VIOLENCE AND EXCLUSION IN GUATEMALA.

Guatemala has built a culture of violence and exclusion throughout its history. Like many peoples in the world, its first inhabitants affirmed their civilization from the war with other peoples and were later dominated by the Spanish brigades. In the conquest, sexual violence against indigenous women gave rise to cultural miscegenation. The cultural miscegenation gave rise to racism and racism generated the exclusion of peoples to the economic and social development that was beginning. The Catholic Church at that time contributed to accentuate this colonial economic system, although movements and works inspired by compassion and charity were also raised, but without aspiring to a radical change in the political and economic system.

Then came independence and later industry and modernization in the 19th century. Colonization then mutated into a system of agricultural and industrial labor exploitation and the urban population grew rapidly. In that period the Evangelical Church officially entered the country, acting as a key ally of the liberal economy that was accentuated for half a century. After the dictatorship of Jorge Ubico, 10 years of political turbulence and changes in the economic model began, concluding with the 1955 Coup d’état that marked the beginning of the 36-year armed conflict in which more than 250,000 people lost their lives. Migration to the United States became massive. At the end of the Armed Conflict, the government facilitated the return of thousands of people to the country and their settlement in marginal communities under precarious conditions. More than 2 decades after the signing of the peace agreement, Civil Society has been strengthened and important reforms have been carried out, but the political system remains fragile, political parties are changing and highly vulnerable to Organized Crime.

Today, gangs are often under-utilized for even more powerful and organized economic purposes, the country continues to have unnecessary amounts of arms and ammunition, and the State is still institutionally weak to face disasters, health problems, and access to education, among other topics. After several democratically elected governments, a reactive rather than proactive model continues to prevail in the face of insecurity, for example, in the case of the Fire Volcano Tragedy, the State’s limited capacity to articulate efforts strategically, anticipate risks, coordinate as well as rector of humanitarian aid, especially in the first weeks after the tragedy.

More recently, the crisis derived from the COVID-19 Pandemic has put the challenge of articulating efforts to the limit and has also revealed the institutional fragility of the State affecting millions of people in Guatemala