Izabal ( Spanish pronunciation: [isaˈβal] ) is one of the 22 departments of Guatemala . Its coastal areas form part of the homeland of the Garifuna people .
118-469: Guatemala border [REDACTED] Government of Guatemala and Guatemalan military Government-led paramilitary organizations Supported by: [REDACTED] United States (1962–1996) [REDACTED] Argentina (1976–1983) [REDACTED] URNG (from 1982) [REDACTED] PGT (until 1998) [REDACTED] MR-13 (1960–1971) [REDACTED] FAR (1960–1971) EGP (1971–1996) ORPA (1979–1996) The Guatemalan Civil War
236-504: A general strike and nationwide protests. He had planned to hand over power to the former director of policy, General Roderico Anzueto, whom he felt he could control. But his advisors noted that Anzueto's pro-Nazi sympathies had made him unpopular and that he would not be able to control the military. So Ubico instead chose to select a triumvirate of Major General Buenaventura Piñeda, Major General Eduardo Villagrán Ariza, and General Federico Ponce Vaides . The three generals promised to convene
354-585: A multi-party system . Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the Congress of the Republic . The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. Guatemala is a Constitutional Republic. Guatemala's 1985 Constitution provides for a separation of powers among the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government. Modern Guatemalan politics are still strongly affected by
472-531: A "republic", Guatemala had three sharply defined classes: The prince classified them into three categories: In 1931, the dictator General Jorge Ubico came to power, backed by the United States. While an efficient administrator, he initiated one of the most brutally repressive military regimes in Central American history. Just as Estrada Cabrera had done during his government, Ubico created
590-1004: A Presidential Intelligence Agency in the National Palace, under which a telecommunications database is known as the Regional Telecommunications Center or La Regional existed, linking the National Police, the Treasury Guard, the Judicial Police, the Presidential House and the Military Communications Center via a VHF-FM intracity frequency. La Regional also served as a depository for the names of suspected "subversives" and had its own intelligence and operational unit attached to it known as
708-411: A band of revolutionary exiles. On 19 October 1944, a small group of soldiers and students led by Árbenz and Arana attacked the National Palace in what later became known as the "October Revolution". Ponce was defeated and driven into exile; Árbenz, Arana, and a lawyer named Jorge Toriello established a junta . They declared that democratic elections would be held before the end of the year. The winner of
826-536: A disfranchisement of left-wing Guatemalans. He also returned all the confiscated land to the United Fruit and the elite landlords. A series of military coups d'état followed, featuring fraudulent elections in which only military personnel were the winner candidates. Aggravating the general poverty and political repression motivating the civil war was the widespread socioeconomic discrimination and racism practiced against Guatemalan indigenous peoples , such as
944-516: A group of junior army officers, seized power in a military coup on 23 March 1982. In the 1970s social discontent continued among the large populations of indigenous people and peasants. Many organized into insurgent groups and began to resist government forces. During the 1980s, the Guatemalan military assumed close to absolute government power for five years; it successfully infiltrated and eliminated enemies in every socio-political institution of
1062-499: A joint action with the national military took by storm the Pavon detention centre, a prison with 1,500 inmates which until that date hadn't been requisitioned for 10 years and which was a hub of criminal activity. Some inmates, the guard of the chief of the mafioso what ran the prison and the leader himself resisted the onslaught of forces of law with AK-47 and handguns, they were massacred. Around 3,000 infantry and 4 tanks participated in
1180-582: A landslide victory in Guatemala's presidential election . On 15 January 2024, Bernardo Arévalo was sworn in as Guatemala's president. Izabal Department Izabal is bordered to the north by Belize , to the northeast by the Gulf of Honduras , to the east by Honduras , and by the Guatemalan departments of Petén to the northwest, Alta Verapaz to the west, and Zacapa to the south. The Izabal Department surrounds Lake Izabal (or Lago de Izabal), which
1298-621: A major problem, primarily because democratic institutions, including those responsible for the administration of justice, have developed only a limited capacity to cope with this legacy. The government has stated it will require until 2002 to meet the target of increasing its tax burden (at about 10% of GDP , currently the lowest in the region) to 12% of GDP. During the Presidential race, the FRG organized what will later be known as Black Thursday ( Jueves negro ). The FRG organized its partisans from
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#17327728952441416-613: A national crisis by appealing to the anti-communism of the Catholic population." The Archbishop was released unharmed after four days in captivity. In the aftermath of the incident, two civilians involved in the operation – Raul Estuardo Lorenzana and Ines Mufio Padilla – were arrested and taken away in a police patrol car. In transit, the car stopped and the police officers exited the vehicle as gunmen sprayed it with submachine gunfire. One press report said Lorenzana's body had 27 bullet wounds and Padilla's 22. The police escorts were unharmed in
1534-631: A project to the president to create the Faculty of Humanism at the National University , to which Ubico was strongly opposed. Realizing the dictatorial nature of Ubico, Arévalo left Guatemala and went back to Argentina. He went back to Guatemala after the 1944 Revolution and ran under a coalition of leftist parties known as the Partido Acción Revolucionaria ("Revolutionary Action Party", PAR), and won 85 percent of
1652-483: A statement claiming that the killings were a reprisal against the Americans for creating "genocidal forces" which had "resulted in the death of nearly 4,000 Guatemalans" during the previous two years. On 16 March 1968, kidnappers apprehended Roman Catholic Archbishop Mario Casariego y Acevedo within 100 yards of the National Palace in the presence of heavily armed troops and police. The kidnappers (possible members of
