Genocide+in+Guatemala

Type in the content of your page here. Genocide in Guatemala by Wayne Snyder  The genocide in Guatemala started when Guatemala was looking for land under private state ownership. Fearing communism, America trained a corps of Guatemalan exiles and launched an invasion. As a result, a military dictatorship was formed and all workers’ unions were compromised. Shortly after, a group of Mayan Indians claimed they were working for a communist coup. This gave the Guatemalans the idea that all Indians are communist.
 * How did it start? **

** What occurred in the genocide? **   In the Guatemalan Genocide, the army attacked 626 villages, murdering the civilians. Others captured were forced to watch their neighbors and friends die. The soldiers destroyed crops, slaughtered livestock, fouled water supplies, and violated sacred temples. In other villages, children were beaten against walls, thrown alive into pits, tortured, or raped. Civilians were impaled and left to die, doused in gasoline, and set alight, or shot repeatedly. Women had their wombs cut out, tortured, or raped. In the city, Guatemala had a secret police called the Commandos, who caused disappearances and death squads.

The United Nations tried to interfere, but Guatemala rejected many treaties offered to them. In 1996, a revolution occurred, and formed a new democratic republic. On that same year, Guatemala accepted a treaty called the Accord on Human Rights Protection.
 * How did the genocide end? **

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 * Was anyone punished for genocidal crimes? **

**Genocide in Guatemala- 1982 (by: Olivia Arakelian) ** //The genocide that occurred in Guatemala was started because of a conflict over land rights and ended up with many innocent Mayan Indians being kicked out of their homelands, violated of their human rights, and tortured in various ways. //  

This conflict took place in a country called Guatemala which is bordered west by Mexico, south east by El Salvador and Honduras, south by the Pacific Ocean and east by the Caribbean Sea and Belize. Guatemala is located in a mainly mountainous region of Central America. This genocide took place in 1982, occurring in the villages and homes of the Mayan Indian tribes. At the end of the 2 year genocide period there were 200,000 people killed, injured, or displaced from their homeland.
 * Where did this conflict take place? **

This is a conflict between the Mayan Indian tribe and the Guatemalan government. It started out as an outcry over land and human rights and stretched out into a two year long genocide. The Mayan Indians had been the original founders of Guatemala before the Spanish settlers had arrived in the 1600’s. Eventually their land was taken over by the Guatemalan government. A group of Mayans referred to as the “guerillas” were not happy with this as well as the rest of the tribe; because of this the guerillas started a protest against the Guatemalan government to win back their land. In doing so they got into a lot of trouble with the government causing the innocent Mayans to suffer in ways that were unimaginable. The government became so angry with the Mayans that they wanted to do everything they could in their power to exterminate the Mayan Indian culture. The U.S. government did not provide help because there were too few Indians to care, so they left their punishments to the decision making of the Guatemalan government
 * What is the conflict? **

The major groups that were involved with this genocide were the Mayan Indians, including a guerrilla political segment, and the military government of Guatemala. Many of the Mayan adults, children, babies, and elderly of both sexes were victims of this torturing. The guerillas were the main cause of this genocide resulting in the increasing aggravation of the Guatemalan government.
 * Who are the major groups/individuals involved? **

This conflict affected the Mayan Indians in many various ways. Their homeland was taken by the Guatemalan government, which left them with nowhere to live. Because they were being uprooted from where they lived the traditional structure of Mayan life was being threatened. They were victims of torture if they did not listen to what was demanded by the official security forces. The Death Squads which were under army control and made up of mostly criminals would help to contribute to the attacking of the Mayans. They would work across the Mayan region with their teams and in the end had attacked 626 villages that were owned by the Mayans. If the villagers were still in their homes and had not escaped, they become hunted refugees, could be murdered, occasionally other villagers were forced to watch and take part. Many of the children were beaten, raped then thrown against a wall where the same acts would happen to the adult bodies later on. Many of the victims were left there to die slowly, and if not dead were dumped in gasoline and lit with a torch for their death. Many of the Indian refugees were living in camps in Mexico and thousands went to the U.S. for freedom.
 * What effects did the conflict have on the people? **

This is a conflict because it involved the denial of human rights (economic, political and cultural) to the Mayan Indians by the military government of Guatemala. The Mayan Indians wanted to have their land and human rights supported by the Guatemalan government, and the Guatemalan government denied them of this by unleashing military death squads to impose a reign of terror. Because the Mayans did not wanting to give up their land to live elsewhere a confrontation developed which ultimately led to a genocide by the Guatemalan government.
 * Why is this conflict a conflict? **

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