Editing History of Guatemala (section)

==== Civil war (1960–1996) ====
{{Main|Guatemalan Civil War}}
The government, right-wing paramilitary organizations, and left-wing insurgents were all engaged in the [[Guatemalan Civil War]] (1960–96). Contributing factors included social and economic injustice, racial discrimination suffered by the indigenous population, the 1954 coup that reversed reforms, weak civilian control of the military, U.S. support for the government, and [[Cuba]]n support for the insurgents. The [[Historical Clarification Commission]] (commonly known as the "Truth Commission") estimated that more than 200,000 people were killed, the vast majority of whom were indigenous civilians. 93% of the human rights abuses reported to the commission were attributed to the military or other government-supported forces.<ref name="shr.aaas.org">{{Cite web |url=http://shr.aaas.org/guatemala/ceh/report/english/graphics/charts/page86.gif |title=AAAS Scientific Responsibility, Human Rights & Law Program &#124; American Association for the Advancement of Science |access-date=8 May 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080519072627/http://shr.aaas.org/guatemala/ceh/report/english/graphics/charts/page86.gif |archive-date=19 May 2008 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }}</ref> The commission also determined that the government was responsible for acts of [[genocide]].<ref name="Guatemala: Memory of Silence">[http://shr01.aaas.org/projects/human_rights/guatemala/ceh/mos_en.pdf "Guatemala: Memory of Silence"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714173735/http://shr01.aaas.org/projects/human_rights/guatemala/ceh/mos_en.pdf |date=14 July 2014 }}, English summary of Commission report. See paragraphs 82 and 108–123</ref>

In response to the increasingly autocratic rule of Gen. [[José Miguel Ramón Ydígoras Fuentes|Ydígoras Fuentes]], who took power in 1958 following the murder of Col. [[Castillo Armas]], a group of junior military officers revolted in 1960. When their revolt failed, several went into hiding and established close ties with [[Cuba]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://war-memorial.net/Guatemalan-Civil-War-3.205|title=Guatemalan Civil War {{!}} the Polynational War Memorial|website=war-memorial.net|access-date=2020-02-10}}</ref> This group became the nucleus of the forces that mounted armed insurrection against the government for the next 36 years.

In 1966, the left-of-center former law professor [[Julio César Méndez Montenegro]] became President of Guatemala while holding the rank of civilian.<ref name=civiliansuccess>{{cite news|url=https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,835937,00.html|title=Guatemala: Against the Odds|publisher=Time Magazine|date=July 8, 1966|access-date=June 12, 2021}}</ref> However, the historical political odds were still in favor of the nation's military.<ref name=civiliansuccess /> Shortly after Méndez Montenegro took office, the Guatemalan army launched a major counterinsurgency campaign that largely dismantled the guerrilla movement in the countryside.

The guerrillas concentrated their attacks in Guatemala City, where they assassinated several prominent figures, including U.S. Ambassador [[John Gordon Mein]] in 1968. Despite these challenges, Méndez Montenegro successfully completed his four-year term as president before being succeeded by Army Colonel [[Carlos Manuel Arana Osorio]] in 1970. For nearly two decades thereafter, Méndez Montenegro was the only civilian to lead Guatemala until the inauguration of [[Vinicio Cerezo]] in 1986.

===== Franja Transversal del Norte =====
{{Main|Franja Transversal del Norte}}

[[File:Guatemala franja transversal del norte.png|thumb|Location of the [[Franja Transversal del Norte]] (Northern Transversal Strip) in Guatemala]]

The first settler project in the FTN was established in Sebol-Chinajá in [[Alta Verapaz]]. Sebol, then regarded as a strategic point and route through the Cancuén River, communicated with Petén via the Usumacinta River on the border with Mexico. The only road at that time was a dirt track built by President [[Lázaro Chacón]] in 1928. In 1958, during General [[Miguel Ydígoras Fuentes]]'s government, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) financed infrastructure projects in Sebol, which eventually adopted the name "Fray Bartolomé de las Casas," a municipality created in 1983 in Alta Verapaz. In 1960, then Army Captain [[Fernando Romeo Lucas García]] acquired the Saquixquib and Punta de Boloncó farms in northeastern Sebol. In 1963, he purchased the "San Fernando" farm, El Palmar de Sejux, and later acquired the "Sepur" farm near San Fernando. During these years, Lucas, a member of the Guatemalan legislature, lobbied Congress to boost investment in the region.{{sfn|Solano|2012|p=10}}

During this period, the region's importance lay in livestock, the exploitation of precious export wood, and archaeological wealth. Timber contracts were awarded to multinational companies such as Murphy Pacific Corporation from California, which invested US$30 million in the colonization of southern Petén and Alta Verapaz, forming the North Impulsadora Company. Colonization involved granting inhospitable areas of the FTN to native peasants.{{sfn|Solano|2012|p=12}}

In 1962, the DGAA became the National Institute of Agrarian Reform (INTA) through Decree 1551, which established the Agrarian Transformation Law. In 1964, INTA defined the FTN's geography as the northern part of the departments of Huehuetenango, Quiché, Alta Verapaz, and Izabal. That same year, priests from the [[Maryknoll]] order and the Order of the Sacred Heart, in collaboration with INTA, began the first colonization process, bringing settlers from Huehuetenango to the Ixcán sector in Quiché.{{sfn|Solano|2012|p=13}}

{{quote box|width=90%|align=center|"It is of public interest and national emergency, the establishment of Agrarian Development Zones in the area included within the municipalities: San Ana Huista, San Antonio Huista, Nentón, Jacaltenango, [[San Mateo Ixcatán]], and Santa Cruz Barillas in [[Huehuetenango (department)|Huehuetenango]]; [[Chajul]] and San Miguel Uspantán in Quiché; Cobán, Chisec, San Pedro Carchá, Lanquín, Senahú, Cahabón and Chahal, in Alta Verapaz and the entire department of Izabal."|Decreto 60–70, artítulo 1o.{{sfn|Solano|2012|p=15}}}}

The Northern Transversal Strip was officially established during General Carlos Arana Osorio's government in 1970, through Decree 60–70 in Congress, aimed at promoting agricultural development.<ref name=wikiguate>{{cite journal|url=http://wikiguate.com.gt/wiki/Franja_Transversal_del_Norte|journal=Wikiguate|title=Franja Transversal del Norte|access-date=30 October 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140414054657/http://wikiguate.com.gt/wiki/Franja_Transversal_del_Norte|archive-date=14 April 2014|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

===== Guerrilla Army of the Poor =====
{{Main|Ejército Guerrillero de los Pobres}}
On 19 January 1972, members of a new Guatemalan guerrilla movement entered Ixcán from Mexico and were welcomed by many farmers. In 1973, after an exploratory mission into the municipal seat of Cotzal, the insurgent group decided to establish an underground camp in the mountains of Xolchiché, in the municipality of Chajul.{{sfn|Comisión para el Esclarecimiento Histórico: Caso No. 59|1999|p=1}}

