{{Infobox Military Conflict
|conflict=Guatemalan Civil War
|partof=Cold War
|image=Image:Rabinal cross.jpg
|caption=Cemetery in Rabinal
|date=1960 - 1996
|place=Guatemala
|casus=
|territory=
|result=Peace accord signed in 1996
|combatant1=Guerrilla Army of the Poor<br>Revolutionary Organization of Armed People<br>Rebel Armed Forces<br>Guatemalan Labor Party<br>(1960-1982)<br>Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity<br> (1982-1996)
|combatant2=22pxGuatemalan Right Wing Government
|combatant3=
|commander1=Rolando Morán
|commander2=
|commander3=
|strength1=
|strength2=
|strength3=
|casualties1=
|casualties2=
|casualties3=
|notes=
}}

The '''Guatemalan Civil War''', the longest civil war in Latin American history, ran from 1960 to 1996, and had a profound impact on Guatemala. 

==Origins and background==

One reason for the civil war was the economic and social discrimination  against Guatemala's indigenous peoples, many of them Maya. They make up more than half of Guatemala's total population. Many of the insurgents came from this group. European descended wealthy landowners controlled most the land.[http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/latin_america/december96/guatemala_12-30.html]

In 1944, a group known as the "October Revolutionaries" instituted liberal reforms, strengthening urban workers and the peasantry. A group of left-leaning students, professionals and liberal-democratic coalitions, they were led by Juan José Arévalo (1945–1951) and Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán (1951–1954). Right-wing Col. Carlos Castillo Armas led the 1954 Guatemalan coup d'état, backed by the CIA, who allegedly suspected a Communist takeover. Armas began to dismantle a decade of reform, outlawing labor unions and leftist political parties. This radicalized the left.[http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1316/is_10_34/ai_93088744]

The Truth Commission writes that Guatemalan military influence over the government passed through different stages during the years of the armed confrontation. It began during the 1960s and 70s with the Army’s domination of the structures of the executive branch. The Army subsequently assumed almost absolute power for half a decade during the 1980s, by penetrating all of the country’s institutions, as well as its political, social and ideological spheres; in the later final stage of the confrontation, it developed a parallel, semi-visible, low profile, but high impact, control of national life. In the military itself, the Guatemalan military intelligence system became the driving force, to control the population, the society, the State and the Army itself.[http://shr.aaas.org/guatemala/ceh/report/english/conc1.html]

Four principal left-wing guerrilla groups  — the Guerrilla Army of the Poor (EGP), the Revolutionary Organization of Armed People (ORPA), the Rebel Armed Forces (FAR), and the Guatemalan Labor Party (PGT) — conducted economic sabotage and targeted government installations and members of government security forces in armed attacks. These organizations combined to form the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity (URNG) in 1982. 

At the same time, extreme right-wing groups of self-appointed vigilantes, including the Secret Anti-Communist Army (ESA) and the White Hand (La Mano Blanca), tortured and murdered students, professionals, and peasants suspected of involvement in leftist activities. The elusiveness of the enemy frustrated the military. As a result, they began staging increasingly brutal assaults on civilian populations, swelling the death toll.

The Catholic Church was before the 1960s conservative and opposed what it perceived as a world-wide expansion of atheistic communism. In the 1960s parts of it were influenced by liberation theology. The guerrillas saw this a common ground on which to extend its social base, seeking to gain the sympathy of its followers. Counterinsurgency forces began to see some Catholics as allies of the guerrillas.[http://shr.aaas.org/guatemala/ceh/report/english/conc1.html]

The United States supported the government and Cuba and other Communist states the insurgents. Marxist ideology advocating a violent proletarian revolution instead of the limited opportunities for legal participation that were available is alleged to have contributed to the conflict.[http://shr.aaas.org/guatemala/ceh/report/english/conc1.html]

The Guatemala Civil War was predominantly fought between the government of Guatemala and insurgents between 1960 and 1996.

==Early years of conflict==

In response to the increasingly autocratic rule of General Ydigoras Fuentes, who took power in 1958 following the murder of Colonel Castillo Armas, a group of junior military officers revolted in 1960. When they failed, several went into hiding and established close ties with Cuba. This group became the nucleus of the forces that were in armed insurrection against the government for the next 36 years.[http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/guatemala.htm]

In November,1965, U.S. security adviser John P. Longan arrived in the country, and worked with elite members in the Guatemalan army to set up a squad operating under the name "Operation Cleanup" that throughout 1966 conducted a series of captures and assassinations" in what professor of history President Julio César Méndez Montenegro took office in 1966, the army launched a major counterinsurgency campaign that largely broke up the guerrilla movement in the countryside. The guerrillas then concentrated their attacks in Guatemala City, where they assassinated many leading figures, including United States Ambassador John Gordon Mein in 1968.

