Guatemala: Civil War
(see also Guatemala, Guatemalan American History, Life & Values & Guatemala since 1995)
Basics
CIA World Factbook. Includes map.
UN Development Program, Human Development Indicators
On the Web: Articles
Yolanda Colom, mujeres en la alborada. Guerrilla y participacion femenina en Guatemala, 1973-1978, Testimonio. Julio Castellanos Cambranes, Revista PolÌtica & Sociedad 37 (1999)
On the Web: Specialized Sites
In the Library: Articles
Aguilera, Gabriel P. "The massacre at Panzós & capitalist development in Guatemala," Monthly Review 31,7 (12/79):13-23.
Bell-Villada, Gene. "Why Dinesh d'Souza has it in for Rigoberta Menchú," Monthly Review 45,1 (5/93):36-45.
Berry-Bravo, Judy. "Social issues in poetry by Guatemalan women," Review of Latin American Studies 4,1-21 (1991):313-26.
Beverley, John. "The real thing (our Rigoberta)," in D. Sommer (ed.) The Places of History: Regionalism Revisited in Latin America (Durham NC: Duke, 1999), pp. 154-64.
Brittin, Alice A. "Close encounters of the Third World Kind: Rigoberta Menchú & Elisabeth Burgos's Me llamo Rigoberta Menchú," Latin American Perspectives 22,4 (fall 1995).
Burt, Jo-Marie & Fred Rosen. "Truth-telling & memory in postwar Guatemala: an interview with Rigoberta Menchu,” NACLA Report 33,5 (3-4/99):6-10.
Cohen, Hal. "The unmaking of Rigoberta Menchú," Lingua Franca (7-8.99):48-55.
Dudley, Steven. "David Stoll on Rigoberta, guerrillas & academics," NACLA Report 33,5 (3-4/99):8-9.
Dunn, Alvis E. "A cry at daybreak: death, disease & defense of community in a highland Ixil-Mayan village," Ethnohistory 42,4 (fall 95):595-606.
Garza Caligaris, Ana María y Juana María Ruiz Ortiz. "Madres solteras indígenas," Mesoamérica 12,23 (6/92):67-78.
González Alonso, Julia y Jude Pansini. "El cuidado médico propio y los trabajadores de las fincas de Guatemala," Mesoamérica 17,32 (12/96):315-38.
Grandin, Greg. "Taking sides: resistance & its representation in new Guatemalan scholarship," Radical History Review 63 (fall 95):189-99.
Hale, Charles R. "Consciousness, violence & the politics of memory in Guatemala," Current Anthropology 38,5 (12/97):817-38.
Hanlon, Catherine L. Nolin y George Lovell. "Huida, exilio, repatriación y retorno: escenarios de los refugiados guatemaltecos, 1981-1997," Mesoamérica 34 (12/97):559-82.
Hawkins, John P. "Reflexiones sobre la autonomía cultural indígena: Imágenes inversas en Chamula y Santiago Chimaltenango," Mesoamérica 19 (6/90):83-95.
Honey, Martha & Ricardo Miranda. "Guatemalan hit squads come to the US," Progressive (6/96):22-26.
Jonas, Susanne. "Contradictions of Guatemala's 'political opening'," in Jonas & Stein (eds.) Democracy in Latin America (NY, 1990), pp. 65-83.
__________. "Text & subtext of the Guatemalan political drama," LASA Forum 24,4 (win 94):3-9.
__________. "Dangerous liaisons: the US in Guatemala," Foreign Policy 103 (sum 96):144-60.
Loucky, James & Robert Carlsen. "Massacre in Santiago Atitlan," Cultural Survival Quarterly 15,3 (1991):65-70.
McConahay, Mary Jo. "Guatemala's 'invisible war' comes home with a vengeance to Santa María de Jesús," National Catholic Reporter (5/4/90):6.
_________. "Rigoberta Menchu," Progressive (1/93):28-31.
Morrison, Andrew R. & Rachel A. May. "Escape from terror: violence & migration in post-revolutionary Guatemala," Latin American Research Review 29,2 (1994):111-32.
Norton, Chris. "Building new image to aid sick economy," In These Times (2/6-12/85).
Paul, Jeffrey. "Priest at center of land dispute angers Guatemalan growers," National Catholic Reporter (12/9/94):12.
Ortiz, Sister Dianna. "A nun confronts her torture," Progressive (6/96):27-28.
Payeras, Mario. "The Guatemalan Army & US policy in Central American," Monthly Review 37,10 (3/86):14-20.
