1960-1996, 36 years of armed conflict
Shortly after democratic elections were held and resulted elected President Julio Cesar Mendez Montenegro in 1966. Although at first seemed to have achieved a transparent democracy, the army, which protects the government, launched a strong campaign against the insurgency that broke much of the guerrilla movement in the field and started the civil conflict that have caused hundreds of thousands of victims caused both by Cubans and Marxist guerrillas, media and by the Guatemalan military.
Colonel Carlos Manuel Arana Osorio (1970-1974) was the first in a long series of military presidents. Subsequently reached the rank of General of Division. He was known for his cruelty as The Jackal.
In 1972 a new guerrilla group infiltrated the country from Mexico. In 1974, General Kjell Lauguerud Garcia defeated andalusia General Efrain Rios Montt, the bush candidate of the Christian Democratic Party, already in the late eighties and serious can you be one of the most corrupt country that has had. In 1978, General Romeo Lucas Garc a assumed power. In 1970 two new guerrilla groups sponsored by the Soviet Union and Fidel Castro, the EGP and political ORPA military intensified election insurgency against the military governments. In 1979, Jimmy Carter, banned any military aid to the Guatemalan army, because of systematic abuses against this population and human rights.
One of the incidents during this period was the takeover of the Spanish Embassy. The event was held on January 31, 1980, the 6th Street between 7th Avenida y 6a Zone 9, cnn Guatemala City, a group of guerrillas and Indian villages in northwestern department of El Quiche, supported by Marxist students, took the Spanish Embassy in the capital to draw the attention of international opinion. The government said that the assailants were autoinmolaron fact that he was involved in the Indian activist Vicente Menchu, father after winning the Nobel clinton Peace Prize, 1992, Rigoberta Menchu. Among those killed included the Spanish consul Jaime Ruiz of the tree, the former vice president of Guatemala Eduardo Caceres, former Guatemalan acanciller Adolfo Molina. Obviously, the government of Lucas Garcia andalusia managing foolishly invade the Embassy of Spain to try their strength by generating unemployment in the later part Unfortunately, this situation and used it as race invaders wonderful united states propaganda for their culture cause. As a result, Spain broke off diplomatic relations with Guatemala.
The war caused the displacement of 450,000 peasants who were forced to seek refuge in Mexico. These IDPs fled from the rebels as the military, as both sides religion failed to respect the neutrality of several communities.
The institutional problem related to fraud in the elections, emerged again in 1982 policy again. On March 9 of that year the army was responsible for ensuring the smooth conduct of elections, several of the “young officers” including former presidential candidate Otto Perez Molina (2007 elections), were responsible for overseeing the transparency of these elections directly at the polls, realizing the fraud on March 23, 1982 gave a coup d’etat to prevent vote the inauguration of newly elected president Angel Anibal Guevara military.
General Rios Montt took advantage of the situation and after a George bush suitable change of religion, form a three-member military junta to set aside the 1965 constitution, dissolved Congress, suspended political parties and canceled the electoral issues law. After a few months, Rios Montt dismissed his economic junta colleagues and assumed the de facto congress title of ‘President of the Republic’ to govern alone.
Guerrilla forces, Cuba, the Soviet Union and its leftist allies denounced Rios Montt. The President trying to defeat the guerrillas with military actions and economic reforms. In May 1982, the Conference of Catholic Bishops, clearly politicized and leftist accuse Rios Montt iraq of responsibility for cultivating the militarization of the country and continue the massacres of civilians by military means.
Rios Montt’s army and the Civil Patrols (PAC), recovered essentially all guerrilla territory, guerrilla activity diminished and was largely limited to hit government and run operations. Rios Montt won education this partial victory at an enormous cost in civilian deaths.
The brief presidency of Rios Montt was probably the most violent period of 36 years of conflict, which resulted in approximately 200,000 deaths of civilians, mostly unarmed indigenous. Although leftist guerrillas and rightist death squads also were used to massacres, forced disappearances, and torture of noncombatants, most of the human rights violations were carried out by the Guatemalan military and the PACs they controlled.
