History of Guatemala

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The eventful history of Guatemala stretches from 300 AD, the beginning of the Maya culture, to the present day.

Maya

Pre-Classical Period

Takalik Abaj
Tikal
Iximché
The city of Flores was built on the ruins of Tayasal

The first traces of settlement by the Maya in the area of ​​today's Guatemala can be traced back to the middle of the second millennium BC. Corresponding archaeological findings can be found both in the northeastern lowlands of Guatemala, in today's Departamento Peten , and in the highlands, for example in the area of ​​today's capital Guatemala City . With the transition from the early to the middle pre-classical period of the Mayan culture, the first urban centers emerged. According to the current state of research, the oldest major Mayan city was Nakbé , which is located in the north of the Peten department near the border with Mexico . Architectural development began here around 1000 BC. And the city flourished in the period from about 800 to 400 BC. At the same time, and from the beginning only slightly later than Nakbé, cities developed in the western Guatemalan coastal lowlands, in today's Retalhuleu and Suchitepéquez departments , from which Takalik Abaj and Chocolá gained particular importance, and in the central highlands, in the area of ​​the today's capital, the city of Kaminaljuyú . Takalik Abaj, which was initially still under the influence of the Olmecs , and Chocolá owed their importance primarily to the cultivation of cocoa , Kaminaljuyú to its strategic location on the trade route from the Pacific coast to the Maya heartland in the Peten lowlands. There in the northeastern lowlands, El Mirador , Uaxactún , Tikal , Seibal , Cival and others were soon followed by a number of other cities that were built in the late pre-classical period from around 400 BC. Were important centers. Ruling elites formed in these cities, so that they developed into city-states .

Classic period

Tikal, in particular, had already assumed the role of a regional hegemonic power in the northeast of today's Guatemala in the pre-classical period . And while most of the cities of the pre-classical period until the end of the 2nd century AD were abandoned by the majority of their population and sank into insignificance for as yet unexplained reasons, Tikal survived this phase and remained the dominant power in the southeastern part of the classical period Mesoamerica . In the process, however, it temporarily became dependent on city-states in what is now Mexico. In 378, for example, an army conquered the city of Teotihuacán Tikal in the central Mexican highlands, killing the then ruler and installing a new one. However, the ruling dynasty set up by the conquerors soon merged with the old one and Tikal retained its dominant position in the region. More significant was a conflict with the city ​​of Calakmul , located on the Yucatán peninsula in what is now the Mexican state of Campeche . From the year 546 onwards, it had increasingly interfered in the internal affairs of city-states that were actually within Tikal's sphere of influence. Calakmul's intervention in a conflict between Tikal and his vassal Caracol in favor of Caracol in 562 finally resulted in open war. Tikal was defeated and as a result went through a period of weakness that lasted more than a hundred years. The reason for the defeat of Tikal is likely to have been connected with the simultaneous decline of Teotihuacán, with which it was allied since the 4th century. It was not until 695 that Tikal succeeded in conquering Calakmul and regaining his old position of power. In the next hundred years or so Tikal experienced its greatest heyday. At that time there were probably around 50,000 people living in the city center and around 200,000 people in the metropolitan area of Tikal (a size that hardly any city in Europe reached at the time). The excavations in Tikal have so far unearthed around 3,000 buildings, including several temple pyramids , which extend over an area of ​​around 15 km². For reasons that have not yet been fully clarified, the Maya left the area around the 10th century. According to the prevailing theory, climate changes , droughts and ecological destruction were the cause.

Post-classical period

As a result, smaller empires emerged in the highlands in the south of what is now Guatemala, which now assumed the character of territorial states. The realms of the Quiché with the capital Q'umarkaj (Utatlán) , the Tzutuhil around Lake Atitlán and the Cakchiquel with the capital Iximché deserve to be mentioned . These three realms had a common origin. They originated when a foreign people advanced from the Gulf of Mexico along the Río La Pasión into the Guatemalan highlands around the year 1200 AD and subjugated the Quiché Maya who lived there. The conquerors were probably a Nahua people. This consisted of seven clans : the founders of the three lineages of the Quiché (Nima K'iche ', Tamub and Ilok'ab), the ancestors of the Cakchiquel, the Tzutuhil and the Rabinal , and a seventh clan called the Tepew Yaki. After the above-mentioned empires were initially closely linked due to their common origin, they became alienated over time and, given the increasing expansion efforts of the Quiché empire, fought various armed conflicts. In addition to the aforementioned realms, that of the Mam with the capital Zaculeu was also important in the Guatemalan highlands .

