Paradise in Ashes, literally

I found this reading to be a deeply engaging account of he violence and repression that defined the murderous Guatemalan civil war. The story of the village of Santa Maria Tzeja--its birth, destruction, and rebirth--embodies the forces and conflicts that define Guatemala today. Santa Maria Tzeja is what Manz calls "community by choice" (244). It was settled i 1970 by 150 families from the mountain highlands of Guatemala who came together to colonize a piece of the lowland rainforest. Driven by poverty and drawn by the hope of a "promised land" (58), these settlers traveled a path of nearly impassable mud during the rainy season, cleared plots of land, constructed a school, formed cooperative, and in the process built a community which not only survived but thrived in the face of governmental resistance and physical hardships. The interviews with peasants, community leaders, guerrillas, and paramilitary forces provides a detailed explanation of the politics that surround Santa Maria. The work is not only the history of a community but the history of a country at war. Through this study, Manz contributes to our understanding of a national-level war from a community-level perspective. Throughout the book, Manz contextualizes the local events and reflections into the broader Guatemalan and international situation. While she exposes the brutality of the Guatemalan military and the complicity of the US government in Guatemalan atrocities, she does not romanticize the guerrilla nor shy away from sharing villagers criticisms of the guerrilla movement.

There are two instances that made the most significant impact on my understanding of the reading: the juxtaposition of the soldiers celebrating in the forest with food while the villagers sit soaking in the tropical rain, unable to cook, their children coughing and crying with marimba music playing in the background (120) and the man named Santos who was charged as a subversive and kidnapped. The first because it perfectly portrays the theme and title of the reading: a paradise in ashes. The second because of the injustice of the situation--Santos was targeted for asserting his independence. Again and again it is obvious and justified to me the reason behind the stigma the people feel for anything related to the government.