Reunification

As I read through this book I had some of the same thoughts that many others have discussed. It's interesting after learning so much about Guatemala this semester to once again hear even more about the hardships that the indigenous people faced and how they were able to pull through it as a community. The beginning sections of this book offer a nice glimpse into the formation of community in this "promise land". This mood quickly changes into one of horror as the details of war in the 1980's were delved into and discussed. There were so many stories, like the ones Hanna mentioned about the soldiers celebrating while other people were suffering, that help to really put into perspective how horrible the situation really was.

After reading so much about the terror that the country was plagued with I found the section on reunification to be the most promising and the most interesting. I found it rather intriguing that there was so much fighting between the different groups of peasants. It’s hard to understand how people who all come from the same lifestyle can take such different views when an issue like insurgency and war comes up. As the author pointed out to the refugees, “ the three groups were all poor and insecure peasants in search of land” (185). However, what I found to be the most promising fact was the way in which the antiguos and the refugees were able to come to a general understanding that the army was the only one truly benefiting from the peasants fighting. It is from this realization as well as many other painstaking measures and agreements that the refugees were finally capable of returning to Guatemala. I didn’t realize how much life in refugee camps in Mexico altered the mindset and outlook of the refugees and how their stays in Mexico helped provide them with the capabilities they needed to rebuild their community when they returned to Guatemala. People like Roselia Hernandez were able to use their time in Mexico to learn and adapt in ways that would help a growing community. However, these new found skills were not always useful as many times, “ the returnees were often frustrated by the meekness of those who stayed” (197). As horrible as this sounds it does make some sense. It has to be hard for the refugees to have this outlook and hope for the future and bring it back with them only to have the community that stayed put not cooperating with the new ideas. All in all, it is from the ability of both sides to balance these differences that the community of Santa Maria Tzeja was the only village in which reunification was successful.