1770-526: A strongly centralized state and the administration sought to take halt the growing pre-eminence of the Capital. For example, the administration has engaged in mobile cabinets where the President and all his ministers will go into the country and change the seat of power every so often, to be "closer to the people". The administration is facing growing financial difficulties, potentially in part due to 60% of
1888-554: A suspect on the same day. The suspect "Michele Firk, a French socialist who had rented the car used to kidnap Mein" shot herself as police came to interrogate her. In her notebook Michele had written: It is hard to find the words to express the state of putrefaction that exists in Guatemala, and the permanent terror in which the inhabitants live. Everyday bodies are pulled out of the Motagua River, riddled with bullets and partially eaten by fish. Every day men are kidnapped right in
2006-627: A widespread network of spies and informants and had political opponents tortured and put to death. A wealthy aristocrat (with an estimated income of $ 215,000 per year in 1930s dollars) and a staunch anti-communist , he consistently sided with the United Fruit Company , Guatemalan landowners and urban elites in disputes with peasants. After the crash of the New York Stock Exchange in 1929, the peasant system established by Barrios in 1875 to jump start coffee production in
2124-483: Is divided into 22 departments , administered by governors appointed by the president. Guatemala City and 333 other municipalities are governed by popularly elected mayors or councils. Guatemala's major diplomatic interests are regional security and increasingly, regional development and economic integration. The 1999 presidential and legislative elections were considered by international observers to have been free and fair. Participation by women and indigenous voters
2242-518: Is Guatemala's constitutional court and only interprets the law in matters that affect the country's constitution. It is composed of five judges, elected for concurrent five-year terms each with a supplement, each serving one year as president of the Court: one is elected by Congress, one elected by the Supreme Court of Justice, one is appointed by the President, one is elected by Superior Council of
2360-469: Is Guatemala's largest lake (about 48 km long and 24 km wide, with an area of about 590 km ). The Spanish Colonial fort of San Felipe, now a Guatemalan national monument, overlooks the point where the lake flows into the Río Dulce . The small town of Izabal is on the south shore of the lake; before the construction of the ports of Livingston and Puerto Barrios in the 19th century this
2478-460: Is granted to a person. Though the constitution says nothing about it, the vice president runs the government like a prime minister while the president deals with foreign affairs, this can be seen regularly as the VP stands in for the president in many events that are traditionally presided by the President of the Republic. Criminality has reached staggering proportions: about 200 murders per month and it
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#17327728952442596-505: Is not possible, therefore, with FRG votes alone. The political balance was disrupted in 2000 when allegations surfaced that the FRG had illegally altered legislation. Following an investigation, the Supreme Court stripped those involved, including President of Congress and FRG chief Ríos Montt , of their legislative immunity to face charges in the case. At roughly the same time, the PAN opposition suffered an internal split and broke into factions;
2714-537: Is recognized as being outside of Government control, it belongs to the drug lords that inhabit it. Barrio "El Gallito" is located in Zone 3, three kilometres (2 mi) away from the National Palace where the Government's offices are located. Drug trafficking has reached staggering proportions in Guatemala, with corruption extending to top positions of many branches of government. Various narco-mafias vie for control of
2832-547: Is starting to affect the economy as many companies prefer to leave the country than face the growing corruption and insecurity. One significant problem is the ongoing gang warfare between the M18 ( Mara Dieciocho ) and the MS ( Mara Salvatrucha ). These are two rival street gangs comprising loosely linked international franchise organizations, who wield a power somewhat like that of the US mafia of
2950-543: The "Memoria del Silencio" report–prepared by the UN-appointed Commission for Historical Clarification. It was also the first time that the court recognized the rape and abuse which Mayan women suffered. Of the 1465 cases of rape that were reported, soldiers were responsible for 94.3 percent. The Commission concluded that the government could have committed genocide in Quiché between 1981 and 1983. Ríos Montt
3068-614: The Guatemalan Civil War (1960–1996). From the late 1990s to the mid-2010s, Guatemalan democracy improved, as greater civilian control of the military was achieved and anti-corruption measures were adopted. Since 2017, there has been democratic backsliding in Guatemala. The Congress of the Republic (Congreso de la República) has 158 members, elected for a four-year term, partially in departmental constituencies and partially by nationwide proportional representation . The Constitutional Court (Corte de Constitucionalidad)
3186-491: The MLN , founded and led by Mario Sandoval Alarcón , a former participant in the 1954 coup. By 1967, the Guatemalan army claimed to have 1,800 civilian paramilitaries under its direct control. Blacklists were compiled of suspected guerilla's collaborators and those with communist leanings, as troops and paramilitaries moved through Zacapa systematically arresting suspected insurgents and collaborators; prisoners were either killed on
3304-554: The Maya ; many later fought in the civil war. Although the indigenous Guatemalans constitute more than half of the national populace, they were landless, having been dispossessed of their lands since the Justo Rufino Barrios times. The landlord upper classes of the oligarchy , generally descendants of Spanish and other Europe immigrants to Guatemala, although often with some mestizo ancestry as well, controlled most of
3422-743: The Policía Regional . This network was built on the "Committees against Communism" created by the CIA after the coup in 1954. On 3 and 5 March 1966, the G-2 (military intelligence) and the Judicial Police raided three houses in Guatemala City, capturing twenty-eight trade unionists and members of the PGT. Those captured included most of the PGT's central committee and peasant federation leader Leonardo Castillo Flores. All subsequently "disappeared" while in
