Research & Composition
Students shall submit at least two papers of 1500 words in length, one expository in nature and one which expresses a position or argument; both of which should include a list of works consulted and/or cited. Acceptable submissions may include college level research papers, published articles, or any papers submitted for other requirements in any of ADF.s Study Programs. Papers must demonstrate thorough research techniques, employ reliable sources, demonstrate a clear writing style, be well organized and make use of standard English syntax, usage and grammar.
Essay #1, expository, published in Oak Leaves a few years back
On Fennel
"And as it mantling passes round,
With fennel is it wreathed and crowned,
Whose seed and foliage sun-imbrowned
Are in its waters steeped and drowned,
And give a bitter taste.
Above the lowly plants it towers,
The fennel, with its yellow flowers,
And in an earlier age than ours
Was gifted with the wondrous powers,
Lost vision to restore.
It gave new strength, and fearless mood;
And gladiators, fierce and rude,
Mingled it in their daily food;
And he who battled and subdued,
A wreath of fennel wore. "
Excerpted from "The Goblet of Life" (ll. 11-25) by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 1842
Fennel, native to Southern Europe and parts of Asia, grows merrily and effortlessly anywhere it can find sun and mediocre soil. It has been naturalized around the world so successfully that the US and Australia consider it a foreign invasive plant. Nevertheless, it is a plant worthy of a spot in any Druid's herb garden.
All parts of this plant may be used; leaves, seeds, and bulb. It should be noted that not all types of fennel produce the engorged leaf base, known as the bulb; Florence fennel is the most prone to bulbing, though other varieties can be encouraged to do it as well. Should one desire to force bulbing, one must prevent the flower stalks from forming. The plant responds to this restriction of its natural growth by becoming thick and fleshy at its base, forming the large white bulb used in cooking. However, there are also benefits to allowing the plant to go to flower. Besides the showy, branched, yellow blooms; many beneficial insects and butterfly larvae are attracted to the flower stalks. Planted next to roses, fennel will draw the aphids to itself, thus allowing your roses go on about their business unimpeded. Additionally, fennel has such a quantity of foliage that the aphids and other hungry insects will hardly stunt its growth at all. Fennel is an important food source for Swallowtail butterflies; state butterfly in 7 states and state insect in 2 states.
It is embarrassingly easy to grow fennel. Seeds sown in early Spring will produce healthy, flowering plants the first year. Alternately, established plants can be put in and will easily naturalize within just a year or two. Fennel propagates through seeds and if allowed to go to seed it will be prolific! Unless you want a yard full of fennel, (it will shade out many other things as it can easily grow taller than 3'), I recommend preventing the flower stalks from forming at all, or cut the flowers to enjoy indoors. Cut fennel will stay lovely in a vase for over a week. In order to take advantage of the full range of fennel benefits, I allow several plants to go to seed every year, while snipping the flower stalks of others to enjoy the bulb (cooked or raw) and the continuous feathery greenery. I also collect the seeds from my fennel and incorporate them into incense and for use in cooking. And I have found that fresh fennel stalks, when placed on a low-burning fire, make a lovely mosquito repellent. Do be responsible when growing fennel and do not let it get away from the constraints of your garden.
Anethole, the substance that gives fennel its flavor and aroma, is a documented antispasmodic. Fennel has been used medicinally to relieve asthma, as a diuretic, laxative, expectorant, and as a cure for several intestinal and stomach woes. Tea made from the bruised seeds has been recommended to help stimulate the flow of milk, but there have been extremely rare cases of a severe, sometimes fatal reaction. It is common throughout India to chew fennel seeds after a meal to sweeten one's breath and as an aid to digestion. While an essential oil of fennel could cause dermatitis in sensitive people, a steam of fennel can be very useful for asthma, croup, and bronchitis.
Fennel holds a prominent place in our mythological history. According to Hesiod, it was a hollow fennel stalk that Iapetus' son, Prometheus, used to conceal and carry the stolen coal when bringing fire to mankind. In Works and Days he writes, "He (Zeus) hid fire; but that noble son of Iapetus stole again for men from Zeus the counselor in a hollow fennel-stalk..." and in Theogeny, "But the son of Iapetus outwitted him and stole the far-seen gleam of unwearying fire in a hollow fennel-stalk." Sir James Frazer relates that during rituals in honor of Adonis, 'gardens' for the god were planted in pots filled with soil in which were forced seeds of fennel, lettuce, wheat, and flowers. These gardens were allowed to wilt and die and were taken, along with the image of Adonis, to be thrown into the sea.
Pliny describes fennel as sacred to Bacchus and attributes an astounding 22 medicinal properties to the plant. One use that may be of modern interest was as a diet aid. Fennel was thought to assuage hunger pains (used in the Medieval era on days of fasting) and I have found it included in many modern diet/fasting teas. One of the more fascinating of Pliny's medicinal claims for fennel was that snakes were wont to rub against fennel to improve or restore their eyesight. One wonders exactly how he divined this. Belief in the ocularly strengthening properties of the plant endured through the middle ages. And one finds an echo of that belief in the Longfellow verse quoted above. It is perhaps a stretch to find a connection between the Greek understanding of fennel as a tool for bringing illumination and the belief of it as an eyesight restorative; however in the realm of UPG, one is allowed just such leeway.
Perhaps is was the conviction that fennel could improve vision that led to its being used in charms against witchcraft. In Anglo-Saxon lands it was most commonly paired with St. John's Wort, gathered at Midsummer, and hung in the eaves to dry and to protect the house's inhabitants. It would seem that this custom persisted into much later days; "on the eve of this saint (St. John's Day = Midsummer), as well as upon that of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, every man's door was shaded with green birch, long fennel, Saint John's wort, orpin, white lilies, and the like, ornamented with garlands of beautiful flowers" (Strutt, p. 284). In Paul Creswick's Victorian telling of the tale of Robin Hood, Allan-a-Dale's hard-won bride, Fennel, is left to guard and heal the wounded greenwood men while the larger party accompanies Robin. Here we may see a remnant of the belief in fennel as a curative and a power of protection to be found in the popular consciousness, for the name of Allen's love is not given in any of the ballads or poems of Robin Hood collected by Child, who was a noted folklore complier and exhaustive reseacher.
Fennel is often included among the nine sacred herbs of the Anglo-Saxons; however there are myriad lists of sacred herbs and trees for most Indo-European cultures and rarely do the many lists agree. In his work Night Battles, Carlo Ginzburg describes numerous folk accounts from the 16th century of fighting off evil witches using fennel stalks (while the malevolent witches were armed with sorghum stalks). Ginzburg's research centers on the Friuli region-a fascinating area bordered by Venice to the West, the Adriatic Sea to the South, Austria on the North, and Slovenia on the East. Once occupied by Celtic people and highly influenced by Germanic traditions, one finds quite a mixture of Indo-European customs and beliefs; and fennel figures prominently.
Hermetic magic finds fennel useful in purification practices. The 19th century translation of the Clavicula Salomonis offers specific instructions for making a Sprinkler, which is used in asperging or purifying with water. One must gather the fennel and other herbs during the hour of Mercury while the moon is waxing and tie their stems with a cord spun by a young maiden. After one makes certain inscriptions upon the handle one may use the "...Sprinkler whenever it is necessary, and know that wheresoever thou shalt sprinkle this Water, it will chase away all Phantoms and they shall be unable to hinder or annoy any." (Mathers, p. 103)
Modern Pagans may develop all manner of possible uses of fennel in current practice. A stalk of fennel dipped in Holy water (gathered from 3 natural sources) can be used for a simple Purification. Additionally, adding the used asperging stalk to the Fire as part of establishing the Triple Center may well add some oomph to a Greek or Norse ritual (not to imply that other Hearth Cultures can't appreciate fennel just as well). Perhaps an infusion or decoction of fennel (if the oil is found to be problematic)could be effective when used to anoint ritual participants or before divinatory work. In my experience fennel is excessively easy to work with and offers many rewards in return for a sunny spot in the yard.
Works Consulted:
Child, Francis James. English and Scottish Popular Ballads. Houghton Mifflin Company; Boston, MA; 1882
Creswick, Paul. Robin Hood and His Adventures. Mershon Company; Rathway, NJ; 1903
Foster, Steven & James A. Duke. A Field Guide to Medicinal Plants, Houghton Mifflin Company; Boston, MA; 1990
Frazer, James A. The Golden Bough, Macmillan Publishing Company; New York, NY; 1950
Ginzburg, Carlo. Night Battles: Witchcraft and Agrarian Cults in the Sixteenth & Seventeenth Centuries, Routledge & Keegan Paul PLC; Great Britain; 1983
Hesiod. M. L. West (trans.) Theogeny, Oxford UP; Great Britain; 1988
Hesiod. M. L. West (trans.) Works and Days, Oxford UP; Great Britain; 1988
Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth. J. D. McClatchy (ed.) Poems and Other Writings, Penguin Putnam Inc.; New York, NY; 2000
Mathers, S. Liddel MacGreggor (trans.) Clavicula Salomonis: The Key of Solomon the King, Samuel Weiser, Inc.; York Beach, ME; 1972
Pliny. John F. Healy (trans. & ed.) Natural History: A Selection, Penguin Books; London, England; 1991
Strutt, Joseph. Sports and Pastimes of the People of England (2nd. ed). Unknown binding; England; 1903
Essay #2 position/argument written for an undergraduate independent study course about Guatemala. My position was that the United States derailed the democratic process due to the personal economic interests of high ranked US citizens. It is a bit long, my apologies...
