An End to Violence is Not True Peace

Guatemala’s bloody civil war finally came to an end on the 29th of December 1996 with the signing of the twelfth and final peace accord. The Guatemalan peace process took a grueling ten years, and required the commitment and cooperation of the Guatemalan government, guerrilla groups, civil society, and representatives from a range of countries like Spain, Mexico, Colombia, and the United States. However, despite the immense optimism that came with the official end to the war, the cessation of violence from the conflict did not translated into “positive peace” or the creation of a more just society as Galtung conceptualized in the Journal of Peace Research. In 1976, Galtung formulated three distinct methods by which lasting peace could be achieved: “the dissociative approach (peacekeeping), the resolution approach (peacemaking) and the associative approach (peacebuilding).” These are important concepts to keep in mind when talking about Guatemala’s post-conflict reality as they were all fundamental to the country’s peace process.

The Negotiations that started in 1986 culminated with the signing of a decisive ceasefire accord that was brokered by the United Nations. As part of this process, the United Nations Mission on Verification of Human Rights and of Compliance with the Commitments of the Comprehensive Agreement on Human Rights in Guatemala (MINUGUA) was created in 1994 to carry “out verification and institution-building activities throughout the country. More than 250 human rights monitors, legal experts, indigenous specialists and police were posted throughout Guatemala, including in its remotest areas. Their presence and verification activities [. . .] focused public attention on human rights and the related problem of impunity, reinforcing the declining trend in political violence” (UN Peacekeeping).

After the singing of the peace agreement in 1996, the mission’s mandate changed, tasking them to verify compliance by the Government of Guatemala and URNG with the Agreement on the Definitive Ceasefire, including the formal cessation of hostilities, the separation and concentration of the respective forces and disarmament and demobilization of former URNG combatants” (UN Peacekeeping). The success of the agreement and the subsequent UN peacekeeping mission in the country were perhaps only possible due to the Guatemalan government’s rhetoric of promising to tackle the structural causes that led to the civil war in the first place. Among the issues they promised to tackle were “the human rights of the indigenous peoples, agrarian and socio-economic development, the creation of a civil society built on the foundations of a culture of peace, and the establishment of a truth commission” (Janzen, 58).

Unfortunately, despite the unprecedented level of success in the cessation of violence in the country as part of the peacemaking and peacekeeping initiatives supported by the United Nations, peacebuilding efforts have never been fully realized; leaving Guatemala’s indigenous communities wondering when justice and structural change will finally come.

https://youtu.be/V2EruXwYgEU

UN Commission on Historical Clarification

A step in the right direction toward peace-building in the country was the creation of the Truth Commission. Following recommendations by the United Nations, the UN-backed Truth Commission or Commission on Historical Clarification was created as an effort to aid in the reconciliation process after the war. The commission’s final report, Guatemala: Memory of Silence, was presented before the United Nations and Guatemalan government officials in 1999. Below are the findings of this report as they appear on the website for the United States Institute for Peace:

“Findings:

Conclusions

The commission found that repressive practices were perpetrated by institutions within the state, in particular the judiciary, and were not simply a response of the armed forces. The report stated that in the four regions most affected by the violence, “agents of the state committed acts of genocide against groups of Mayan people”(Final Report, English Version, para. 122).
In total, the Commission conducted 7,200 interviews with 11,000 persons cataloging the interviews in a database. Declassified information from the U.S. government was included in the data.
The total number of people killed was over 200,000; 83% of the victims were Mayan and 17% were Ladino.
“State forces and related paramilitary groups were responsible for 93% of the violations documented” (Final Report, English Version, para. 15).
“Insurgent actions produced 3% of the human rights violations and acts of violence” (Final Report, English Version, para. 21).
Social mobilization was at its peak from 1978 to 1982 and so too was the rate of killings and human rights abuses.

Recommendations

The commission was not allowed to name names and did not include names of perpetrators or a call for prosecution in its report.
Reparations were recommended such as the erection of monuments, dedication of public parks or buildings, reclamation of Mayan sites and financial assistance for exhumations.
It also called for structural reform, mainly in the military and judiciary and encouraged a culture of mutual respect and the strengthening of the democratic process.