3540-489: The United Fruit Company . It also privatized and sold off publicly owned utilities giving away huge swaths of public land. In 1920, the prince Wilhelm of Sweden visited Guatemala and described Guatemalan society and Estrada Cabrera government in his book Between Two Continents, notes from a journey in Central America, 1920 . He analyzed Guatemalan society at the time, pointing out that even though it called itself
3658-593: The Universidad San Carlos de Guatemala , and one by the Bar Association (Colegio de Abogados); The Supreme Court of Justice (Corte Suprema de Justicia) is Guatemala's highest court. It comprises thirteen members, who serve concurrent five-year terms and elect a president of the Court each year from among their number. The Supreme Court has an Appeal Court formed by 43 members. When one of
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3776-527: The 1871 revolution, the Liberal government of Justo Rufino Barrios escalated coffee production in Guatemala, which required much land and many workers. Barrios established the Settler Rule Book, which forced the native population to work for low wages for the landowners, who were Criollos and later German settlers. Barrios also confiscated the common native land, which had been protected during
3894-468: The 1930s and are for the moment above and beyond the grasp of the law. They hold territory under their control and extort "taxes" (la renta) from it. They are not yet involved in high-level organized trafficking. That industry is of a different class of organized crime in Guatemala, with Mexican smugglers and top-ranking Guatemalan police officials regularly making headlines being caught with hundreds of kilograms of cocaine. The mara phenomenon originated in
4012-593: The 1944 elections was a teaching major named Juan José Arévalo , Ph.D., who had earned a scholarship in Argentina during the government of general Lázaro Chacón due to his superb professor skills. Arévalo remained in South America for a few years, working as a university professor in several countries. Back in Guatemala during the early years of the Jorge Ubico regime, his colleagues asked him to present
4130-488: The Air Force section of La Aurora airbase. Their main message was that all patriotic citizen must fully support the army's counterinsurgency initiative and that the army was "the institution of the greatest importance at any latitude, representative of Authority, of Order, and of Respect" and that to "attack it, divide it, or to wish its destruction is indisputedly treason to the fatherland." With increased military aid from
4248-591: The Ambulant Military Police (PMA) in coordination with the G-2. After the publication of this report, "death-squad" attacks on the AEU and on the University of San Carlos began to intensify. Many law students and members of the AEU were assassinated. The use of such tactics increased dramatically after the inauguration of President Julio César Méndez Montenegro , who – in a bid to placate and secure
4366-627: The American United Fruit Company had control over much of the land. They paid almost zero taxes in return–leading to conflicts with the rural indigenous poor who worked the land under miserable terms. Democratic elections in 1944 and 1951 which were during the Guatemalan Revolution had brought popular leftist governments to power, who sought to ameliorate working conditions and implement land distribution. A United States-backed coup d'état in 1954 installed
4484-456: The FAR's civilian support base. Personnel, weapons, funds and operational instructions were supplied to these organizations by the armed forces. The death squads operated with impunity – permitted by the government to kill any civilians deemed to be either insurgents or insurgent collaborators. The civilian membership of the army's paramilitary units consisted largely of right-wing fanatics with ties to
4602-590: The FGEI established itself in Sierra de las Minas and the PGT operated as an urban guerrilla front. Each of these three "frentes" (comprising no more than 500 combatants) were led by former members of the 1960 army revolt, who had previously been trained in counterinsurgency warfare by the United States. In 1964 and 1965, the Guatemalan Armed Forces began engaging in counterinsurgency operations against
4720-638: The Guatemalan Army formed the 'Special Commando Unit of the Guatemalan Army' – SCUGA – a thirty-five man commando unit composed of anti-communist army officers and right-wing civilians, which was placed under the command of Colonel Máximo Zepeda. The SCUGA – which the CIA referred to as a "government-sponsored terrorist organization...used primarily for assassinations and political abductions" – carried out abductions, bombings, street assassinations, torture, "disappearances" and summary executions of both real and suspected communists. The SCUGA also worked with
4838-437: The Guatemalan military and without sharing with the military the payoff he received in exchange from the U.S. government. The military was concerned about the infringement on the sovereignty of their country as unmarked U.S. warplanes piloted by US-based Cuban exiles flew in large numbers over their country and the U.S. established a secret airstrip and training camp at Retalhuleu to prepare for its invasion of Cuba. The rebellion
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4956-482: The Guatemalan military in counterinsurgency (anti-guerrilla warfare). In addition, U.S. police and "Public Safety" advisers were sent to reorganize the Guatemalan police forces. In response to increased insurgent activity in the capital, a specialty squad of the National Police was organized in June 1965 called Comando Seis ('Commando Six') to deal with urban guerilla assaults. 'Commando Six' received special training from
5074-589: The MLN as a paramilitary front in June 1966 to prevent President Méndez Montenegro from taking office, the MANO was quickly taken over by the military and incorporated into the state's counter-terror apparatus. The MANO – while being the only death squad formed autonomously from the government – had a largely military membership, and received substantial funding from wealthy landowners. The MANO also received information from military intelligence through La Regional , with which it
5192-676: The MR-13 in eastern Guatemala. In February and March 1964, the Guatemalan Air Force began a selective bombing campaign against MR-13 bases in Izabal , which was followed by a counterinsurgency sweep in the neighboring province of Zacapa under the code-name "Operation Falcon" in September and October of the following year. It was at this phase in the conflict that the U.S. government sent Green Berets and CIA advisers to instruct
