A BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO THE
HISTORY OF GUATEMALA
by Ana María Méndez Libby, director of IBIS Guatemala, 2016
Within the whirling roads of inequality, an historical approach to the foundation
and historical socio economic and political configuration of Iximulew, that land
called Guatemala, the Land of Corn.
It is said and understood that all countries’ birth is a painful and violent one.
Still, one where most its citizens as
time goes by, can look back and be
grateful to those who gave their lives
for such nation, country, freedom or
independence. Yet, there are other
more complex histories that continue
defining and marking realities, being
sometimes as present as when they
happened.
Guatemala is recognized to have one of
the most complex histories in Latin
America. During the Colony it was
known as The General Captainship of
Guatemala, and was second to the
Viceroyalty of New Spain, which today
is known as Mexico. The General Captainship of Guatemala was the epicenter of power from the south-eastern
states of Mexico up to Costa Rica. It
concentrated a vast indigenous population of diverse ethnical backgrounds,
which founded and ruled a complex
colonial public and commercial administration system.
The Mayan civilization, with outstanding knowledge and development
in math, writing, astronomy, commerce
and architecture was a flourishing one
when the Spanish colonization process
arrived.
As all colonization processes, the main
objective was that of extracting richness for the colonizers as the Spanish
Kingdom. The economic strategy was
geared by an economic institution
known as the “Encomienda” which entitled all colonizers to claim both land as
indigenous manpower for his own and
in the name of the
Kingdom.
The encomienda was the prize to the
Spaniards who decided to come to the
region and consisted in Land and Indigenous people to work it. The Spanish crown saved a great amount of
money, creating a society with a core of
dominators highly privileged and powerful, the majority of them inhabiting
the center of Guatemala, where they
established the conservative institutions which prevailed until 1871, when
a liberal movement started another
period of exploitation and economic
reform on behalf of the “criollos”,
which were the elite of European
origin, born in Guatemala, desirous to
control the country and the region
without the Spaniard domain.
The system of colonization and control
of land and territories giving privileges,
carried out the conquest without incurring in expenses to the crown, but
started to create divergences among
the crown and the interests of the colonizers and mainly its descendants, the
criollos.
The main intention of the criollos,
mainly during the XVIII century was to
control the indigenous population,
preserving the majority of privileges:
that was the main intention of the independence and the creation of the
Central American Republic which endured, with many political problems,
from 1823 to 1839. The criollos aspired for independence mostly based
on an economic desire to not pay taxes
to the Spanish Crown and other institutions, including the Church.
Indigenous people were considered as
assets and even seen as beasts since
they had not soul according to the
church. Not being Christians and
instead worshipers of multiple gods or
nature representations, was enough
for such considerations. This was a
lucrative and convenient position to all
since the brutalities of exploitation
were justified from all perspectives.
It is until the colonization period
advanced and when a famous catholic
Friar called Bartolomé de las Casas
denounced before the Spanish courts
the injustices and brutalities
committed against them, that the
Church and the Spanish Crown decided
to acknowledge their humanity. This
recognition was not based on a
humanitarian or Christian principle, but
once again on an economic one. They
were subjects of income generation
and therefore subject to taxation, and
if their religions were an issue, the
Church would christen them, and for
this collect tax. Even up to mid XX Century, the indigenous people were politically addressed as the “indigenous
problem” which needed to be fixed and
assessed with diminished rights, since
they were not considered equal citizens and their sociopolitical conception
was based on racist appreciations.
In relation to inequality, Guatemala
was the typical region of the extensive
property which propitiated the so
called in the sociological analysis as the
Kulak or Junker way of the development of capitalism, in contrast to the
farmer way that was characterized by
the development of the medium size
property.
In the sociological analysis, and
according to history, the Kulak way was
a part of the Russian history previously
to the Russian revolution, and the
Junker way was part of the German
history, previously to the industrial
revolution.
Being Guatemala an agrarian society,
its development and its inequality is
based on the model of property of the
natural resources, specially water and
land, which was controlled first by the
Spaniards, than by the “criollos” and
lately by the multinational extractive
industries and very few land owners.
Estimations indicate that more than
75% of land is owned by less than 10%
of the Guatemalan population.
1
According to William Robinson ”each
epoch of world capitalism has produced a rearticulation of Central America to it, including the transformation
of social forces and the restructuring of
the economies, classes, states, and
power blocs. The first cycle, colonial
mercantile insertion, lasted until its
collapse in the mid-nineteenth century.