In the northeastern lowlands of Guatemala, Mayan states were formed again when the Itzá and in the first half of the 14th century the Ko'woj retreated southwards from Yucatán. The Itzá settled in the area of ​​the Petén-Itzá lake and built their new capital Tayasal on an island in this lake. The Ko'woj settled a little further east. Its capital was initially in Topoxté until around 1450 and later in Zacpetén .

Colonial times

Conquista

In 1511 the Spaniards landed in South America and in 1524 conquered the aforementioned empires in the highlands from Mexico under Pedro de Alvarado . Pedro de Alvarado benefited from the fact that the Cakchiquel at that time were in conflict with the Quichés and the Tzutuhil, allied with them. So the Cakchiquel called the Spaniards for help and together with them subjugated the Quiché, but at the same time lost their own independence. The leader of the Quiché in the fight against the Spaniards and the Cakchiquel was Tecun Uman , who is revered as a national hero to this day, especially by large parts of the indigenous population of Guatemala . After subjugating the Quiché, the Spaniards built their first administrative center, today's Tecpan, in the immediate vicinity of Iximché, the old capital of the Cakchiquel . While Pedro de Alvarado was marching against the empires in the southern highlands of Guatemala, the conqueror of Mexico, Hernán Cortés , took the route further north from the Gulf of Mexico via the area around Lake Peten-Itzá to the Gulf of Honduras . On this way he also came through the kingdom of the Itzá and met in Tayasal with their ruler ( Halach Huinik ) Ah Kaan Ek , with whom he celebrated a Catholic mass. But he made no attempt to subjugate the Itzá. As a result, the Itzá and Ko'woj in Petén remained almost unmolested by the Spaniards for over 150 years. Only in 1618 did two Franciscan brothers visit Taysal, where they found, among other things, that the cross erected by Cortés was still standing. It was not until the mid-1680s that there were serious attempts to subjugate them, but they initially failed. In 1697 the governor of Yucatán, Martín de Urzúa y Arizmendi , finally succeeded in conquering Tayasal as the last free Mayan city. The hard-to-reach west coast of the Gulf of Honduras was explored by Francisco de Montejo in 1527 and by Alonso Dávila in 1531 .

Colonial rule

The country became part of the viceroyalty of New Spain , founded in 1535 , with the city of Ciudad Vieja, built in 1524, developing into a regional administrative center of the General Capitol of Guatemala . The city was destroyed by floods and an earthquake in 1542, so that the seat of the regional government had to be moved to Santiago de los Caballeros (today's Antigua ) in 1543 . Since this city was also destroyed in 1773, a new administrative center had to be found again; however, since 1776 the regional administration was in what is now Guatemala City .

The trade with the Indians and the exploitation of the scarce natural resources were hardly profitable. Nevertheless, the colonial rulers set up a system of large secular and ecclesiastical manors with enslaved natives as workers. It is estimated that colonization led to a population decline in the Guatemalan highlands from 800,000 at the beginning of the 16th century to around 100,000 in the middle. It was not until the 17th century that the area of ​​present-day Guatemala acquired a certain importance for the extraction of the colorants crimson and indigo , and later also as a growing area for sugar, cocoa, cotton and tobacco.

The Spaniards could not prevent the British from settling in British Honduras (later: Belize ) in 1639, resulting in a dispute that continues between the two areas to this day.

