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Millennium Development Goals in Guatemala

The 36-year civil war in Guatemala ended just over a decade ago in 1996, its detrimental economic impact overlapping with the 1990 baseline for assessment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Restoring social indicators has proved a volatile process and the country remains one of the poorest in Latin America with over half the population living below the poverty line, currently valued as $2.30 per day. Extreme poverty has reduced from 20% in 1990 only to about 15%; achieving the 10% target by 2015 will be a formidable task. There has been progress towards universal enrolment in primary education for both boys and girls but ingrained cultural gender roles lead to a high drop-out rate of girls. 60% of indigenous women are illiterate.

Mayans are the majority in Guatemala

Almost all poverty in Guatemala is found in rural areas, where over 60% of the population lives, and is particularly focused on indigenous groups who make up 80% of the rural population. The Mayan people form the largest of these ethnic groups which have experienced a long history of discrimination, especially in land rights. Despite agrarian reform programmes, inequity in land ownership remains pervasive, pushing profits into the hands of a few. This distortion contributes to the slow development of infrastructure and transportation, further isolating the rural poor.

Health in Guatemala

Water carriers, Guatemala © Andy Narracott

These rural and indigenous populations experience high infant and maternal mortality with less than convincing progress towards MDG targets. 48% of children suffer chronic malnutrition, the highest incidence in Latin America. A significant share of the population lacks access to affordable health services, largely down to inequitable targeting of public money, with highly-subsidised public facilities almost exclusively used by the non-poor.

Like most of Central America, HIV/AIDS is on the increase and reaching epidemic proportions amongst high risk groups. The highest proportion of those infected are gay men, the problem exacerbated by the homophobic tendencies of the church and restrictive cultural attitudes. The increase is unlikely to be halted until there is sufficient political will.
Politics in Guatemala

Rigoberta Menchú © Radio Netherlands

Indigenous groups in Guatemala have failed to create an effective political social movement, such as has been seen elsewhere in Latin America, and as a result remain severely under-represented in government institutions. Rigoberta Menchu, the winner of the 1992 Nobel Peace Prize, became the first Mayan to join a government administration but she finished in a dismal 6th place in the 2007 presidential election. Some reports suggest that only one third of eligible Mayans are registered to vote.

The former administration of centre-right president Oscar Berger, elected into office in 2003, failed to deliver promised reforms in health and education and proved unable to stem escalating levels of crime and threats to public security. In a second round run-off to elect Berger’s successor, voters preferred the centre-left social spending strategy of Álvaro Colom against a hardline army-backed approach to crime of Otto Perez Molina. The parallel 2007 elections for Congress saw Colom’s party, the National Unity of Hope Party (UNE), failing to gain a clear majority. The period of campaigning was marred by the worst electoral violence since the end of the civil war with 50 deaths of party activists and officials. Democracy is a threat to the dark underside of Guatemalan politics - pervasive corruption, an ineffective judiciary and increasing presence of drug barons.

Civil society has seen a revival, having been fragmented in the past by cruel military tactics that created confrontation, hostility and distrust among the people. The resulting absence of participation, from community meetings to national elections, has made for a slow transformation to a fully democratic society.
Conflict in Guatemala

Guatemala

Guatemala has suffered the longest internal armed conflict in Central America. Ending in 1996, over 200,000 people were brutally murdered during the 36 year war that began with a US-backed military coup of a democratically elected government of President Jacobo Arbenz. At the height of the counter-insurgency in the late 1970s and early 1980s, approximately one million people were internally displaced and hundreds of thousands fled the country from a population numbering a little over 8 million at the time. A scorched-earth campaign was ordered on the indigenous highland populations, where massive killings were reported - exhumations of mass graves are still being carried out today. A UN truth commission reporting in 1999 identified no fewer than 626 massacres and concluded that 93% of the killings were attributable to the state security forces.

