Is the war really over?

Lovell’s chronological assessment of armed conflict and “post-war” Guatemala was enlightening in numerous ways. As I read each chapter I found myself thinking “the next phase must be better” or “the next president will surely get it right and be able to control the military”. But to my optimistic souls despair, I came to realize that Lovell’s telling of the events up to the millennium demonstrated that just because the war seems to be over, does not mean that the guns have been put down.

Ríos Montt, as Rachel has clearly demonstrated, is a perfect example of this. Other leaders in the coup that brought him into power remembered Montt as a “soldier of impeccable integrity, an honest, moral, consummate professional” (55). This irony is almost comical seeing the events that occurred throughout his presidency. One of his first acts was to censor the press, followed by the “bloodiest times Maya have known” (59). As his leadership continued he set up civil patrol groups and claimed responsibility for a twelve-point code of conduct. Unfortunately soldiers only obeyed one code of conduct: “I obey, but I do not act accordingly” (61). Finally, the last part of Montt’s presidency was characterized by an epic denial of his wrongdoings followed by the proclamation that the government had “pledged a commitment to change” (62). Although this is the phase that most remember and places Montt in a very positive light, it is hard to understand how the horrors that occurred months before could so easily be forgiven since Montt was in fact the one whose hands the blood had stained.

Jump ahead a few years to 1987 and Lovell can describe the scene perfectly: “Almost unnoticed by the rest of the world, the war in Guatemala drags on disheartingly” (73). Although this statement is very realistic it is still astounding to me that the army is able to blame “terrorists” for the murders and abductions that are still going on. It is in this chapter that I really question the use of an army at all. As this thought progresses I get stuck on the idea of war at large. What is the point? Who thought it would be a good idea? Does history not show us that after thousands of years the soldiers who pledge their allegiance (and those who are forced in) are not the only ones affected by the massacre? In fact it is far worse than imaginable as Lovell describes women being raped, beaten, and killed. Children being stabbed in their stomachs and old people knifed as if they were animals. What would it take for our world to stop fighting all together? And how can countries continue to spend money on their troops if all it takes is one flip of a page to read about the millions who were unjustly killed in war. I think I am getting ahead of myself though, and since it is obviously impractical to say that the solution to Guatemala and the world’s problems is to end war forever, I will refocus my blog.

In medical anthropology we recently learned about the tendency in which armed conflicts are dissolved into just numbers. The number of people killed by the insurgents, the number of Mayan uprooted from their town when their land was burned and ruined, the number of women raped by soldiers. I think Lovell does a good job of bringing in the other aspects of life that were ruined by this war. He talks about the experiences of the refugees and how even after the “war had ended” there were so many reasons why they would not want to come back. He also discussed the poverty that existed in Guatemala. The most depressing fact being that “three out of four workers earn wages of only $2.00 (U.S.) daily” (90). In relation to this he discussed education, and the lack of opportunity for women, especially Mayan. Finally, he mentions acceptance, and in a quote I particularly liked he states that “Guatemala, I have learned to accept, unfolds in a trajectory of its own elaboration” (102). While it is easy to think of all these factors as individual aspects of Guatemalan suffering, there is no doubt that they are all pieces of the same puzzle – a puzzles that’s larger picture is one of war. What the answer is to helping Guatemala move on is like always a big question mark in my mind. What I do know is that the armed conflict was part of every aspect of Guatemalan life, and in order to get anywhere, the repair must be thought of in this way as well.