In 1784 the Spanish crown abolished the increasingly inefficient tax system for indigenous villages. Also at the end of the 18th century, an independence movement, mainly supported by the Creole population, began. Shortly afterwards, a political split in the Spanish-born upper class began to establish itself in a liberal trader faction and a conservative current close to the clergy and the Spanish government. The liberal wing supported the beginning independence movement. Indian revolts in parts of the country, the Napoleonic occupation of Spain and the independence movement in the rest of Latin America also weakened Spanish colonial rule.

independence

On September 15, 1821, Guatemala declared itself independent from Spain, which the mother country accepted without a fight, and initially at the instigation of Gabino Gaínza joined the newly independent Empire of Mexico . After separating from Mexico in 1823, it joined the Central American Confederation . However, this confederation, which was led by the liberal Francisco Morazán , encountered resistance from conservative secessionist movements in Guatemala, Honduras , El Salvador , Nicaragua and Costa Rica , and broke up in the course of the war from 1838–1840. Guatemala, which had declared itself a republic in 1839, achieved statehood. In fact, the young Rafael Carrera , who led the rebellion against the Confederation in Guatemala at the head of a conservative movement supported by the Catholic Church, became the country's strongest man.

19th century

Guatemala was mostly ruled by dictators from all political directions (so-called caudillos), who received their respective power through the support of the military. The clerical-conservative and from the simplest of backgrounds Rafael Carrera was elected President in 1844 at the age of 30. Because of his successes in the fight with the confederate government he was very popular and with the election his position as a "strong man" was institutionalized. In 1845 he put down an attempt at restoration by the Confederate. In 1851 he again defeated Confederate troops operating from El Salvador and Honduras at La Arada. In 1854 he became president for life.

A severe economic crisis set in in the middle of the 19th century. An important reason was the development of synthetic dyes, which devalued the main export products carmine and indigo . As a result of this crisis, too, a liberal opposition began to form.

Carera signed the treaty defining the border with Belize in 1859 . In 1863, Guatemala suffered a humiliating defeat at Coatepeque in a war with neighboring El Salvador and subsequently allied with Costa Rica, while El Salvador formed an alliance with Nicaragua and Honduras. In another campaign, Carrera achieved a victory and the capture of San Salvador , which consolidated Guatemala's dominance in Central America. Carrera determined Guatemalan politics until 1865, when he gave up the presidency. His preferred candidate, General Vincente Cerna, was elected.

In 1871 Justo Rufino Barrios led a “liberal revolution” against Cerna. At first his colleague Garcia Granados became president, but he fell in June 1873, so that Barrios was declared the new president. Barrios organized the modernization of the country and ensured, among other things, freedom of the press and freedom of religion, and church property was nationalized. Guatemala received the first railway lines and a telegraph network as well as a nationwide school supply. In 1879, Guatemala also received its own constitution for the first time after its conservative predecessors had ruled by means of a dictatorial ordinance.

Barrios improved trade and had new crops grown. During his reign, coffee became the most important crop. Plantation cultivation of bananas also began to a lesser extent. German and US investors in particular supported the development of these economic sectors. The indigenous population was pressed to work on latifundia , the plantation areas were obtained to a large extent from secularized church land as well as from previous Indian pastures. The large-format estate system created during this time has shaped Guatemalan agriculture to this day.

Barrios sought to reunite Central America and led the country into an unsuccessful war against El Salvador . He died in the Battle of Chalchuapa in 1885 . The brief transitional government of Alejandro Sinibaldi (he was in office for two weeks) was followed by Manuel Lisandro Barillas Bercián . He was officially elected President in 1886 and continued the reforms introduced by Barrios during his term of office, which lasted until 1892.

His liberal successor, José María Reina Barrios (called Reinita), had to struggle with growing resistance from large estates and, moreover, ensured that the capital was redesigned based on the Parisian model. The implementation of these plans, however, devoured large sums of money and triggered high inflation, so that it soon became very unpopular. Reina Barrios was assassinated in 1898.