On Guatemala. Politics 290
Guatemala is now under a military dictatorship which is extremely repressive and cruel. This dictatorship is supported and was in part created by the government of the United States.
In 1945 there was a "revolution" in Guatemala though not the typical revolution. In Guatemala the revolution ended with a free election of an "anti-Communist" liberal. One expects a revolution to be a violent thing which ends in either defeat or the overthrow of the pre-existing government and the installation of some new systematical leader. Guatemala is a different sort of place so it only follows that their revolution would be a bit out of the ordinary as well.
To make the undertaking of writing about this nation a bit easier I will divide it up into different sections, chapters if you will.
THE REVOLUTION:
The Guatemalan revolution was a relatively short lived thing in comparison to other successful revolutions. It lasted from 1944 through 1954 when CIA assisted rebels overthrew the government and instituted the police state that now exists.
Under president Ubico Guatemala was a courtier of the US He diligently tried to please the US and made many concessions to them often at the expense of native Guatemalans. His regime was one of harsh repression and exploitation of the large Indian population.
Nine days after the revolt in El Salvador Ubico's government announced that a similar revolt had been crushed in Guatemala. In reality Ubico had only crushed the tiny labor party and the new communist party. Leaders of both were turned over to the police and suffered extreme torture though not one repented. A hero for the remaining communists was actually created from this torture. Wainwright called for Ubico from prison with a promise of information. When Ubico arrived at his cell the man called him: "a miserable murderer and an animal." This tirade was concluded with a spit in Ubico's face. Wainwright was then whipped until death and became a martyr.
The propaganda of the government concerning this alleged communist plot was sufficient to convince the upper class and promote anti-Communist fervor. All of this was praised loudly by the catholic church and the latifundistas, or land owners.
In 1922 thirteen ladinos and a Salvadoran law student created an illegal communist party. Though ignorant of Marxist thought they had determination and little else for they were fund-less and persecuted. One of the leaders said of their Marxist education "We were ignorant; we didn't know anything about Marxist theory; we didn't even own any Marxist books." They made up for what they lacked in ideology through their organization, dedication, and all over skill. This trend persisted through the years and allowed the party to gain influence.
After W.W.II the anti-Fascist literature that was flourishing around the world, and in the United States in particular, gave a base to Ubico's opponents. In June of 1944, two months after the uprising in El Salvador, there was a student strike in Guatemala City. It soon spread and became an all over strike with demands far beyond the original call for university autonomy. The government responded by suspending constitutional liberties and firing into the protesting crowd, only one was killed. However it created an uproar and within a week Ubico resigned leaving Federico Ponce as the head of a "provisional" government. On October 20, 1944, students and dissident military officers ousted Ponce and set up a three-man junta. The junta made up of Francisco Arana, Jacobo Arbenz, and Jorge Toriello held elections and Juan Jose Arevalo was elected as president receiving 85% of the vote.
This is where the real "revolution" begins, under Arevalo. His was the first revolutionary presidency and he made significant progress. He rejected liberal individualism and Marxism believing them both materialistic. The constitution adopted under Arevalo provided for freedom of speech, press, and political parties. This excluded the Communist party and others deemed "foreign or international" parties. The autonomy of universities, the armed forces, and the military was granted thus decentralizing the government. In 1947 the Labor Code was implemented ensuring minimum wage, working condition standards, social security, labor-management contracts, and the right to strike. However the power to disband unions that were decided to be illegal as serving foreign interests remained with the government.
The election in 1951 was one surrounded by urgency since the right-wing favorite had been assassinated. However, Jacobo Arbenz won with a 63% majority and ushered in a time dedicated to developing an independent, capitalist Guatemala.
Arbenz planned to encourage private enterprise and confront both foreign monopolies and the landed oligarchy. The plan was to force three US companies to adhere to national laws as well as develop native industries to compete with the foreign ones. The three US companies would be challenged by a Guatemalan hydro-electric plant (addressing EEG), a highway to the Atlantic (addressing IRCA), and an Atlantic port (addressing UFCo). Probably the most drastic reform undertaken by Arbenz's administration was the Agrarian Reform Law of 1952.
The law provided for expropriation of idle land from holdings over 223 acres and their distribution to eligible recipients. Peasants would receive the land either in ownership or in usufruct (use) for life, and would pay for it at a rate of 3 percent of annual production. Compensation would be made through government bonds, the value of the land being determined by the owners' 1952 valuations for tax purposes."
(Jonas, 27)
This caused great unrest among the latifundistas and especially with UFCo which was Guatemala's largest private landholder. Often the landowners reacted violently against the peasants who in turn would retaliate. This, in and of itself, served to draw lines between those who supported the revolution and those who did not. From UFCo was taken 400,000 acres of uncultivated land. UFCo only had cultivated 15% of its land and claimed it needed the other 85% left uncultivated to recover from the effects of some rare banana disease. In return for the seized land UFCo was given Q,185,115 and was based, as the act stated, on their 1952 tax evaluation. However, UFCo, with the support of the US state department, claimed the land was worth $16 million, quite a larger number than they had claimed earlier. This was a climax to a problem that had been seething for quite some time.
US PRESS ON GUATEMALA:
If we assume that the UN is dominated by the United States it is not a long jump to assume that any publication by that organization will have an American slant to it. The periodical Guatemala News Watch is released bi-monthly and covers developments and problems in Guatemala. It is not surprising that most of the problems are contributed to the lingering communist sentiment present in the country.
In volume 10 of this journal an article about URGN activities uses terms like "outdated Marxist propaganda" and speaks of the URGN "double standards" when dealing with human rights. It praises the governments' steps toward ending conflict. This seems rather odd since most human interest stories focusing on Guatemala describe the outrages against the population that are perpetrated by the government.
In over 15 articles the URGN is blamed for guerrilla attacks against benign institutions especially during the time surrounding the UN's report on human rights. It states that these attacks are
"A guerrilla strategy to gain additional bargaining power at the negotiating table in the ...discussions which will determine the insertion of the URNG into the national political context."
The December issue (vol. 9 no.12) opens with the statement:
The consolidating process of Guatemala's democracy continued during 1994. The precedent-setting referendum of January 1994 strengthened the judicial, executive, and legislative branches by providing further separation of powers. By seeking to achieve changes peacefully through democratic and constitutional procedures, Guatemala reaffirms its continued commitment to the democratic process. We will continue to actively support those institutions that will further consolidate democracy in Guatemala.
Past experiences should tell one that when the words "actively support those institutions..." appear it means the enigmatic "we" will continue its control over the country--as the US has done and apparently will continue to do in Guatemala.
The US has a history of dictating to Guatemala, as it does with nearly all of Latin America. The US has strict control over Guatemalan industry and keeps the population in a state of poverty. The institutions mentioned in the excerpt may be assumed, rather safely, to be the existing government which is a military dictatorship based on terror and debasement. This in no way sounds like democracy. It would appear that the US definition of democracy for other nations is US control at whatever cost.
During the time when the US was planning and carrying out its attack on Guatemala the press supported claims that Guatemala was infested with communists and a threat to the US. Even now the UN publications complain about the communist threat there. Other press however has turned away from that in favor of covering the atrocities committed against the population.
The New York Times Magazine published an article in January of 1991 about the conditions in Guatemala. The photo spread which accompanied the article was of people, often children, who were beaten by the police and strung out on cheap drugs (especially glue).
Human rights groups have accused the police of killing about 40 children. Photographs of some of the bodies show evidence of torture: ears and tongues cut off and eyes burned out. Many other children have simply disappeared. Sometimes the police pour glue on the heads of the children, who have to shave their hair to get it out. Sometimes the glue runs into their eyes, often causing permanent injury...
In late November, two Covenant House volunteers happened upon policemen kicking a 15-year-old boy in the stomach. the officers took off their badges to avoid identification and stopped beating the teenager when they saw the photographer."
This is the democracy that the UN is supporting in Guatemala. The director of Covenant House in Guatemala said "There is no justice in Guatemala."