The second, based on coffee and bananas, ran from the
Robinson, William (2003) Transnational
conflicts: Central America, social change
and globalization, Verso editorial, London,
pp.149
1
1870s until it entered into crisis in
1930”.
Consequently, the economic model,
based on land, resources and manpower, surmounted the colonial times,
and prevailed to the XX century (1930).
The main changes were the change of
political regimes, passing from a
conservative domain 1839-1871, to a
liberal regime 1871-1830-1945, the
latter evolved into a period of the
intensification of the exploitation of the
indigenous population due to the
coming of the economy of agroexportation or plantation economy,
moved by the north American
companies, starting around the 20´s,
and the heyday of the coffee model.
Contrary to other Latin American
countries, Guatemala could never
develop a more fair land distribution or
a just and dignified true recognition of
the indigenous people and their
fundamental rights. History repeats
itself as a model of exclusion,
repression and racism in order to
preserve an economic model that is
successful in benefiting the few and
preserving low cost and extensive
manpower. Unlike its north neighbor
Mexico and other countries, Guatemala
could never achieve an agrarian reform
that could dismantle the basis of this
historic economic model.
The history from 1839 to 1945 is a history of military dictatorships and great
influence of the catholic church and an
oligarchy formed by European descendants (Spaniards, German and
North Americans), which established its
power in the capital of Guatemala
thanks to their domain and big property on natural resources, and the process of colonization of the southern
lands of the pacific rim (1950), where
they established the crops of cotton,
sugar and nowadays palm and bananas.
The strategy of colonization of the
southern region was also based on the
formula: land domain and migration of
the indigenous and ladino population,
mainly coming from the western highlands: that’s is the explanation of why
the resources and main assets are concentrated, producing an extreme
persiting inequality.
The absence of democracy and the
extreme social injustice, paved the
road for a democratic spring between
the decade of 1944 and 1945. During
this period, progressive citizens supported by a democratic social oriented
faction of the Guatemalan Army, gain
power through clean elections after a
long era of dictator-
ships and frauds. They were inspired
by social changes throughout the
continent and mainly by the Rerum
Novarum Papal Encyclical that called
for a fairer distribution of the land and
the need to grant labour rights.
During this era, Guatemala created
important reforms as adopting a
Labour Code, establishing a basic nonuniversal social security system, and
other social reforms.
Caught within the whirls of the Cold
War era, the anticommunist fever and
fear headed by the United States it was
obvious, that when the democratic
government aimed to generate land
reforms that affected the interests of
the elite and the transnational companies, a coup would end this era. And
so it did, throwing Guatemala into a 36
year long period of internal armed
conflict, that shattered the lives of
more than 250,000 people most of
them civilians and non-fighters. The
low intense armed conflict was
characterized by grave human rights
violations, the installation of forced
disappearance and genocide acts
against the indigenous communities.
Truth Commissions have evidenced
that at least 80% of the victims where
non combatant ones.
The internal armed conflict was contrary to popular believe, not generated by
a group of rebel com-munist peasant
or indigenous move-ments financed by
the late USSR. It originated within the
own Guatemalan Army where a group
of social oriented high-ranking officers
opposed North American interventions, absence of democracy and an
end to social injustice. Later, trade
unions, peasants, university students
and teachers and people from diverse
socio-economic backgrounds embraced the movement. The armed conflict ended with the signature of the
Peace Agreements in 1996.
Exclusion, exploitation and racism are
the basic traits of the Guatemalan History. It is also a history of constant
violence and repression that prevails in
its post conflict stage. Despite the
commitments achieved 20 years ago
when the Peace Agreements were
signed, few have been complied. All in
all, as in most armed conflicts, the
most vulnerable and excluded continue
to suffer the most after the armed
conflict has ended. In this case, it’s the
indigenous populations.
The structural causes of the armed
conflict remain almost intact. Access to
land, opportunities and full recognition
of equal rights continues to be an aim
and the main demand of the
indigenous people and the poor. Socioeconomic exclusion, discrimination and
violence have new faces, but in essence
are the same. The increasing
motivation to migrate from this
environment is understandable and
painful when one acknowledges the
community and family disruptive
effects as the dangers involved in such
ordeals. Yet, until opportunities are
developed for the young to stay with a
more right respectful environment,
changes will not be achieved.
Aiming to influence the achievement of
a more just an equal history is possible,
and Guatemala is inhaling new democratic airs that can advance this era.
Faith in humanity, should never be lost.