In 1974, the insurgent guerrilla group held its first conference, during which it outlined its strategy for the coming months and named itself the Guerrilla Army of the Poor (Ejército Guerrillero de los Pobres, EGP). By 1975, the organization had expanded its presence in the northern mountainous regions of the municipalities of Nebaj and Chajul. As part of its strategy, the EGP aimed to carry out actions that would gain public attention and symbolically represent the establishment of "social justice" against the inefficiency and ineffectiveness of the State's judicial and administrative systems. The group believed these actions would encourage the indigenous rural population to identify with the insurgency and join their cause. As part of this plan, they initiated so-called "executions." The EGP selected their targets based on complaints received from the public. For example, they chose Guillermo Monzón, a military commissioner in Ixcán, and José Luis Arenas, the largest landowner in the Ixcán area, who had been reported for allegedly having land conflicts with neighboring communities and abusing workers.{{sfn|Comisión para el Esclarecimiento Histórico: Caso No. 59|1999|p=1}}<ref group=lower-alpha>José Luis Arenas, who at that time a journalist called "Ixcán Tiger" had been active in Guatemalan politics. He joined as Congress of Republic in the period of Jacobo Arbenz in the opposition; in 1952, he founded the Anti-communist Unification Party (AUP), which later became part of the liberationist movement; went into exile when the first armed clashes between the "Liberation Army" and the Guatemalan Army occurred, but returned with the victory of the National Liberation Movement and during the government of colonel [[Carlos Castillo Armas]] he held various public offices. In the presidential term of Carlos Arana Osorio (1970–1974) Arenas was in charge of the Promotion and Development of Petén (FYDEP). Later, he left politics for agriculture in his coffee and cardamom plantations in the Ixcán and Ixil, in [[Quiché (department)|Quiché]].</ref>

On Saturday, 7 June 1975, José Luis Arenas was killed by unknown assailants while at his farm "La Perla" to pay wage workers. Approximately two to three hundred people had gathered in front of his office to receive their payments, with four members of the EGP mingling among the farmers. The guerrillas then destroyed the farm's communication radio and executed Arenas. After the murder, the guerrilla members addressed the farmers in the Ixil language, identifying themselves as members of the Guerrilla Army of the Poor and stating that they had killed the "Tiger of Ixcán." They requested that animals be prepared to transport the injured to Chajul for medical treatment, after which they fled in that direction.{{sfn|Comisión para el Esclarecimiento Histórico: Caso No. 59|1999|p=1}}

José Luis Arenas' son, who was in San Luis Ixcán at the time, sought refuge in a nearby mountain while waiting for a plane to take him to the capital to report the incident to the Minister of Defense. The minister responded, "You are mistaken, there are no guerrillas in the area."{{sfn|Comisión para el Esclarecimiento Histórico: Caso No. 59|1999|p=1}}

===== Panzós massacre =====
{{Main|Panzós massacre}}
{{quote box|align=center|width=90%|In Alta Verapaz in the late nineteenth century German farmers came to concentrate in their hands three quarters of the total area of 8686 square kilometers that had the departmental territory. In this department came insomuch [[land grabbing]] and women [slaves] by German agricultural entrepreneurs, a political leader noted that farmers disappeared from their villages overnight, fleeing the farmers.| Julio Castellanos Cambranes{{sfn|Castellanos Cambranes|1992|p=305}}}}

Also located in the Northern Transversal Strip, the Polochic River Valley has been inhabited since ancient times by the K'ekchí and P'okomchi peoples. In the second half of the 19th century, President [[Justo Rufino Barrios]] began allocating land in the area to German farmers.{{sfn|Castellanos Cambranes|1992|p=305}} [[German Guatemalans|Settlers from Germany]] arrived in the mid-19th century, acquired land, and established coffee plantations in Alta Verapaz and Quetzaltenango.{{citation needed|date=March 2019}} Decree 170, also known as the Census Redemption Decree, facilitated the expropriation of indigenous lands in favor of the Germans by promoting the auction of communal lands.{{sfn|Castellanos Cambranes|1992|p=305}} Since that time, the primary economic activity in the region has been export-oriented, especially in coffee, bananas, and cardamom.<ref>Testimony, Center for Social History Investigations. Panzós: CEIHS, 1979.</ref> Communal property, previously used for subsistence farming, was converted to private property, leading to the mass cultivation and commercialization of agricultural products. Consequently, the Guatemalan production system has since been characterized by the concentration of land ownership in a few hands,{{sfn|Mendizábal P.|1978|p=76}} along with a form of "farm servitude" based on the exploitation of "settler farmers".<ref group=lower-alpha>According to Guatemalan leftists, this term was essentially a [[euphemism]] for "native slaves".</ref>{{sfn|Castellanos Cambranes|1992|p=327}}

In 1951, an agrarian reform law was enacted to expropriate idle land from private owners, but after the 1954 National Liberation Movement coup, supported by the United States, most of the expropriated land was returned to its former owners. Flavio Monzón was appointed mayor and, over the next twenty years, became one of the largest landowners in the area.{{sfn|Díaz Molina|1998|p=4}} In 1964, several communities that had settled for decades along the [[Polochic River]] applied for property titles to INTA, which had been created in October 1962. However, the land was awarded to Monzón. A Mayan peasant from Panzós later recalled that Monzón "secured the signatures of the elders before going to INTA to discuss the land. When he returned, he gathered the people and said that, due to an INTA mistake, the land had been registered in his name." Throughout the 1970s, Panzós farmers continued to seek INTA's regularization of land ownership, receiving legal advice from FASGUA (Autonomous Trade Union Federation of Guatemala), an organization that supported the peasants' claims through legal procedures. However, no peasant ever received a property title. Some received promises, others obtained provisional titles, and some were only granted permission to plant. The peasants began facing evictions by farmers, the military, and local authorities, all of whom favored the economic interests of Izabal Mining Operations Company (EXMIBAL) and Transmetales.{{sfn|Albizures|Hernández|2013}} Another threat to peasant landowners at the time came from mining projects and oil exploration, with companies like Exxon, Shenandoah, Hispanoil, and Getty Oil holding exploration contracts. Additionally, there was a need for territorial expansion for two major projects of that era: the Northern Transversal Strip and the Chixoy Hydroelectric Plant.{{sfn|Albizures|Hernández|2013}}

In 1978, a military patrol was stationed a few kilometers from the county seat of Panzós, in a place called "Quinich." By this time, the organizational capacity of the peasants had increased, as they formed committees to claim titles to their land, a development that worried the landowning class. Some of these landowners, including Monzón, stated: "Several peasants living in villages and settlements want to burn urban areas to gain access to private property",<ref name=Coban>Gobernación Departamental de Alta Verapaz: ''5 May 1978 Audience'', signatories: colonel Benigno Álvarez S., Alta Verapaz governor, and Flavio Monzón, Héctor Monzón, Raúl Aníbal Ayala, Joaquín González, Mario Cazs, and José María Borges.</ref> and they requested protection from the governor of Alta Verapaz.<ref group=lower-alpha>In municipal act 34–64 (published 9 January 1965) one can see the first indication of military presence in the region, when it was written that it was imperative to incorporate order and security in the area.</ref>

On 29 May 1978, peasants from the villages of Cahaboncito, Semococh, Rubetzul, Canguachá, Sepacay, the Moyagua plantation, and the La Soledad neighborhood decided to stage a public demonstration in the Plaza de Panzós to demand land rights and express their discontent over the arbitrary actions of landowners and civil and military authorities. Hundreds of men, women, and indigenous children gathered in the municipal square of Panzós, armed with tools, machetes, and sticks. One participant stated: "The idea was not to fight; we wanted clarification on the status of the land. People came from various places, and some had guns."

