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From the 3rd century BC to the 12th century AD, the lowlands of Petén and Izabal regions were inhabited by several indigenous states of Mayan ethnicity. Many K'iche tribal groups were on the central highlands. The Spanish failed to conquer the Alta Verapaz area by force, but later succeeded through the Catholic Church. A few missionaries, most notably Fr. Bartolomé de las Casas defended the native population from the cruelty of the Spanish army. The church, however, had a policy of burning Mayan texts, and almost all of the pre columbian manuscripts were lost. A few survived, however, including: "Popol Vuh", "Anales de los Kakchiqueles", and "Chilam Balam", books that were discovered and preserved by Spanish missionary friars. The name "Goathemala" was given by the Spanish conquistadors, and derives from indigenous words meaning "Land of many trees". During the colonial period, Guatemala was a Captaincy General (Capitanía General de Goathemala) of Spain, but still part of New Spain (Mexico). It extended from Soconusco region - now in southern Mexico (states of Chiapas, Tabasco) - to Costa Rica. This region was not as rich in minerals (gold and silver) as Mexico and Peru, and was therefore not considered as important. Its main products were sugarcane, cocoa, blue añil dye, red dye from cochineal insects, and precious woods used in artwork for churches and palaces in Spain. Frustrated by their inability to trade with countries other than Spain, the Guatemalan elite declared independence on September 15, 1821, although it was still part of the newly independent state of Mexico. In 1823 Guatemala became independent from Mexico as well. The new Guatemalan Republic included part of Soconusco region, and what are now the countries of El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica. Its 1.5 million inhabitants were concentrated in urban centers. In 1822, the province of El Salvador convinced the other Guatemalan provinces to join the Mexican Empire, an idea of Agustin Iturbide. But a year later Iturbide was forced to abdicate, his empire collapsed and Guatemala separated from Mexico, losing the regions of Chiapas and Soconusco. The Guatemalan provinces formed the United Provinces of Central America, also called the Central American Federation (Federacion de Estados Centroamericanos). The capital city remained Guatemala City which is still today the most populous city in Central America. A politically unstable period followed, aggravated by the collapse of the world market for añil (indigo), the country's main export to Europe, due to the invention of synthetic dyes. This prompted each province to leave the Federation, from 1838 to 1840, beginning with Costa Rica, and Guatemala became an independent nation. Guatemala has long claimed all or part of the territory of neighboring Belize, formerly part of the Spanish colony, and later occupied by Great Britain. Guatemala recognized Belize's independence in 1991, but their territorial dispute is not resolved. Negotiations are currently underway under the auspices of the Organization of American States to conclude it. Guatemalan history is marked by the Cold War between the U.S. and the USSR. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) with a small group of Guatemalans overthrew the freely-elected Guatemalan government of Jacobo Arbenz in 1954 after the government expropriated unused land owned by the United Fruit Company, a U.S.-based banana merchant. The CIA codename for the coup was Operation PBSUCCESS, its second successful overthrow of a foreign government. The subsequent military rule, beginning with dictator Carlos Castillo Armas led to over 30 years of civil war that, from 1960, led to the death an estimated 200,000 Guatemalan civilians. According to the U.N.-sponsored Truth Commission, government forces and paramilitaries were responsible for over 90% of the human rights violations during the war. During the first 10 years, the victims of the state-sponsored terror were primarily students, workers, professionals, and opposition figures of all political tendencies, but in the last years, they were thousands of mostly rural Mayans farmers and non-combatants. More than 450 Mayan villages were destroyed and over one million people became refugees. This is considered one of the worst ethnic cleansing's in modern Latin America. In certain areas, such as Baja Verapaz, the Truth Commission considered that the Guatemalan state engaged in an intentional policy of genocide against particular ethnic groups. From the 1950s to the 1990s (with a suspension of military aid between 1977 and 1982), the US government directly supported Guatemala's army with training, weapons and money. The United States Army Special Forces (Green Berets) were sent to Guatemala to transform its army into a "modern counter-insurgency force," and made it the most powerful and sophisticated in Central America. In 1999, then US president Bill Clinton stated that the United States was wrong to have provided support to Guatemalan military forces that took part in the brutal civilian killing. Further CIA involvement included the training of 5,000 Cubans opposed to Fidel Castro and airstrips in its territory for what later became the failed Bay of Pigs Invasion. In 1982, four Marxist groups formed the guerilla organization Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity (URNG). A bloody 36-year war ended in 1996 with a peace accord between the guerrillas and the government of President Álvaro Arzú, negotiated by the United Nations. Both sides made major concessions. The army controlled urban centers, while URNG maintained a strong presence the countryside. Due to the military's use of rampant torture, disappearances, "scorched earth" warfare and many other brutal methods, the country became a pariah state internationally. In 1992, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Rigoberta Menchú, an indigenous human rights activist, for her efforts to bring international attention to the government-sponsored genocide against the indigenous population. Since the peace accord, Guatemala has enjoyed successive democratic elections, most recently in 2003. However, corruption is still rampant at all levels of government. A huge cache of National Police files discovered in December 2005 revealed methods of public security officials to quell unrest of citizens during the Civil War. |
Guatemala Information: Inside
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