"Surviving All Changes Is Your Destiny"

Abstract

Political violence in Central America gained international media attention during the 1980s because of the involvement of the United States in this conflictive region, and generation of activists and scholars has written prolifically about it. Now, in the wake of reconciliation efforts in the region, it is appropriate to revisit the question of why and how the tragedy of the past four decades occurred. As Robert Holden points out in his analysis of the historical origins of endemic state-sponsored violence in Central America, violence has often been treated simplistically as by-product of other political and economic characteristics of the region' (Holden, 1996: 435-459). This tendency is especially true of North American scholarship. Holden breaks new ground by calling for a new agenda. He addresses political violence as an independent variable and calls for closer analysis of the enduring presence of violence in the region over the past 120 years.2 This article attempts to continue this careful analysis of the nature of political violence in Central America. Because the notion of democracy is inextricably linked to the efforts of peace and reconciliation, it is logical to analyze the relationship between violence and popular movements-arguably the most important examples of democratic institutions in the region. This article seeks to examine the effects of politically motivated violence on popular movements, specifically campesino organizations, in Guatemala between 1954 and 1985. The analysis does not pretend to explain recent events or offer predictions for the future, but careful analysis of the relationship between popular organizations and political violence in that country is practical starting point.