==Ríos Montt==

On 23 March 1982, army troops commanded by junior officers staged a coup d'état to prevent the assumption of power by General Ángel Aníbal Guevara, the hand-picked candidate of outgoing President and General Romeo Lucas García. They denounced Guevara's electoral victory as fraudulent. The coup leaders asked retired General Efraín Ríos Montt to negotiate the departure of Lucas and Guevara. Ríos Montt had been the candidate of the Christian Democracy Party in the 1974 presidential elections and was widely regarded as having been denied his own victory through fraud.

Ríos Montt was by this time a lay evangelical Reagan administration in the United States. He formed a three-member military junta that annulled the Congress, suspended political parties and cancelled the junta colleagues and assumed the de facto title of "President of the Republic".

Guerrilla forces and their indigenous Guatemalans in Cunén that: "If you are with us, we'll feed you; if not, we'll kill you."<ref>
"Guatemala Enlists Religion in Battle", Raymond Bonner, ''New York Times,'' 18 July 1982. For a number of years, the U.S. State Department, in its background notes on Guatemala, attributed this quotation to Gen. Ríos Montt himself. See: [http://web.archive.org/web/20020404034633/http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2045.htm Background Note: Guatemala, April 2001] via the Internet Archive.</ref>  
The Plan de Sánchez massacre occurred on the same day.

The government began to form local civilian defense patrols (PACs). Participation was in theory voluntary, but in practice, many people, especially in the rural northwest, had no choice but to join either the PACs or the guerrillas. Ríos Montt's conscript army and PACs recaptured essentially all guerrilla territory — guerrilla activity lessened and was largely limited to hit-and-run operations. However, Ríos Montt won this partial victory only at an enormous cost in civilian deaths.

Ríos Montt's brief presidency was probably the most violent period of the 36-year internal conflict, which resulted in thousands of deaths of mostly unarmed indigenous civilians. Political scientist Piero Gleijeses writes that "excesses were committed by the guerrillas, but the voluminous evidence from Amnesty International, Americas Watch, and other human rights organizations, as well as from observers, is conclusive: the immense majority of the killings were committed by the Guatemalan army.” <ref>Piero Gleijeses, afterword for Cullather, Nick. Secret History: The CIA’s Classified Account of its Operations in Guatemala, 1952-1954, xxvii </ref>.

==Resumption of democracy==
Ríos Montt was deposed on On 8 August 1983 by the  Minister of Defense, General Óscar Humberto Mejía Victores.  Mejía became de facto president and justified the coup, saying that "religious fanatics" were abusing their positions in the government and also because of "official corruption". Ríos Montt founded the Guatemalan Republican Front He was elected President of Congress in 1995 and 2000.[http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/guatemala.htm]

In I, Rigoberta Menchú, An Indian Woman in Guatemala;''  She was later awarded the 1992 Nobel Peace Prize for her work in favor of broader social justice. In 1998 a book by U.S. anthropologist David Stoll challenged some of the details in Menchú's book, creating an international controversy.[http://www.stanfordalumni.org/news/magazine/1999/mayjun/articles/menchu.html]

General Mejía allowed a return to democracy in Guatemala. On new constitution, which took effect immediately. Vinicio Cerezo, a civilian politician and the presidential candidate of the Guatemalan Christian Democracy, won the first election held under the new constitution with almost 70% of the vote, and took office on 14 January 1986. It took, however, another 10 years of conflict, before there was an end to the violence.[http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/guatemala.htm]

Historian of Guatemala, Susanne Jonas writes that while "the Reagan State Department cheerfully proclaimed Guatemala a "consolidated"/"post-transitional" democracy after nothing more than the 1985 election. More sober academic analysts attempting to include Guatemala in the "democratic family" had to resort to inventing new categories of democracy (restricted, pseudo-, "tutelada," "facade," "democradura," etc.). When it becomes necessary to add all those qualifiers...the definition of democracy is being stretched beyond acceptable limits." Jonas writes that "for the most part from 1986 through 1995, civilian presidents allowed the army to rule from behind the scenes."  <ref>Jonas, Susanne. Democratization through Peace: The Difficult Case of Guatemala. Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs, Vol. 42, No. 4, Special Issue: Globalization and Democratization in Guatemala (Winter, 2000)</ref>

Upon its inauguration in January 1986, President Cerezo's civilian government announced that its top priorities would be to end the political violence and establish the rule of law. Reforms included new laws of amparo'' (court-ordered protection), the creation of a legislative human rights committee, and the establishment in 1987 of the Office of Human Rights Ombudsman.  The Supreme Court also embarked on a series of reforms to fight corruption and improve legal system efficiency.