The Christian Science Monitor did an article about the army attempts to stop the civil war now raging in Guatemala. The Defense Minister, Gramajo, said that their final offensive would "in a short period of time bring a military victory" and that "the subversion will be eradicated from our country." However, the government maintains that there is no civil war in Guatemala and that is why cease fire talks are not needed. If there is no civil war then how can there be a military victory? Peasants testify that the army has been bombing civilian populations in the mountains and several villages have already been destroyed. Those people who lived in the destroyed or guerrilla influenced hamlets are being detained in refugee camps run by the military until they can return to an army-monitored village. Often these "refugees" are interrogated before they undergo the three-month "reindoctrination" program. They must be re-indoctrinated because the army claims that the guerrillas brainwash them. This would mean, of course, brainwash them with “outdated Marxist propaganda.” All this was in the Monitor article surprisingly enough.
Truthfully when I started reading the periodicals about Guatemala I expected to read American propaganda and one-sided stories. Instead I found that in most publications the voice was almost sympathetic to the plight of the people, though they never indicted the Guatemalan government outright either. Except for the UN publications I was pleased to read fairly accurate accounts of the situation in Guatemala.
THE PGT (PARTIDO GUATEMALTECO DEL TRABAJO):
In 1952 a the second congress of the party they officially changed their name to The Workers' Party. At the meeting it was said
"the name Communist Party, however dear to us, makes it harder for us to reach the masses...We must place the task of developing the party before any sentimental attachment to a name."
Just a few days later the party became officially recognized.
It probably would have been much more difficult for the party to have gained as much power as it did without the support of President Arbenz. Though not a communist himself he favored the party immensely and that favor forced other who most likely have not been so agreeable to court the party. No party member sat in the cabinet and few of the governmental officials were associated with the party. In fact, the highest positions held by PGT members were those of director of national broadcasting (Jerez) and deputy director of the Departamento Agrario Nacional (Klee). However, top members of the party, like Fortuny, were influential as the President's advisors; a kind of kitchen cabinet for Arbenz. Often the party members knew about Arbenz's decisions before the congress or assembly of ministers did.
It is rather amazing that the PGT developed as quickly and efficiently as it did. The most support they got from the Chilean deputy was his advice to study the Chinese Revolution in greater detail. The only nation to actually acknowledge the PGT was Cuba. They sent Alejandro to stay with the PGT for a few years to advise them. The PGT looked up to the PSP as a more developed party and sought to learn from them. Since the Guatemalans had only a limited knowledge of Marxist theory they were thankful for Alejandro's guidance however:
Alejandro was in a country of which he had no previous knowledge, and during his stay he met few of its political leaders; few Guatemalans knew of his presence, and even fewer of his role. His strength may have been his understanding of the limits of this role."
(Gleijeses, 185)
The PGT did something that no other party in Latin America was doing, they were growing and expanding their influence.
In spite of their un-acceptance into the Latin America communist society, even their virtual rejection by the Soviets they persevered and struggled indefatigably. One of their assets was that their leaders were almost religiously devoted to the cause and sacrificed all of their time to it.
The communists made their influence felt through hard work. For instance, once last year he (Licenciado Silva Pena) was on a committee that had been unable to settle a question in a certain meeting. Everyone except the communists had gone off that evening to see the "Ice Festival" which was in town. The communists had worked all night and came in the next day with a completely new set of proposals which carried the day."
reported the embassy in 1953. Their vision was much more clear than that of their opponents and that did not go unnoticed among the population.
Another blow in their favor was their diversion from the Leninist theory of a Bolshevik party. The PGT had done away with their eligibility
requirements and accepted anyone interested. The Secretariat member Bernardo Alvarado wrote (and this is lengthy so please bear with me):
Our workers, our peasants and our middle class are very backwards because of the semi feudal conditions in our country and because of the tyrants who oppressed us for so long. But these are our people, in whose midst we must forge our party...That is why we are critical of those comrades who look down on our new members and welcome only those who are already "well-prepared." They forget that communists are molded within the party...The belief that the party should be small, that it should be primarily a school of Marxist theory, and that its prospective members should arrive well-qualified...has isolated us from the masses and restricted the party's growth.
There are comrades who cross themselves devoutly before entering a meeting, but they enter and listen to the party's teachings. These are the people whom the party must attract in order to enlist the best and transform them into good communists...
"Won't this weaken the party?" The most sectarian of our comrades will ask in fear. But...what weakens the party is to be cut off from the masses...It would be worse if these honest peasants, after making the sign of the cross, went off to hear a venomous anti-Communist diatribe."
This embodies the philosophy of the PGT, a nondiscriminatory organization. Though there is dogma in that section it is a dogma that they followed faithfully. Surely their acceptance of all interested was influenced by the rejection of the PGT by most of the other parties they contacted. That rejection makes one wonder how closely the other parties adhered since they rejected the base Marxist idea of a global communist party.
THE REBELS: (A sub-chapter of the PGT)
Who were the rebels that opposed the imperialistic machinations of the US and demanded autonomy for Guatemala? They were the middle class for the most part as the Indians were wary of anything ladino and of politics in general. The church too spoke out against the PGT and issued sermons about the evils of communism. In general the rebels were students originally later joined by others with similarly idealistic and nationalistic views. Harbury's book, Bridge of Courage, is comprised of monologues by revolutionaries. Though the names Harbury gives are necessarily fictitious, the tales are true to life and the people represented in the book are very real. One is the explanation of a medical student as to why her face is so badly scarred. She describes seeing her friend's body in the morgue after being taken by a police death squad. The body is terribly mangled and has obviously been tortured to death. Another account is one of a man who was a novice to the movement who is taken to meet one of the founders. He admits that at first he thought the old man's stories were but tall tales and later realizes that each one of them was absolutely true.
One real ‘rebel’ who has recently received some notoriety is Rigoberta Menchu. In 1992 Menchu was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her dedication to human rights. Since 1981 Menchu has lived in exile for her activism in the resistance. In her acceptance speech she said:
This prize is not only mine; it belongs to the people of Guatemala, and of the whole world, especially where there are indigenous people.
Menchu is an activist on the side indigenous people, not just in Guatemala. She has worked for the poor and the oppressed everywhere combating and speaking out against "racism and colonialism." The Guatemalan government did not receive Menchu's victory with grace. They had set up an oligarchic candidate for her work with sight and hearing impaired children but she had no international standing and no chance of winning. This nomination has been called an attempt to diffuse national support and fervor over Menchu's candidacy. In fact, Captain Rivera and Foreign Minister Park claimed that Menchu's victory would "be a victory for the enemies of Guatemala." The government later discounted this remark by saying that the men were misinterpreted or speaking only in a personal capacity. Regardless, their attitude is clear.
Two women leaving the offices that served as Menchu's base were dragged off and beaten violently after being accused of being guerrillas and Menchu supporters. Days later two members of CERJ were arrested and tortured. This is not unusual in Guatemala especially since the establishment of the National Committee for Defense Against Communism and the implementation of the Preventive Penal Law Against Communism under Castillo Armas. The NCDAC has the power to name anyone a communist and hold them for consecutive six month intervals without charging them or giving them a trial. Few people are actually held though since most die from the extreme torture that is inflicted during detention.
Bridge of Courage describes people who join the movement for many reasons but who are not specifically subversive people. The unifying thread is that once inside the movement they see more and more injustice and repression which fuels their unrest and forges their dedication to the cause. Regular, everyday people being transformed into fighters for liberty--this is who the Guatemalan rebels are.
US INTERVENTION:
The US has a history of pressure and influence in Guatemala dating from even before the accommodating rule of Ubico. Under Ubico however that influence became entrenched and its effect indelible. The thing which brought US/Guatemalan strife to a head was indeed the Agrarian reform Act. This was the figurative straw and the proof needed to denounce Guatemala as communist infested and begin an overt attack on the Government by the US.
UFCo was operating freely in Guatemala paying only minimal taxes and only $1.35 a day to its workers who only worked 150 days a year. In 1950 the global profits of UFCo were $65 million which is equivalently twice the income of the Guatemalan government. In 1947 UFCo complained to the US State Department that the new Labor Code was discriminatory toward US companies since it allowed workers of large companies 10 vacation days while small co. Workers received only 5. More importantly the Code allowed workers to organize and strike even during the harvest season. UFCo was not willing to cope with independently organized labor especially since they provided such unsatisfactory working conditions. The Truman administration responded to UFCo's complaints by placing an arms embargo on Guatemala and encouraging its allies to do the same. A campaign in the US press began accusing Guatemala of being a "Soviet beachhead." This is clearly an untrue accusation since the Soviets would have nothing to do with the PGT and looked at them as a merely laughable organization. The land reform brought it all to a head. By making US intentions in Guatemala difficult to manifest the Guatemalan government had condemned itself as communist in the eyes of the US. Coupled with other "proofs" like Guatemala's refusal to support the Korean war and the publication of articles critical of US use of germ warfare and allowing Spanish Republic exiles to settle within its boundaries there was little doubt in the collective US mind that the Red Virus had infected even the upper levels of Guatemalan administration.