There are differing accounts of how the shooting started. Some say it began when "Mama Maquín," a prominent peasant leader, pushed a soldier who was blocking her way. Others suggest it started when the crowd surged forward, attempting to enter the municipality, which the soldiers interpreted as aggression.{{sfn|Diario de Centro América|1978|p=5}} The mayor at the time, Walter Overdick, stated, "People in the middle of the group pushed those at the front."{{sfn|Diario de Centro América|1978|p=5}} A witness recounted that a protester grabbed a soldier's gun but did not use it, while several others reported hearing a military voice shout, "One, two, three! Fire!"{{sfn|Comisión para el Esclarecimiento Histórico: Agudización|1999}} Ultimately, the lieutenant in charge of the troops ordered them to open fire on the crowd.

For about five minutes, gunfire rang out, with the soldiers using their regulation firearms and three machine guns positioned around the square. Several peasants armed with machetes injured soldiers, although no soldiers were shot. The square was left covered in blood.

Immediately after, the army sealed off the main access roads,{{sfn|Comisión para el Esclarecimiento Histórico: Agudización|1999|p=Testigo directo}} while the indigenous people were reportedly "terrified." An army helicopter flew over the town before evacuating the wounded soldiers.{{sfn|Comisión para el Esclarecimiento Histórico: Agudización|1999}}

===== Transition between Laugerud and Lucas Garcia regimes =====
Due to his seniority within both the military and economic elites of Guatemala, as well as his fluency in Q'eqchi, one of the country's indigenous languages, Lucas García was seen as the ideal official candidate for the 1978 elections. To further bolster his image, he was paired with the left-leaning doctor [[Francisco Villagrán Kramer]] as his running mate. Villagrán Kramer, a man of recognized democratic principles who had participated in the 1944 Revolution, was connected to the interests of transnational corporations and elites, as he served as a key adviser to Guatemala's agricultural, industrial, and financial chambers.{{sfn|IEPALA|1980|p=147}} Despite the democratic appearance, Lucas García's electoral victory did not come easily, and the establishment had to impose him, which further discredited the electoral system{{sfn|IEPALA|1980|p=147}} – already tainted by fraud during the 1974 elections when General Laugerud was imposed.

In 1976, a student group called "FRENTE" emerged at the [[Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala|University of San Carlos]], winning all student body positions up for election that year. The leaders of FRENTE were mostly members of the Patriotic Workers' Youth, the youth wing of the Guatemalan Labor Party (-Partido Guatemalteco del Trabajo- PGT),{{sfn|CEUR|2009}} which had been operating covertly since its banning in 1954. Unlike other Marxist groups in Guatemala at the time, PGT leaders believed in gaining power through mass movements and elections.{{sfn|CEUR|2009}}

FRENTE used its influence within the student associations to launch a political campaign for the 1978 university general elections, allied with leftist faculty members grouped under "University Vanguard." This alliance was successful, with [[Oliverio Castañeda|Oliverio Castañeda de León]] being elected President of the Student Body and Saúl Osorio Paz becoming University President. Their PGT connections also helped them forge ties with the university workers' union (STUSC).{{sfn|CEUR|2009}} Osorio Paz provided support to the student movement, and instead of creating conflict, different groups collaborated to build a higher education institution with a strong social focus. In 1978, the University of San Carlos became one of the most politically influential sectors in Guatemala. That year, the student movement, faculty, and University Governing Board -Consejo Superior Universitario-<ref group=lower-alpha name=CSU>{{citation|last=Molina Mejía|title=Recordando el 14 julio de 1980|year=2007|language=es|quote=CSU members are: University President, University Provost, University Treasurer, College Deans, ten tenured faculty representatives, ten student body representatives, and eleven representatives from the Professional Clubs.}}</ref> united against the government, advocating for greater opportunities for the country's most marginalized sectors. To expand its outreach, the Student Body (AEU) rehabilitated the "Student House" in downtown [[Guatemala City]], where they provided support to politically sensitized villagers and peasant families. They also organized workers in the informal economy.{{sfn|CEUR|2009}}

At the beginning of his tenure as president, Saúl Osorio founded the weekly ''Siete Días en la USAC'', which not only reported on university activities but also consistently exposed human rights violations, particularly the repression of the popular movement. The publication also covered revolutionary movements in [[Nicaragua]] and [[El Salvador]]. For a short period, the state university became a united and progressive institution, preparing to confront the State directly.{{sfn|CEUR|2009}}

FRENTE then had to contend with the radical left, represented by the Student Revolutionary Front "Robin García" (FERG), which emerged during the Labor Day march on 1 May 1978. FERG coordinated student associations across different colleges at the University of San Carlos and public secondary schools. This coordination between legal groups was linked to the [[Ejército Guerrillero de los Pobres|Guerrilla Army of the Poor]] (EGP), a guerrilla group that had surfaced in 1972 and had its base in the oil-rich region of northern Quiché, specifically the Ixil Triangle of Ixcán, Nebaj, and Chajul in the [[Franja Transversal del Norte]].{{sfn|Solano|2012|pp=3–26}} Although not strictly an armed group, FERG frequently sought confrontation with government forces, often promoting actions that escalated into mass violence and paramilitary activities. Its members had no interest in working within institutional frameworks and never sought permission for public demonstrations or actions.{{sfn|CEUR|2009}}

On 7 March 1978, Lucas García was elected president, and shortly after, on 29 May 1978, during the final days of General Laugerud García's government, a peaceful peasant demonstration in the central square of [[Panzós]], [[Alta Verapaz]], was attacked by members of the Zacapa Military Zone, resulting in numerous deaths. The demonstrators, indigenous peasants who had been called to the square, were fighting for the legalization of public lands they had occupied for years. Their struggle placed them in direct conflict with investors seeking to exploit the area's mineral wealth, particularly oil reserves controlled by Basic Resources International and Shenandoah Oil,{{sfn|Solano|2012|pp=3–26}} and nickel reserves managed by EXMIBAL.{{sfn|Rakosy|2012}} The Panzós Massacre caused an uproar at the university due to the high number of victims, and conflicts arose over the [[exploitation of natural resources]] by foreign companies. In 1978, for example, Osorio Paz and other university members received death threats for their vocal opposition to the construction of an inter-oceanic pipeline intended to facilitate oil exploration.{{sfn|CEUR|2009}} On 8 June, the AEU organized a massive protest in downtown Guatemala City, where speakers condemned the Panzós massacre and expressed their strongest opposition yet to the Laugerud García regime.{{sfn|CEUR|2009}}

===== Escalation of violence =====
After the execution of José Luis Arenas, support for the new guerrilla movement increased among the populations of the villages of Hom, Ixtupil, Sajsivan, and Sotzil, neighbors of La Perla and its annexes. This was largely due to the ongoing land dispute between the peasants and the farm owners, with the execution being viewed as an act of "social justice."

The murder of the owner of the farm "La Perla," located in the municipality of Chajul, led to an escalation of violence in the region. While part of the population gravitated toward the guerrillas, others in Hom chose to distance themselves from the insurgency. In 1979, the farm owners established ties with the army, and for the first time, a military detachment was stationed on the property, where the first civil patrol in the area was also formed. The army high command was initially pleased with the results of the operation, believing they had succeeded in dismantling most of the social base of the EGP, which had to be expelled from the "Ixil Triangle." At this point, the presence of the EGP in the area significantly diminished due to the army's repressive actions. The army's strategy extended beyond targeting armed combatants; officers were instructed to destroy any towns suspected of collaborating with the EGP and eliminate all sources of resistance. Army units operating in the "Ixil Triangle" were part of the Mariscal Zavala Brigade, based in [[Guatemala City]].

