Guatemala

F

Social Services

Guatemala established a social security program and labor code in 1946. Although the law provides for an extensive program of health care, old-age pensions, disability and accident insurance, in practice the shortage of health-care personnel and other resources has meant that social services for the poor are very inadequate. There are 1,116 Guatemalans for every doctor, and most doctors work in the Guatemala City area, making that ratio even higher in rural areas. In 1995 only 754,100 people, less than a quarter of the workforce, were registered for social security. These problems are responsible, in part, for Guatemala’s low life expectancy at birth, 70 years, one of the lowest in Latin America.

G

Defense

The army has historically been a major power in Guatemalan government. Efforts to reduce its direct role began in 1985 when the military was strongly criticized for its role in large-scale human rights abuses. The December 1996 peace accord required the government to reduce the size of the army from 46,000 members in the early 1990s to about 30,000. In 2004 the army had 27,000 members. Guatemala also has a small navy (1,500 members) and an air force (700).

The minister of defense is by law a military officer and the de facto head of the military, although the constitution makes the president commander in chief. Presidents Ramiro de León Carpio (1993-1996) and Alvaro Arzú Irigoyen (1996-2000) began to assert civilian control over the military and took legal action against some corrupt officers. Males between the ages of 18 and 50 are subject to conscription for periods of 24 to 30 months.

In addition to the armed forces, there are other important security forces in Guatemala: the National Police under the Ministry of the Interior, the Treasury Police of the Ministry of Finance, and the Military Police under the Department of Defense. In addition, Ríos Montt in 1983 established rural Civil Defense Patrols, into which a half million Guatemalans were drafted to protect villages from the guerrillas. The patrols have been highly controversial, having been accused of human rights abuses. They were abolished under the 1996 peace accord. Military expenses consume 11 percent of the government’s total budget.

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H

International Organizations

In addition to trade groups and other organizations previously mentioned, Guatemala belongs to the Organization of American States (OAS), Organization of Central American States (ODECA), and the United Nations and many of its subsidiary agencies, including the Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD); Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO); Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO); Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO); United Nations University (UNU); and World Health Organization (WHO). It is also affiliated with the Group of 24 and Group of 77 underdeveloped countries, and the Nonaligned Movement, representing nations that did not ally themselves with any large foreign powers.

VI

History

A

Maya Civilization

Maya civilization arose in the highlands of Guatemala centuries before the birth of Christ, forming thriving city-states and a trading network that stretched over a wide area. Many Maya leaders and people later migrated northward, into the Petén region and the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico. There, the civilization developed during the Classic period, between ad 300 and 900. During this period the Maya built impressive ceremonial cities at Tikal, Uaxactún, Quiriguá, Mirador, and at many other sites in northern Guatemala, as well as in Honduras and Mexico. These sites featured large temple pyramids and plazas, richly decorated with sculpture and carving. The Maya also developed sophisticated scientific knowledge, a complex calendar, and a hieroglyphic writing system.

After the collapse of Classic Maya civilization about ad 900, the Yucatán Peninsula became the center of the Maya world during the Post-Classic period (ad 900 to 1521). Those Maya who remained in the Guatemalan highlands never achieved the scientific or architectural magnificence of the Classic or Post-Classic city-states, but their civilization survived longer. When the Spaniards arrived in the 16th century, several populous nations of Maya descent, notably the Quiché, the Cakchiquel, and the Zutujil, occupied the Guatemalan highlands.

B

Colonial Period

After Spanish explorer Hernán Cortés conquered the Aztec Empire in Mexico in 1519, he sent his lieutenant, Pedro de Alvarado, to invade Guatemala in 1524. Alvarado led a small Spanish force and thousands of indigenous Mexican allies. Alvarado found the native Guatemalans engaged in civil war and already suffering from diseases introduced by Europeans. These diseases, including smallpox and measles, were spreading over the Americas even more rapidly than Spain’s armies. Alvarado formed an alliance with the Cakchiquel peoples to defeat the Quiché. Alvarado then faced a four-year rebellion of the Cakchiquels, which he suppressed by 1528, and established Spanish rule over the region.

Several Spanish conquerors competed for control of the Central American isthmus until the Spanish monarchy united the entire region as an audiencia (Superior Court) in 1542. Territorial adjustments followed, but by 1570 the audiencia, also called the Kingdom of Guatemala, had jurisdiction from what is now Chiapas State in Mexico to Costa Rica. The kingdom was officially part of the , the large colonial territory based in Mexico. But a captain general, appointed by the Spanish king, ruled the kingdom from its capital at Santiago de Guatemala (today known as Antigua Guatemala).

Guatemala became the center of government, commerce, and religion in the region, as well as the major province of the kingdom. Devastating earthquakes struck the Antigua Guatemala in 1773, causing officials to move the capital to Guatemala City in 1776.

Colonial Guatemala produced relatively little of value for the Spanish Empire, except for a little cacao, until the 18th century. At that time the monarchy, seeking to raise more money from its colonies, instituted measures known as the Bourbon Reforms to stimulate greater export production. In Central America, the reforms especially affected El Salvador, which began producing large amounts of indigo for dye. El Salvador belonged to the province of Guatemala until 1786, when Spanish administrative reforms established it as a separate unit of the kingdom. Chiapas, Honduras, and Nicaragua were also made separate units, while Guatemala remained a province. This reform defined the future independent states of Central America.

Guatemala City remained the capital of the kingdom, but the loss of indigo-rich El Salvador was a blow to the power of the Guatemalan merchant elite. The provinces gained even more autonomy from 1810 to 1814, while Spain was occupied by French troops during the Napoleonic Wars. In 1812 an interim Spanish government adopted a liberal constitution that granted the colonists greater participation in government and representation in Spain. During this time, independence movements began in many of Spain’s American colonies.

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