20th century

The 20th century was also politically shaped by dictators and, in some cases, successful coup attempts. Noteworthy is the three-year reign from 1951 to 1954 under Jacobo Árbenz Guzmán , which this time was almost obviously ended by the intervention of the USA in order not to see a domino falling in their hinterland . The governments in detail:

From Estrada to Árbenz

Manuel Estrada Cabrera , who was elected president in 1898, brought US investors into the country and expropriated German assets in 1917. His rule was considered almost dictatorial, so that resistance arose against him too. He put down a revolt in 1906, which was supported by neighboring states, especially since he allied himself with the Mexican dictator Porfirio Diaz . During his tenure in 1901, the United Fruit Company established itself as the most influential force in the state. In 1902, a volcanic eruption near the city of Quetzaltenango caused severe damage. In 1916 and 1917 the capital was largely devastated by two earthquakes.

In 1920 the National Assembly declared Estrada incapable of office. His successors were Carlos Herrera y Luna , who only ruled until 1922, José María Orellana Pinto (1922 to 1926) and Lázaro Chacón González (1926 to 1930) were presidents of Guatemala in the twenties. They continued Estrada Cabrera's pro-US policy. At the same time, Pan-American cooperation was intensified (1928: Congress of Havana). During this phase, oppositional social groups began to organize for the first time. Several unions, a nationwide student association and a community college movement started their work.

In 1930 Chacón's succession was controversial. Initially, Baudilio Palma officiated , but was overthrown by General Manuel María Orellana Contreras in November after a few days . However, his seizure of power was not recognized by the USA, so that he too had to resign after a short time. This was followed by the also short term of office of José María Reina Andrade . It was not until the election of Jorge Ubico and his inauguration in February 1931 that the state was governed again. From 1929 on, Guatemala was also hard hit by the global economic crisis. It led to an extensive collapse in exports.

General Jorge Ubico Castañeda was elected to represent the liberal-progressive party in a presumably rigged election in 1931, but soon developed into a dictator, under whom intellectuals, journalists and writers who criticized his way of government were persecuted. In addition, a general system of forced labor for the indigenous population was put into effect. When the popular artist Maria Chinchilla fell victim to state terror in 1944 and the politician Juan José Arevalo was arrested, there was a general strike and on October 20, 1944, an army- led coup, Ubico had to flee to the USA. This was followed by a military junta made up of three generals ( Juan Federico Ponce Vaidez , Eduardo Villagrán Ariza and Buenaventura Pineda), from whom Ponce Vaidez became head of state. Jacobo Árbenz Guzmán followed Ponce Vaidez .

Árbenz's first term in office was only a few months. During this time, however, a new constitution set the course for a more liberal state organization.

Active and passive women's suffrage developed in several stages between 1945 and 1985: The constitution of 1879 established direct active suffrage. It applied to all male alphabets over the age of 21 or to those men who had an office, a pension or other income. […] With the constitution of 1945 and the electoral law of 1946, women's suffrage was introduced; However, a distinction was made between different levels of the right to vote: Male alphabets over the age of 18 were required to vote, whereas the secret right to vote for female alphabets was optional; for illiterate males the election was secret but public. In 1956, secret voting was introduced with compulsory voting for men and women who were able to read and write; there was no compulsory voting for illiterate males; illiterate women were not allowed to vote. The passive right to vote for women was only achieved to the same extent as the right to vote for men after decades: a restricted passive right to vote for women, which excluded women who could not read and write, was introduced in 1946. Even after the legal changes in 1956, illiterate women were not allowed to be elected. The 1965 constitution extended the right to stand for election to all citizens, but voting was still not compulsory for women who could not read or write. It was not until the 1985 constitution established complete equality between women and men in terms of the right to vote.

Juan José Arévalo Bermejo was elected president in the first free election ever in Guatemala in 1945 after he had returned from exile. His reform program of "intellectual socialism" (also Arévalismo) was followed with suspicion, especially by the USA, but in fact the concrete economic changes were kept within limits. After all, the freedom of expression of the left after the years of dictatorship created a more open political climate in Guatemala. A social security system was introduced, as was modern labor legislation that abolished the forced labor system for Indians. The banks were placed under state supervision, the municipalities granted self-administration rights, and literacy promoted. In particular, there was no reform of land distribution. Only the German-owned lands that had been expropriated during the war were nationalized. In view of the economic reforms, numerous foreign investors withdrew, which led to crises in the Guatemalan economy. There were 32 coup attempts during Arévalo's reign.

