you; if not, we'll kill you." The Plan de Sánchez massacre occurred on the same day. In politics, left-wing, political left, leftism, or simply the left, are terms which refer (with no particular precision) to the segment of the political spectrum typically associated with any of several strains of socialism, social democracy, or liberalism (especially in the American sense of the word), or with opposition... 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The New York Times is an internationally known daily newspaper published in New York City and distributed in the United States and many other nations worldwide. ... July 18 is the 199th day (200th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 166 days remaining. ... 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... A Hupa man, 1923 The indigenous peoples of the Americas were the pre-Columbian inhabitants of the Americas, their descendants, and many ethnic groups who identify with those historical peoples. ... Plan de Sánchez is a village in the municipality of Rabinal, Baja Verapaz department, Guatemala. ...

The government began to form local civilian defense patrols (PACs). Participation was in theory voluntary, but in practice, many people, especially in the rural northwest, had no choice but to join either the PACs or the guerrillas. Ríos Montt's conscript army and PACs recaptured essentially all guerrilla territory — guerrilla activity lessened and was largely limited to hit-and-run operations. However, Ríos Montt won this partial victory only at an enormous cost in civilian deaths.

Ríos Montt's brief presidency was probably the most violent period of the 36-year internal conflict, which resulted in thousands of deaths of mostly unarmed indigenous civilians. Although leftist guerrillas and right-wing death squads also engaged in summary executions, forced disappearances, and torture of noncombatants, the vast majority of human rights violations were carried out by the military and the PACs they controlled. The internal conflict is described in great detail in the reports of the Historical Clarification Commission (CEH) and the Archbishop's Office for Human Rights (ODHAG). The CEH estimates that government forces were responsible for 93% of the violations; ODHAG earlier estimated that government forces were responsible for 80%. In politics, right-wing, the political right, or simply the right, are terms which refer, with no particular precision, to the segment of the political spectrum in opposition to left-wing politics. ... The Historical Clarification Commission (Spanish: Comisión para el Esclarecimiento Histórico, or CEH) was Guatemalas truth and reconciliation commission. ... In Christianity, an archbishop is an elevated bishop. ...

"Managed" resumption of democracy

On 8 August 1983, Ríos Montt was deposed by his own Minister of Defense, General Óscar Humberto Mejía Victores, who succeeded him as de facto president. Mejía justified his coup, saying that "religious fanatics" were abusing their positions in the government and also because of "official corruption". Seven people were killed in the coup, although Ríos Montt survived to found a political party (the Guatemalan Republican Front) and to be elected President of Congress in 1995 and 2000. Awareness in the United States of the conflict in Guatemala, and its ethnic dimension, increased with the 1983 publication of the "autobiographical" account I, Rigoberta Menchú, An Indian Woman in Guatemala; the author was later awarded the 1992 Nobel Peace Prize for her work in favor of broader social justice, although soon after the New York Times discovered that the portions of her work were fabricated. August 8 is the 220th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (221st in leap years), with 145 days remaining. ... 1983 (MCMLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... A defence minister ( Commonwealth English) or defense minister ( American English) is a cabinet portfolio (position) which regulates the armed forces in a sovereign nation. ... Óscar Humberto Mejía Victores (born 1930) was President of Guatemala from 8 August 1983 to 14 January 1986. ... The Guatemalan Republican Front (Spanish:Frente Republicano Guatemalteco (FRG)) is a political party in Guatemala. ... 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the year 2000. ... 1983 (MCMLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Rigoberta Menchú Rigoberta Menchú Tum (born in Chimel, January 9, 1959) is an indigenous Guatemalan, of the Quiché-Maya ethnic group. ... Rigoberta Menchú Rigoberta Menchú (born in Chimel, Guatemala, January 9, 1959) is a member of the indigenous Quiché Maya group, subject of the widely-read but controversial testimonial biography I, Rigoberta Menchú (1983). ... 1992 (MCMXCII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday. ... Lester B. Pearson after accepting the Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize is the name of one of five Nobel Prizes bequested by the Swedish industrialist and inventor Alfred Nobel. ...

General Mejía allowed a managed return to democracy in Guatemala, starting with a 1 July 1984 election for a Constituent Assembly to draft a democratic constitution. On 30 May 1985, after nine months of debate, the Constituent Assembly finished drafting a new constitution, which took effect immediately. Vinicio Cerezo, a civilian politician and the presidential candidate of the Christian Democracy Party, won the first election held under the new constitution with almost 70% of the vote, and took office on 14 January 1986. It took, however, another 10 years of massacres and political assassinations by security forces and rightist paramilitary groups, before there was an end to the violence. Peace accords were signed between the guerrilla umbrella organization URNG and the military only in 1996. The Secretary-General of the GNRU, Comandante Rolando Morán and president Álvaro Arzú jointly received the UNESCO Peace Prize for their efforts to end the civil war and attaining the peace agreement. July 1 is the 182nd day of the year (183rd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 183 days remaining. ... 1984 (MCMLXXXIV) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... A constituent assembly is a body elected with the purpose of drafting, and in some cases, adopting a constitution. ... May 30 is the 150th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (151st in leap years). ... 1985 (MCMLXXXV) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Marco Vinicio Cerezo Arévalo was born December 26, 1942 in Guatemala City in Guatemala. ... The Guatemalan Christian Democracy (Democracia Cristiana Guatemalteca), founded 24 August 1955, is a political party in Guatemala. ... January 14 is the 14th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1986 (MCMLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Partido Guatemalteco del Trabajo Fuerzas Armadas Rebeldes Ejército Guerrillero de los Pobres Organización Pueblo en Armas The Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity (in Spanish: Unidad Revolucionaria Nacional Guatemalteca) (initials: URNG) was a guerilla movement which emerged in Guatemala in 1982. ... Comandante Rolando Morán (December 29, 1929, Quetzaltenango – September 11, 1998, Guatemala City) is the nom de guerre of Ricardo Arnoldo Ramírez de León, a former leader of Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity (URNG), an armed Guatemalan resistance organization. ... Álvaro Enrique Arzú Yrigoyen (b. ... The Félix Houphouët-Boigny Peace Prize was established in 1990 by UNESCO, to honour living individuals and active public or private bodies or institutions that have made a significant contribution to promoting, seeking, safeguarding or maintaining peace in conformity with the Charter of the United Nations and the...

On paper, Guatemala had "democratic elections" supported by the USA and the CIA, while the real power-yielding force was the military through the Ministry of Defense. The political climate of the country changed, but the violence continued, as the country is plagued by corruption, organized crime, drug-trafficking, and other socially-disturbing problems. The Ministry of Defence (Spanish: Ministerio de Defensa) is the agency of the Guatemalan government responsible for the countrys defence budget and for training all its armed forces Based in Guatemala City, the Defence Ministry is highly guarded, and the President of Guatemala frequently arrives there. ...

Peace process

Main article: Guatemalan peace accords

In December 1996, the civil war officially ended with the signing of the "Accords for a Firm and Lasting Peace".

References

1. ^ ^

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/latin_america/december96/guatemala_12-30.html

External links

• Key texts and agreements in the Guatemalan peace process

See also

• List of civil wars