Although the guerrillas did not directly intervene when the army attacked the civilian population—likely due to a lack of supplies and ammunition—they did support survival strategies. For example, they organized "survival plans" that provided evacuation instructions in the event of military incursions. As a result, much of the population began participating in these schemes, finding them their only alternative to military repression.{{sfn|Comisión para el Esclarecimiento Histórico: Caso No. 61|1999}}

===== Lucas Garcia presidency =====
{{Main|Fernando Romeo Lucas García}}
The election of [[Fernando Romeo Lucas García|Lucas García]] on 7 March 1978 marked the resumption of counterinsurgency practices reminiscent of the Arana period. This shift was further fueled by the Guatemalan military's reaction to the situation in Nicaragua, where the [[Sandinista]] insurgency was on the verge of overthrowing the [[Somoza]] regime. To prevent a similar uprising in Guatemala, the government escalated its repressive campaign against the predominantly indigenous mass movement, intensifying and becoming more overt.

On 4 August 1978, high school and university students, along with other popular movement sectors, organized the first major urban protest of the Lucas García era. Intended as a march against violence, the protest attracted an estimated 10,000 participants. Donaldo Alvarez Ruiz, the new minister of the interior under Lucas García, vowed to suppress any unauthorized demonstrations. When the protesters declined to seek permission, they were confronted by the Pelotón Modelo (Model Platoon) of the National Police, equipped with new anti-riot gear provided by the [[United States Government]]. The platoon surrounded the marchers and deployed tear gas, forcing students to retreat and resulting in the hospitalization of dozens, mostly adolescents.<ref>Amnesty International 1979b: 7; interviews</ref> This incident was followed by additional protests and death squad killings throughout the year. In September 1978, a [[general strike]] erupted in response to sharp increases in [[public transportation]] fares. The government's harsh response included arrests and injuries, but ultimately led to concessions, such as a [[public transportation]] [[subsidy]]. Concerned that these concessions might spur further protests, the military government, supported by state-sponsored [[paramilitary]] [[death squads]], created an environment of insecurity for public leaders.

In the first half of 1978 alone, the administrator of a large cemetery in Guatemala City reported that over 760 unidentified bodies, presumed victims of death squads, had been interred.<ref>{{citation|title=International Bulletin|year=1979|volume=4–6|page=197}}</ref> [[Amnesty International]] described disappearances as an "epidemic" in Guatemala, reporting more than 2,000 killings between mid-1978 and 1980. Between January and November 1979, the Guatemalan press reported 3,252 [[Forced disappearance|disappearances]].<ref>{{cite book|editor1=Peter B. Evans |editor2=Harold K. Jacobson |editor3=Robert D. Putnam|title=Double-Edged Diplomacy: International Bargaining and Domestic Politics|url=https://archive.org/details/doubleedgeddiplo00pete|url-access=registration|year=1993|page=[https://archive.org/details/doubleedgeddiplo00pete/page/337 337]}}</ref>

====== Spanish Embassy fire ======
On 31 January 1980, a group of displaced [[K'iche' people|K'iche']] and [[Ixil people|Ixil]] peasant farmers occupied the [[Diplomatic missions of Spain|Spanish Embassy]] in Guatemala City to protest the kidnapping and murder of peasants in [[Uspantán]] by elements of the Guatemalan Army. During the subsequent police raid, despite objections from the Spanish ambassador, police attacked the building with incendiary explosives. A fire broke out as the police prevented those inside from escaping, resulting in the deaths of 36 people. The victims' funeral, which included the previously unknown father of [[Rigoberta Menchú]], Vicente Menchú, drew hundreds of thousands of mourners. A new guerrilla group, the ''Frente Patriótico 31 de Enero'' (Patriotic Front of 31 January), was formed to commemorate the event. The incident is considered "the defining event" of the Guatemalan Civil War.<ref name="arias 161">
{{cite book
  | last = Arias
  | first = Arturo
  | title = Taking Their Word: Literature and the Signs of Central America
  | publisher = University of Minnesota Press
  | year = 2007
  | page = 161
  | isbn = 978-0-8166-4849-8
}}
</ref> The Guatemalan government claimed that its forces had entered the embassy at the request of the Spanish Ambassador and that the occupiers, whom they labeled "[[terrorist]]s," had "sacrificed the hostages and immolated themselves afterward." Ambassador Cajal denied these claims, and Spain immediately severed diplomatic relations with Guatemala, denouncing the action as a violation of "the most elementary norms of international law".<ref name="time 1980">
{{Cite news
  | title = Outright Murder
  | newspaper = Time
  | date = 11 February 1980
  | url = http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,950248,00.html
  | access-date = 12 February 2015
  | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100811194151/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,950248,00.html
  | archive-date = 11 August 2010
  | url-status = dead
  | df = dmy-all
  }}
</ref> Diplomatic relations between Spain and Guatemala were not restored until 22 September 1984.

====== Increased insurgency and state repression: 1980–1982 ======
In the months following the Spanish Embassy fire, the human rights situation in Guatemala continued to deteriorate. The daily number of killings by official and unofficial security forces increased from an average of 20 to 30 in 1979 to a conservative estimate of 30 to 40 daily in 1980. Human rights sources estimated that 5,000 Guatemalans were killed by the government for "political reasons" in 1980 alone, making it the worst human rights violator in the hemisphere after [[El Salvador]].<ref>"Guatemala and El Salvador: Latin America's worst human rights violators in 1980" The Council on Hemispheric Affairs</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Ramcharan|first=B.G.|title=The Right to Life in International Law|year=1985|publisher=Hague Academy of International Law: Center for Studies and Research|page=337}}</ref> In a report titled ''Guatemala: A Government Program of Political Murder,'' [[Amnesty International]] stated, "Between January and November of 1980, some 3,000 people described by government representatives as 'subversives' and 'criminals' were either shot on the spot in political assassinations or seized and murdered later; at least 364 others seized in this period have not yet been accounted for."<ref>{{cite book|title=Guatemala: A Government Program of Political Murder|year=1981|publisher=Amnesty International Publications|page=5}}</ref>

The government's repression and excessive force against the opposition became a source of contention within Lucas García's administration. This internal conflict led Vice President [[Francisco Villagrán Kramer]] to resign on 1 September 1980, citing his disapproval of the government's human rights record as one of his primary reasons. Following his resignation, Kramer went into voluntary exile in the United States, where he took a position in the Legal Department of the [[Inter-American Development Bank]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cidh.oas.org/countryrep/Guatemala81eng/chap.9.htm |title=Guatemala 1981 – Chapter IX |publisher=Cidh.oas.org |access-date=18 August 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303184549/http://www.cidh.oas.org/countryrep/Guatemala81eng/chap.9.htm |archive-date=3 March 2016 |url-status=live |df=dmy-all }}</ref>

