Editing History of Guatemala (section)

===== '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.