5310-655: The Mano Blanca for a period before inter-agency rivalry took over. In March 1967, after Vice-Defense Minister and counterinsurgency coordinator Col. Francisco Sosa Avila was named director-general of the National Police, a special counterinsurgency unit of the National Police known as the Fourth Corps was created to carry out extralegal operations alongside the SCUGA. The Fourth Corps was an illegal fifty-man assassination squad which operated in secrecy from other members of
5428-690: The Ministry of the Interior. In January 1968, a booklet containing 85 names was distributed throughout the country entitled People of Guatemala, Know the Traitors, the Guerillas of the FAR . Many of those named in the booklet were killed or forced to flee. Death threats and warnings were sent to both individuals and organizations; for example, a CADEG leaflet addressed to the leadership of the labor federation FECETRAG read: "Your hour has come. Communists at
5546-611: The Movimiento 12 de Abril (12 April Movement) and merged into a coalition guerilla organization called the Rebel Armed Forces (FAR) in December 1962. Also affiliated with the FAR was the FGEI (Edgar Ibarra Guerrilla Front). The MR-13, PGT and the FGEI each operated in different parts of the country as three separate "frentes" (fronts); the MR-13 established itself in the mostly Ladino departments of Izabal and Zacapa ,
5664-458: The National Police at the time consisted of placing a rubber "hood" filled with insecticide over the victim's head to the point of suffocation. Government of Guatemala [REDACTED] Politics of Guatemala takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic , where by the President of Guatemala is both head of state , head of government , and of
5782-559: The National Police, taking orders from Col. Sosa and Col. Arriaga. Operations carried out under by the SCUGA and the Fourth Corps were usually carried out under the guise of paramilitary fronts, such as RAYO, NOA, CADEG and others. By 1967, at least twenty such death squads operated in Guatemala City which posted blacklists of suspected "communists" who were then targeted for murder. These lists were often published with police mugshots and passport photographs which were only accessible to
5900-604: The PP. And in 2011, Retired General Otto Pérez Molina of the Patriotic Party won the presidential election in a runoff against populist Manuel Baldizón of the LIDER party. Pérez Molina assumed office on 14 January 2012, and his vice president is Roxana Baldetti . In September 2015, President Otto Perez Molina resigned because of bribery allegations. In October 2015 presidential election , former TV comedian Jimmy Morales
6018-728: The Presidential Intelligence Agency – which controlled the La Regional annex – and renamed it the Guatemalan National Security Service (Servicio de Seguridad Nacional de Guatemala – SSNG). In the city and in the countryside, persons suspected of leftist sympathies began to disappear or turn up dead at an unprecedented rate. In the countryside most "disappearances" and killings were carried out by uniformed army patrols and by locally known PMA or military commissioners, while in
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#17327728952446136-670: The Spanish Colony and during the Conservative government of Rafael Carrera . He distributed it to his Liberal friends, who became major landowners. In the 1890s, the United States began to implement the Monroe Doctrine , pushing out European colonial powers in Latin America . Its commercial interests established U.S. hegemony over resources and labor in the region. The dictators that ruled Guatemala during
6254-546: The Supreme Court is absent or cannot participate in a case, one of the Appeal Court takes its place. The president of the Supreme Court of Justice is also president of the Judicial Branch of Guatemala ( Organismo Judicial de Guatemala ), and supervises both the hundreds of trial judges around the country (who are named to five-year terms) and the administrative work force which assists the magistrates. Guatemala
6372-443: The U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency detailing the elimination of hundreds of suspected "terrorists and bandits" in the Guatemalan countryside by the security forces. While government repression continued in the countryside, the majority of victims of government repression under Arana were residents of the capital. "Special commandos" of the military and the Fourth Corps of the National Police acting "under government control but outside
6490-456: The U.S. Public Safety Program and money and weapons from U.S. Public Safety Advisors. In November 1965, U.S. Public Safety Advisor John Longan arrived in Guatemala on temporary loan from his post in Venezuela to assist senior military and police officials in establishing an urban counterinsurgency program. With the assistance of Longan, the Guatemalan Military launched "Operation Limpieza" (Operation Cleanup) an urban counterinsurgency program under
6608-443: The Ubico administration were continued. Opposition groups began organizing again, this time joined by many prominent political and military leaders, who deemed the Ponce regime unconstitutional. Among the military officers in the opposition were Jacobo Árbenz and Major Francisco Javier Arana . Ubico had fired Árbenz from his teaching post at the Escuela Politécnica , and since then Árbenz had been living in El Salvador , organizing
6726-399: The United Fruit Company and the U.S. State Department . The CIA chose right-wing Guatemalan Army Colonel Carlos Castillo Armas to lead an "insurrection" in the 1954 Guatemalan coup d'état . Upon deposing the Árbenz Guzmán government, Castillo Armas began to dissolve a decade of social and economic reform and legislative progress, and banned labor unions and left-wing political parties,
6844-441: The United States in the 1980s, specifically in Los Angeles, among refugees fleeing civil wars in El Salvador and Guatemala. Later many members of the maras were deported from the United States to their countries of origin, and during the 1990s this has helped fuel the spread of the two gangs across the United States, Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and even Italy and Spain. There is a zone of Guatemala City, "El Gallito" which
6962-552: The United States, the 5,000-man Guatemalan Army mounted a larger pacification effort in the departments of Zacapa and Izabal in October 1966 dubbed "Operation Guatemala." Colonel Arana Osorio was appointed commander of the Zacapa-Izabal Military Zone and took charge of the counter-terror program with guidance and training from 1,000 U.S. Green Berets. Under Colonel Arana's jurisdiction, military strategists armed and fielded various paramilitary death squads to supplement regular army and police units in clandestine terror operations against