====== Insurgent mobilization ======
The effects of state repression further radicalized individuals within the mass movement, leading to increased popular support for the insurgency. By late 1979, the EGP expanded its influence, controlling significant territory in the Ixil Triangle in El Quiché and holding demonstrations in Nebaj, Chajul, and Cotzal.{{sfn|Richards|1985|p=94}} While the EGP expanded in the Altiplano, a new insurgent movement called ORPA (Revolutionary Organization of Armed People) emerged. Composed of local youths and university intellectuals, ORPA evolved from the Regional de Occidente, which had split from the FAR-PGT in 1971. The ORPA's leader, Rodrigo Asturias (son of [[Nobel Prize in Literature|Nobel Prize]]-winning author [[Miguel Ángel Asturias]]), formed the organization after returning from exile in Mexico.<ref>Concerned Guatemala Scholars (1982), ''Guatemala, Dare to Struggle, Dare to Win'', p. 40</ref> ORPA established its base in the mountains and rainforests above the coffee plantations of southwestern Guatemala and around [[Lake Atitlán]], where it enjoyed considerable popular support.<ref>Robert S. Carlsen (2011), ''The War for the Heart and Soul of a Highland Maya Town: Revised Edition'', p. 144</ref> On 18 September 1979, ORPA publicly announced its existence by occupying the Mujulia coffee farm in Quezaltenango province, holding a political education meeting with the workers.<ref>{{cite book |first=Jonathan L. |last=Fried |date=1983 |title=Guatemala in Rebellion: Unfinished History |page=270}}</ref>

Insurgent movements active during the early phase of the conflict, such as the FAR, also reemerged in 1980, intensifying guerrilla operations in both urban and rural areas. The insurgents carried out armed propaganda acts and assassinated prominent right-wing Guatemalans and landowners, including Enrique Brol, a prominent Ixil landowner, and Alberto Habie, president of CACIF (Coordinating Committee of Agricultural, Commercial, Industrial, and Financial Associations).<ref>{{cite web|title=Timeline of Guatemalan Civil War|url=http://shr.aaas.org/guatemala/ceh/report/english/graphics/charts/page74.gif|access-date=12 February 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120819174431/http://shr.aaas.org/guatemala/ceh/report/english/graphics/charts/page74.gif|archive-date=19 August 2012|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref> Encouraged by guerrilla successes elsewhere in Central America, Guatemalan insurgents, especially the EGP, rapidly expanded their influence across diverse geographic areas and ethnic groups, broadening their popular support base.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://shr.aaas.org/guatemala/ciidh/qr/english/chap4.html |title=Scientific Responsibility, Human Rights & Law Program &#124; AAAS – The World's Largest General Scientific Society |publisher=Shr.aaas.org |date=19 June 2014 |access-date=18 August 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130505224859/http://shr.aaas.org/guatemala/ciidh/qr/english/chap4.html |archive-date=5 May 2013 |url-status=live |df=dmy-all }}</ref> In October 1980, a tripartite alliance was formalized between the EGP, FAR, and ORPA as a precondition for Cuban support.{{sfn|Vice President's Task Force on Combating Terrorism|1989|p=86}}

In early 1981, the insurgents launched the largest offensive in Guatemala's history, followed by another offensive later in the year. Civilians were often coerced into assisting the insurgents, sabotaging roads, army establishments, and anything of strategic value.<ref>''Ejército Guerrillero de los Pobres'', 1983</ref> By 1981, between 250,000 and 500,000 members of Guatemala's [[indigenous peoples|indigenous]] communities actively supported the insurgency, with Army Intelligence (G-2) estimating at least 360,000 indigenous supporters of the [[Ejército Guerrillero de los Pobres|EGP]] alone.<ref>{{harvnb|Arias|1990|p=255}}</ref> From late 1981, the Army implemented a scorched-earth strategy in Quiché,{{sfn|Comisión para el Esclarecimiento Histórico: Caso No. 77|1999|p=1}} aimed at eliminating the guerrilla's social base.{{Citation needed|date=November 2022}} Some communities were forced by the military to relocate to county seats under military control, while others sought refuge in the mountains. Those who fled to the mountains were identified by the Army as guerrilla sympathizers and were subjected to military siege, including continuous attacks that deprived them of food, shelter, and medical care.

====== La Llorona massacre, El Estor ======
La Llorona, located about 18 kilometers from El Estor in the department of Izabal (part of the Northern Transversal Strip), was a small village with no more than twenty houses. Most of the first settlers had arrived from the areas of Senahú and Panzós, both in Alta Verapaz. By 1981, the total population was around 130 people, all of whom belonged to the Q'eqchi' ethnic group. Few villagers spoke Spanish, and most worked in their own cornfields, occasionally working for local landowners. Nearby villages included El Bongo, Socela, Benque, Rio Pita, Santa Maria, Big Plan, and New Hope. Conflicts in the area revolved around land tenure, particularly the uncertainty about boundaries between farms and communities, and the lack of land titles. Since the National Institute of Agrarian Transformation (INTA) had no record of a legitimate owner of the land occupied by La Llorona, the community believed the land belonged to the state and had taken steps to obtain title to the property. However, a powerful local farmer occupied part of the land, leading to a conflict between him and the community. The village men, on their own initiative, devised a new boundary between community land and the farmer's property, but the problem remained unresolved.{{sfn|Comisión para el Esclarecimiento Histórico: Caso No. 44|1999|p=1}}

In the late 1970s, reports began to surface about the presence of guerrillas in the villages. The guerrilla commander known as Ramón introduced himself to the villagers, identifying his group as the Guerrilla Army of the Poor (EGP). They visited many villages, inquiring about local issues and offering to resolve them. The guerrillas told the peasants that the land belonged to the poor and encouraged them to trust the movement. In 1977, Ramón regularly visited La Llorona, and after discovering that land disputes were causing significant problems in the community, he taught the villagers new surveying techniques, which alarmed local landowners. That same year, Ramón's group arbitrarily executed Spanish landowner José Hernández near his property, El Recreo. In response, a clandestine group of mercenaries, dubbed the "Fighters of the Rich," was formed to protect the interests of the landlords. The local authorities in El Estor organized and funded the group, which was supported by the region's major landowners. This irregular group was connected to military commissioners and army commanders in the region, though internal rivalries also existed. The secret organization murdered several people, including victims who had no connection to insurgent groups.{{sfn|Comisión para el Esclarecimiento Histórico: Caso No. 44|1999|p=1}}

In December 1978, Ramón, the leader of the EGP group, was captured by soldiers from the military detachment in El Estor and transferred to the military zone in Puerto Barrios. After two years, he returned to El Estor, this time as an officer in Army Intelligence (G-2), joining a group of soldiers who came to the village.

====== Killings ======
On the evening of 28 September 1981, an army officer, accompanied by four soldiers and a military commissioner, met with about thirty civilians. At seven o'clock, over thirty civilians, mostly from "Nueva Esperanza," including several 'informants' connected to military intelligence, gathered near La Llorona. Along with some military commissioners, a small group of soldiers and army officers, they entered the village. Civilians and commissioners went into twelve houses, dragging out the men and shooting them dead outside their homes. Those who tried to escape were also killed. Women who attempted to protect their husbands were beaten. While the military commissioners and civilians executed the men, the soldiers looted the victims' belongings. Within half an hour, the perpetrators of the assault left the village.