The CIA operation in Guatemala was named PBSUCESS. Typically the CIA follows a step-by-step process when taking over a small country. First they must ensure that there is no communist sentiment within the military. The extent of sympathy in the military is rather vague, even in detailed studies of the communist/nationalist movement there is rarely more than a
paragraph dedicated to the military. The second step is to demonize the party in through propaganda. After the "threat" of communism is established the CIA can organize demonstrations and violence to create instability until the military deems it necessary to move in and overthrow the government. This is precisely what the US did in Guatemala.
The CIA organized the "Army of Liberation" using exiles and mercenaries and trained them secretly in Nicaragua. In 1954 this motley "army" entered Guatemala and set up camp at Esquipulas. Their attack was backed by nine days of bombing by CIA planes on Guatemala City while the radio station "Voice of Liberty" (run by the CIA) reported on the massive attack.
The use of propaganda was extremely important in Guatemala as it created a siege mentality and was somewhat successful at forming a general fear of communism. UFCo public relation specialist wrote:
The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits of the masses is an important element in the democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country...it is the intelligent minorities which need to make use of propaganda continuously and systematically.
The actual number of communists in Guatemala was extremely small and no real threat. Their power in the government was very limited and there were only four PGT members in government. The party was merely put in conflict with UFCo and, subsequently, with the United States.
The CIA controlled radio was key to PBSUCESS. Transmitters were set up in Nicaragua, Honduras, Dominican Republic, and in the US embassy in Guatemala. The transmissions were masked so they would appear to originate from somewhere inside liberated Guatemala. The transmissions served to make the attacking forces seem much larger and more formidable than in actuality it was. Because of this appearance the military refused to issue arms to the peasantry at Arbenz's request. They feared the fictitious wave of troops entering the country too much to be willing to put up a fight. On June 27 Arbenz resigned and sought asylum in Mexico’s embassy. Ten days later the leader of the CIA's army, Col. Carlos Castillo Armas became the new president.
UNDER CASTILLO:
By July 8 Ambassador Peurifoy had successfully ensured Castillo's presidency despite the vying of various military officers to take power. Immediately the new CIA supported government did away with the constitution and 75% of the population were returned to their previous positions as right-less illiterates. The Labor Code was abandoned and over 500 unions were abolished. The organization of new unions was deemed illegal as unions were breeding grounds for festering communist sentiment. The land appropriated under the reform act were returned to previous owners and those that had been given land were often expelled while those who resisted were slaughtered. Castillo's personal "agrarian reform" was enacted which exempted privately owned land and made undeveloped government land more valuable and costly.
At CIA direction the NCDAC was formed as was the Penal Law that proscribed the death penalty for union and strike organizing. Files of the PGT and other organizations were seized by the CIA and a list of over 72,000 people was given to the government. Although many people received refuge in embassies as many as 9000 were arrested and tortured. Concentration camps were formed as the jails filled up. During all of this the US rejoiced at the defeat of communism in Guatemala and the opportunity to build a democratic society. The US showered the new Guatemalan regime with both military and economic aid to help develop their democracy.
COUNTERINSURGENCY AND THE DEATH SQUADS:
Perhaps the most distinguishing characteristic of the regimes following the fall of Arbenz is the existence of the death squads. Even after Castillo's assassination in 1957 the hold of the military over the country remained intact, even grew stronger.
In the mid-60's the actions of the death squads increased and became an everyday part of life in Guatemala. Originally they were created and supported by the CIA to combat the anti-government guerrilla movement. They were modeled after the Counter terror teams used in Vietnam and were directed by veterans of the Southeast Asia conflict. The squads originated as the action arm of the National Liberation Movement (MLN) which was headed by Mario Sandoval Alarcon and funded by the CIA.
No body was really safe from the squads as they killed somewhat indiscriminately anyone whom they felt posed a threat to the existing government including student leaders, political activists, unions, peasant organizers, even clergy (nuns too). Most of the victims were not communists or leftists or Arevalo supporters but people working for civil rights and other humanitarian causes. The estimates of those killed range from 75,000 to 120,000 and even higher. The 1990 leader Vinicio Cerezo has earned the title of the worst human rights violator in the western hemisphere because of the over 1,000 death squad murders and disappearances that occurred in that year.
These squads have gone largely unpunished, since 1954 only once were military officers brought to bear for these atrocious actions, and that conviction was overturned. Ricardo Falla describes the massacre at San Francisco, Nenton, Huehuetenango in 1982:
The pattern of massacre, as in other massacres, was as follows. The soldiers separated the men off to one side, telling them that there was going to be a meeting, and locked them up in the courthouse of the village- farm. The soldiers then rounded up women from their various homes and locked them up at another location with their children, both those having the use of reason and those not yet having it (the survivors make this distinction very clearly).
At about 1:00 PM, the soldiers began to fire at the women inside the small church. The majority did not die there, but were separated from their children, taken to their homes in groups, and killed, the majority apparently with machetes. It seems that the purpose of this last parting of women from their children was to prevent even the children from witnessing any last minute confession that might reveal the location of the guerrillas.
Then they returned to kill the children, whom they had left crying and screaming by themselves, without their mothers. Our informants, who were locked up in the courthouse, could see this through a hole in the window and through the doors left carelessly open by the guard. The soldiers cut open the children's stomachs with knives or they grabbed the children's little legs and smashed their heads with heavy sticks.
Some soldiers took a break to rest, eating a bull--the property of the peasants--that had been put on to roast. Then they continued with the men. They took them out, tied their hands, threw them on the ground, and shot them. The authorities of the area were killed inside the courthouse...
The massacre continued, and when about six people were left, the soldiers threw grenades at them, killing all but two. Since it was already night, these two escaped through the window, covered with blood but uninjured. One of them was shot, the other lived...
This kind of round-up was fairly common and still occasionally occurs though it is harder for the government now to make excuses for them with the heightened humanitarian sentiment in the world.
During the period between 1981 and 1983 the counterinsurgency movement embarked on a scorched earth campaign. Their intention was to "drain the sea" in which swam the guerrilla movement. They scorched and destroyed entire villages in the highlands where mostly Indians lived. Because of the high Indian population in the areas attacked scholars came to think of it as genocide "in a strict sense" because most of the dead were elderly or children without yet the use of reason none of whom could have been guerrilla collaborators. Over 440 villages were destroyed and the death toll reaches well over 100,000.
The second phase of this eradication of the rebels was between 1983 and 1985. During this time the patrols attempted to "consolidate military control over the population through a series of coercive institutions." (Jonas, 150). This was done through steps as the government had been taught by the CIA. A) Mandatory paramilitary "civilian self-defense patrols" (PAC) to make villagers assist in the purging of those opposed to the government. B) Rural resettlement camps or "model villages" in which every aspect of the populations' life could be monitored and controlled by the government. C) Inter-institutional coordinating councils (CII) which essentially created a military structure parallel to the civilian administration--a militarized state. The constitution of 1985 set out the plans and organization of each of these programs.
CONCLUSION:
It is unfortunate for Guatemala that the United States interfered with their progress. The changes under Arevalo and Arbenz were far more democratic and just than anything that has been implemented under the US endorsed dictatorship. Had the reform process been allowed to continue Guatemala could well be in the forefront of the global community. However that would be contrary to American interest, therefore it never had a chance. The history of Guatemala is one rich with life and vibrant personalities both positive and negative, but overall it is the story of a very determined people. My description of Guatemala to people who ask is that the nation is a rainbow. Previously I meant the fabrics and the flora of the land, now when I call the nation a rainbow there is a wealth of meaning behind it far beyond just the physical appearance of the place.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Books:
Gleijeses, Piero. 1991. Shattered Hope: The Guatemalan Revolution and the United States, 1944-1954. New Jersey; Princeton University Press.
Gramajo Morales, Hecto Alejandro. 1989. "Tesis de la establidad nacional." Guatemala: Editorial del Ejercito.
Harbury, Jennifer. 1994. Bridge of Courage. Monroe: Common Courage Press.
Immerman, Richard H. 1982. The CIA in Guatemala. Austin: University of Texas Press.
Jonas, Susanne. 1991. the Battle for Guatemala: Rebels, Death Squads, and US Power. Boulder: Westview Press.
Melville, Marjorie, and Thomas Melville. 1971. Guatemala: The Politics of Land Ownership. New York: Free Press.
Menchu, Rigoberta. 1984. I...Rigoberta Menchu. Elisabeth Burgos-Debray, (ed. and trans.). New York: Verso.
Periodicals:
Report on Guatemala. Volume 13, issue 4. Winter 1992. P.2-4.
the Christian Science Monitor. Wednesday, January 20, 1988.
"Guatemalan Army Tries to End Rebel War"
Guatemala: News Watch. Volumes 10 (no. 2), 9 (no. 12), 9 (no. 11), 10 (no. 1)
The New York Times Magazine. " Growing Old Fast in Guatemala" January 6, 1991/ section 6. P. 20-23.
Other:
Agee, Philip. 1994. Seminar 18. "Nationalism as a 'Communist Threat' and Military Dictatorship as the Solution: Iran, Guatemala, and Indonesia."