7080-416: The Ydígoras regime, the government's showing of favoritism in giving military promotions and other rewards to officers who supported Ydígoras, and what they perceived as incompetence in running the country. The immediate trigger for their revolt, however, was Ydígoras' decision to allow the U.S. to train an invasion force in Guatemala to prepare for the planned Bay of Pigs Invasion of Cuba without consulting
7198-426: The action. This was a milestone in the history of Guatemala and made national headlines. 2006 saw the dismemberment of the GANA in the face of the 2007 elections. It fractured into many parties, damaging the ability of the government to get legislation through Congress. In the November 2007, second round presidential elections, Álvaro Colom of the UNE was elected president, defeating ex-general Otto Perez Molina of
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#17327728952447316-400: The army and paramilitary organizations in Zacapa and Izabal between October 1966 and March 1968. Other estimates put the death toll at 15,000 in Zacapa during the Mendez period. As a result, Colonel Arana Osorio subsequently earned the nickname "The Butcher of Zacapa" for his brutality. On 2 November 1966 a nationwide 'state of siege' was declared in Guatemala in which civil rights – including
7434-401: The assassination. Raul Lorenzana was a known "front man" for the MANO death squad and had operated out of the headquarters of the Guatemalan Army's Cuartel de Matamoros and a government safe house at La Aurora airbase. The army was not left unscathed by the scandal and its three primary leaders of the counterinsurgency program were replaced and sent abroad. Defense Minister Rafael Arriaga Bosque
7552-403: The capital in the first fifteen days of the "State of Siege." Arana also imposed dress codes, banning miniskirts for women and long hair for men. High government sources were cited at the time by foreign journalists as acknowledging 700 executions by security forces or paramilitary death squads in the first two months of the "State of Siege". This is corroborated by a January 1971 secret bulletin of
7670-450: The cities the abductions and "disappearances" were usually carried out by heavily armed men in plainclothes, operating out of the army and police installations. The army and police denied responsibility, pointing the finger at right-wing paramilitary death squads autonomous from the government. One of the most notorious death squads operating during this period was the MANO, also known as the Mano Blanca ("White Hand"); initially formed by
7788-452: The command of Colonel Rafael Arriaga Bosque. This program coordinated the activities of all of the country's main security agencies (including the Army, the Judicial Police and the National Police) in both covert and overt anti-guerrilla operations. Under Arriaga's direction, the security forces began to abduct, torture and kill the PGT's key constituents. With money and support from U.S. advisors, President Enrique Peralta Azurdia established
7906-463: The conflict, with 3% committed by the guerrillas. In 2009, Guatemalan courts sentenced former military commissioner Felipe Cusanero, the first person to be convicted of the crime of ordering forced disappearances. In 2013, the government conducted a trial of former president Efraín Ríos Montt on charges of genocide for the killing and disappearances of more than 1,700 indigenous Ixil Maya during his 1982–83 rule. The charges of genocide were based on
8024-426: The counter-terror program in Zacapa were those handed out by the army's public relations office. Also on the day of the 'state of siege,' a directive was published banning publication of reports on arrests until authorization by military authorities. At the time of the Zacapa campaign, the government launched a parallel counter-terror program in the cities. Part of this new initiative was the increased militarization of
8142-429: The country and brought them to the city. The FRG gave them transport, food, a shelter for the night, and meter long sticks. With these sticks, the participants ran through the streets wreaking havoc on the public infrastructure. During this day a journalist of Prensa Libre (a leading newspaper) was killed. The media, which have a tradition of being independent and free,[According to whom?] took it very personally and for
8260-492: The country faltered, and Ubico was forced to implement a system of debt slavery and forced labor to make sure that there was enough labor available for the coffee plantations and that the UFCO workers were readily available. Allegedly, he passed laws allowing landowners to execute workers as a "disciplinary" measure. He also identified as a fascist; he admired Mussolini , Franco , and Hitler , saying at one point: "I am like Hitler. I execute first and ask questions later." Ubico
8378-425: The country, to which the Ydígoras regime responded with a violent crackdown. This violent crackdown sparked the civil war. Through the early phase of the conflict, the MR-13 was a principal component of the insurgent movement in Guatemala. The MR-13 later initiated contact with the outlawed PGT ( Guatemalan Labour Party , composed and led by middle-class intellectuals and students) and a student organization called
8496-491: The custody of the security force and became known in subsequent months by the Guatemalan press as "the 28". This incident was followed by a wave of unexplained "disappearances" and killings in Guatemala City and in the countryside which were reported by the Guatemala City press. When press censorship was lifted for a period, relatives of "the 28" and of others who had "disappeared" in the Zacapa-Izabal military zone went to
8614-612: The departments of Izabal and Zacapa (1966–68) and in the predominantly Mayan western highlands from 1978 onward. The widespread killing of the Mayan people in the early 1980s is considered a genocide . Other victims of the repression included activists, suspected government opponents, returning refugees, critical academics, students, left-leaning politicians, trade unionists, religious workers, journalists, and street children. The "Comisión para el Esclarecimiento Histórico" estimated that government forces committed 93% of human right abuses in
8732-564: The diplomatic community and the German government. Ten days later on 9 April 1970, Von Sprite was found dead after an anonymous phone call was made disclosing the whereabouts of his remains. In July 1970, Colonel Carlos Arana Osorio assumed the presidency. Arana, backed by the army, represented an alliance of the MLN – the originators of the MANO death squad – and the Institutional Democratic Party (MLN-PID). Arana