As only became known in 2010, the American doctor John Charles Cutler carried out secret human experiments with syphilis from 1946 to 48 .

After Arévalo, Jacobo Árbenz Guzmán was elected president in 1951. He continued the reforms of his predecessor. The construction of the first motorway and a large hydroelectric power station served to create jobs and improve the infrastructure. Both projects ran counter to the interests of several US companies. Árbenz 'main focus, however, was on agricultural reform that benefited small farmers and aimed at diversifying agricultural production. The legalization of the left workers' party promoted the assertion of the interests of peasants and workers. The US reacted to this development with increasing concern about its influence in the country, especially since Árbenz was determined to nationalize United Fruit as well. United Fruit was the largest private landowner in Guatemala at the time. The Land Reform Act, passed in 1952, gave the government the option of transferring fallow land to smallholders in return for payment of compensation under certain narrow conditions.

United Fruit was one of the main victims of the new law, with a fallow rate of 85 percent. When the government offered compensation of $ 3 per acre, the value declared by United Fruit on its tax return, the company claimed that the land was actually worth $ 75 per acre. With the help of excellent contacts with the US government (the brother of the United Fruit President was responsible for Latin America in the US State Department, the Secretary of State himself had worked for United Fruit and his brother was both director of the CIA and on the company's board of directors), he started United Fruit launched a public relations campaign against Árbenz in the USA: the idea was to create the impression that Guatemala was in danger of becoming a satellite state under Soviet leadership. The US politicians and United Fruit therefore decided to support conservative forces that had set themselves the goal of overthrowing Árbenz: The so-called Operation PBSUCCESS was supported by the CIA , with whose help a small "liberation army" under Colonel Carlos Castillo Armas invaded Guatemala from Honduras and toppled the government. The coup was preceded by bombing by US pilots on Guatemala City .

The military dictatorships in the second half of the 20th century.

A number of military regimes followed Guzmán, under whose rule 150,000 to 250,000 Guatemalans were killed. Carlos Castillo Armas (1954–57) promulgated a new constitution that reversed the reforms of the two previous governments and was intended to legitimize his own authoritarian government. As in the 1930s, the left opposition was persecuted. Foreign investment rose again and agriculture was geared even more towards export production. Castillo was killed in an assassination attempt. His successor Luis Arturo González López ruled only a few months since he died in October 1957. This was initially followed by a multi-member military junta, within which Guillermo Flores Avendaño quickly prevailed. In fact, he was only a transitional president until the elections of 1958, the course and outcome of which was massively influenced by the right-wing camp.

As an ally of the USA, José Miguel Ramón Idígoras Fuentes (1958 to 1963) supported the failed attempt at invasion by Cubans in exile in the Bay of Pigs. In 1960 an attempted coup failed, in which around a third of the country's military leadership was involved. From their ranks, the later influential guerrilla leader Luis Augusto Turcios Lima went underground. Since 1962, the left opposition in Guatemala increasingly engaged in guerrilla warfare . When the elections scheduled for 1963 saw another clear victory for Juan José Arévalo, the military staged a coup on March 30, 1963 and declared Defense Minister Enrique Peralta Azurdia president. Guatemala received a new constitution in 1965 that somewhat liberalized the authoritarian system of government. Unions have been approved, a new civil code has been passed and a number of other cautious liberalization measures have been initiated.

In 1966 Julio César Méndez Montenegro was officially elected as the “third head of government of the revolution” (after Juan José Arévalo and Jacobo Árbenz) as he was the only civil president of Guatemala in the period 1954–1986. The former university professor was particularly committed to educational reforms. His goal was an "integral and functional democracy", in which, however, the conservatives and the military continued to have ultimate decision-making power.