Aftermath

The bodies of the victims, fourteen in all, lay in front of their houses. Despite being threatened with death if they revealed what had happened, the women ran to the nearest village, El Bongo, seeking help. After a few hours, they returned with people who helped bury the bodies. Days later, the widows, along with nearly 60 fatherless children, were taken in by the parish of El Estor for several days until soldiers forced them to return to their village. Two widows of those executed on 29 September developed close relations with the military commissioners from Bongo, causing divisions that persist in the community.{{sfn|Comisión para el Esclarecimiento Histórico: Caso No. 44|1999|p=1}}

Economic and social life in the village was severely disrupted. The widows had to take on their husbands' work, but due to their inexperience in farming, they harvested very little corn and beans. Diseases, especially among children and the elderly, spread as there was a lack of food and clothing. The village teacher, who only worked part-time out of fear, eventually left when he realized it was no longer worthwhile, as young people had to work and could not afford to travel. The village remained without a teacher for the next four years. The events ultimately fractured the community. Some village women believed their husbands were killed due to the involvement of three individuals, connected to the guerrillas, who were involved in a land dispute.{{sfn|Comisión para el Esclarecimiento Histórico: Caso No. 44|1999|p=1}}

According to the Historical Clarification Commission, the landowner involved in the dispute took advantage of the situation to appropriate an additional {{convert|12|acre|ha|0|order=flip}} of land.{{sfn|Comisión para el Esclarecimiento Histórico: Caso No. 44|1999}}

===== List of other massacres perpetrated by the Army in the Franja Transversal del Norte =====
{{Main|Franja Transversal del Norte}}
The report of the Recovery of Historical Memory lists 422 massacres committed by both sides in the conflict;{{sfn|Comisión para el Esclarecimiento Histórico: Caso No. 92|1999}} however, it also states that they did the best they could in terms of obtaining information and therefore the list is incomplete; therefore here are the cases that have also been documented in other reports as well.

{| class="wikitable"  style="text-align:center; background:white; width:60%; font-size:90%; margin: 1em auto;"
|+ style="background:#ffffff;"| '''Chajul, Nebaj and Ixcán massacres in Franja Transversal del Norte'''
|- style="color:white;"
!style="background:#659ec7; width:5%;" | #
!style="background:#659ec7; width:20%;"| Location
!style="background:#659ec7; width:10%;"| Department
!style="background:#659ec7; width:10%;"| Date
!style="background:#659ec7;"| Root cause
|-
!style="background:lemonchiffon;"|1
|Ilom (village), [[Chajul]]||Quiché||23 March 1982||After 1981, repression in Ilom intensified, culminating in the massacre of 96 alleged guerrilla members in front of their families on 23 March 1982, as part of the Army's "Victoria 82" plan. The soldiers involved were from the military base in "La Perla". Survivors fled and sought refuge in the *Comunidades de Población en Resistencia* (Resistance Population Communities).
|-
!style="background:lemonchiffon;"|2
|Chel (village), Chajul||Quiché||3 April 1982||As part of Operation "Victoria 82," Army soldiers from the military base in "La Perla" stormed the settlement of Chel, having marked it as "subversive."{{sfn|Comisión para el Esclarecimiento Histórico: Caso No. 61|1999|p=1}} The assault resulted in the deaths of 95 civilians.
|-
!style="background:lemonchiffon;"|3
|Chisis (village), [[San Juan Cotzal]]||Quiché||13 February 1982||Chisís was a military target for the Army, which considered the village symbolic of the EGP and believed it to be the guerrilla headquarters where attacks on Chajul, Cotzal, and Nebaj had been planned. In January 1982, the EGP attacked the Cotzal military base, with the assault lasting 2 hours and 20 minutes, resulting in 100 military casualties and 20 guerrilla casualties. In retaliation, PAC and Army battalions completely destroyed Chisís, leaving approximately 200 dead civilians.{{sfn|Comisión para el Esclarecimiento Histórico: Caso No. 92|1999}}
|-
!style="background:lemonchiffon;"|4
|Acul (village), [[Nebaj]]||Quiché||April 1982||Combat against the EGP resulted in 17 deaths.{{sfn|Comisión para el Esclarecimiento Histórico: Caso No. 107|1999|p=1}}
|}

===== List of massacres perpetrated by the EGP in FTN =====
According to a report by the rightist magazine ''Crónica'', there were 1,258 guerrilla actions against civilians and infrastructure in Guatemala, including more than 200 murders, 68 kidnappings, 11 bombings of embassies, and 329 attacks on civilians. Most guerrilla massacres occurred in 1982, during a period of intensified militarization and widespread PAC presence in communities. Many victims were targeted for non-cooperation with the guerrillas, and some attacks followed prior PAC assaults. Guerrilla massacres did not typically involve informants, population concentration, or group separation, and there are no reports of rape or repeated slaughter. Instances of razed villages were recorded, though mass flight was less common, despite some occurrences. The use of lists was more frequent.{{sfn|Informe REHMI|n.d.|p=Las massacres de la guerrilla}}

In a publication by the Army of Guatemala, it was reported that the EGP was responsible for sixty massacres, which were largely overlooked by REHMI and the Historical Clarification Commission reports.{{sfn|Platero Trabanino|2013|p=5}} Additionally, it was reported that in mid-1982, 32 members of the "Star Guerrilla Front" were executed for failing to raise the EGP flag.{{sfn|Velásquez|1997|p=17}}

{| class="wikitable"  style="text-align:center; background:white; width:60%; margin: 1em auto; font-size:90%;"
|+ style="background:#ffffff; | '''Chajul, Nebaj and Ixcán massacres in Franja Transversal del Norte'''
|- style="color:white;"
!style="background:#659ec7; width:5%;"|#
!style="background:#659ec7; width:20%;"|Location
!style="background:#659ec7; width:10%;"|Department
!style="background:#659ec7; width:10%;"|Date
!style="background:#659ec7;" |Description
|-
!style="background:lemonchiffon;"|1
|Calapté, [[Uspantán]]||[[Quiché Department|Quiché]]||17 February 1982||There were 42 fatalities, all of whom were murdered with machetes.{{sfn|Velásquez|1997|p=17}}
|-
!style="background:lemonchiffon;"|2
|Salacuín||[[Alta Verapaz]]||May 1982||The EGP entered the community and murdered 20 peasants.{{sfn|Velásquez|1997|p=17}}
|-
!style="background:lemonchiffon;"|3
|El Conguito (settlement), Las Pacayas (village), [[San Cristóbal Verapaz]]||Alta Verapaz||1981||
|-
!style="background:lemonchiffon;"|4
|[[Sanimtakaj]] (village), [[San Cristóbal Verapaz]]||Alta Verapaz||1980||
|-
!style="background:lemonchiffon;"|5
|[[San Miguel Sechochoch]] (farm), [[Chisec]]||Alta Verapaz||March 1982||
|-
!style="background:lemonchiffon;"|6
|Chacalté, [[Chajul]]||Quiché||June 1982||Attack against a "reactionary gang"<ref group=lower-alpha>{{citation |author=Comisión para el Esclarecimiento Histórico: Caso No. 110|year=1999|title=Memoria del silencio|quote=EGP classified the PAC according to the collaboration level they gave to the Army. The guerrilla differentiated patrols formed by people eager to help the Army -and called them "reactionary gangs"- from those "forced civilian patrols" that were forcibly participating.}}</ref> from the PAC in Chacalté, which had recently formed in March and was loyal to the Army after becoming disillusioned with guerrilla promises. The attack resulted in 55 civilian deaths.
|-
!style="background:lemonchiffon;"|7
|[[San Miguel Acatán]] (town), [[San Miguel Acatán]]||Huehuetenango||Unknown||
|-
!style="background:lemonchiffon;"|8
|[[Santa Cruz del Quiche]] (city), [[Santa Cruz del Quiché]]||Quiché||July 1982||
|-
!style="background:lemonchiffon;"|9
|[[Chuacaman]] (settlement), [[El Carmen Chitatul]] (village), [[Santa Cruz del Quiché]]||Quiché||December 1982||
|-
!style="background:lemonchiffon;"|10
|La Estancia (village), Santa Cruz del Quiché||Quiché||August 1981||
|-
!style="background:lemonchiffon;"|11
|[[Xesic]] (village), [[Santa Cruz del Quiché]]||Quiché||1981||
|-
!style="background:lemonchiffon;"|12
|Patzité (town)||Quiché||September 1981||
|-
!style="background:lemonchiffon;"|13
|Lancetillo (village), [[Uspantán]]||Quiché||September 1982||
|-
!style="background:lemonchiffon;"|14
|La Taña (village), [[Uspantán]]||Quiché||March 1982||
|-
!style="background:lemonchiffon;"|15
|Tzununul (village), [[Sacapulas]]||Quiché||February 1982||
|-
!style="background:lemonchiffon;"|16
|Salinas Magdalena (village), [[Sacapulas]]||Quiché||August 1982||
|-
!style="background:lemonchiffon;"|17
|Rosario Monte María (village), [[Chicamán]]||Quiché||October 1982||
|}