8850-694: The emperor, regularly commenting on the similarities between their appearances. He militarized numerous political and social institutions—including the post office, schools, and even symphony orchestras—and placed military officers in charge of many government posts. He frequently travelled around the country performing "inspections" in dress uniform, followed by a military escort, a mobile radio station, an official biographer, and cabinet members. After 14 years, Ubico's repressive policies and arrogant demeanor finally led to pacific disobedience by urban middle-class intellectuals, professionals, and junior army officers in 1944. On 1 July 1944, Ubico resigned from office amidst
8968-521: The end of 1967, the counterinsurgency program had resulted in the virtual defeat of the FAR insurgency in Zacapa and Izabal and the retreat of many of its members to Guatemala City. President Mendez Montenegro suggested in his annual message to congress in 1967 that the insurgents had been defeated. Despite the defeat of the insurgency, the government's killings continued. In December 1967, 26-year-old Rogelia Cruz Martinez , former "Miss Guatemala" of 1959, who
9086-671: The former general participated predate the constitution, he was eligible for presidential office. Common sense argued that if such a clause was not retroactive by nature it would have no point. Since 2004 Óscar Berger of the GANA (a coalition of political parties rather than a single one) won the elections, it is important to note that this was the first government in the history of democratic Guatemala that did not have an overwhelming majority in Congress. After he took office in January 2004 it
9204-446: The government . They instituted liberal economic reform, benefiting and politically strengthening the civil and labor rights of the urban working class and the peasants. Elsewhere, a group of leftist students, professionals, and liberal-democratic government coalitions developed, led by Juan José Arévalo and Jacobo Árbenz Guzmán . Decree 900 , passed in 1952, ordered the redistribution of fallow land on large estates, threatening
9322-416: The high command of the Guatemalan Army was involved in the assassination of Ambassador Mein. This was alleged years later to U.S. investigators by a reputed former bodyguard of Col. Arana Osorio named Jorge Zimeri Saffie, who had fled to the U.S. in 1976 and had been arrested on firearms charges in 1977. The Guatemalan police claimed to have "solved" the crime almost immediately, announcing that they had located
9440-720: The hills of eastern Guatemala, and later established communication with the Cuban government of Fidel Castro . By 1962, those surviving officers had established an insurgent movement known as the MR-13, named after the date of the officers' revolt. They returned in early 1962, and on 6 February 1962 in Bananera they attacked the offices of the United Fruit Company (present-day Chiquita Brands ), an American corporation that controlled vast territories in Guatemala as well as in other Central American countries. The attack sparked sympathetic strikes and university student walkouts throughout
9558-609: The interests of the landowning elite and, mainly, the United Fruit Company. Given the strong ties of the UFCO with high Eisenhower administration officers such as the brothers John Foster Dulles and Allen Dulles , who were Secretary of State and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) director, respectively, and were both in the company board, the U.S. government ordered the CIA to launch Operation PBFortune (1952–1954) and halt Guatemala's "communist revolt", as perceived by
9676-458: The judicial processes", abducted, tortured and killed thousands of leftists, students, labor union leaders and common criminals in Guatemala City. In November 1970, the 'Judicial Police' were formally disbanded and a new semi-autonomous intelligence agency of the National Police was activated known as the 'Detectives Corps' – with members operating in plainclothes – which eventually became notorious for repression. One method of torture commonly used by
9794-561: The land after the Liberal Reform of 1871. On 13 November 1960, a group of left-wing junior military officers of the Escuela Politécnica national military academy led a failed revolt against the autocratic government (1958–63) of General Ydígoras Fuentes , who had usurped power in 1958, after the assassination of the incumbent Colonel Castillo Armas . The young officers' were outraged by the staggering corruption of
9912-532: The late 19th and early 20th centuries were very accommodating to U.S. business and political interests, because they personally benefitted. Unlike in Haiti , Nicaragua , and Cuba , the U.S. did not have to use overt military force to maintain dominance in Guatemala. The Guatemalan military/police worked closely with the U.S. military and State Department to secure U.S. interests. The Guatemalan government exempted several U.S. corporations from paying taxes, especially
10030-412: The military regime of Carlos Castillo Armas to prevent reform. Armas was followed by a series of right-wing military dictators. The Civil War began on 13 November 1960, when a group of left-wing junior military officers led a failed revolt against the government of General Ydigoras Fuentes . The officers who survived created a rebel movement known as MR-13 . In 1970, Colonel Carlos Manuel Arana Osorio
10148-451: The nation including the political, social, and intellectual classes. In the final stage of the civil war, the military developed a parallel, semi-visible, and low profile but high-effect control of Guatemala's national life. It is estimated that 140,000 to 200,000 people were killed or "disappeared" forcefully during the conflict including 40,000 to 50,000 disappearances. Fighting took place between government forces and rebel groups, yet much of
10266-500: The national assembly to hold an election for a provisional president, but when the congress met on 3 July, soldiers held everyone at gunpoint and forced them to vote for General Ponce rather than the popular civilian candidate, Dr. Ramón Calderón. Ponce, who had previously retired from military service due to alcoholism, took orders from Ubico and kept many of the officials who had worked in the Ubico administration. The repressive policies of
10384-509: The next month, every headline was about these events, and the participation of the ruling party in this day of terror. The FRG was protesting the ruling of the TSE (supreme electoral tribunal) to ban the FRG candidate Efrain Rios Mont from the race. The TSE argued that as a formal putschist, he was banned by the constitution from ever becoming president. The FRG argued that since the events in which
