Guatemala’s Crippled Peace Process: A Look Back

Guatemala’s Crippled Peace Process: A Look Back

Council on Hemispheric Affairs

• Relatively speaking, Guatemala is Latin America’s most violent nation
• Guatemala’s homicide rate is four times that of Mexico and twelve times that of the United States, making the country the fourth most murderous country in the world
• Aside from Columbia, Guatemala is the region’s worst human rights violator
• As of now, Guatemala is a nation without a future

On March 16, 2011, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon demonstrated his support for Guatemala’s peace process by announcing a USD ten million contribution from the United Nations Peacebuilding Fund.

The contribution aimed to help Guatemala address its human rights issues and strengthen its justice and security system. The occasion also provided an opportunity for the United Nations to work with the country’s civil society to end the country’s military hostilities and resolve lingering tensions left over from the country’s 36-year civil war.

In his speech, Ban commended Guatemala on its recent peacebuilding efforts and its longstanding commitment towards implementing the 1996 Peace Accords. The Peace Accords in reality are a collection of eleven agreements that outline Guatemala’s commitments to the observance of human and indigenous rights, socio-economic reforms, and the restoration of democracy.

Even with years of attention by the United Nations, Guatemala continues to be far from achieving the stability envisioned in the original peace agreement. As Guatemala approaches the fifteen year anniversary of the Peace Accords this December, the country remains just as far from implementing the Peace Accords as it had been when the agreement was first signed.

The Peace Accords supposedly marked a new era of democracy and rule of law for Guatemala, but the country still has yet to meet most of the sweeping development goals outlined in the agreement. While the Peace Accords have barely managed to stall Guatemala from falling back into a full scale civil war, it has failed to bring the country any closer to a democratic and egalitarian society.

For full article click here http://www.coha.org/.

This analysis was prepared by COHA Research Associate Rebecca Tran
Tuesday, May 10, 2011 | Research Memorandum 11.2

The Council on Hemispheric Affairs, founded in 1975, is an independent, non-profit, non-partisan, tax-exempt research and information organization. It has been described on the Senate floor as being "one of the nation's most respected bodies of scholars and policy makers."

ENDS