The three and a half weeks spent in Guatemala were fun and
enlightening. Mary and I backpacked on Mayan trails, watched the sunrise over
Lake Atitlan, nearly sank a kayak (only to be rescued by a small and sweet
indigenous lady), stayed in a tree house at an avocado farm, and bought lots of
Guatemalan coffee and textiles. I also got to rock climb in an area that was a
holy site where Mayans, Evangelicals, and Catholics come to pray, sing, and
carry out religious ceremonies. I hiked
a volcano, ate mango and papaya on the street, and spoke a lot of Spanish (the actual
purpose of the trip!) In addition to all these things, I was reminded of and
educated on the situation in Central America and specifically Guatemala. What I
learned leaves me frustrated as it is unfair, unjust, and wrong.
When the conquistadores came to Guatemala in the 1400s, they
learned quickly that here the riches were not as much gold and silver, but
rather the land. The conquistadores were not military; but rather private
business owners who had received a decree from the Spanish crown that they
could conquer an area of land, as well as everything it held. This last clause
was very important, for without a workforce to cultivate the land, the richness
of the land was meaningless.
The methods of colonialism and conquering seem to be similar
everywhere. As we did with Native Americans, as was done in Africa, and what
was done throughout Latin America, the indigenous of Guatemala were stripped of
their religion, language, and culture. They were forced to work, and the fruit
of their labor went to other people and countries. For over 300 years the
Spanish dominated the people of Guatemala. In 1821 when Guatemala received
independence from Spain, it was really just an effort by the conquistadors to
avoid paying more taxes to the crown.
Today, it doesn’t seem like too much is different. For all
intensive purposes, colonialism still rules. About 2% percent of the population
owns 80% of the land. The campesinos (peasants who are mostly the indigenous
Mayans living in rural areas) do not have enough land to provide for themselves
or to produce enough food for the Guatemalan economy. This creates a large
workforce of people who are willing (out of pure necessity) to work seasonally
in harsh conditions for low wages producing crops to be exported to other
countries. Very little ever goes to their own economy.
In 1953 a democratically elected government began to introduce
agrarian reform. The law redistributed land
that was not being used from large companies to small farmers in rural areas. The
land was purchased at the value that the companies self-declared in their taxes. As the companies had been undervaluing the land to pay
lower taxes, they weren’t too excited about the compensation. Things were going to change in Guatemala. With
land of their own, the campesinos were most likely going to have more options than just working in harsh
conditions for low wages.
A US company was to be hit the hardest by these reforms. The
United Fruit Company (now known as Chiquita) owned 40 to 50% of the Guatemalan
land and had strong political connections in the US. Under pressure, the US government expected
that our economy would be harmed. So, we deemed the Guatemalan government as
communist and intervened.
I am not a scholar on Guatemalan history or on US/Guatemalan
relations, but some clear facts are that the US government trained Guatemalan
military men and supported a coup to overthrow a democratically elected
government. This started a 36 year conflict. For 36 years (1960-1996) the
military (largely US trained) terrorized the rural Mayan population to prevent them from supporting
any rebel or guerrilla groups. Over 2,400 small rural villages disappeared
during this time.
Since the Peace Accords in 1996, people are no longer being massacred and there is a
freedom to talk about what happened. However, the social conditions that
started this conflict are mostly the same. Rural Guatemalans have to work for
low pay because they do not have enough land to sustain themselves or the
Guatemalan economy. In addition, the government is acutely corrupt.
One indicator and realization of the land issues and
corruption is the astonishing high levels of malnutrition. Despite the fact that Guatemala is a
land abundant in fruits and produce, people are hungry and dying from it. Guatemala
is not one of Latin America's poorest countries, but according to Unicef almost
half of Guatemala's children are chronically malnourished—the sixth-worst
performance in the world and the worst in the western hemisphere. In parts of
rural Guatemala, where the population is overwhelmingly of Mayan descent, the
incidence of child malnutrition reaches 80%. Chronic malnutrition is also the single greatest
contributor to the deaths of children under 5.
What does one do with such enlightenment? I think that civilization
has come so far, but we are still lacking so much. It would take more than NGOs and humanitarian efforts to re-direct
the dynamics in Guatemala. It would take political reform in Guatemala as well as economic
policy changes among the US and other wealthy nation. Something that seems
impossible.
What I eventually comes to mind and gives me hope are some truths well put by Dr. Martin
Luther King. I believe that we must hold to a faith that says “I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless
midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood
can never become a reality.” For “the moral arc of the universe bends toward justice”.
Some articles on malnutrition and the situation in Guatemala:
