The Mayans were dominant through much of Central America from the fifth until the eighth century when their civilization declined and a variety of other ethnic groups moved into the region. Europeans arrived in the 15th century, and Guatemala was one of the territories overrun by the Spanish conquistador Cortés in the 17th century. Pressure on their empire during the early 19th century forced the Spanish to concede independence to their American colonies, principally Mexico, into which Guatemala was briefly incorporated in 1822. Subsequent plans to fuse the countries of the Central American
isthmus were equally short lived. Guatemala enjoyed comparative stability, punctuated by brief periods of upheaval, under a series of dictators who were content to keep the country under a quasi-feudal regime underpinned by a small clique of land-owning families.
The government of Colonel Arbenz Guzman attempted various land reforms in the early 1950s, but was overthrown by a US-backed invasion led by military opponents of Arbenz. The country then slid into a state of almost perpetual civil war between a series of right-wing military governments and various leftist guerrilla movements: a major figure during this period was the former general Efrain Rios Montt, a self-styled evangelist who as army chief of staff and (briefly) president during the 1970s and 80s presided over a vicious counter-insurgency campaign whose savagery was exceptional even by the standards of the era and the region.
Although Guatemala has completed a successful transition from military to civilian government, the military retains considerable political power. This transition began in May 1985, when Guatemala’s new constitution was put into effect. The center-right
Partido Democracia Cristiana Guatemalteca (PDCG) formed the majority party in the new National Congress, staying in control until 1995 when they came up against serious challenges from the
Plan por el Adelantamiento Nacional (National Advance Party, PAN), which is dominated by business interests, and the
Frente Republicano - Guatemalteco (FRG), which enjoys close relations with the army and a coterie of established landowners. A period of political musical chairs ended at the start of 1995 with a FRG/PDCG coalition in control of the legislature. The 1995 election was notable for the participation, for the first time, of some left-wing parties allied to the anti-government guerrillas.
The most recent polls in December 2003 brought victory for the FRG for a second consecutive term. The FRG and PAN now dominate Guatemalan politics. Only now has the Government been prepared to admit that its predecessors, especially the Rios Montt regime, were responsible for massive human rights abuses: this is still a central and highly sensitive issue in Guatemalan domestic politics. An exhaustive UN-sponsored investigation concluded in 1999 that the army was responsible for 90 per cent of the estimated 200,000 killings. The complicity and active assistance of successive American governments in the counter-insurgency campaign was also highlighted, and drew an unprecedented apology from US president Bill Clinton. Under the terms of the deal (see above) which ended the civil war, the culprits will go unpunished.
In July 2002, the Pope visited Guatemala. This was a major event in this deeply Catholic country. John Paul canonized the country’s first saint, the 17th-century missionary Pedro de San Jose de Betancur.
Abroad, the main issue facing the country remains the dispute with neighboring Belize, over which Guatemala has territorial claims; 1993 saw the signing of a non-aggression pact by the two governments, and as a concession, Belize granted the Guatemalans access to its maritime facilities. The following year, however, the Guatemalan government reasserted its territorial claim at the UN; in 2000, it did so again, claiming half of Belize’s current territory. Despite international mediation efforts, relations between the two remained tense. Then, in September 2002, the Organization of American States (the main pan-regional political alliance) brokered a draft settlement of the dispute which may form the basis for a permanent accord.
GovernmentUnder the 1986 constitution, legislative power is vested in a single-chamber elected assembly with 80 members directly elected every four years. The President, also elected every four years, holds executive power.
EconomyCoffee is the leading export in this largely agricultural economy, accounting for about one-third of foreign earnings. Other major crops are sugar cane, bananas, cardamom and cotton. Guatemala boasts the largest manufacturing sector in Central America, accounting for 20 per cent of GDP, and produces processed foods, textiles, paper, pharmaceuticals and rubber goods. Oil deposits, first discovered in the mid-1970s, are being exploited by French and American concerns but the country remains a marginal producer and continues to rely heavily on imported oil. There is a small mining industry producing marble, copper, lead, zinc and other metals.
Although Guatemala has received solid support from the USA and international institutions such as the Inter-American Development Bank and the IMF, its economic development in the last 25 years has been undermined by chronic internal conflict, exacerbated by several major natural disasters and low prices for Guatemala’s main export commodities. Nonetheless, the economy has grown steadily in the last few years and annual growth is currently 4 per cent.
Guatemala is a member of the Central American Common Market.
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