Ruether, Rosemary Radford. "Modern catacombs in Guatemala mountains," National Catholic Reporter (5/5/90):20.
Saldaña Portillo, María Josefina. "Re-guarding myself: Menchu's autobiographical rendering of the authentic order," Socialist Review 94,1-2 (1995):85-114.
Schirmer, Jennifer. "The seeking of the truth & the gendering of consciousness: the comadres of El Salvador & the Conavigua widows of Guatemala," in S. A. Radcliffe & S. Westwood (eds.) "Viva": Women & Popular Protest in Latin America (London, 1993), pp. 30-64.
Schwartz, Norman B. "Re-privatización y privación: sistemas tradicional y contemporáneo de tenencia de la tierra en el Petén, Guatemala," Mesoamérica 29 (1995):215-32.
In the Library: Non-Fiction Books
Arias, Arturo (ed.) The Rigoberta Menchú Controversy (Minneapolis: U. of Minnesota, 2001). Controversy ignited by David Stoll's Rigoberta Menchú. Includes response by Stoll.
Beng, Stephen Connely. Guatemalan Journey (Austin: U. Texas, 1996). Impact of missionaries & genocide on Western Highlands.
Berger, Susan A. Political & Agrarian Development in Guatemala (Boulder: Westview, 1992).
Carlsen, Robert S. The War for the Heart & Soul of a Highland Maya Town (Austin: U. Texas, 1997).
Carmack, Robert M. Rebels of Highland Guatemala: The Quiche-Mayas of Momostenango (Norman: U. Oklahoma, 1995).
Center for the Study of the Americas. Listen, Compañero: Conversations with Central American Revolutionary Leaders (San Francisco: Solidarity, 1983). Interview with Comandante Benedicto.
CIIDH/GAM. Draining the Sea: An Analysis of Terror in Three Rural Communities in Guatemala (1980-1984) (trans. Gretta Tovar-Siebentritt; Washington, 1996).
Colom, Yolanda. Mujeres en la alborada: guerrilla y participación feminina, 1973-1978. Testimonio (San Juan PR: Puerto, 2000).
Eber, Christine. Women & Alcohol in a Highland Maya Town: Water of Hope, Water of Sorrow (Austin: U. Texas, 1995).
Fauriol, Georges A. & Eva Loser. Guatemala's Political Puzzle (New Brunswick NJ: Rutgers, 1989).
Freyermuth Enciso, Graciela y Nancy Godrey. Refugiados guatemaltecos en México: la vida en un contínuo estado de emergencia (México, 1993).
Frost, Melvin. Guatemala's Population Profile (Tempe: Arizona State U., 199?).
González, Gaspar Pedro. La otra cara (The Other Face of My Society) (Rancho Palos Verdes CA, 199?).
Grandin, Greg. The Blood of Guatemala: A History of Race & Nation (Durham NC: Duke, 2000).
Harbury, Jennifer K. Bridge of Courage: Life Stories of the Guatemalan Compañeros & Compañeras (Monroe ME: Common Courage, 1994).
__________. Searching for Everardo. A Story of Love, War & the CIA in Guatemala (NY, 1997).
Hendrickson, Carol. Weaving Identities: Construction of Dress & Self in a Highland Guatemalan Town (Austin: U. Texas, 1995).
Hooks, Margaret. Guatemalan Women Speak (London: CIIR, 1992).
Interdiocesan Project for the Recovery of Historical Memory (REMHI). Guatemala: nunca más (4 vols.; San José, 1998). "Truth Commission Report" issued by Bishop Juan Girardi just before his murder in April, 1998.
Jay, Alice. Persecution by Proxy: The Civil Patrols in Guatemala (NY, 1993).
Jonas, Susanne & David Tobis (eds.) Guatemala (NY: NACLA, 1981).
__________. The Battle for Guatemala: Rebels, Death Squads & US Power (Boulder: Westview, 1991).
Levinson-Estrada, Deborah. Trade Unionists Against Terror: Guatemala City, 1954-1985 (Chapel Hill: U. North Carolina, 1994).
Lovell, W. George. A Beauty that Hurts: Life & Death in Guatemala (Toronto: Between the Lines, 1995).
Manz, Beatriz. Paradise in Ashes: A Guatemalan Journey of Courage, Terror & Hope (Berkeley: U. of California, 2004).
Menchú, Rigoberta with Elizabeth Burgos. I, Rigoberta Menchú: An Indian Woman in Guatemala (Me llamo Rigoberta Menchú y así me nació la conciencia) [1983] (London: Verso, 1984). Enormously influential testimonio, the object a decade later of David Stoll's controversial critique.
