Complete Thesis_double spaced abstract.pdf

(1994), a Truth Commission, the Human Rights Accord (1994), and the Identity and Rights of
Indigenous Peoples (1995) were the mechanisms for achieving the Final Peace Accords in 1996.
Counterinsurgency Movements: Members of the Guatemalan elite landowning class and
members of the openly fascist political party the MLN formed Mano Blanca, or the White Hand,
in 1966. Sandoval Alarcon, leader of the MLN, proudly proclaimed the role of MLN leadership
in the creation of the death squad, describing it as a “necessary part of the global struggle against
communism” (Handy, 1984, 162). Mano Blanca was a right-wing terrorist death squad operating
with impunity in the rural and urban areas in Guatemala. Under the presidency of Colonel Arana
membership grew to include members of the Congress and Cabinet level ministers. The members
of Mano Blanca who carried out the killings, disappearances and torture of opponents were often
off-duty members of the military and police forces. The national police chief was the alleged
director of the Mano Blanca; other members of Mano Blanca were Colonel Rafael Arriaga
Bosque and Colonel Carlos Arana Osorio, future president of Guatemala (REMHI, 1999, 199).
The targets of Mano Blanca were former revolutionary leaders, known revolutionary
sympathizers, leftist or center-left Congressmen and politicians, students, professors, and union
leaders with alleged communist ties, and the laborers and peasants living in rural areas. The
University at San Carlos was one of the favorite targets of Mano Blanca, students, union leaders
and professors were continually targeted for their support for political reforms. The tactics
utilized by Mano Blanca were highly visible assassinations, torture of well known individuals,
indiscriminant mass arrests and disappearances, and dumping of corpses in public places. The
government forces would frequently conduct house to house searches for subversives in
Guatemala City during Colonel Arana’s presidency. During the 1960s and early 1970s Mano
Blanca was known for the torture, rape and murder of a Guatemalan beauty queen, the
assassination of a handicapped Congressman, the kidnapping of the Archbishop of Guatemala
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