Guatemala II
The more one reads about Latin American history the more common are the patterns, the structures, and the ways in which dissent, rebellions and resistance are smacked down in order to instill an oppressive perspective that benefits a handful few.
Of course there are also some peculiarities that differentiate one place from the other. The intense resistance of the Ixil and their abuse through history, the presence of ladinos and almost medieval practices through which a “Mayan worker’s wife or a daughter may be taken as a loan collateral.”[1] But there is also the perhaps obvious recourse to violence when they have been extremely exploited and abused by landowners, religious leaders, military personnel and the all too pervasive presence and assistance of the U.S. government trying to do away with those focus of resistance. Moreover, it is perhaps through that U.S. engagement in the Guatemalan conflict that the lawyer and Jennifer Harbury was able to cast a light on the abuses of the U.S. citizens by the Guatemalan government with the aid of CIA agents. Although it is curious how the life of a few U.S. citizens counts more than the life of countless Guatemalans who have died in the hands of the same pernicious coalition of Guatemalan security forces and U.S. government involvement in the region, it is through Harbury’s tenacity that an inquiry is launched and the issue moves beyond the demand of a few human rights activist, peasants and a crazy ‘gringo’ who sympathize with communism.
Another peculiarity that also caught my attention was the story of the Comandante in page 79. The sheer self-sufficiency of the one who feels that might is on his side, the deliberate or misunderstood use of his real rank within the army as well as his take on Marxism and how the fact that his perspectives on the futility of ideas until they are tested through reality, which happens to be a Marxist concept is only so because Marxism has stolen their language. There is also the extremely conservative language of family, protection, reeducation and the Mayor who according to the Comandante does not speak Spanish is simply someone who may speak Spanish but simply does not understand it.
The other aspect that also caught my attention was the turn to Israel as a source of weapons and instructions, which happends to coincide a few years later with a recent approach of the Colombian army to Israeli forces who are said to provide training and instruction in anti-terrorist practices.
[1] Victor Perera, unfinished conquest, the Guatemalan Tragedy Berkeley, University of California Press 1993 Page 70
hollmanlozano 
I was also really interested in the comandante and his ideological fervor that in many instances was contradictory. For instance his comment about Israel as a ‘nation of soldiers’ and comparison with Guatemala doesn’t really reflect reality. I’d say the only loose similarity is that there are Land issues and ethnic tensions. His distorted notion of patriotism in the Cold-war Guatemalan context is one that upholds ethnic tension in the nation, is dramatically dependent on foreign aid in the form of munitions and finances from the US (like Israel), and supports the fragmentation of its peoples in order to serve the vices of the Ladino Land owning elites. While In Israel there is indeed ethnic conflict and IDF behavior only fuels this, there are still things like the Kibutz land system and at least attempts at negotiation, while in this time in guatemala there is only violence and annihilation. I guess my point is that the military regime in Guatemala was one that was much more genocidal and didn’t pursue any diplomatic options in the way that the Israel-Palestine issue does (despite repeated failures, tensions, regression to violence, etc). Thanks for your comment.
In addition to the two of you I found the comandante to be very interesting as well; how he was so firm in his beliefs regardless of how much he really seemed to understand them or not. It’s also interesting how he said, at the beginning of the interview, “no English spoken here.” It seems that he just wants to appear as Guatemalan as possible and he wants to appear to represent the entirety of the population and its beliefs almost showing that he is a part of Guatemala and the EGP is not; regardless of the military being assisted by outside forces like Israel or not.