__________. Crossing Borders: An Autobiography (Rigoberta: la nieta de los mayas) [1998] (London, 1998).
Montejo, Victor. Testimony: Death of a Guatemalan Village (Testimonio: muerte de una comunidad indígena en Guatemala) [1993] (trans. Victor Perera; Willimantic CT: Curbstone, 1987).
__________ & Q'anil Akab'. Brevísima relación testimonial de la continua destrucción del Mayab (Guatemala) (Providence, 1992).
Nelson, Craig & Kenneth I. Taylor. Witness to Genocide: The present situation of Indians in Guatemala (London, 1989).
Ordóñez Cifuentes, José Emilio Rolando. Rostros de las prácticas etnocidas en Guatemala (México, 1966).
Partnoy, Alicia. You Can't Drown the Fire: Latin American Women Writing in Exile (San Francisco: Cleis, 1988). Articles from mid-80's by Rigoberta Menchú & Carmen Batsche.
Payeras, Mario. Days of the Jungle: The Testimony of a Guatemalan Guerrillero, 1972-1976 (Dias de la selva) [1980] (NY: Monthly Review, 1983). Records EGP's breakthrough from sectarian isolation of 60's into massive recruitment of Indians in western highlands -- the preface to catastrophe for Indian communities.
Perera, Victor. Unfinished Conquest: The Guatemalan Tragedy (Berkeley: U. California, 1993).
Reed, Thomas F. & Karen Brandow. The Sky Never Changes: Testimonies from the Guatemalan Labor Movement (Ithaca NY: Cornell, 1996). Life stories of embattled trade unionists.
Russell, Grahame. Unearthing the Truth: Exhuming a Decade of Terror in Guatemala (Washington: EPICA, 1996).
Sanford, Victoria. Mothers, Widows & Guerrilleras: Anonymous Conversations with Survivors of State Terror (Uppsala: Life & Peace Institute, 1998).
Schirmer, Jennifer. The Guatemalan Military Project: A Violence Called Democracy (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, 1998).
Sexton, James D. Son of Tecún Umán: A Mayan Indian Tells His Life Story (Tucson: U. of Arizona, 1981).
__________. Campesino: The Diary of a Guatemalan Indian (Tucson: U. of Arizona, 1985).
__________. (ed.) Ignacio: The Diary of a Mayan Indian of Guatemala (Philadelphia: U. Pennsylvania, 1991).
Simon, Jean Marie. Guatemala: Eternal Spring, Eternal Tyranny (NY: Norton, 1988).
Stoll, David. Rigoberta Menchu & the Story of All Poor Guatemalans (Boulder: Westview, 1998).
Wilkinson, Daniel. Silence on the Mountain: Stories of Terror, Betrayal, & Forgetting in Guatemala (NY: Houghton Mifflin, 2002). Guerrilla resistance & brutal repression as experienced on one venerable plantation in coffee-growing San Marcos department during 1980's.
Zimmerman, Marc & Raúl Rojas (eds.) Voices from the Silence: Guatemalan Literature of Resistance (Athens: Ohio U. Center for International Studies, 1998).
Zur, Judith. Violent Memories: Quiché War Widows of Guatemala (Boulder, 1997).
In the Library: Fiction
Arias, Arturo. After the Bombs (Después de las bombas) [1979] (trans. Asa Zatz; Willimantic CT: Curbstone, 1990). Military coups as experienced by a boy in Guatemala City.
__________. Itzam na: novela (La Habana: Casa de las Américas, 1981).
__________. Jaguar en llamas (Guatemala: Ministerio de Cultura y Deportes, 1989).
__________. Los caminos de Paxil (Guatemala: Ministerio de Cultura y Deportes, 1990).
__________. Sopa de caracol (Guatemala: Alfaguara, 2002). 1980s.
__________. Rattlesnake: A Novel (Cascabel) [1998] (trans. Sean Higgins & Jill Robbins; Willimantic CT: Curbstone, 2004). 1980s.
Goldman, Francisco. The Long Night of the White Chickens (NY, 1992).
González, Pedro Gaspar. A Mayan Life (Rancho Palos Verdes CA: Yax Te', 1995).
Lindsey, David. Body of Truth (NY, 1992).
Montejo, Victor D. The Bird Who Cleans the World & Other Mayan Fables (El pájaro que limpia el mundo y otras fábulas mayas) [2000] (trans. Wallace Kaufman; Willimantic CA: Curbstone, 1992).
