By Lauren Paverman
In a rare push to promote indigenous rights in his country, outgoing Guatemalan President Álvaro Colom promised during his campaign to create a government that would seek to unite the ethnically diverse nation. Following his 2007 electoral victory, he announced, “My objective is to convert Guatemala into a social-democratic country with a Mayan face.” But the level of violence in Guatemala has since suffocated such rhetoric; the country today has the seventh-highest rate of violent deaths in the world.
In what will undoubtedly be a dramatic political shift from moderate left to hard right, Otto Pérez Molina will take over as president on Jan. 14. The new administration can either keep up with the progress being made on peacemaking and reconciliation in the areas of indigenous and human rights or all but dismiss the issue as it tackles Guatemala’s notorious security problem.
Voted into office due to wide support from the rural indigenous population, President Colom at first made a concerted effort to investigate human rights abuses. This is a central issue in a country that endured a horrific internal armed conflict from 1960 to 1996 in which about 200,000 people – mostly indigenous civilians – were killed. His successor, ex-General Pérez Molina, was voted in by a populace extremely preoccupied with the government’s inability to provide personal security, especially in urban areas. While his policies may help to alleviate the current security crisis, many fear that Pérez Molina’s professional background and alleged connection to human rights abuses during the country’s internal conflict will dissuade him from taking a hard line on impunity.
Additionally, the many mineral extraction and mining sites that have been established in Guatemala over the past decade could become a serious source of conflict between the government and the indigenous populations, if not dealt with appropriately. The decisions made regarding these two crucial issues will determine if the new president’s ties to the military and his administration’s efforts to increase foreign investment will necessarily infringe on democratic values or impede the advancement of basic human rights.
President Colom has been considered unique for at least verbally prioritizing human rights. In an interview with the Council on Hemispheric Affairs (COHA), Director of the Guatemalan Human Rights Commission Kelsey Alford-Jones explained that Colom “came into office claiming that he was going to represent indigenous peoples and that he was going to have a government with a Mayan face.” Over half of Guatemala’s population is comprised of indigenous Mayans.
Efforts to bring war-crime perpetrators to justice have gained momentum, due largely to the work of Attorney General Claudia Paz y Paz, appointed by Colom in December 2010. Since her appointment, she has made an effort to work closely with the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala. Her office played an integral role in arresting forty members of the Zetas drug cartel who were connected to the murder of Cobán Prosecutor Allan Stowlinsky and 27 farmers, along with detaining three suspects who were allegedly involved in the murder of two mayoral candidates in Guatemala City. With this and several other successful convictions of high-ranking military officials, Guatemala appears to be slowly establishing a precedent of accountability for future political and military leaders.
Unfortunately, the current administration has come into conflict with many sectors of the indigenous population that continue to fight for their territorial rights. Guatemala’s flourishing extractive industries have encroached on indigenous territory, yet little has been done to rectify this type of violation. Activists have been ignored, threatened, and arrested for defending their land. Alford-Jones explains that such groups have been “highly critical of the way that [President Colom] has used criminalization and militarization to clamp down on community movements.” Indigenous Mayans have been constantly fighting for their rights on a broad range of topics, including cultural and political autonomy, but their demands as well as their status continue to be marginalized in the national decision-making process.
The once mutually supportive relationship between Guatemala’s indigenous population and the Colom administration has become increasingly soured by the government’s approval of exploitative mining licenses for transnational companies and mega-projects that have seriously infringed upon indigenous land rights.
In Guatemala there are currently 395 active mining licenses, although the mining sector contributes less than one percent of the country’s GDP. Many are concerned that Pérez Molina’s iron-fist mentality will not be limited to decisions on security, and could preclude any meaningful consultation with indigenous groups on issues pertaining to the mining industry and multinationals’ use of native land.
Outside the realm of economic development, Pérez Molina’s attitude toward investigating human rights abuses and ending impunity for former military officials who committed them will greatly impact how he is perceived by both Guatemalans and the international community. Pérez Molina has made several comments suggesting that he will not attempt to disrupt the work of the country’s Public Prosecutor’s Office by forcing Attorney General Paz y Paz out of her post. By retaining her and allowing for freedom of action, Pérez Molina could go a long way to gain the credibility that he lacks in other areas of Guatemala’s national life.
Lauren Paverman is a research associate at the Council on Hemispheric Affairs, a U.S.-based Latin America think tank. An excerpt of her analysis of Guatemala appears here. For the entire perspective, seewww.coha.org.