General Carlos Arana Osorio came to power in 1970. He was a representative of the right-wing conservative MLN. Osorio imposed a state of emergency on the country in the face of increased guerrilla fighting and intensified the persecution of opposition members. To this end, he not only made use of government agencies to a greater extent than his predecessors, but also right-wing militias. This strategy led to a decline in guerrilla activity for a number of years. Previously, on April 5, the FAR group murdered the German ambassador Karl Graf von Spreti . General Kjell Eugenio Laugerud García , who took power in 1974 after the conservative presidential candidate Rios Montt had to withdraw because of obvious electoral fraud, benefited from the comparatively low level of guerrilla activity during his four-year term. He renewed Guatemala's claims to Belize , which was still a British colony until 1982. On February 4, 1976, the northeast of the country was shaken by a severe earthquake (7.5 on the Richter scale). Almost 23,000 people died as a result. Around one million Guatemalans lost their homes. A large number of them settled in the capital and its surroundings. From 1976 the guerrillas began to regroup.

The civil war flared up again under General Fernando Romeo Lucas García (1978 to 1982). Among other things, his term of office fell in 1980, the bloody storming of the Spanish embassy occupied by Indians. Despite his tough military action, García also advocated cautious reforms of the authoritarian regime, but was ultimately overthrown by a CIA-backed coup by General Ríos Montt. Efraín Ríos Montt : Ríos Montt was mostly simply called "the general" in the country. He suspended the constitution and dissolved parliament. Between March and July 1982 alone, more than 10,000 residents, including numerous indigenous peoples and clergy, fell victim to the riots during the rule of this passionate anti-communist. The president later denied having known of the numerous massacres. At the same time, he tried to win over large parts of the population through job creation projects and the inexpensive distribution of fertilizer. He converted from Catholicism to the Baptist denomination, which although partly alienated him from the Catholics of his own country, earned him additional sympathy in the USA. Against the opposition of the US Congress, the Ronald Reagan administration sent him military aid. Ríos Montt was overthrown in a bloodless coup in 1983. It was the fourth during his tenure.

Óscar Humberto Mejía Víctores gained power through this coup. The general and former defense minister continued the violent persecution of the opposition and guerrillas. His coup only went against the evangelicalism of his predecessor, which justified his struggle against the left as a holy war. Mejia, on the other hand, emphasized the conservative national traditions of Guatemala and also campaigned for older military personnel who had been replaced by a younger generation by his predecessor.

Governments since 1986

In 1986 Marco Vinicio Cerezo Arévalo won the presidency through a largely democratic election. Cerezo came from a liberal family and was a representative of the Christian Democrats. As the first civilian in this office since 1966, he advocated a dialogue with the left rebels for the first time and called a national council of reconciliation. But as the kidnappings and murders continued, the negotiations failed. In addition, massive price increases led to general strikes, while the government also had to fend off two coup attempts by the military. Cerezo guaranteed that the presidential election of his successor would be free and fair, so that the change of power of 1991 was the first democratically legitimized one in decades.

Jorge Serrano Elías ran as a candidate for the Democratic Party of National Cooperation for the presidential election and won with 68 percent, although his party only had 18 of the 116 seats in parliament. In addition to recognizing Belize's independence, he placed the military under civilian control. In addition, with a liberal economic policy, he managed to curb inflation and unemployment. In 1993, however, his government again showed authoritarian features when he had Parliament and the Supreme Court dissolved on the grounds that he wanted to use them to fight corruption. However, this breach of the constitution met with fierce resistance from the opposition and social groups, including the employers' association. When the military also joined in the criticism, Elías withdrew his attempts at autocracy after seven days. However, this was not enough to appease the critics: Serrano resigned and went into exile in Panama on June 2. For a few days, Gustavo Adolfo Espina Salguero, Serrano's vice-president, acted as interim president, who then had to hand over power to Ramiro de León Carpio .