10502-417: The police forces and the activation of several new counter-terror units of the army and the National Police for performing urban counter-terror functions, particularly extralegal activities against opponents of the state. The National Police were subsequently transformed into an adjunct of the military and became a frontline force in the government's urban pacification program against the left. In January 1967,
10620-471: The population being considered "poor" and therefore ineligible for taxation. The SAT (superintendence of tributary administration), the revenue service, is therefore obligated to tax the middle class which is starting to suffer under the burden. The SAT has become stringent in its application of the law seeking the full penalties of incarceration for tax evasion. In September 2006 the PNC (civil national police), in
10738-603: The press or to the Association of University Students (AEU). Using its legal department, the AEU subsequently pressed for habeas corpus on behalf of the "disappeared" persons. The government denied any involvement in the killings and disappearances. On 16 July 1966, the AEU published a detailed report on abuses in the last months of the Peralta regime in which it named thirty-five individuals as involved in killings and disappearances, including military commissioners and members of
10856-427: The rank of "General" in September 1968. On 31 March 1970 West German Ambassador Count Karl Von Sprite was kidnapped when his car was intercepted by armed men belonging to the FAR. The FAR subsequently put out a ransom note in which they demanded $ 700,000 ransom and the release of 17 political prisoners (which was eventually brought up to 25). The Mendez government refused to cooperate with the FAR, causing outrage among
10974-485: The remote northern jungle regions of Petén , where drugs, arms, and people all cross the border into Mexico, mostly bound for the United States. Drug trafficking is undoubtedly the greatest threat to political freedom in Guatemala today. Guatemala is plagued by lynchings which severely blemish the country's humans rights record as a violation of due process of law. The Berger administration has been hailed in some circles for its work in devolution. Guatemala has always been
11092-425: The right to habeas corpus – were suspended. The entire security apparatus – including local police and private security guards – was subsequently placed under then Minister of Defense, Col. Rafael Arriaga Bosque. Press censorship was imposed alongside these security measures, including measures designed to keep the Zacapa campaign entirely shrouded in secrecy. These controls ensured that the only reports made public on
11210-449: The same occurred in the ANN. As a result, reforms essential to peace implementation await legislative action. New cases of human rights abuse continued to decline, although violent harassment of human rights workers presented a serious challenge to government authority. Common crime, aggravated by a legacy of violence and vigilante justice, presents another serious challenge. Impunity remains
11328-470: The security forces on orders from the army high command) intended to stage a false flag incident by implicating guerilla forces in the kidnapping; the Archbishop was well known for his extremely conservative views and it was considered that he might have organized a "self-kidnapping" to harm the reputation of the guerillas. However, he refused to go along with the scheme and his kidnappers plan to "create
11446-518: The service of Fidel Castro, Russia, and Communist China. You have until the last day of March to leave the country." Victims of government repression in the capital included guerrilla sympathizers, labor union leaders, intellectuals, students, and other vaguely defined "enemies of the government." Some observers referred to the policy of the Guatemalan government as "White Terror" -a term previously used to describe similar periods of anti-communist mass killings in countries such as Taiwan and Spain . By
11564-486: The spot or "disappeared" after being taken to clandestine detention camps for interrogation. In villages which the Army suspected were pro-guerrilla, the Army rounded up all of the peasant leaders and publicly executed them, threatening to kill additional civilians if the villagers did not cooperate with the authorities. In a 1976 report, Amnesty International cited estimates that between 3,000 and 8,000 peasants were killed by
11682-512: The street by unidentified people in cars, armed to the teeth, with no intervention by the police patrols. The assassination of Ambassador Mein led to public calls for tougher counterinsurgency measures by the military and an increase in U.S. security assistance. This was followed by a renewed wave of "death squad" killings of members of the opposition, under the guise of new Defense Minister Col. Rolando Chinchilla Aguilar and Army chief of staff Col. Doroteo Reyes, who were both subsequently promoted to
11800-488: The support of the military establishment – gave it carte blanche to engage in "any means necessary" to pacify the country. The military subsequently ran the counterinsurgency program autonomously from the Presidential House and appointed Vice-Defense Minister, Col. Manuel Francisco Sosa Avila as the main "counterinsurgency coordinator". In addition, the Army General Staff and the Ministry of Defense took control of
11918-404: The time, Arana announced another "state of siege" on 13 November 1970 and imposed a curfew from 9:00 PM to 5:00 AM, during which time all vehicle and pedestrian traffic — including ambulances, fire engines, nurses, and physicians—were forbidden throughout the national territory. The siege was accompanied by a series of house to house searches by the police, which reportedly led to 1,600 detentions in
12036-435: The violence was a very large coordinated campaign of one-sided violence by the Guatemalan state against the civilian population from the mid-1960s onward. The military intelligence services coordinated killings and "disappearances" of opponents of the state. In rural areas, where the insurgency maintained its strongholds, the government repression led to large massacres of the peasantry and the destruction of villages, first in
12154-458: The vote in elections that are widely considered to have been fair and open. Arévalo implemented social reforms, including minimum wage laws, increased educational funding, near-universal suffrage (excluding illiterate women), and labor reforms. But many of these changes only benefited the upper-middle classes and did little for the peasant agricultural laborers who made up the majority of the population. Although his reforms were relatively moderate, he
