Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Little This and a Little That

To be in (somewhat) a chronological order, the focus of this week was how Guatemala achieved Independence from the Spanish Crown. Do not worry, I will not take you through a hundred years worth of history... but to be brief, Spain was losing its control and presence in Guatemala in the last twenty years of ruling the Kingdom (comprised of present day Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala and others). Napoleon's invasion of Spain and the decline of the Bourbon monarch threw Guatemala (and much of Latin America) into chaos. The colonial economy was in severe decline. From 1811 to 1818 was deemed the Bustamante Period which was seven years of turmoil. Then General Carlos de Urrutia took charge of the administration of the Kingdom until 1821. By then independent political parties were beginning to form: Caos and the Gazistas. On September 15, 1821, Gabino Gainza declared the "Act of Independence of the United Provinces of Central America" along with 19 articles and a preamble. In comparison to other Latin American countries who gained independence through a violent struggle, Guatemala declaration of independence was accomplished peacefully. Gavino Gainza continued as chief executive. From this point- I think I will not research into great detail the post-colonial era for now. Instead, I want to focus more on the role of religion in Guatemala and then specifically focus on Zacapa.



To jump ahead over a hundred years, I am researching the trial of Guatemala's former dictator Efrain Rios Montt for another class. Here is a brief outline of Guatemala's civil war that lasted from 1960 to 1996 with the signing of the Peace Accords. The bloodiest years were during the 1980s when the army began its counteroffensive strategy to combat guerrilla groups.

  • March 1982- General Montt along with the help of other discontent army officer seized power in a military coup d'etat which ousted Romeo lucas Garcia.
    • Montt became the first evangelical dictator in Guatemala and lead the counterinsurgency war that targeted indigenous Maya communities and declared a state of seige
  • July 6, 1982- Finca San Francsisco: over 300 indigenous residents were massacred
  • Reime of Montt- to create La Nueva Guatemala by usng psychological and ideological influence as military control
    • Fusiles y Frijoles (rifles and beans)- over 1 million were displaced and over 200,000 Mayans were disappeared, tortured and/or killed, and the decimation of hundreds of indigenous communities
    • Scorched earth campaign to exterminate the Ixil population
  • Montt was not put on trial until 2012 and was found guilty of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity but the case has been thrown out on the basis of technicalities. The trial is to resume in 2015
Here are a few links to news articles about the trial:

No comments:

Post a Comment