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Guatemala
From the 3rd century BCE to the 11th century CE, the lowlands area of the Petén region of Guatemala was the heart of the flourishing Maya civilization. After the collapse of the lowland states, the Mayan states of the central highlands continued until conquered by the Spanish, who first arrived in 1523 and colonized the area. Alta Verapaz is known for the fact that after failing to conquer it by the sword the Spanish entered by the cross, with missionaries. Almost all Pre-Columbian Mayan books were lost due to the policy of the Spaniards during the colonial period of burning them. The Popol Vuh, a Pre-Columbian Maya creation story, is one that survived.
Guatemala became independent of Spain in 1821, first as a part of the United Provinces of Central America. This confederation fell apart in a war from 1838 to 1840, and Guatemala became an independent nation.
Guatemalan history has been marked by various interventions by the United States. The Central Intelligence Agency with little support from Guatemalan citizens, orchestrated the overthrow of the democratic Guatemalan government in 1954. This was known as Operation PBSUCCESS and led to over 3 decades of unrest in the nation in which over 100,000 Guatemalans were killed, mostly indigenous Mayan Indians, more than 450 Mayan villages were destroyed and over one million people became refugees. This is alleged to be one of the worst ethnic cleansings in modern times. This came out of the oppresive Guatemalan government, the widespread racism within the country, and the war against URNG Marxist insurgents, which was supported by the U.S.
Further involvement of the CIA in Guatemala included the training of 5,000 anti-Castro Cubans for what would become the failed Bay of Pigs Invasion. 1996 marked the end of a bloody 36-year war with the marxist-guerrilla Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity (URNG). The signing of the peace treaty was orchestrated by Richard Aitkenhead, then top advisor to President Oscar Berger. Since then, the country has enjoyed successive democractic elections, the most recent in 2003. However, corruption is still rampant throughout all levels of government.
Guatemala has long claimed all or part of the territory of neighboring Belize. While Guatemala recognized Belize's independence in 1991 (ten years after the fact), the border between them has not yet been finalized. Negotiations are currently underway under the auspices of the Organization of American States to conclude the dispute. For details, see: Foreign relations of Belize, and Belize–Guatemala Territorial Issue.
Once the site of the impressive ancient Mayan civilization, Guatemala was conquered by Spanish conquistador Pedro de Alvarado in 1524 and became a republic in 1839 after the United Provinces of Central America collapsed. From 1898 to 1920, dictator Manuel Estrada Cabrera ran the country, and from 1931 to 1944, Gen. Jorge Ubico Castaneda served as strongman.
After Ubico's overthrow in 1944 by the “October Revolutionaries,” a group of left-leaning students and professionals, liberal-democratic coalitions led by Juan José Arévalo (1945–1951) and Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán (1951–1954) instituted social and political reforms that strengthened the peasantry and urban workers at the expense of the military and big landowners, like the U.S.-owned United Fruit Company. With covert U.S. backing, Col. Carlos Castillo Armas led a coup in 1954, and Arbenz took refuge in Mexico. A series of repressive regimes followed, and by 1960 the country was plunged into a civil war between military governments, right-wing vigilante groups, and leftist rebels that would last 36 years, the longest civil war in Latin American history. Death squads murdered an estimated 50,000 leftists and political opponents during the 1970s. In 1977, the U.S. cut off military aid to the country because of its egregious human rights abuses. The indigenous Mayan Indians were singled out for special brutality by the right-wing death squads. By the end of the war, 200,000 citizens were dead.
A succession of military juntas dominated during the civil war, until a new constitution was passed and civilian Marco Vinicio Cerezo Arévalo was elected and took office in 1986. He was followed by Jorge Serrano Elías in 1991. In 1993, Serrano moved to dissolve Congress and the Supreme Court and suspend constitutional rights, but the military deposed Serrano and allowed the inauguration of Ramiro de Leon Carpio, the former attorney general for human rights. A peace agreement was finally signed in Dec. 1996 by President Álvaro Arzú Irigoyen.
In 1999, a Guatemalan truth commission blamed the army for 93% of the atrocities and the rebels (the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unit) for 3%. The former guerrillas apologized for their crimes, and President Clinton apologized for U.S. support of the right-wing military governments. The army has not acknowledged its guilt. Alfonso Portillo Cabrera, closely associated with the former dictatorship of Efrain Rios Montt (1982–1983), became president in Jan. 2000. In Aug. 2000, Portillo apologized for the former government's human rights abuses and pledged to prosecute those responsible and compensate victims.
To stimulate the economy, Guatemala, along with El Salvador and Honduras, signed a free trade agreement with Mexico in June 2000. In Aug. 2001, plans for tax increases prompted widespread, and often violent, protests.
