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Guatemala’s Political Transitions, 1960s–1990s

By the end of the 1990s, Guatemala was being administered by its fourth civilian government in succession. For a country with a standing tradition of harsh military rule, this is without doubt an achievement of the first order. Since December 1996, a package of peace agreements has been signed, ending a period of thirtysix years of civil war, guerrilla fighting, and counterinsurgency campaigns. Under the umbrella of the peace agreements, a series of social and political transformations has been initiated for the coming years. This includes: the peaceful reintegration of the guerrilla forces into society; the complete reorganization of the police forces; the gradual reform and reduction of the armed forces; a structure of civilian control over the intelligence services; the reorganization of the former military presidential staff; and, most important, the transformation of Guatemala's former segregationist society into a "multiethnic and multicultural society." Nevertheless, the historical antecedents and the long-term consequences of the violence, repression, and arbitrariness of the past decades are recurrent features of Guatemala's political landscape. Unfortunately, most of Guatemala's problems have not vanished from the country's social and political scene, despite almost a decade of efforts to end authoritarianism and civil war and rebuild democracy and legitimate civic governance. In this chapter, I shall review the country's past and present social and political problems as a backdrop to a discussion of the problems affecting present-day governance in Guatemala. Guatemala possesses all the features of a neoliberal state: a neoliberal public sector, a reduced social budget, and, in general, a near absent state sector in the economy. The private sector is the leading one in this economy and society. More-