Guatemalan Genocide in 1980

Genocide has often gone unnoticed in South America. The varied regions, seeped in turmoil and warfare has often resulted in many forgetting that the region even exists. This unfortunate situation has produced horrible results. Poverty and death has gone unnoticed, corruption and destruction is fostered, and the oppressed remain so. These conditions also promote genocide and crimes against humanity, as the destroyers fear no punishment. This is what happened in Guatemala, as thousands were killed by the military.
Genocide in Guatemala is often passed over, especially in America, because this nation often caused most of the problems in Guatemala. After World War 2, Guatemala was able to initiate land, political, economic, and other reforms that caused years of peace. However, after 'Ten Years of Spring' the land reforms proposed by the democratically elected government threatened United States business interests. The companies went to the Eisenhower administration with a 'Communist Plot' that threatened the world at large. Using exiled Guatemalans and CIA operators, the United States caused a coup in Guatemala. In a couple months, the United States coup suppressed workers unions, and assassinated or exiled anyone who opposed them. This start to violence caused years of turmoil as military juntas and disputed elections caused cycles of repressions and violence. The violence reached a peak during 1982. (Peace, 1)
This was under the military leader Garcia. Having won the election, he grew angry with the Communist guerillas that operated in the northwestern section of Guatemala, termed the 'Highlands?. In the Guatemalan Highlands was also the majority Mayan Indian population. Seeing them as accomplices to the guerilla activities, the military launched a terror campaign to suppress the Unidad Revolucionaria Nacional Guatemalteca (URNG) (Peace, 2). This sweep of violence often followed a set order.
'The military offensives targeted the civilian population; men, women, children, inhabitants of numerous rural communities located in areas of significant insurgent presence (Draining, 3).? The violence that followed was extraordinary. The military would surround villages and towns in the Guatemalan Highlands. They would keep watch, and on days when the villagers would go into town to sell their wares, the military moved in. 'Children were often beaten against walls, or thrown alive into pits where the bodies of adults were later thrown; they were also tortured and raped. Victims of all ages often had their limbs amputated, or were impaled and left to die slowly. Others were doused in petrol and set alight, or disemboweled while still alive. Yet others were shot repeatedly, or tortured and shut up alone to die in pain. The wombs of pregnant women were cut open.?
There were also death squads who would go throughout the region. 'Death squads (some of which in time came under the army's umbrella), largely made up of criminals, murdered suspected 'subversives' or their allies; under dramatic names, such as 'The White Hand' or 'Eye for an Eye', they terrorized the country and contributed to the deliberate strategy of psychological warfare and intimidation (Peace, 2).?
All these forces contributed to the destruction and death in Guatemala. These tactics were termed genocide afterwards, since these attacks were against the Mayan Indians who were thought of as supporters of the communist guerillas. The violence lasted because the United States turned a blind eye on something that would contribute in the Cold War. 'USA continued to provide military support to the Guatemalan government, mainly in the form of arms and equipment. The infamous guerrilla training school, the School of the Americas in Georgia USA, continued to train Guatemalan officers notorious for human rights abuses; the CIA worked with Guatemalan intelligence officers, some of whom were on the CIA payroll despite known human rights violations (Peace, 2).?
The violence only ended when Garcia was deposed, and a new wave of insurgent prevention tactics began. Community and infrastructure based organizations, economic, political, and social movements began, and they forced the guerillas down through peaceful means, rather than the brutal military suppression. This violence is made worse by the ignorance by humanity at large. This area of the world is often glazed over, and not worried about or given due attention. The Holocaust stands tall above these other violent genocides and deliberate murders.

Source 1Peace
Sorry about some of the question marks.
This is a report I was required to submit for my English Class, and is somewhat biased (meh) and the opening is more opinion, not so much fact.
In any case, here you go.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Marshal Murat

This is a report I was required to submit for my English Class, and is somewhat biased (meh) and the opening is more opinion, not so much fact. In any case, here you go.

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Didn't the teacher point you to this little gem?

I also had that one, just didn't add it, so thank you for your contribution!