===== Civil war in Guatemala city =====
{{Main|Guatemala City}}

{{quote box|width=20%|title=Beheaded corpses hanging from their legs in between what is left from blown up cars, shapeless bodies among glass shards and tree branches all over the place is what a terrorist attack caused yesterday at 9:35 am. El Gráfico reporters were able to get to exact place where the bomb went off, only seconds after the horrific explosion, and found a truly infernal scene in the corner of the 6th avenue and 6th street -where the Presidential Office is located- which had turned into a huge oven -but the solid building where the president worked was safe-. The reporters witnessed the dramatic rescue of the wounded, some of them critical, like the man that completely lost a leg and had only stripes of skin instead.|''El Gráfico'', 6 September 1980{{sfn|Figueroa|2011}}}}

On 31 January 1980, Guatemala gained worldwide attention when the Spanish Embassy in Guatemala City was burned down, resulting in 37 deaths, including embassy personnel and high-ranking Guatemalan former government officials.{{sfn|El Periódico|2012}} A group of indigenous people from [[El Quiché]] occupied the embassy in a desperate attempt to draw attention to their issues with the Army in that region, which was rich in oil and had been recently populated as part of the "Franja Transversal del Norte" agricultural program.{{sfn|La Hora|2013}} The fire, which started when the police attempted to retake the building, resulted in the deaths of 37 people. Following this incident, Spain severed its diplomatic relations with Guatemala.{{sfn|El Periódico|2012}}

[[File:Panoramica 001.JPG|left|thumb|Finance Center in 2011. In 1981, a powerful bomb exploded in the building's basement, leaving it without windows for several years. The owners, Industrial Bank, decided to keep the building open to the public as a defiant stance against the leftist guerrilla.]]

On 5 September 1980, a terrorist attack by the [[Ejército Guerrillero de los Pobres]] (EGP) occurred in front of the Guatemalan National Palace, which was then the headquarters of the Guatemalan government. The attack aimed to disrupt a major demonstration planned by General Lucas García's government for 7 September 1980. The incident resulted in the deaths of six adults and one child when two bombs exploded inside a vehicle.{{sfn|La otra memoria histórica|2011}}

The attack caused an undetermined number of injuries and significant material damage, affecting not only the art pieces in the National Palace but also surrounding buildings, particularly the Lucky Building, located directly across from the Presidential Office.{{sfn|Prensa Libre|1980}} Among the deceased were Domingo Sánchez, the Secretary of Agriculture's driver; Joaquín Díaz y Díaz, a car washer; and Amílcar de Paz, a security guard.

Attacks on private financial, commercial, and agricultural targets increased during Lucas García's presidency, as leftist Marxist groups perceived these institutions as "[[reactionary]]" and "millionaire exploiters" collaborating with the repressive government.{{sfn|Comisión para el Esclarecimiento Histórico: Vol. IV|1999|p=Sección 256}} The following is a non-exhaustive list of terrorist attacks that occurred in Guatemala City and are detailed in the UN Commission report:

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="margin: 1em auto; width:70%; font-size:90%;"
|- style="color:white;"
! style="background:#659ec7; width:25%;"| Date
! style="background:#659ec7; width:25%;"| Perpetrator
!style="background:#659ec7;" | Target
!style="background:#659ec7;" | Result
|-
!style="background:lemonchiffon;"|15 September 1981
|Rebel Army Forces||Corporación Financiera Nacional (CORFINA)||A car bomb damaged the building along with neighboring Guatemalan and international financial institutions, causing more than Q300,000 in losses.{{sfn|Comisión para el Esclarecimiento Histórico: Vol. IV|1999|p=Sección 253}}
|-
!style="background:lemonchiffon;"|19 October 1981
|EGP Urban guerrilla||Industrial Bank Financial Center||Sabotage of the building.{{sfn|Comisión para el Esclarecimiento Histórico: Vol. IV|1999|p=Sección 252}}
|-
!style="background:lemonchiffon;"|21 December 1981
|EGP "[[Otto René Castillo]]" commando||Chamber of Industry, Torre Panamericana (Bank of Coffee headquarters) and Industrial Bank Financial Center||The car bombs completely shattered the building's windows.{{sfn|Comisión para el Esclarecimiento Histórico: Vol. IV|1999|p=Sección 252}}
|-
!style="background:lemonchiffon;"|28 December de 1981
|EGP "Otto René Castillo" commando||Industrial Bank Financial Center||A car bomb targeted the building, virtually destroying one of the bank's towers. In a show of defiance, the bank chose not to repair the windows immediately and continued operations as normally as possible.
|}

Despite the insurgency's advances, it made several fatal strategic errors. Successes by revolutionary forces in Nicaragua against the Somoza regime, combined with the insurgency's own achievements against the Lucas government, led rebel leaders to mistakenly believe that they were reaching a military equilibrium in Guatemala. As a result, the insurgency underestimated the government's military strength.{{sfn|Aguilera Peralta|1981}} Consequently, the insurgents were overwhelmed and unable to secure their gains or protect the indigenous civilian population from reprisals by the security forces.

===== 'Operation Ceniza' =====
In response to the guerrilla offensive in early 1981, the Guatemalan Army initiated a large-scale rural counter-offensive. The Lucas government instituted a policy of forced recruitment and began organizing a "task-force" model for fighting the insurgency, whereby strategic mobile forces were drawn from larger military brigades.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://shr.aaas.org/guatemala/ciidh/qr/english/chap4.html|title=State Violence in Guatemala, 1960 – 1996: A Quantitative Reflection|access-date=12 February 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130505224859/http://shr.aaas.org/guatemala/ciidh/qr/english/chap4.html|archive-date=5 May 2013|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref> To reduce civilian participation in the insurgency and distinguish "hostile" from compliant communities, the army resorted to "civic action" measures. Under Chief of Staff Benedicto Lucas García (the President's brother), the army began recruiting civilians into pro-government [[paramilitary]] patrols to combat insurgents and eliminate their collaborators.