Unpublished.
Students shall submit at least two papers of 1500 words in length, one expository in nature and one which expresses a position or argument; both of which should include a list of works consulted and/or cited. Acceptable submissions may include college level research papers, published articles, or any papers submitted for other requirements in any of ADF.s Study Programs. Papers must demonstrate thorough research techniques, employ reliable sources, demonstrate a clear writing style, be well organized and make use of standard English syntax, usage and grammar.
Essay #1, expository, published in Oak Leaves a few years back
On Fennel
"And as it mantling passes round,
With fennel is it wreathed and crowned,
Whose seed and foliage sun-imbrowned
Are in its waters steeped and drowned,
And give a bitter taste.
Above the lowly plants it towers,
The fennel, with its yellow flowers,
And in an earlier age than ours
Was gifted with the wondrous powers,
Lost vision to restore.
It gave new strength, and fearless mood;
And gladiators, fierce and rude,
Mingled it in their daily food;
And he who battled and subdued,
A wreath of fennel wore. "
Excerpted from "The Goblet of Life" (ll. 11-25) by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 1842
Fennel, native to Southern Europe and parts of Asia, grows merrily and effortlessly anywhere it can find sun and mediocre soil. It has been naturalized around the world so successfully that the US and Australia consider it a foreign invasive plant. Nevertheless, it is a plant worthy of a spot in any Druid's herb garden.
All parts of this plant may be used; leaves, seeds, and bulb. It should be noted that not all types of fennel produce the engorged leaf base, known as the bulb; Florence fennel is the most prone to bulbing, though other varieties can be encouraged to do it as well. Should one desire to force bulbing, one must prevent the flower stalks from forming. The plant responds to this restriction of its natural growth by becoming thick and fleshy at its base, forming the large white bulb used in cooking. However, there are also benefits to allowing the plant to go to flower. Besides the showy, branched, yellow blooms; many beneficial insects and butterfly larvae are attracted to the flower stalks. Planted next to roses, fennel will draw the aphids to itself, thus allowing your roses go on about their business unimpeded. Additionally, fennel has such a quantity of foliage that the aphids and other hungry insects will hardly stunt its growth at all. Fennel is an important food source for Swallowtail butterflies; state butterfly in 7 states and state insect in 2 states.
It is embarrassingly easy to grow fennel. Seeds sown in early Spring will produce healthy, flowering plants the first year. Alternately, established plants can be put in and will easily naturalize within just a year or two. Fennel propagates through seeds and if allowed to go to seed it will be prolific! Unless you want a yard full of fennel, (it will shade out many other things as it can easily grow taller than 3'), I recommend preventing the flower stalks from forming at all, or cut the flowers to enjoy indoors. Cut fennel will stay lovely in a vase for over a week. In order to take advantage of the full range of fennel benefits, I allow several plants to go to seed every year, while snipping the flower stalks of others to enjoy the bulb (cooked or raw) and the continuous feathery greenery. I also collect the seeds from my fennel and incorporate them into incense and for use in cooking. And I have found that fresh fennel stalks, when placed on a low-burning fire, make a lovely mosquito repellent. Do be responsible when growing fennel and do not let it get away from the constraints of your garden.
Anethole, the substance that gives fennel its flavor and aroma, is a documented antispasmodic. Fennel has been used medicinally to relieve asthma, as a diuretic, laxative, expectorant, and as a cure for several intestinal and stomach woes. Tea made from the bruised seeds has been recommended to help stimulate the flow of milk, but there have been extremely rare cases of a severe, sometimes fatal reaction. It is common throughout India to chew fennel seeds after a meal to sweeten one's breath and as an aid to digestion. While an essential oil of fennel could cause dermatitis in sensitive people, a steam of fennel can be very useful for asthma, croup, and bronchitis.
Fennel holds a prominent place in our mythological history. According to Hesiod, it was a hollow fennel stalk that Iapetus' son, Prometheus, used to conceal and carry the stolen coal when bringing fire to mankind. In Works and Days he writes, "He (Zeus) hid fire; but that noble son of Iapetus stole again for men from Zeus the counselor in a hollow fennel-stalk..." and in Theogeny, "But the son of Iapetus outwitted him and stole the far-seen gleam of unwearying fire in a hollow fennel-stalk." Sir James Frazer relates that during rituals in honor of Adonis, 'gardens' for the god were planted in pots filled with soil in which were forced seeds of fennel, lettuce, wheat, and flowers. These gardens were allowed to wilt and die and were taken, along with the image of Adonis, to be thrown into the sea.
Pliny describes fennel as sacred to Bacchus and attributes an astounding 22 medicinal properties to the plant. One use that may be of modern interest was as a diet aid. Fennel was thought to assuage hunger pains (used in the Medieval era on days of fasting) and I have found it included in many modern diet/fasting teas. One of the more fascinating of Pliny's medicinal claims for fennel was that snakes were wont to rub against fennel to improve or restore their eyesight. One wonders exactly how he divined this. Belief in the ocularly strengthening properties of the plant endured through the middle ages. And one finds an echo of that belief in the Longfellow verse quoted above. It is perhaps a stretch to find a connection between the Greek understanding of fennel as a tool for bringing illumination and the belief of it as an eyesight restorative; however in the realm of UPG, one is allowed just such leeway.
Perhaps is was the conviction that fennel could improve vision that led to its being used in charms against witchcraft. In Anglo-Saxon lands it was most commonly paired with St. John's Wort, gathered at Midsummer, and hung in the eaves to dry and to protect the house's inhabitants. It would seem that this custom persisted into much later days; "on the eve of this saint (St. John's Day = Midsummer), as well as upon that of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, every man's door was shaded with green birch, long fennel, Saint John's wort, orpin, white lilies, and the like, ornamented with garlands of beautiful flowers" (Strutt, p. 284). In Paul Creswick's Victorian telling of the tale of Robin Hood, Allan-a-Dale's hard-won bride, Fennel, is left to guard and heal the wounded greenwood men while the larger party accompanies Robin. Here we may see a remnant of the belief in fennel as a curative and a power of protection to be found in the popular consciousness, for the name of Allen's love is not given in any of the ballads or poems of Robin Hood collected by Child, who was a noted folklore complier and exhaustive reseacher.
Fennel is often included among the nine sacred herbs of the Anglo-Saxons; however there are myriad lists of sacred herbs and trees for most Indo-European cultures and rarely do the many lists agree. In his work Night Battles, Carlo Ginzburg describes numerous folk accounts from the 16th century of fighting off evil witches using fennel stalks (while the malevolent witches were armed with sorghum stalks). Ginzburg's research centers on the Friuli region-a fascinating area bordered by Venice to the West, the Adriatic Sea to the South, Austria on the North, and Slovenia on the East. Once occupied by Celtic people and highly influenced by Germanic traditions, one finds quite a mixture of Indo-European customs and beliefs; and fennel figures prominently.
Hermetic magic finds fennel useful in purification practices. The 19th century translation of the Clavicula Salomonis offers specific instructions for making a Sprinkler, which is used in asperging or purifying with water. One must gather the fennel and other herbs during the hour of Mercury while the moon is waxing and tie their stems with a cord spun by a young maiden. After one makes certain inscriptions upon the handle one may use the "...Sprinkler whenever it is necessary, and know that wheresoever thou shalt sprinkle this Water, it will chase away all Phantoms and they shall be unable to hinder or annoy any." (Mathers, p. 103)
Modern Pagans may develop all manner of possible uses of fennel in current practice. A stalk of fennel dipped in Holy water (gathered from 3 natural sources) can be used for a simple Purification. Additionally, adding the used asperging stalk to the Fire as part of establishing the Triple Center may well add some oomph to a Greek or Norse ritual (not to imply that other Hearth Cultures can't appreciate fennel just as well). Perhaps an infusion or decoction of fennel (if the oil is found to be problematic)could be effective when used to anoint ritual participants or before divinatory work. In my experience fennel is excessively easy to work with and offers many rewards in return for a sunny spot in the yard.
Works Consulted:
Child, Francis James. English and Scottish Popular Ballads. Houghton Mifflin Company; Boston, MA; 1882
Creswick, Paul. Robin Hood and His Adventures. Mershon Company; Rathway, NJ; 1903
Foster, Steven & James A. Duke. A Field Guide to Medicinal Plants, Houghton Mifflin Company; Boston, MA; 1990
Frazer, James A. The Golden Bough, Macmillan Publishing Company; New York, NY; 1950
Ginzburg, Carlo. Night Battles: Witchcraft and Agrarian Cults in the Sixteenth & Seventeenth Centuries, Routledge & Keegan Paul PLC; Great Britain; 1983
Hesiod. M. L. West (trans.) Theogeny, Oxford UP; Great Britain; 1988
Hesiod. M. L. West (trans.) Works and Days, Oxford UP; Great Britain; 1988
Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth. J. D. McClatchy (ed.) Poems and Other Writings, Penguin Putnam Inc.; New York, NY; 2000
Mathers, S. Liddel MacGreggor (trans.) Clavicula Salomonis: The Key of Solomon the King, Samuel Weiser, Inc.; York Beach, ME; 1972
Pliny. John F. Healy (trans. & ed.) Natural History: A Selection, Penguin Books; London, England; 1991
Strutt, Joseph. Sports and Pastimes of the People of England (2nd. ed). Unknown binding; England; 1903
Essay #2 position/argument written for an undergraduate independent study course about Guatemala. My position was that the United States derailed the democratic process due to the personal economic interests of high ranked US citizens. It is a bit long, my apologies...
