Guatemalan Party of Labour

The Guatemalan Party of Labour (Partido Guatemalteco del Trabajo) was a Communist party in Guatemala. PGT logo. ... In modern usage, a Communist party is a political party which promotes Communism, a sociopolitical philosophy based on the particular interpretation of Marxism put forth by Vladimir Lenin. ...

The PGT formed as a merger of the two main Communist groups in Guatemala, the Communist Party of Guatemala (PCG) and its main rival. The PCG was founded as a clandestine faction within the ruling Revolutionary Action Party in 1947 by José Manuel Fortuny. It became a party in its own right in 1949. The other party was established by Víctor Manuel Gutiérrez in 1950 as a PCG breakaway group. Communism was not officially legalized until the inauguration of reformist President Col. Jacobo Arbenz in 1951, though the groups participated in political activities more or less openly; some avowed Communists were employed in high-level positions in the civil service and educational bureaucracy. The PGT program tended to emphasize participation in the labor movement and direct action rather than electoral politics, though at one point there were four declared Communists in the 58-seat parliament. Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán was the democratically-elected, left-wing reformist President of Guatemala. ... The labor movement (or labour movement) is a broad term for the development of a collective organization of working people, to campaign in their own interest for better treatment from their employers and political governments. ...

The PGT was generally supportive of the reform efforts launched by Juan José Arévalo and Col. Arbenz after the overthrow of right-wing military dictator Gen. Jorge Ubico in 1944. Because of this, the governments and press in Western countries (especially the United States) attempted to gather support for an economic or military intervention to halt the ‘Communist threat.’ A CIA intelligence estimate in 1952 reported that the PGT had a membership of about five hundred and an undetermined number of sympathizers. Later estimates raised the membership total to 1,000, including a group of five hundred described as ‘hard-core.’ The PGT publication Octubre had a circulation of about 3,000. American intelligence briefings and post reports conceded that the PGT did not have sufficient popular backing or resources to foment a coup or revolution. Juan José Arévalo Bermejo (1904 – 1990) was the first of the reformist presidents of Guatemala after the rule of dictators in 1944. ... Jorge Ubico y Castañeda (November 10, 1878; † 14 July 1946) was President of Guatemala from 14 February 1931 to 4 July 1944. ... The CIA Seal The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is one of the American foreign intelligence agencies, responsible for obtaining and analyzing information about foreign governments, corporations, and individuals, and reporting such information to the various branches of the U.S. Government. ...

The land reform initiatives implemented by the Arbenz government attracted more foreign attention to Guatemala's political scene. About 100,000 landless peasants were to benefit from the expropriation of unused arable land from landed interests (such as the U.S.-based United Fruit Company). The plan was never fully executed, as the Arbenz government fell in a U.S.-sponsored coup d'état on 29 June 1954; the government offered no significant resistance. The first decree issued by the new military régime banned the Communist party. Land reform (also agrarian reform although that can have a broader meaning) is the government-initiated or government-backed redistribution of — i. ... The United Fruit Company (1899–1970) was a corporation prominent in the import-export trade of tropical fruit (notably bananas and pineapples) coming from Third World plantations and sent to the United States and Europe. ... Operation PBSUCCESS (1954) was the CIA-organized covert operation that overthrew the democratically-elected President of Guatemala, Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán. ... June 29 is the 180th day of the year (181st in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 185 days remaining. ... 1954 was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

The Communists took up arms in 1962, ushering in a 40-year civil war characterized by severe political repression, right-wing realpolitik, and scorched earth campaigns. On the left were the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR), which originated as an affiliate of the PGT; the Guerrilla Army of the Poor (EGP); and the Revolutionary Organization of the People in Arms (ORPA). The three groups were clearly overpowered by right-wing militia and death squads including the Nationalist Democratic Movement (MDN), National Liberation Movement (MLN), Mano Blanca (‘White Hand’), Ojo por Ojo (‘Eye for an Eye’), and the Anti-Communist Secret Army (ESAC). Many of these groups were assisted by the government and the military, especially during the presidencies of Enrique Peralta and Efraín Ríos Montt. In 1978, a declaration was released by the MLN that read, “ON JUNE 30 NATIONAL ARMY DAY, PATRIOTIC AND YOUNG OFFICERS AND MEMBERS OF THE NATIONAL LIBERATION MOVEMENT WILL TAKE POWER AND WILL EXECUTE ALL GUATEMALAN COMMUNISTS, INCLUDING RELIGIOUS OFFICIALS.” Scorched earth is a military tactic which involves destroying anything that might be useful to the enemy whilst advancing through or withdrawing from an area. ... Alfredo Enrique Peralta Azurdia (1908 – 1997) was President of Guatemala from 31 March 1963 to 1 July 1966. ... Efraín Ríos Montt on the campaign trail in 2003 José Efraín Ríos Montt (born June 16, 1926 in Huehuetenango, Guatemala) is a former President of Guatemala and former president of the Congress of Guatemala. ...

The scorched earth tactics were quite effective. In the mid-1980s, Mario Sandoval Alarcón, leader of the MLN and Vice President of Guatemala, stated, “Several hundred people have been killed, but … the guerrillas have almost been completely removed from the Guatemalan Oriente. The terrorism of the guerrillas … has forced the government to adopt a plan of complete illegality, but this has brought results.” Even traditional co-operatives established by the Ixil Maya indigenous people were considered ‘Communistic’ under the Ríos régime; entire villages were burned and their inhabitants massacred, purportedly for aiding the left-wing militant groups. Hit lists that targeted Communists, socialists, indigenous leaders, and center-left Christian democrats (and any suspected opponents of the government), led to assassinations and other acts of political terrorism. In the period 1972-83, two PGT secretaries-general and nineteen Central Committee members were ‘disappeared’ and killed. The word Maya or maya can refer to: The Maya – a Native American people of southern Mexico and northern Central America the modern Maya people the pre-Columbian Maya civilization the Maya language Maya – a concept in Hindu/Vedic philosophy a state of misperception of reality the inherent force of... Political terrorism is a form of terrorism (a tactic of violence that targets civilians) used to influence socio-political events so that gains occur that might not have otherwise happened by peaceful means. ...

The war further created tension between the factions on the issue of participation in the war: the more moderate factions became deserted as militants left to form their own groups. The PGT-Central Committee, the internationally-recognized PGT faction, gained a reputation for indecision as its leadership continually switched positions on the extent to which Communists should participate in the war.

An elected government took over from the military in January 1986, but the violence did not conclude until 29 December 1996, when a peace agreement was signed between the government of Álvaro Arzú and the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity (URNG), a coalition representing the guerrilla groups. Dedicated members of the PGT joined the URNG after it became a legal political party in 1998. December 29 is the 363rd day of the year (364th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 2 days remaining. ... 1996 is a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ... Álvaro Enrique Arzú Irigoyen (b. ... 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. ...

One PGT descendant, the PGT-National Directing Nucleus (formed 1978), still claims to exist. However, it does not participate in elections and has not registered as a party, thereby limiting its influence.