12272-665: Was Guatemala's main Caribbean Sea port and was the original seat of Izabal department; nowadays, however, Izabal town is a remote village that gets little traffic. From the area around Lake Izabal, the Department of Izabal stretches along the Río Dulce to the coast of the Caribbean Sea . The department of Izabal includes the ports of Puerto Barrios (the departmental seat), Santo Tomás de Castilla , Livingston and Guatemala's free trade zone Zolic . Izabal also includes
12390-602: Was a civil war in Guatemala which was fought from 1960 to 1996 between the government of Guatemala and various leftist rebel groups. The Guatemalan government forces committed genocide against the Maya population of Guatemala during the civil war and there were widespread human rights violations against civilians. The context of the struggle was based on longstanding issues of unfair land distribution. Wealthy Guatemalans, mainly of European descent and foreign companies like
12508-560: Was disdainful of the indigenous population, calling them "animal-like", and stated that to become "civilized" they needed mandatory military training, comparing it to "domesticating donkeys". He gave away hundreds of thousands of hectares to the United Fruit Company, exempted them from taxes in Tiquisate , and allowed the U.S. military to establish bases in Guatemala. Ubico considered himself to be "another Napoleon ". He dressed ostentatiously and surrounded himself with statues and paintings of
12626-466: Was elected as the new President of Guatemala after huge anti-corruption demonstrations. He took office in January 2016. In January 2020, Alejandro Giammattei replaced Jimmy Morales as the President of Guatemala. Giammattei had won the presidential election in August 2019 with his "tough-on-crime" agenda. In August 2023, Bernardo Arevalo , the candidate of the centre-left Semilla (Seed) Movement, had
12744-513: Was higher than in the recent past, although concerns remained regarding the accessibility of polling places in rural areas. Alfonso Portillo 's landslide victory combined with a Guatemalan Republican Front (FRG) majority in Congress suggested possibilities for rapid legislative action. However, under the Guatemalan Constitution of 1985, passage of many kinds of legislation requires a two-thirds vote. Passage of such legislation
12862-503: Was known for her left-wing sympathies, was picked up and found dead. Her body showed signs of torture, rape and mutilation. Amidst the outcry over the murder, the FAR opened fire on a carload of American military advisors on 16 January 1968. Colonel John D. Webber (chief of the U.S. military mission in Guatemala) and Naval Attache Lieutenant Commander Ernest A. Munro were killed instantly; two others were wounded. The FAR subsequently issued
12980-463: Was linked to the Army General Staff and all of the main security forces. The first leaflets by the MANO appeared on 3 June 1966 in Guatemala City , announcing the impending creation of the "White Hand" or "the hand that will eradicate National Renegades and traitors to the fatherland." In August 1966, MANO leaflets were distributed over Guatemala City by way of light aircraft openly landing in
13098-453: Was made public that the FRG had wildly ransacked the government going to the extremes of stealing computer equipment and objects of historic importance. Alfonso Portillo fled to Mexico with an impressive amount of money stolen from military funds, the national hospital, and the revenue service. Guatemala made a formal request for the deportation of Portillo to face charges of embezzlement, however, Mexico has never revoked diplomatic asylum once it
13216-446: Was not ideological in its origins. The CIA flew B-26 bombers disguised as Guatemalan military jets to bomb the rebel bases because the coup threatened U.S. plans for the invasion of Cuba as well as the Guatemalan regime it supported. The rebels fled to the hills of eastern Guatemala and neighboring Honduras and formed the kernel of what became known as MR-13 ( Movimiento Revolucionario 13 Noviembre ). The surviving officers fled into
13334-504: Was reduced to a "state of alarm" on 24 June 1968. The lull in political violence in the aftermath of the "kidnapping" of Archbishop Casariego ended after several months. On 28 August 1968, U.S. Ambassador John Gordon Mein was assassinated by FAR rebels one block from the U.S. consulate on Avenida Reforma in Guatemala City. U.S. officials believed that FAR intended to kidnap him in order to negotiate an exchange, but instead, they shot him when he attempted to escape. Some sources suggested that
13452-411: Was sent to Miami, Florida to become Consul General; Vice-Defense Minister and Director-General of the National Police, Col. Francisco Sosa Avila was dispatched as a military attache to Spain and Col. Arana Osorio was sent as Ambassador to Nicaragua, which was under the rule of Anastasio Somoza Debayle at the time. Political murders by "death squads" declined in subsequent months and the "state of siege"
13570-435: Was the first former head of state to be tried for genocide by his own country's judicial system; he was found guilty and sentenced to 80 years in prison. A few days later, however, the sentence was reversed by the country's high court. They called for a renewed trial because of alleged judicial anomalies. The trial resumed on 23 July 2015, but the jury had not reached a verdict before Montt died in custody on 1 April 2018. After
13688-410: Was the first of a series of military dictators who represented the Institutional Democratic Party or PID. The PID dominated Guatemalan politics for twelve years through electoral frauds favoring two of Colonel Arana's protégés (General Kjell Eugenio Laugerud García in 1974 and General Romeo Lucas Garcia in 1978). The PID lost its grip on Guatemalan politics when General Efraín Ríos Montt along with
13806-594: Was the first of a string of military rulers allied with the Institutional Democratic Party who dominated Guatemalan politics in the 1970s and 1980s (his predecessor, Julio César Méndez, while dominated by the army, was a civilian). Colonel Arana, who had been in charge of the terror campaign in Zacapa, was an anti-communist hardliner who once stated, "If it is necessary to turn the country into a cemetery in order to pacify it, I will not hesitate to do so." Despite minimal armed insurgent activity at
13924-502: Was widely disliked by the United States government, portions of the Catholic Church, large landowners, employers such as the United Fruit Company, and Guatemalan military officers, who viewed his government as inefficient, corrupt, and heavily influenced by communists. At least 25 coup attempts took place during his presidency, mostly led by wealthy liberal military officers. In 1944, the "October Revolutionaries" took control of
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