During his two-and-a-half-year presidency, Carpio renewed the peace talks with the rebels of the URNG, this time with international participation (UNO, OAS). At the same time he assured the disarming of the right-wing militias of the PAC, which were held responsible for several massacres. The assassination of the country's chief justice and another massacre threatened the peace process, but free parliamentary elections were held in 1994, which were for the first time separate from the presidential elections. At the end of 1995, the presidential election followed, from which Álvaro Arzú Irigoyen , the candidate of the conservative PAN, emerged victorious with just under 51 percent of the vote. He managed to sign a peace agreement with the left rebels, as he announced in the election campaign. This brought about a lengthy negotiation process on December 29, 1996 that had begun with the Oslo Agreement of 1990. The guerrilla URNG was approved as a political party.

21st century

  • 2000-2004 Alfonso Antonio Portillo Cabrera : He won the presidential election as a candidate for the Republican Front of Guatemala with 68%. His election program included the fight against corruption and social grievances, but could hardly achieve success during his tenure.
    • According to Transparency International, Guatemala's corruption index even worsened from 3.2 in 1999 to 2.2 in 2004.
    • In addition, the opposition uncovered black accounts of leading politicians of his party Portillos abroad, with sums of several hundred million dollars.
This article or the following section is not adequately provided with supporting documents ( e.g. individual evidence ). Information without sufficient evidence could be removed soon. Please help Wikipedia by researching the information and including good evidence.
  • 2004–2008 Óscar Berger Perdomo : He won the presidential elections with 54%, the former dictator Rios Montt also ran in the first ballot. He was formerly mayor of the capital and represents the conservative National Alliance. The human rights situation has deteriorated further since he took office. The number of land conflicts has increased and were sometimes suppressed with violence (several dead, e.g. on Finca Nueva Linda).
    • At the end of 2004, the United Nations mission in Guatemala to monitor the peace treaties expired.
    • 2005, October: Guatemala was badly hit by the tail of Hurricane Stan . Torrential rains caused mudslides, landslides and floods. Entire villages were buried and the infrastructure was badly damaged. More than 1,000 people lost their lives. The coffee harvest was badly affected and the economy suffered great damage.
    • Óscar Berger Perdomo did not stand for a second candidacy in the 2007 elections.

