Contradictions of Guatemala's "Political Opening"
1988; SAGE Publishing; Volume: 15; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1177/0094582x8801500303
ISSN1552-678X
Autores Tópico(s)Political and Social Dynamics in Chile and Latin America
ResumoThe ink was barely dry on the Central American Peace Accords signed in Guatemala City last August 7 when Guatemala's top military officials declared that the accords don't apply to Guatemala. Five days later, in its first-ever public forum on 27 Years of Struggle against Subversion, army officials reiterated their view that politics is a continuation of war by other means. Both in the forum and in an accompanying multimedia exposition, the army took a pointedly hard antiterrorist line, leaving no doubt of its determination to pursue its counterinsurgency war in Guatemala amid the efforts for peace in the Central American region. As promised, the army launched a major final offensive (Fin de Afio) against the guerrillas, involving aerial bombardments, population displacements, and the leveling of at least one village in the Quiche zone of conflict (which left 14 peasants dead)-all tactics reminiscent of the scorched earth war of the early 1980s. While failing in its pacification objectives, the intensified war has brought a significant increase in right-wing death squad activity, torture, and human rights violations by government security forces generally. Just in the first 12 days of November, there were 15 kidnappings (some involving torture and assassination), 4 disappearances, one attempted kidnapping, and 12 political assassinations (Inforpress Centroamericana, or IC, November 12, 1987). These events are painfully familiar in Guatemala, but this time the context is the democratic opening initiated by the 1985 election. The
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