In 1980 and 1981, the United States, under the [[Reagan administration]], delivered $10.5&nbsp;million worth of [[Bell 212]] and [[Bell 412]] helicopters and $3.2&nbsp;million worth of military trucks and jeeps to the Guatemalan Army.{{sfn|North American Congress on Latin America|1984|p=132}} In 1981, the Reagan administration also approved a $2&nbsp;million covert CIA program for Guatemala.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Dickey |first1=Christopher |title=Guatemala Uses U.S. 'Civilian' Copters in Warfare |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1982/01/23/guatemala-uses-us-civilian-copters-in-warfare/ |newspaper=Washington Post}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Parry |first1=Robert |title=Reagan and Guatemala's Death Files |url=https://truthout.org/articles/reagan-and-guatemala-s-death-files/ |website=Truthout|date=5 November 2011 }}</ref>

On 15 April 1981, EGP rebels attacked a Guatemalan Army patrol near the village of Cocob, close to Nebaj, killing five personnel. On 17 April 1981, a reinforced company of airborne troops was deployed to the village, where they encountered guerrillas, foxholes, and a hostile population appearing to fully support the insurgents. "The soldiers were forced to fire at anything that moved".<ref>{{cite book|title=Guatemalan Soldiers Kill Civilians in Cocob|date=April 1981|publisher=CIA Secret Cable|url=http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB11/docs/doc12.pdf|access-date=12 February 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140617052804/http://www2.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB11/docs/doc12.pdf|archive-date=17 June 2014|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref> The army killed 65 civilians, including 34 children, five adolescents, 23 adults, and two elderly individuals.<ref>CEH, 1998, p. 51</ref>

In July 1981, the armed forces began a new phase of counterinsurgency operations under the code-name ''Operación Ceniza'' (Operation Ashes), lasting through March 1982. The goal was to "separate and isolate the insurgents from the civilian population.".<ref>{{cite book|last=Schirmer|first=Jennifer G.|title=The Guatemalan Military Project: A Violence Called Democracy|year=1998|page=45}}</ref> During ''Operación Ceniza'', around 15,000 troops were gradually deployed through the predominantly indigenous Altiplano region, covering the departments of [[El Quiché]] and [[Huehuetenango]].<ref>Grupo de Apoyo Mutuo (1996), ''Draining the Sea: An Analysis of Terror in Three Rural Communities in Guatemala (1980–1984)'', p. 42</ref>

The Guatemalan military's counterinsurgency efforts resulted in widespread civilian casualties and displacement. To sever the insurgents' ties with the civilian population, the army executed mass killings, burned villages and crops, and slaughtered livestock, depriving survivors of their livelihoods. The human rights office of the Catholic Church estimated that 11,000 people, mostly [[indigenous peoples|indigenous]] peasants from the highlands, died in 1981 alone.<ref>{{cite book |author=Minority Rights Group International|title=Minority Rights Group International Report|year=1994|issue= 94–95|page=1981}}</ref> Other sources put the death toll from government repression that year between 9,000 and 13,500.{{sfn|Handy|1994|p=180}}

As repression intensified, tensions between the Guatemalan military and the Lucas García regime grew. Military professionals viewed the Lucas government's heavy-handed approach as counterproductive, arguing that its reliance on military force and systematic terror failed to address the social and ideological roots of the insurgency while further radicalizing the civilian population. Tensions escalated when Lucas endorsed his defense minister, [[Angel Aníbal Guevara]], as the candidate for the March 1982 presidential elections, going against military interests.{{sfn|McCleary|1999|p=47}}

In 1982, the guerrilla organizations merged to form the [[Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity]] (URNG). Concurrently, extreme right-wing vigilante groups such as the Secret Anti-Communist Army (ESA) and the White Hand (''La Mano Blanca'') were actively torturing and murdering students, professionals, and peasants suspected of leftist involvement.

On 23 March 1982, junior army officers staged a coup d'état to block General [[Ángel Aníbal Guevara]] from assuming power, denouncing his election win as fraudulent. Guevara had been selected by outgoing President General [[Romeo Lucas García]]. The coup leaders invited retired General [[Efraín Ríos Montt]] to negotiate Lucas' departure. Ríos Montt, a former presidential candidate for the [[Guatemalan Christian Democracy]] party in 1974, was believed to have lost due to electoral fraud. By 1982, he had become a lay pastor in the evangelical Protestant [[Church of the Word]]. In his inaugural address, he claimed his presidency was ordained by God, and he was seen as enjoying strong backing from the [[Ronald Reagan|Reagan]] administration.

Ríos Montt established a three-member [[Military dictatorship|military junta]] that annulled the 1965 constitution, dissolved [[Congress of Guatemala|Congress]], suspended political parties, and canceled the electoral law. After a few months, Montt dismissed the other junta members and assumed the title of "President of the Republic".

Guerrilla forces and their leftist allies condemned Montt, who sought to defeat them through a mix of military actions and economic reforms, summarized by his slogan, "rifles and beans". In May 1982, the Conference of Catholic Bishops held Montt responsible for increased militarization and continued military massacres. On 18 July 1982, an army officer reportedly told an indigenous audience in [[Cunén]]: "If you are with us, we'll feed you; if not, we'll kill you".<ref name="web.archive.org">Raymond Bonner, "Guatemala Enlists Religion in Battle", ''New York Times,'' 18 July 1982.</ref> On the same day, the [[Plan de Sánchez]] massacre took place.

The government also began organizing civilian defense patrols (PACs). Though participation was supposedly voluntary, many rural men, including boys and the elderly, were forced to join or be branded as guerrillas. At its peak, the PACs are estimated to have included 1 million conscripts. Montt's conscript army and the PACs recaptured almost all guerrilla-controlled areas. Guerrilla activity diminished, becoming mostly limited to hit-and-run attacks, though this partial victory came at a tremendous cost in civilian lives.

Montt's brief presidency was likely the most violent period of the 36-year internal conflict, which resulted in the deaths of thousands of unarmed indigenous civilians. While leftist guerrillas and right-wing death squads also carried out [[summary executions]], forced disappearances, and torture of noncombatants, the vast majority of human rights violations were committed by the Guatemalan military and the PACs under their control. The internal conflict is extensively detailed in the reports of the [[Historical Clarification Commission]] (CEH) and the Archbishop's Office for Human Rights (ODHAG). The CEH estimated that government forces were responsible for 93% of the violations, while ODHAG had previously estimated 80%.

On 8 August 1983, Montt was overthrown by his Minister of Defense, General [[Óscar Humberto Mejía Víctores]], who then assumed power as the ''de facto'' president of Guatemala. Mejía justified the coup by citing issues with "religious fanatics" in the government and "official corruption." Seven people were killed during the coup. Montt survived and later founded a political party, the [[Guatemalan Republic Front]], eventually becoming President of Congress in 1995 and again in 2000.

Awareness in the United States about the Guatemalan conflict, particularly its ethnic aspects, increased with the 1983 publication of the testimonial ''I, Rigoberta Menchú'', a memoir by a prominent activist. [[Rigoberta Menchú]] was awarded the 1992 [[Nobel Peace Prize]] for her advocacy of broader social justice. In 1998, a book by U.S. anthropologist [[David Stoll (anthropologist)|David Stoll]] questioned some details of Menchú's account, sparking international debate. The Nobel Committee, however, maintained that the prize was awarded based on Menchú's undisputed work in promoting human rights and the peace process.

General Mejía facilitated a controlled return to democracy in Guatemala, beginning with a 1 July 1984 election for a [[Constituent Assembly]] to draft a new constitution. After nine months of deliberation, the assembly completed the draft on 30 May 1985, and the new [[Constitution of Guatemala]] took immediate effect. In the first election held under the new constitution, [[Vinicio Cerezo]], the [[Guatemalan Christian Democracy|Christian Democracy Party]]'s candidate, won with nearly 70% of the vote and assumed office on 14 January 1986.