Peace Accords were signed by all parties in 1996. As well as settling immediate issues of disarmament, the Accords set out long term principles for reconciliation, embracing commitments to democracy, human rights and an end to poverty. Rising public anger at the continuing failure to honour these principles led to a government announcement in May 2006 of national dialogue to rekindle the intent of the Accords.

Efraín Rios Montt © Radio Netherlands

Long years of bringing cases to the Guatemalan courts have proved fruitless in the face of obfuscation of vested interests, with only 2 of the 626 massacres addressed in court. In an innovative use of international law similar to that adopted for General Pinochet of Chile, cases were presented to the Spanish National court leading ultimately to the issue of 8 arrest warrants. These included the notorious former president Rios Montt, a brutal military dictator responsible for numerous massacres of unarmed civilians in the bloody civil war. The process suffered a serious setback at the end of 2007 when the country’s highest court ruled against extradition proceedings on the grounds that the former colonial power has no judicial rights in Guatemala. The Spanish court is however continuing to hear evidence.
Human Rights in Guatemala

Undermining these attempts to bring the perpetrators of mass killings to justice is a culture of violent crime and underground gang warfare. There were almost 6,000 homicidal killings in Guatemala in 2006, more than in many of the years of civil war. Women were the victims of nearly 600 of these murders, of which just 6 were solved. A corrupt judiciary, poorly trained and under-resourced criminal investigation services and inadequate protection of witnesses are blamed. In 2007 the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial killings, Professor Philip Alston, resorted to irony in describing Guatemala as “a good place to commit a murder”.

A radical new UN-supported commission has been set up to strengthen the capacity of domestic law-enforcement systems, despite opposition from Congress members who believe it violates the Guatemalan constitution. The International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG) will play a supporting role for the national prosecution service, beginning its work by investigating murders of women and also a spate of killings of bus drivers in the capital.

Information and Media in Guatemala

Although ownership of both newspapers and television stations is highly concentrated, the three most widely read papers in the country continue to pursue an investigative line on reporting. It is now not uncommon for a national audience to see once reclusive government ministers being held to account on leading social and political issues of the day.

Indigenous community radio, Guatemala © A. Portalewska / Cultural Survival, Inc.

Internet penetration is high in urban centres, with increasingly affordable access. Despite remaining a luxury of the educated few, the internet does reflect the popular voice on cross-cutting issues, such as indigenous rights and gender equality, thanks to the huge NGO base operating from within the country.

Community radio understandably remains the media of choice for the masses, particularly the rural poor. Electricity is severely lacking in many rural parts of Guatemala, eliminating the potential reach of television, while battery operated radios are abundant. Numerous community radio stations broadcast in 1 of the 24 indigenous languages, 4 bridging the communication gap that exists because castillano Spanish is an inaccessible second language to so many.
The Economy in Guatemala

© ACSUR-Las Segovias

Agriculture, traditionally the backbone of the economy, is the main source of income for 87% of the country’s poor. Various international institutions have historically pressured the government into an export-orientated agricultural model, putting large tracts of land into fewer hands and encouraging big business to take advantage of the fertile land and cheap labour force.

Small farmers may face further difficulties with the introduction of the controversial Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) which aspires to foster development but which, thanks to strong-arm tactics by US negotiators, will relax duties on American exports to the region. CAFTA was implemented in Guatemala in July 2006 despite evidence of a lack of critical analysis by the Guatemalan government.

CAFTA benefits U.S. trade © Andy Narracott

The move towards free trade has forced many farmers either to expand their plots into conservation areas or to accommodate maquilas - foreign-owned assembly plants attracted to the cheap labour force and the lax environmental and labour protection laws.

The main generator of foreign exchange is tourism and particularly eco-tourism, paving the way for internationally-backed conservation projects like the Sierra de las Minas Biosphere Reserve Project, which encourages sustainable water management and preservation of biodiversity.



The OneWorld Guatemala Guide was first published in December 2004 with a text written by Volunteer Editor Andy Narracott

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