September 1980 • Issue 091



Guatemala

At a glance

Leader
President General Romeo Lucas Garcia
Economy
G.N.P. is $790 per person per year
Main exports
coffee, cotton, sugar
People
6.4 million
Health
Child mortality (1-4 yrs): 1.5% (Sweden 0.1%) Daily calorie availability: 91 % Access to clean water: 40%
Culture
Religion: Roman Catholic mixed with Indian tradition; some Protestants. Ethnic groups: Indians mainly of Mayan origin form a 60-40 majority over Ladinos. an Hispanic-Indian mix including anyone who has adopted Spanish language and customs. Previous colonizing power: Spain until independence in 1821
Language
Officially Spanish; there are about 20 Indian dialects; Quiche is most widely spoken.
Sources
All figures from World Development Report, World Bank, 1979.

YOU can still visit Guatemala as a tourist and not know what is going on. On the trail of the spectacles - the glorious countryside with mountains, volcanoes, lakes, savannah and jungle, or the colourful, poverty-wracked indigenous life of the Indians with their regional dress and customs - the tourist who doesn't read newspapers or speak to strangers will leave the country enriched by his glimpse of Mayan culture; perhaps satisfied, but ignorant.

The life-and-death struggle that is going on in Guatemala is fought mainly in committee rooms and on the big estates of the south coast. It is a struggle against ferocious government repression, waged by urban workers and the 'campesinos' who work the cotton, sugar and coffee plantations. Unionists 'disappear', road blockades are set up, a passing car will gun down or kidnap an enemy. The tourist need never know. although the Spanish embassy massacre of last winter, when 39 campesinos died in an attempt to draw attention to the land-grab going on in the northern areas, won some international notoriety.

Guatemala is the most populous of Central American republics, and the most obviously divided. Its Indian people maintain their traditional way of life out of poverty and pride. It still earns the nickname of a banana republic; after 50 years near-occupation by the United Fruit Company it continues to rely heavily on agricultural exports, whose management now lies in the hands of a few families and companies.

The result, socially and politically, is far worse than the World Bank figures on this page indicate. Other reliable studies show that 70 per cent of the population earns $74 or less annually; that 81 out of every 1000 babies do not survive their first year; that the rate of inflation is now about 60 per cent; that 1.3 per cent of the population takes 23 per cent of the wealth.

The people have been fighting back; that is the cause of the present repression. World sugar prices more than trebled in the year February '79 - February '80 and 70,000 cane cutters went on strike for an increase in their daily wage of $1.12.

The famous struggle of the Coca Cola union (against the local bottling franchise holders Embotelladora Guatemalteca) reached a climax in June when the entire executive committee of the CNT - the national labour organisation - was bloodily kidnapped. Their fate is unknown. Three general secretaries of the Coca Cola union have been killed in recent months. Now the International Food and Allied Workers Union has called for a worldwide boycott against Coke.

Resistance within Guatemala is being led by the Democratic Front against Repression which brings students and professionals together with trade unionists and peasants. But it does not include the Christian Democrats who have withdrawn from General Garcia's government and who,it is widely believed, will soon be the front for another Americanbacked government.

Map of Guatemala At a Glance - Guatemala

Penny Sanger




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