Guatemala – Historical Background

Map of Guatemala

While indigenous people dominate Guatemala's population at over 60% – one of only two indigenous majorities in the Americas, along with Bolivia – they are also the poorest and most marginalized Guatemalans. They were explicit targets of the violence that devastated Guatemala for 36 years, most of it orchestrated by successive military dictatorships following the ousting of a social-democratic president in a US-supported coup in 1954. The UN-sponsored Truth Commission report, released in 1999, found that in the worst period of the violence, during the scorched-earth policies of the early 1980s, this violence amounted to genocide against the indigenous population. Over 200,000 people were killed or "disappeared," and up to two million people internally and externally displaced – a third of the country's population at the time. 93% of the crimes were judged to have been committed by the State, whether through the army or paramilitaries.

Corn – at the heart of Guatemalan history, culture, and Mayan spirituality

The war ended officially in 1996 with the signing of peace accords between the government and armed insurgency. Ten years afterwards, however, impunity for past and present crimes continues to be entrenched. The justice system lacks independence, corruption is rampant, and there is a lack of political will to address human rights violations and end impunity. The deep inequality that fueled the conflict persists; two percent of the country controls 80 percent of its arable land. Many of the people responsible for grave human rights violations during the armed conflict remain in power. At the community level, perpetrators and victims of war crimes often continue to live side by side.