___________. The Adventure of Mr. Puttison among the Maya (Aventura de Mr. Puttison entre los mayas) [1998] (trans. Susan Giersbach Rascón & Fernando Peñalosa; Rancho Palos Verdes CA: Yax Te', 2002).
Morales, Mario Roberto. Face of the Earth, Heart of the Sky (Señores bajo los árboles) [1994] (trans. Edward Waters Hood; Tempe AZ: Bilingual, 2000).
Omang, Joanne. Incident at Akabal (NY, 1992).
In the Library: For Young Readers
In the Library: Poetry
Cane'k, Caly Domitila. "Birth & death," "Candles," "Woman in Prison" & "Papa & Mama," in Partnoy, Alicia. You Can't Drown the Fire: Latin American Women Writing in Exile (San Francisco: Cleis, 1988), pp. 218-23.
Castillo, Otto René. Tomorrow Triumphant: Selected Poems (San Francisco: Night Horn, 1984). Bilingual ed.
Esquivel, Julia. "They have threatened us with resurrection" & "Parable" in Partnoy, Alicia. You Can't Drown the Fire: Latin American Women Writing in Exile (San Francisco: Cleis, 1988), pp. 190-97.
__________. The Certainty of Spring: Poems by a Guatemalan in Exile (Washington, 1993).
Mallol, Alenka Bermúdez. "I want to explain a few things...," "I take your hand & move on" in Partnoy, Alicia. You Can't Drown the Fire: Latin American Women Writing in Exile (San Francisco: Cleis, 1988), pp. 224-26.
Murguía, Alejandro & Barbara Paschke (eds.) Volcán: Poems from Central America (San Francisco: City Lights, 1983). Bilingual ed. of poems by Otto René Castillo, Mario Payeras, Francisco Morales Santos, Delia Quiñonez, Rafael Sosa, José Luis Villatoro, Marco Antonio Flores, María de los Angeles Ruan & Roberto Obregón.
In the Library: Drama
In the Library: Photography
Heptig, Vince. A Mayan Struggle: La Lucha Maya:Portrait of a Guatemalan People in Danger
CD & Audio
Film & Video
"Against Forgetting: Digging Up & Confronting the Past in Guatemala" [1996], dir. Jonathan Treat, 16m. From EPICA.
"The Devil's Dream" [1992], dir. Mary-Ellen Davis, 58m. From Cinema Guild. Appalling socio-political realities of Guatemala before peace treaty.
"Dirty Secrets: Jennifer, Everardo & the CIA in Guatemala" [1998], dir. Patricia Goudvis, 56m. From New Day Films. US human rights lawyer searches for her missing husband, a Guatemalan guerrilla leader, exposing US complicity in Guatemalan state terrorism.
"Discovering Dominga" [2003], dir. Patricia Flynn & Mary Jo McConahay, 60m. Iowa housewife discovers she was born in a Guatemalan Mayan village whose inhabitants were massacred, & ends up helping bring about legal exhumation.
"Guatemala: Roads of Silence" [1988], dir. Felix Zurita, 59m. From Cinema Guild. Examines plight of Guatemalan Indian peasants victimized by government's counterinsurgency program.
"Haunted Land" [2001], dir. Mary Ellen Davis, 74m. From Cinema Guild. Maya survivor & Ladino photographer join in search for tragic past.
"Hidden Holocaust" [198?], dir. ?, 52m. BBC documentary on effects of Guatemalan Army's highlands "pacification" campaign; from Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala (NISGUA).
"If the Mango Tree Could Speak" [1993], dir. Patricia Goudvis, 58m. From New Day Films. Ten boys & girls 13-15 growing up amidst civil wars in Guatemala & El Salvador.
"Sacred Earth" [1996], dir. Mary-Ellen Davis, 54m. From Cinema Guild. Plight of landless Indian peasants in western highlands, & their persistence in celebrating life through music, dance & ritual in the face of terrible injustice.
"Todos Santos Cuchumatán: Report from a Guatemalan Village" [1982], dir. Olivia Carrescia, 42m. From First Run/Icarus. Documentary on village life.
"Todos Santos: The Survivors" [1989], dir. Olivia Carrescia, 58m. From First Run/Icarus. Documentary on consequences for village of guerrilla activity & government repression in 80s.
"Under the Gun: Democracy in Guatemala" [1987], dir. Patricia Goudvis & Robert Richter, 39m. From First Run/Icarus.
"When the Mountains Tremble" [1983], dir. Pamela Yates & Thomas Sigel, 83m. From New Yorker Films. Centered on story of Rigoberta Menchú.