The power of Unity

One reoccurring theme that we’ve encountered this semester is the strong sense of community amongst indigenous Guatemalans. The power that unity and community can have is truly amazing. One point that I thought was extremely important and unique to Santa María Tzejá was the fact that the refugees managed to get their land back. After all the torture and violence in Santa María Tzejá, there were still problems to be settled amongst the people. Conflict existed between three distinct groups of peasants: the antiguos, the nuevos, and refugees. The antiguos were the original people living in Santa María Tzejá, while the nuevos were invited in by the government to take over the land of those who fled. The refugees in Mexico felt that the antiguos had betrayed them, and the tension between the three groups became an advantage to the army. The army tried to enhance the mistrust between the three groups because it gave them more power and made it easier to control the peasants. This is a point that we’ve discussed in class before, when the Spanish tried to separate Mayans into municipios to disunify them. However, the refugees and antiguos were able to put aside their differences when they realized that they both wanted the same thing: “a unified and prosperous village” (p. 186). I thought that the repatriation effort started by Cerezo is a great example of how important unity is to Guatemala. At first, the refugees only cared about getting rid of the people who were living in their lands, and the nuevos were willing to fight back in order to keep living there. However, Manz makes a good point when she explains that despite their differences, the refugees, the antiguos, and the nuevos were all “poor and insecure peasants in search of land” (p. 185). I think the work that Manz did to encourage the refugees to return to Guatemala is amazing. She personally brought news, letters, and photographs of the nuevos so that the refugees felt connected to their land and could learn more about the people living there. Once the refugees began interacting with the antiguos and realized that they both wanted the same thing, it fostered the return of the refugees.

As I read about reunification, I wondered why Santa María Tzejá was the first village in Guatemala in which its refugees returned. Initially, the Santa María Tzejá refugees were separated into different camps, but made an effort to be relocated together. This unity enabled the refugees to reclaim their land. In Mexico, the refugees gained more education and behaved differently, but moved back as a group to their homeland and cohabited with the antiguos. Manz brings up an interesting point when she talks about the “consciousness of the community.” Although the refugees were not from common ancestry, “the experience of building the village had been so powerful that the villagers viewed themselves as a community in Mexico” (p. 188). I think that consciousness of the community is something that is unique to Guatemala as a whole.

Overall, despite the severe violence they endured, the three groups of peasants were able to survive by unifying separately and then eventually settling their differences to achieve their common goal. The refugees sought unity in the camps, and those who remained in Santa María Tzejá relied on each other as a group in order to hide from the military. These cohesive units provided the foundation for Santa María Tzejá to become a successful and self-sufficient village in the late 20^th century.