On Guatemala. Politics 290
Guatemala is now under a military dictatorship which is extremely repressive and cruel. This dictatorship is supported and was in part created by the government of the United States.
In 1945 there was a "revolution" in Guatemala though not the typical revolution. In Guatemala the revolution ended with a free election of an "anti-Communist" liberal. One expects a revolution to be a violent thing which ends in either defeat or the overthrow of the pre-existing government and the installation of some new systematical leader. Guatemala is a different sort of place so it only follows that their revolution would be a bit out of the ordinary as well.
To make the undertaking of writing about this nation a bit easier I will divide it up into different sections, chapters if you will.
THE REVOLUTION:
The Guatemalan revolution was a relatively short lived thing in comparison to other successful revolutions. It lasted from 1944 through 1954 when CIA assisted rebels overthrew the government and instituted the police state that now exists.
Under president Ubico Guatemala was a courtier of the US He diligently tried to please the US and made many concessions to them often at the expense of native Guatemalans. His regime was one of harsh repression and exploitation of the large Indian population.
Nine days after the revolt in El Salvador Ubico's government announced that a similar revolt had been crushed in Guatemala. In reality Ubico had only crushed the tiny labor party and the new communist party. Leaders of both were turned over to the police and suffered extreme torture though not one repented. A hero for the remaining communists was actually created from this torture. Wainwright called for Ubico from prison with a promise of information. When Ubico arrived at his cell the man called him: "a miserable murderer and an animal." This tirade was concluded with a spit in Ubico's face. Wainwright was then whipped until death and became a martyr.
The propaganda of the government concerning this alleged communist plot was sufficient to convince the upper class and promote anti-Communist fervor. All of this was praised loudly by the catholic church and the latifundistas, or land owners.
In 1922 thirteen ladinos and a Salvadoran law student created an illegal communist party. Though ignorant of Marxist thought they had determination and little else for they were fund-less and persecuted. One of the leaders said of their Marxist education "We were ignorant; we didn't know anything about Marxist theory; we didn't even own any Marxist books." They made up for what they lacked in ideology through their organization, dedication, and all over skill. This trend persisted through the years and allowed the party to gain influence.
After W.W.II the anti-Fascist literature that was flourishing around the world, and in the United States in particular, gave a base to Ubico's opponents. In June of 1944, two months after the uprising in El Salvador, there was a student strike in Guatemala City. It soon spread and became an all over strike with demands far beyond the original call for university autonomy. The government responded by suspending constitutional liberties and firing into the protesting crowd, only one was killed. However it created an uproar and within a week Ubico resigned leaving Federico Ponce as the head of a "provisional" government. On October 20, 1944, students and dissident military officers ousted Ponce and set up a three-man junta. The junta made up of Francisco Arana, Jacobo Arbenz, and Jorge Toriello held elections and Juan Jose Arevalo was elected as president receiving 85% of the vote.
This is where the real "revolution" begins, under Arevalo. His was the first revolutionary presidency and he made significant progress. He rejected liberal individualism and Marxism believing them both materialistic. The constitution adopted under Arevalo provided for freedom of speech, press, and political parties. This excluded the Communist party and others deemed "foreign or international" parties. The autonomy of universities, the armed forces, and the military was granted thus decentralizing the government. In 1947 the Labor Code was implemented ensuring minimum wage, working condition standards, social security, labor-management contracts, and the right to strike. However the power to disband unions that were decided to be illegal as serving foreign interests remained with the government.
The election in 1951 was one surrounded by urgency since the right-wing favorite had been assassinated. However, Jacobo Arbenz won with a 63% majority and ushered in a time dedicated to developing an independent, capitalist Guatemala.
Arbenz planned to encourage private enterprise and confront both foreign monopolies and the landed oligarchy. The plan was to force three US companies to adhere to national laws as well as develop native industries to compete with the foreign ones. The three US companies would be challenged by a Guatemalan hydro-electric plant (addressing EEG), a highway to the Atlantic (addressing IRCA), and an Atlantic port (addressing UFCo). Probably the most drastic reform undertaken by Arbenz's administration was the Agrarian Reform Law of 1952.
The law provided for expropriation of idle land from holdings over 223 acres and their distribution to eligible recipients. Peasants would receive the land either in ownership or in usufruct (use) for life, and would pay for it at a rate of 3 percent of annual production. Compensation would be made through government bonds, the value of the land being determined by the owners' 1952 valuations for tax purposes."
(Jonas, 27)
This caused great unrest among the latifundistas and especially with UFCo which was Guatemala's largest private landholder. Often the landowners reacted violently against the peasants who in turn would retaliate. This, in and of itself, served to draw lines between those who supported the revolution and those who did not. From UFCo was taken 400,000 acres of uncultivated land. UFCo only had cultivated 15% of its land and claimed it needed the other 85% left uncultivated to recover from the effects of some rare banana disease. In return for the seized land UFCo was given Q,185,115 and was based, as the act stated, on their 1952 tax evaluation. However, UFCo, with the support of the US state department, claimed the land was worth $16 million, quite a larger number than they had claimed earlier. This was a climax to a problem that had been seething for quite some time.
US PRESS ON GUATEMALA:
If we assume that the UN is dominated by the United States it is not a long jump to assume that any publication by that organization will have an American slant to it. The periodical Guatemala News Watch is released bi-monthly and covers developments and problems in Guatemala. It is not surprising that most of the problems are contributed to the lingering communist sentiment present in the country.
In volume 10 of this journal an article about URGN activities uses terms like "outdated Marxist propaganda" and speaks of the URGN "double standards" when dealing with human rights. It praises the governments' steps toward ending conflict. This seems rather odd since most human interest stories focusing on Guatemala describe the outrages against the population that are perpetrated by the government.
In over 15 articles the URGN is blamed for guerrilla attacks against benign institutions especially during the time surrounding the UN's report on human rights. It states that these attacks are
"A guerrilla strategy to gain additional bargaining power at the negotiating table in the ...discussions which will determine the insertion of the URNG into the national political context."
The December issue (vol. 9 no.12) opens with the statement:
The consolidating process of Guatemala's democracy continued during 1994. The precedent-setting referendum of January 1994 strengthened the judicial, executive, and legislative branches by providing further separation of powers. By seeking to achieve changes peacefully through democratic and constitutional procedures, Guatemala reaffirms its continued commitment to the democratic process. We will continue to actively support those institutions that will further consolidate democracy in Guatemala.
Past experiences should tell one that when the words "actively support those institutions..." appear it means the enigmatic "we" will continue its control over the country--as the US has done and apparently will continue to do in Guatemala.
The US has a history of dictating to Guatemala, as it does with nearly all of Latin America. The US has strict control over Guatemalan industry and keeps the population in a state of poverty. The institutions mentioned in the excerpt may be assumed, rather safely, to be the existing government which is a military dictatorship based on terror and debasement. This in no way sounds like democracy. It would appear that the US definition of democracy for other nations is US control at whatever cost.
During the time when the US was planning and carrying out its attack on Guatemala the press supported claims that Guatemala was infested with communists and a threat to the US. Even now the UN publications complain about the communist threat there. Other press however has turned away from that in favor of covering the atrocities committed against the population.
The New York Times Magazine published an article in January of 1991 about the conditions in Guatemala. The photo spread which accompanied the article was of people, often children, who were beaten by the police and strung out on cheap drugs (especially glue).
Human rights groups have accused the police of killing about 40 children. Photographs of some of the bodies show evidence of torture: ears and tongues cut off and eyes burned out. Many other children have simply disappeared. Sometimes the police pour glue on the heads of the children, who have to shave their hair to get it out. Sometimes the glue runs into their eyes, often causing permanent injury...
In late November, two Covenant House volunteers happened upon policemen kicking a 15-year-old boy in the stomach. the officers took off their badges to avoid identification and stopped beating the teenager when they saw the photographer."
This is the democracy that the UN is supporting in Guatemala. The director of Covenant House in Guatemala said "There is no justice in Guatemala."
