Editing History of Guatemala (section)

===== 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}}