Editing History of Guatemala (section)

====== 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.