Sunday
October 26, 2008

Centuries of Suppression

        During the Viva Guatemala! Event, human rights worker Matt Kennis traced the origin of Human Rights abuses in the country of Guatemala. The history begins with Spanish conquistador Pedro de Alvarada.

        In the 1500’s, the conquistador grabbed the country’s rich agricultural lands from the native Maya Indians, and enslaved the Mayas to work those lands.

        The natives’ status changed from slaves to suppressed and underpaid workers over the years. Although the country gained independence from Spain, through the centuries the country’s agricultural mineral and wealth benefitted others, not the natives.

        Poverty, language barriers, and opposition from powerful groups denied the Mayans better treatment. In contrast, foreign interests continued to gain in wealth and power in the country.

        The 1940’s and 1950’s saw a different time for the Maya, as the Guatemalan government began a period of ‘‘enlightenment’’. Reforms supported education and advancement for the Mayan. The government began returning some of the country’s acreage to the native population by confiscating idle lands.

        These gentler times did not last. The Guatemalan government’s offer of a million dollars to the United Fruit Company for some of the company’s lands generated powerful opposition to these changes. While the dollar amount of the offer was based on the company’s own valuation of their lands in its tax return, the offer sent ripples of unrest beyond Guatemala’s borders.

        In the United States, those with vested interests in the fruit company saw the offer as a threat to their interests. Tapping their powerful connections in the United States government, they ended Guatemala’s period of enlightenment. In June 1954, the United States furthered the interests of the United Fruit Company by supporting a rebel invasion of Guatemala from Honduras. United States planes ensured the invasion’s success with air strikes against targets in Guatemala.

        In the 1960’ s and 70’s, American military aid and training continued to strengthen the Guatemalan army. The strong army enabled a series of repressive governments to squash the interests of the Maya. Under the Guatemalan government ’s orders, the Guatemalan army tortured and/or killed those who spoke against its government. Going even further, the army formed Death squads, extending their killing from individuals to groups of people. Even after their official U.S. military training ended under President Jimmy Carter, the strengthened and empowered Guatemalan army continued to suppress the long oppressed Mayas.

     The Maya experience in Guatemala has stamped the lives of many, including the other two speakers at the event, Genaro Calel and Lucio Reynozo. As Maya and native Guatemalans, they had reason to seek a better life in the United States.

Learn more on the following webpages:

• The Third World Traveler: A ‘‘killing field’’ in the Americas which describes Guatemala’s human rights history including the reign of convicted human rights criminal Rios Montt, one of the subjects of the video Justice without Borders shown at AI Local Group 361‘s event, and available from this link.

• See PBS Timeline: Guatemala’s History of Violence

• A timeline of Guatemala’s history by the BBC

• To see updates on today’s human rights issues in Guatemala, check www.ghrc-usa.org.


     Matt’s story prompted one of our Local Group 361 members to search for a book on the subject. Written for youth, the book, Rogoberta Menchú Defending Human Rights in Guatemala by Michael Silverstone, was donated to an Albany public school on December 10, 2009 in observance of Human Rights Day. Rogoberta won the Nobel peace prize for her efforts to defend the human rights of her countrymen. Do notify us if your school is interested in a December book donation.