The Christian Science Monitor did an article about the army attempts to stop the civil war now raging in Guatemala. The Defense Minister, Gramajo, said that their final offensive would "in a short period of time bring a military victory" and that "the subversion will be eradicated from our country." However, the government maintains that there is no civil war in Guatemala and that is why cease fire talks are not needed. If there is no civil war then how can there be a military victory? Peasants testify that the army has been bombing civilian populations in the mountains and several villages have already been destroyed. Those people who lived in the destroyed or guerrilla influenced hamlets are being detained in refugee camps run by the military until they can return to an army-monitored village. Often these "refugees" are interrogated before they undergo the three-month "reindoctrination" program. They must be re-indoctrinated because the army claims that the guerrillas brainwash them. This would mean, of course, brainwash them with “outdated Marxist propaganda.” All this was in the Monitor article surprisingly enough.
Truthfully when I started reading the periodicals about Guatemala I expected to read American propaganda and one-sided stories. Instead I found that in most publications the voice was almost sympathetic to the plight of the people, though they never indicted the Guatemalan government outright either. Except for the UN publications I was pleased to read fairly accurate accounts of the situation in Guatemala.
THE PGT (PARTIDO GUATEMALTECO DEL TRABAJO):
In 1952 a the second congress of the party they officially changed their name to The Workers' Party. At the meeting it was said
"the name Communist Party, however dear to us, makes it harder for us to reach the masses...We must place the task of developing the party before any sentimental attachment to a name."
Just a few days later the party became officially recognized.
It probably would have been much more difficult for the party to have gained as much power as it did without the support of President Arbenz. Though not a communist himself he favored the party immensely and that favor forced other who most likely have not been so agreeable to court the party. No party member sat in the cabinet and few of the governmental officials were associated with the party. In fact, the highest positions held by PGT members were those of director of national broadcasting (Jerez) and deputy director of the Departamento Agrario Nacional (Klee). However, top members of the party, like Fortuny, were influential as the President's advisors; a kind of kitchen cabinet for Arbenz. Often the party members knew about Arbenz's decisions before the congress or assembly of ministers did.
It is rather amazing that the PGT developed as quickly and efficiently as it did. The most support they got from the Chilean deputy was his advice to study the Chinese Revolution in greater detail. The only nation to actually acknowledge the PGT was Cuba. They sent Alejandro to stay with the PGT for a few years to advise them. The PGT looked up to the PSP as a more developed party and sought to learn from them. Since the Guatemalans had only a limited knowledge of Marxist theory they were thankful for Alejandro's guidance however:
Alejandro was in a country of which he had no previous knowledge, and during his stay he met few of its political leaders; few Guatemalans knew of his presence, and even fewer of his role. His strength may have been his understanding of the limits of this role."
(Gleijeses, 185)
The PGT did something that no other party in Latin America was doing, they were growing and expanding their influence.
In spite of their un-acceptance into the Latin America communist society, even their virtual rejection by the Soviets they persevered and struggled indefatigably. One of their assets was that their leaders were almost religiously devoted to the cause and sacrificed all of their time to it.
The communists made their influence felt through hard work. For instance, once last year he (Licenciado Silva Pena) was on a committee that had been unable to settle a question in a certain meeting. Everyone except the communists had gone off that evening to see the "Ice Festival" which was in town. The communists had worked all night and came in the next day with a completely new set of proposals which carried the day."
reported the embassy in 1953. Their vision was much more clear than that of their opponents and that did not go unnoticed among the population.
Another blow in their favor was their diversion from the Leninist theory of a Bolshevik party. The PGT had done away with their eligibility
requirements and accepted anyone interested. The Secretariat member Bernardo Alvarado wrote (and this is lengthy so please bear with me):
Our workers, our peasants and our middle class are very backwards because of the semi feudal conditions in our country and because of the tyrants who oppressed us for so long. But these are our people, in whose midst we must forge our party...That is why we are critical of those comrades who look down on our new members and welcome only those who are already "well-prepared." They forget that communists are molded within the party...The belief that the party should be small, that it should be primarily a school of Marxist theory, and that its prospective members should arrive well-qualified...has isolated us from the masses and restricted the party's growth.
There are comrades who cross themselves devoutly before entering a meeting, but they enter and listen to the party's teachings. These are the people whom the party must attract in order to enlist the best and transform them into good communists...
"Won't this weaken the party?" The most sectarian of our comrades will ask in fear. But...what weakens the party is to be cut off from the masses...It would be worse if these honest peasants, after making the sign of the cross, went off to hear a venomous anti-Communist diatribe."
This embodies the philosophy of the PGT, a nondiscriminatory organization. Though there is dogma in that section it is a dogma that they followed faithfully. Surely their acceptance of all interested was influenced by the rejection of the PGT by most of the other parties they contacted. That rejection makes one wonder how closely the other parties adhered since they rejected the base Marxist idea of a global communist party.
THE REBELS: (A sub-chapter of the PGT)
Who were the rebels that opposed the imperialistic machinations of the US and demanded autonomy for Guatemala? They were the middle class for the most part as the Indians were wary of anything ladino and of politics in general. The church too spoke out against the PGT and issued sermons about the evils of communism. In general the rebels were students originally later joined by others with similarly idealistic and nationalistic views. Harbury's book, Bridge of Courage, is comprised of monologues by revolutionaries. Though the names Harbury gives are necessarily fictitious, the tales are true to life and the people represented in the book are very real. One is the explanation of a medical student as to why her face is so badly scarred. She describes seeing her friend's body in the morgue after being taken by a police death squad. The body is terribly mangled and has obviously been tortured to death. Another account is one of a man who was a novice to the movement who is taken to meet one of the founders. He admits that at first he thought the old man's stories were but tall tales and later realizes that each one of them was absolutely true.
One real ‘rebel’ who has recently received some notoriety is Rigoberta Menchu. In 1992 Menchu was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her dedication to human rights. Since 1981 Menchu has lived in exile for her activism in the resistance. In her acceptance speech she said:
This prize is not only mine; it belongs to the people of Guatemala, and of the whole world, especially where there are indigenous people.
Menchu is an activist on the side indigenous people, not just in Guatemala. She has worked for the poor and the oppressed everywhere combating and speaking out against "racism and colonialism." The Guatemalan government did not receive Menchu's victory with grace. They had set up an oligarchic candidate for her work with sight and hearing impaired children but she had no international standing and no chance of winning. This nomination has been called an attempt to diffuse national support and fervor over Menchu's candidacy. In fact, Captain Rivera and Foreign Minister Park claimed that Menchu's victory would "be a victory for the enemies of Guatemala." The government later discounted this remark by saying that the men were misinterpreted or speaking only in a personal capacity. Regardless, their attitude is clear.
Two women leaving the offices that served as Menchu's base were dragged off and beaten violently after being accused of being guerrillas and Menchu supporters. Days later two members of CERJ were arrested and tortured. This is not unusual in Guatemala especially since the establishment of the National Committee for Defense Against Communism and the implementation of the Preventive Penal Law Against Communism under Castillo Armas. The NCDAC has the power to name anyone a communist and hold them for consecutive six month intervals without charging them or giving them a trial. Few people are actually held though since most die from the extreme torture that is inflicted during detention.
Bridge of Courage describes people who join the movement for many reasons but who are not specifically subversive people. The unifying thread is that once inside the movement they see more and more injustice and repression which fuels their unrest and forges their dedication to the cause. Regular, everyday people being transformed into fighters for liberty--this is who the Guatemalan rebels are.
US INTERVENTION:
The US has a history of pressure and influence in Guatemala dating from even before the accommodating rule of Ubico. Under Ubico however that influence became entrenched and its effect indelible. The thing which brought US/Guatemalan strife to a head was indeed the Agrarian reform Act. This was the figurative straw and the proof needed to denounce Guatemala as communist infested and begin an overt attack on the Government by the US.
UFCo was operating freely in Guatemala paying only minimal taxes and only $1.35 a day to its workers who only worked 150 days a year. In 1950 the global profits of UFCo were $65 million which is equivalently twice the income of the Guatemalan government. In 1947 UFCo complained to the US State Department that the new Labor Code was discriminatory toward US companies since it allowed workers of large companies 10 vacation days while small co. Workers received only 5. More importantly the Code allowed workers to organize and strike even during the harvest season. UFCo was not willing to cope with independently organized labor especially since they provided such unsatisfactory working conditions. The Truman administration responded to UFCo's complaints by placing an arms embargo on Guatemala and encouraging its allies to do the same. A campaign in the US press began accusing Guatemala of being a "Soviet beachhead." This is clearly an untrue accusation since the Soviets would have nothing to do with the PGT and looked at them as a merely laughable organization. The land reform brought it all to a head. By making US intentions in Guatemala difficult to manifest the Guatemalan government had condemned itself as communist in the eyes of the US. Coupled with other "proofs" like Guatemala's refusal to support the Korean war and the publication of articles critical of US use of germ warfare and allowing Spanish Republic exiles to settle within its boundaries there was little doubt in the collective US mind that the Red Virus had infected even the upper levels of Guatemalan administration.
