Central America's longest civil war comes to a close
But Guatemala has a long road to true peace
December 29, 1996
Web posted at: 1:30 p.m. EST (1830 GMT)
From Correspondent Ralitsa Vassileva
GUATEMALA CITY (CNN) -- When the Guatemalan government and
leftist rebels formally make peace on Sunday, it will bring
to a close Central America's longest and most brutal civil
war.
In the course of 36 years, the civil war pitted the army,
protecting the wealthy elite, against rebels waging an
insurgency in the name of the poor.
And it was the poor -- Guatemala's indigenous farmers -- who
bore the brunt of the conflict. More than 140,000 people were
massacred or simply disappeared. Hundreds of thousands were
displaced from their homes, and more than 400 villages were
destroyed.
While the indigenous people's poverty and social injustice
sparked Guatemala's conflict, the cold war added fuel to
the fire.
But the main reason why it burned so long lies elsewhere,
according to Michael Shifter, a political analyst at a
Washington-based think tank.
"There are very sharp ethnic divisions," Shifter said. "The
indigenous population is a majority, unlike other Latin
American countries. There are very deep-seated divisions. It
takes a long time to agree."
An agreement has been reached -- many credit President Alvaro
Arzu's leadership for its success of the agreement -- but the
causes of the war are yet to be tackled.
President Arzu has to prepare the former combatants for
democratic life. The rebels have agreed to hand over their
weapons and become a political force, and Arzu has already
started chipping away at the military's enormous power.
But he has yet to meet his goal of cutting its size and
budget by a third and keep it under firm control.
Then there's one of the most controversial aspects of the
peace process -- a sweeping amnesty law that human rights
groups oppose but both army and rebels agree on.
"They felt that if prosecution was allowed, it would be very
difficult to build peace and go beyond the conflict," said
Shifter. "On the other hand it does support impunity, which
is not helpful."
Arzu also has to move quickly to resolve the indigenous
population's social needs. Mostly poor and illiterate, many
of Guatemala's rural people have no work, and discrimination
against them is deeply rooted.
And Guatemala has one of the lowest per capita incomes in
Latin America.
Some help may come from the international community. But to
truly succeed in peace, the government will have to come to
terms with the causes of war.
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