With Cerezo's election, the military moved away from governing and returned to the more traditional role of providing internal security, specifically by fighting armed insurgents. The first two years of Cerezo's administration were characterized by a stable economy and a marked decrease in political violence.  Dissatisfied military personnel made two coup attempts in May 1988 and May 1989, but military leadership supported the constitutional order.  The government was heavily criticized for its unwillingness to investigate or prosecute cases of human rights violations.

The final two years of Cerezo's government also were marked by a failing economy, strikes, protest marches, and allegations of widespread corruption.  The government's inability to deal with many of the nation's problems — such as infant mortality, illiteracy, deficient health and social services, and rising levels of violence — contributed to popular discontent.

Presidential and congressional elections were held on Congress, Serrano entered into a tenuous alliance with the Christian Democrats and the National Union of the Center (UCN).

The Serrano administration's record was mixed. It had some success in consolidating civilian control over the army, replacing a number of senior officers and persuading the military to participate in peace talks with the URNG.  He took the politically unpopular step of recognizing the sovereignty of Belize, which until then had been officially, though fruitlessly, claimed by Guatemala as a province.  The Serrano government reversed the economic slide it inherited, reducing inflation and boosting real growth.

On May 25, 1993, Serrano illegally dissolved Congress and the Supreme Court and tried to restrict civil freedoms, allegedly to fight corruption.  The ''autogolpe'' (or autocoup) failed due to unified, strong protests by most elements of Guatemalan society, international pressure, and the army's enforcement of the decisions of the Court of Constitutionality, which ruled against the attempted takeover.  In the face of this pressure, Serrano fled the country.  An Intelligence Oversight Board report states that CIA helped in stopping this autocoup.<ref>[http://www.ciponline.org/iob.htm Report on the Guatemala Review] Intelligence Oversight Board. June 28, 1996.</ref>

Der '''Guatemaltekische Bürgerkrieg''' wurde von Unidad Revolucionaria Nacional Guatemalteca - URNG) und der guatemaltekischen Regierung ausgetragen. Ihm fielen 150.000 bis 250.000 Menschen zum Opfer, unter ihnen überwiegend einfache indigene Einwohner, die bei Massakern der Armee oder rechter paramilitärischer Truppen umkamen. Der Krieg wurde offiziell mit der Unterzeichnung der Friedensverträge, durch die URNG und das guatemaltikische Militär, beendet. 

== Auslöser ==
Als Antwort auf die zunehmend autokratische Herrschaft von General Castillo Armas die Macht in Guatemala ergriff, revoltierte 1960 eine Gruppe junger Offiziere. Nachdem sie scheiterten, versteckten sich viele von ihnen im Untergrundbewegung und knüpften Bande mit Kuba. Diese Gruppe bildete den treibenden Kern der Kräfte, die über 36 Jahre den bewaffneten Widerstand gegen das Regime führten.

== Verwickelte Parteien ==
Folgende vier Guerillero-Gruppierungen waren Hauptwidersacher der Regierung während des Bürgerkrieges:
*Ejército Guerrillero de los Pobres (Guerilla-Armee der Armen, EGP)
*Organización Revolucionaria del Pueblo en Armas (Revolutionäre Organisation des bewaffneten Volkes, ORPA)
*Fuerzas Armadas Rebeldes (Streitkräfte bewaffneter Rebellen, FAR)
*Partido Guatemalteco del Trabajo (Guatemaltekische Arbeiterpartei, PGT)

Die vier Gruppierungen betrieben Wirtschaftssabotage und griffen Regierungsinstitutionen sowie Sicherheitspersonal der Regierung an. Sie schlossen sich 1982 zur ''Unidad Revolucionaria Nacional Guatemalteca'' (Nationale guatemaltikische revolutionäre Vereinigung, URNG), zusammen.

Die Handlungen der Guerilleros lieferten der Regierung einen Vorwand für Massaker an der indigenen Bevölkerung, die das Land traumatisierten.
Zur gleichen Zeit folterten rechtsgerichtete Selbstjustizgruppen, darunter die anti-kommunistische Geheimarmee (ESA) und die Weiße Hand, Bürger, die sie verdächtigten, in linksgerichtete Aktivitäten verwickelt zu sein.