The CIA operation in Guatemala was named PBSUCESS. Typically the CIA follows a step-by-step process when taking over a small country. First they must ensure that there is no communist sentiment within the military. The extent of sympathy in the military is rather vague, even in detailed studies of the communist/nationalist movement there is rarely more than a
paragraph dedicated to the military. The second step is to demonize the party in through propaganda. After the "threat" of communism is established the CIA can organize demonstrations and violence to create instability until the military deems it necessary to move in and overthrow the government. This is precisely what the US did in Guatemala.
The CIA organized the "Army of Liberation" using exiles and mercenaries and trained them secretly in Nicaragua. In 1954 this motley "army" entered Guatemala and set up camp at Esquipulas. Their attack was backed by nine days of bombing by CIA planes on Guatemala City while the radio station "Voice of Liberty" (run by the CIA) reported on the massive attack.
The use of propaganda was extremely important in Guatemala as it created a siege mentality and was somewhat successful at forming a general fear of communism. UFCo public relation specialist wrote:
The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits of the masses is an important element in the democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country...it is the intelligent minorities which need to make use of propaganda continuously and systematically.
The actual number of communists in Guatemala was extremely small and no real threat. Their power in the government was very limited and there were only four PGT members in government. The party was merely put in conflict with UFCo and, subsequently, with the United States.
The CIA controlled radio was key to PBSUCESS. Transmitters were set up in Nicaragua, Honduras, Dominican Republic, and in the US embassy in Guatemala. The transmissions were masked so they would appear to originate from somewhere inside liberated Guatemala. The transmissions served to make the attacking forces seem much larger and more formidable than in actuality it was. Because of this appearance the military refused to issue arms to the peasantry at Arbenz's request. They feared the fictitious wave of troops entering the country too much to be willing to put up a fight. On June 27 Arbenz resigned and sought asylum in Mexico’s embassy. Ten days later the leader of the CIA's army, Col. Carlos Castillo Armas became the new president.
UNDER CASTILLO:
By July 8 Ambassador Peurifoy had successfully ensured Castillo's presidency despite the vying of various military officers to take power. Immediately the new CIA supported government did away with the constitution and 75% of the population were returned to their previous positions as right-less illiterates. The Labor Code was abandoned and over 500 unions were abolished. The organization of new unions was deemed illegal as unions were breeding grounds for festering communist sentiment. The land appropriated under the reform act were returned to previous owners and those that had been given land were often expelled while those who resisted were slaughtered. Castillo's personal "agrarian reform" was enacted which exempted privately owned land and made undeveloped government land more valuable and costly.
At CIA direction the NCDAC was formed as was the Penal Law that proscribed the death penalty for union and strike organizing. Files of the PGT and other organizations were seized by the CIA and a list of over 72,000 people was given to the government. Although many people received refuge in embassies as many as 9000 were arrested and tortured. Concentration camps were formed as the jails filled up. During all of this the US rejoiced at the defeat of communism in Guatemala and the opportunity to build a democratic society. The US showered the new Guatemalan regime with both military and economic aid to help develop their democracy.
COUNTERINSURGENCY AND THE DEATH SQUADS:
Perhaps the most distinguishing characteristic of the regimes following the fall of Arbenz is the existence of the death squads. Even after Castillo's assassination in 1957 the hold of the military over the country remained intact, even grew stronger.
In the mid-60's the actions of the death squads increased and became an everyday part of life in Guatemala. Originally they were created and supported by the CIA to combat the anti-government guerrilla movement. They were modeled after the Counter terror teams used in Vietnam and were directed by veterans of the Southeast Asia conflict. The squads originated as the action arm of the National Liberation Movement (MLN) which was headed by Mario Sandoval Alarcon and funded by the CIA.
No body was really safe from the squads as they killed somewhat indiscriminately anyone whom they felt posed a threat to the existing government including student leaders, political activists, unions, peasant organizers, even clergy (nuns too). Most of the victims were not communists or leftists or Arevalo supporters but people working for civil rights and other humanitarian causes. The estimates of those killed range from 75,000 to 120,000 and even higher. The 1990 leader Vinicio Cerezo has earned the title of the worst human rights violator in the western hemisphere because of the over 1,000 death squad murders and disappearances that occurred in that year.
These squads have gone largely unpunished, since 1954 only once were military officers brought to bear for these atrocious actions, and that conviction was overturned. Ricardo Falla describes the massacre at San Francisco, Nenton, Huehuetenango in 1982:
The pattern of massacre, as in other massacres, was as follows. The soldiers separated the men off to one side, telling them that there was going to be a meeting, and locked them up in the courthouse of the village- farm. The soldiers then rounded up women from their various homes and locked them up at another location with their children, both those having the use of reason and those not yet having it (the survivors make this distinction very clearly).
At about 1:00 PM, the soldiers began to fire at the women inside the small church. The majority did not die there, but were separated from their children, taken to their homes in groups, and killed, the majority apparently with machetes. It seems that the purpose of this last parting of women from their children was to prevent even the children from witnessing any last minute confession that might reveal the location of the guerrillas.
Then they returned to kill the children, whom they had left crying and screaming by themselves, without their mothers. Our informants, who were locked up in the courthouse, could see this through a hole in the window and through the doors left carelessly open by the guard. The soldiers cut open the children's stomachs with knives or they grabbed the children's little legs and smashed their heads with heavy sticks.
Some soldiers took a break to rest, eating a bull--the property of the peasants--that had been put on to roast. Then they continued with the men. They took them out, tied their hands, threw them on the ground, and shot them. The authorities of the area were killed inside the courthouse...
The massacre continued, and when about six people were left, the soldiers threw grenades at them, killing all but two. Since it was already night, these two escaped through the window, covered with blood but uninjured. One of them was shot, the other lived...
This kind of round-up was fairly common and still occasionally occurs though it is harder for the government now to make excuses for them with the heightened humanitarian sentiment in the world.
During the period between 1981 and 1983 the counterinsurgency movement embarked on a scorched earth campaign. Their intention was to "drain the sea" in which swam the guerrilla movement. They scorched and destroyed entire villages in the highlands where mostly Indians lived. Because of the high Indian population in the areas attacked scholars came to think of it as genocide "in a strict sense" because most of the dead were elderly or children without yet the use of reason none of whom could have been guerrilla collaborators. Over 440 villages were destroyed and the death toll reaches well over 100,000.
The second phase of this eradication of the rebels was between 1983 and 1985. During this time the patrols attempted to "consolidate military control over the population through a series of coercive institutions." (Jonas, 150). This was done through steps as the government had been taught by the CIA. A) Mandatory paramilitary "civilian self-defense patrols" (PAC) to make villagers assist in the purging of those opposed to the government. B) Rural resettlement camps or "model villages" in which every aspect of the populations' life could be monitored and controlled by the government. C) Inter-institutional coordinating councils (CII) which essentially created a military structure parallel to the civilian administration--a militarized state. The constitution of 1985 set out the plans and organization of each of these programs.
CONCLUSION:
It is unfortunate for Guatemala that the United States interfered with their progress. The changes under Arevalo and Arbenz were far more democratic and just than anything that has been implemented under the US endorsed dictatorship. Had the reform process been allowed to continue Guatemala could well be in the forefront of the global community. However that would be contrary to American interest, therefore it never had a chance. The history of Guatemala is one rich with life and vibrant personalities both positive and negative, but overall it is the story of a very determined people. My description of Guatemala to people who ask is that the nation is a rainbow. Previously I meant the fabrics and the flora of the land, now when I call the nation a rainbow there is a wealth of meaning behind it far beyond just the physical appearance of the place.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Books:
Gleijeses, Piero. 1991. Shattered Hope: The Guatemalan Revolution and the United States, 1944-1954. New Jersey; Princeton University Press.
Gramajo Morales, Hecto Alejandro. 1989. "Tesis de la establidad nacional." Guatemala: Editorial del Ejercito.
Harbury, Jennifer. 1994. Bridge of Courage. Monroe: Common Courage Press.
Immerman, Richard H. 1982. The CIA in Guatemala. Austin: University of Texas Press.
Jonas, Susanne. 1991. the Battle for Guatemala: Rebels, Death Squads, and US Power. Boulder: Westview Press.
Melville, Marjorie, and Thomas Melville. 1971. Guatemala: The Politics of Land Ownership. New York: Free Press.
Menchu, Rigoberta. 1984. I...Rigoberta Menchu. Elisabeth Burgos-Debray, (ed. and trans.). New York: Verso.
Periodicals:
Report on Guatemala. Volume 13, issue 4. Winter 1992. P.2-4.
the Christian Science Monitor. Wednesday, January 20, 1988.
"Guatemalan Army Tries to End Rebel War"
Guatemala: News Watch. Volumes 10 (no. 2), 9 (no. 12), 9 (no. 11), 10 (no. 1)
The New York Times Magazine. " Growing Old Fast in Guatemala" January 6, 1991/ section 6. P. 20-23.
Other:
Agee, Philip. 1994. Seminar 18. "Nationalism as a 'Communist Threat' and Military Dictatorship as the Solution: Iran, Guatemala, and Indonesia."
Unpublished.