Web links

Commons : History of Guatemala  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files
Wikisource: Friendship, trade, shipping and consular treaty between the German Empire and the Republic of Guatemala. September 20, 1887  - Sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Bertina Olmedo Vera: The Mayas of the Classic Period , in A. Arellano Hernández: The Mayas of the Classic Period . Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes (CONACULTA), Mexico City 1997, ISBN 970-18-3005-9 , p. 26.
  2. ^ Robert J. Sharer, Loa P. Traxler: The Ancient Maya . 6th edition. Stanford University Press, Stanford, Ca. 2006, ISBN 0-8047-4817-9 , p. 214.
  3. ^ Sharer / Traxler: The Ancient Maya , p. 236.
  4. ↑ Marion Popenoe de Hatch, Christa Schieber de Lavarreda: Una revisión preliminar de la historia de Tak'alik Ab'aj, departamento de Retalhuleu , in JP Laporte, AC Suasnávar and B. Arroyo: XIV. Simposio de Investigaciones Arqueológicas en Guatemala, 2000 . Museo Nacional de Arqueología y Etnología, Guatemala-City 2001, p. 991.
  5. ^ Richard EW Adams: Prehistoric Mesoamerica . 3. Edition. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, Ok. 2005, ISBN 0-8061-3702-9 , p. 88.
  6. ↑ Hatch / Lavarreda: Una revisión preliminar de la historia de Tak'alik Ab'aj, departamento de Retalhuleu , p. 991.
  7. ↑ Olmedo Vera: The Mayas of the Classic Period , p. 28.
  8. ↑ Simon Martin, Nikolai Grube: Chronicle of the Maya Kings and Queens: Deciphering the Dynasties of the Ancient Maya . Thames & Hudson, London 2000, ISBN 0-500-05103-8 , pp. 25-26.
  9. ↑ Martin / Grube: Chronicle of the Maya Kings and Queens: Deciphering the Dynasties of the Ancient Maya , p. 8.
  10. ↑ Arthur Demarest: Ancient Maya: The Rise and Fall of a Forest Civilization . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2004, ISBN 978-0-521-53390-4 , p. 218.
  11. ^ Francisco Estrada-Belli: The First Maya Civilization: Ritual and Power Before the Classic Period . Routledge, Abingdon 2011, ISBN 978-0-415-42994-8 , pp. 123-126.
  12. ^ Sharer / Traxler: The Ancient Maya , p. 324.
  13. ↑ Nikolai Grube: Maya, god kings in the rainforest . Könemann, Cologne 2000, ISBN 3-8290-1564-X , p. 103.
  14. ↑ Michael D. Coe: The Maya . 6th edition. Thames & Hudson, New York 1999, ISBN 0-500-28066-5 , pp. 151-155.
  15. ↑ Sharer / Traxler: The Ancient Maya , p. 717.
  16. ^ Robert M. Carmack: The Quiché Mayas of Utatlán . University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, Ok. 1981, ISBN 0-8061-1546-7 , p. 49.
  17. ^ John W. Fox: Maya Postclassic State Formation: Segmentary Lineage Migration in Advancing Frontiers . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1987, ISBN 0-521-32110-7 , pp. 90-95.
  18. ↑ Ralph L. Roys : The Book of Chilam Balam of Chuyamel . Carnegie Institution, Washington DC 1933 ( PDF ; 3.2 MB), p. 103.
  19. ^ Ruben E. Reina: A Peninsula That May Have Been an Island: Tayasal, Peten, Guatemala . University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia, Pa. 1966 ( PDF ), pp. 16-29.
  20. ↑ Scharer / Traxler. The Ancient Maya , p. 761
  21. ↑ Reina. A Peninsula That May Have Been an Island: Tayasal, Peten, Guatemala , p. 19
  22. ↑ Stephen Schlesinger, Stephen Kinzer : Banana War - CIA Putsch in Guatemala , Ernst Kabel Verlag GmbH, Hamburg 1984, ISBN 3-921909-52-X , p. 72 ff.
  23. ↑ Stephen Schlesinger, Stephen Kinzer: Banana War - CIA Putsch in Guatemala , Ernst Kabel Verlag GmbH, Hamburg 1984, ISBN 3-921909-52-X , p. 7 ff.
  24. ↑ a b Petra Bendel, Michael Krennerich: Guatemala. In: Dieter Nohlen (Ed.): Handbook of the election data of Latin America and the Caribbean (= political organization and representation in America. Volume 1). Leske + Budrich, Opladen 1993, ISBN 3-8100-1028-6 , pp. 359-388, pp. 363-364.
  25. ↑ a b c - New Parline: the IPU's Open Data Platform (beta). In: data.ipu.org. March 1, 1956, accessed October 2, 2018 .
  26. ^ Mart Martin: The Almanac of Women and Minorities in World Politics. Westview Press Boulder, Colorado, 2000, p. 157.
  27. ↑ - New Parline: the IPU's Open Data Platform (beta). In: data.ipu.org. March 1, 1956, accessed October 2, 2018 .
  28. ↑ Stephen Schlesinger, Stephen Kinzer: Banana War - CIA Putsch in Guatemala , Ernst Kabel Verlag GmbH, Hamburg 1984, ISBN 3-921909-52-X , pp. 33 ff. And 44-56.
  29. ^ Peter Mühlbauer: The secret service and the stock exchange. In: Telepolis. Heise Zeitschriften Verlag, November 3, 2008, accessed on November 3, 2008 .
  30. ↑ Stephen Schlesinger, Stephen Kinzer: Banana War - CIA coup in Guatemala. Ernst Kabel Verlag GmbH, Hamburg 1984, ISBN 3-921909-52-X , pp. 72-86.
  31. ^ Transparency International: Corruption Perceptions Index 1999. In: Transparency International. Transparency International eV 1999, accessed on August 21, 2019.
  32. ^ Transparency International: Corruption Perceptions Index 2004. In: Transparency International. Transparency International eV 2004, accessed on August 21, 2019.
  33. ↑ Exciting runoff election expected in Guatemala (tagesschau.de archive)
  34. ↑ FAZ: Guatemala moves to the left