INTRODUCTION

The Guatemalan Civil War, which lasted over 30 years, raging from 1960 to 1996, is one of the bloodiest wars to mark this century. During the war, it is estimated that more than 200,000¹ people died and more than 50,000 went missing (PRI). Today, many families have still not discovered what happened to their missing loved ones, and mass graves are still discovered, in places like the town Rabinal north of Guatemala City an area populated by native Mayans (Evening Echo). Today, controversy still surrounds the reasons for this war. Media coverage at the time portrayed a very different reality for the reasons behind this war than has more recently been revealed by probes into CIA and military records, both in the U.S. and in Guatemala.  For example, in a Time Magazine article published in 1954, the revolution was attributed to communists and agrarian reformers who stole land from the United Fruit Company (Time).  The picture painted portrayed by the U.S. government and the U.S. media, showed that the Guatemalan government, run by democratically elected Juan Jose Arevalo, as a communist threat.

However, recently uncovered documents paint a very different picture of the government and the reasons that the U.S. and the United Fruit Corporation had for wanting to get rid of Arevalo. Kate Doyle, of the National Security Archive, a non-profit group in Washington, led the Guatemala Documentation Project, requesting documents under the Freedom of Information Act, beginning in 1994. The information revealed by Doyle prompted her to be quoted as saying, “I have never seen anything like it…the description of our intimacy with the Guatemalan security forces (Farah).” In order to fully understand the reasons and consequences of the Guatemalan Civil War, it is first necessary to understand the political and economic ties that the U.S. had to Guatemala at the time of the war, and why a Guatemalan Civil War was believed to be necessary in order to keep those political and economic structures secure for those that profited from them.

BACKGROUND

Guatemala has endured many tyrants during the last 500 years of its history, beginning with the brutal Spanish conquistador Pedro de Alvarada (1485-1541) who conquered the Mayan lands for Spain. The Spanish colonial rule lasted until the 1821 independence. However, despite the supposed independence, much of the Guatemalan land was still under the control of foreign corporations, who continued to own much of the the Guatemalan land on which they operated huge banana and coffee plantations. The native Mayans continued to have their lands confiscated by foreign entities, proving that the country was still, for all rights, under the control of foreign powers (Third World Traveler).

This situation continued on through the 20^th century. By the 1920’s, the U.S. had “established military missions in all Latin American Countries. Guatemala’s military was tied to the U.S. military through training, aid, and a commitment to protect US economic interests (Third World Traveler).” At this time there were three main American owned enter prices that had control of much of the resources in Guatemala  – the United Fruit Company, International Railways of Central America and Empress Electrica. Guatemalan’s worked to supply the U.S. with goods, as 77% of all exports went to the U.S. In addition, an estimated 65% of the goods imported into Guatemala came directly from the U.S. (Third World Traveler). The economy’s of the two countries were very connected, perhaps and explanation for why the U.S. had such an interest in being involved int eh Guatemalan military.

From 1931 to 1944, Guatemala was under the control of dictator Jorge Ubico. Under Ubico’s run, the United Fruit Company gained control of 42% of Guatemala’s land, effectively owning nearly half of the country. The UFC was allowed the privilege of being exempted from taxes and import duties (Third World Traveler). Despite the fact that the UFC was happy with the rule of Dictator Ubico, the rest of the Guatemalan population was not.