In July 2003, the country's highest court ruled that former coup leader and military dictator Rios Montt, responsible for the massacre of tens of thousands of civilians during the civil war, was eligible to run for president in November. The ruling conflicted with the constitution, which bans anyone who seized power in a coup from running for the presidency. But in November, Rios Montt was soundly defeated by two candidates, conservative Oscar Berger and center-leftist Alvaro Colom. In the runoff election in December, Berger was elected president. In 2004, Guatemala experienced an alarmingly violent crime wave. More than 2,000 murders took place, which were blamed on crime gangs and bands of teenagers. In 2005, the government ratified a free-trade agreement (CAFTA) with the U.S.
External Links
LANIC - Latin American Network Information Center
Academic Research Resources: Asociacion de Investigacion y Estudios Sociales ASIES * Biblioteca Nacional de Guatemala * Centro de Estudios de Guatemala CEG
* Centro de Estudios Económico Sociales CEES * Centro de Investigaciones Economicas Nacionales CIEN * Centro de Investigaciones e Información en Desarrollo CIID * Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología CONICYT * EBI Guatemala Aprendiendo desde nuestras culturas * Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales FLACSO - Sede Guatemala * Kaqchikel Resource Center University of Kansas * K'inal Winik Cleveland State University * Instituto de Ciencia y Tecnología Agrícola * Instituto de Estudios Políticos Económicos y Sociales IPES * Instituto Nacional de Estadística INE * Laboratorio de Información Geográfica * Revista La Cuerda Una mirada feminista de la realidad * Sociedad Guatemalteca de Ornitología * Universidad del Valle UVG * Universidad Francisco Marroquin UFM * Universidad Mariano Gálvez, Rafael Landivar URL, Rural de Guatemala, San Carlos USAC,... and more.
Foreign & Commonwealth Office - Country Profile
Area: 108,889 square km * Population: 11,237,196 (Census 2002), 14,650,000 (Estimate 2005) * Capital City: Guatemala City (population: 942,348 – Census 2002) * People: Mayan Indians (approximately 66%) speaking 22 different languages. There is also a small community of 'Garifuna' (of Caribbean descent). The remainder are Guatemalans of Spanish and European descent. * Language(s): Spanish, but 22 different Mayan languages principally (K'iche, Kakchiquel, K'ekchi and Mam) and Garifuna are also officially recognised. Many in the business community speak English. * Religion(s): Predominantly Roman Catholic (60%). The rest are mainly Protestants. There are a small number of Jewish, Moslem and other faith communities. * Currency: Quetzal made up of one hundred centavos. Approximately Q13.00 equal £1.00 * Major political parties: As at May 2005 the following parties were registered: FRG - Frente Republicano Guatemalteco, PAN – Partido de Avanzada Nacional Guatemalteca, URNG – Unidad Revolucionaria Nacional Guatemalteca, DIA – Desarrollo Intregral Autentico, PLP – Partido Libertador Progresista
INGUAT - Instituto Guatemalteco de Turismo
Guatemala is a country of contrast, excitement and adventure, where you will have endless fun sorrunded by the millenary Maya Spirit. We invite you to visit our Protected Areas, the most relevant archaeological sites of the Mayan Civilization, the colonial city of La Antigua Guatemala, a classic and modern Historic Center, and Lake Atitlan. Visit our unique natural and cultural environment, enjoy our delicious local dishes and participate in our mystical religious and cultural traditions.
Guatemala from Space
The effectiveness of modern tree-cutting technology became clear to archaeologist Tom Sever in the late 1980s. NASA and the National Geographic Society hired him to study the potential impact of a hydroelectric dam on the Usumacinta River in Guatemala. Sever, who had pioneered the use of remote-sensing data in finding archaeological sites, turned to satellite imagery once again. Using Landsat data, he produced an image showing part of the border between Guatemala and Mexico. Most political borders are invisible in satellite images, but this border was obvious. The rainforest - still intact in Guatemala - stopped abruptly at the Mexican border, where the landscape had been stripped. The image above shows a larger area, however, the abrupt change of vegetation at the Mexcan border (center of the image) is still clearly visible.
Prensa Libre - Independent Newspaper
Have a look at the daily news in Guatemala. This so called "independent" newspaper is allways up to date regarding the local news, also the weather forecast ;-) 13 calle 9-31 zona 1, código postal 01001 Ciudad de Guatemala, Guatemala, Centro América.
Guatemala Travel Information - Lonely Planet
Despite its turmoil, travellers flock to Guatemala because it offers Central America in concentrated form: its volcanoes are the highest and most active, its Mayan ruins the most impressive, its earthquakes the most devastating and its history of repression decidedly world-class.
Infoplease.com - Guatemala
The northernmost of the Central American nations, Guatemala is the size of Tennessee. Its neighbors are Mexico on the north and west, and Belize, Honduras, and El Salvador on the east. The country consists of three main regions—the cool highlands with the heaviest population, the tropical area along the Pacific and Caribbean coasts, and the tropical jungle in the northern lowlands (known as the Petén).