Subsequent Developments:

Reforms

Without announcing any follow-up measures, Guatemala’s President [Alvaro] Arzu apologized for the role of the government in past abuses when he received the commission’s report.
The U.S. government reacted coolly to allegations of its role in the Guatemalan civil war that were strongly condemned by the report.
In 2004, the Guatemalan Congress approved Decree 06-2004 which establishes a national remembrance day for victims of the conflict. The “Day of Dignity” is since commemorated every year on February 25.

Prosecutions

There has been very limited success in prosecuting perpetrators. Only one Guatemalan officer has been convicted of human rights violations related to the report. However, in 2010 additional trials began against former military officials. Three former soldiers are accused of crimes committed in the 1982 massacre in Dos Erres in Northern Guatemala.
The commission’s final report was used in a case filed by Rigoberta Menchú Tum against the president of Congress in Guatemala, José Efraín Ríos Montt and seven other militaries for their involvement in atrocities. On July 7, 2006, a Spanish judge ordered Efrain Rios Montt and his co-defendants to be taken into detention, and an international arrest warrant was issued. Since 2001, the case has also been investigated by the Guatemalan judiciary.
In an agreement between the United Nations and the government of Guatemala, the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG) was set up and entered into force in September 2007. The CICIG is mandated to conduct independent investigations, present criminal complaints to Guatemala’s Public Prosecutor and take part in criminal proceedings as a complementary prosecutor. It also promotes legal and institutional reform and publishes periodic reports.
In 2009, a retired colonel and three former paramilitaries were convicted for the forced disappearance of peasants during the civil war. After a civilian was sentenced to 150 years in prison earlier in 2009, this was the first successful prosecution of an army officer in connection with disappearances.

Reparations

A National Reparations Commission was established in 2005, but decisions about policies and process have been slow.

Special Notes: Subsequent to the commission’s work, a “Diario militar” (military logbook) was found that had registered the names and data of persons unlawfully arrested, tortured, and put to death by a unit of the security forces. The Forensic Anthropological Foundation of Guatemala (FAFG) continues to exhume mass graves contributing valuable information for further investigations” (USIP).

Two Decades After the War: A Legacy of Impunity

Unfortunately, in the twenty-five years since the end of the war, justice has been slow if at all realized. The Truth Commission had created the opportunity for the Guatemalan government to directly address the transgressions committed against the country’s indigenous communities and forge a path towards positive change. Nevertheless, for the majority of indigenous Guatemalans, the legacy of the violence their communities endured during the armed conflict has continued. As you will see in the post “(In)Justice in Guatemala: The CICIG & Accountability,” international efforts to enact positive change in the country were curtailed after the commission’s mandate was not renewed under the rule of former president Jimmy Morales. The only outlet by which indigenous communities could seek justice without the influence of corruption in the country was brought to an abrupt stop in 2019 after twelve years of independent anti-corruption investigatory work. Nevertheless, Guatemala’s indigenous Maya continue to rally for positive structural change.

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From Less War to More Peace: Guatemala’s Journey since 1996

Breaking the Cycle of Violent Conflict with Johan Galtung

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Sources:

“Guatemala — Memory of Silence: Report of the Commission for Historical Clarification: Conclusions and Recommendations (February 1999).” Die Friedens-Warte, vol. 74, no. 4, 1999, pp. 511–47, http://www.jstor.org/stable/23778631. Accessed 8 May 2022.

Janzen, Randall. “From Less War to More Peace: Guatemala’s Journey since 1996.” Peace Research, vol. 40, no. 1, 2008, pp. 55–75, http://www.jstor.org/stable/23607696. Accessed 10 May 2022.

“Positive and Sustainable Peace.” World Atlas of Global Issues, 28 Sept. 2018, espace-mondial-atlas.sciencespo.fr/en/topic-insecuritypeace/article-4A08-EN-positive-and-sustainable-peace.html#:%7E:text=In%20his%20editorial%20for%20the,evolved%20in%20parallel%20with%20the.

“Truth Commission: Guatemala.” United States Institute of Peace, www.usip.org/publications/1997/02/truth-commission-guatemala. Accessed 5 May 2022.

“Truth, Justice and Historic Memory « Guatemala Human Rights Commission.” Guatemala Human Rights Commission, Guatemala Human Rights Commission, www.ghrc-usa.org/our-work/themes/truth-justice-and-historic-memory. Accessed 8 May 2022.

United Nations Peacekeeping. “MINUGUA – Background.” UN Peacekeeping, peacekeeping.un.org/sites/default/files/past/minuguabackgr.html. Accessed 7 May 2022.