Complete Thesis_double spaced abstract.pdf

accused the Guatemalan Assiociation of Agriculturalists (AGA) and the Comite Coordinador de
Asociaciones Agricolas, Comerciales, Industriales y Financieras (CACIF) of collaborating with
and running death squads in rural Guatemala (Black, 1984, 49).
The CUC was established around the same time as the CNUS, from 1976-1978. The
CUC was a national peasant organization. The goals and strategies for the group included
securing representation for indigenous people, land reform, ending the violence, and the
upholding of civil and political liberties for indigenous peoples. Members and leaders of the
CUC were frequent targets of government repression, nonetheless the organization helped
coordinate some of the largest strikes in Guatemala during the late 1970s and early 1980s. The
method by which the CUC believed their goals would be accomplished and the tactics employed
by the CUC were far more militant than other labor and community groups; their slogan was
“clear head, heart of solidarity, combative fist” (Black, 1984, 99). As a result the CUC was far
more secretive with regards to leadership and meetings. The CUC had the most success
organizing in rural areas, highlighted by a strike of 75,000-110,000 sugarcane and cotton workers
in 1980. Massive strikes such as this one helped to forge a link of solidarity between urban labor
organizers and organizations and rural groups and organizations (Jonas, 1991, 129).
The election of a civilian to the presidency in 1986 ignited the labor movement. In
August and September of 1986 the Syndicate of Guatemalan Workers Unions (UNSITRAGUA)
and the Guatemalan Workers’ General Coordinator (CGTG) brought a set of demands and
reforms to the government. The labor groups were pressing for reforms to the process for union
recognition, reforms to the process for filing a labor complaint, reforms to the process for firing
workers, clarification on retirement benefits, changes to the minimum salary. In 1985-1986 the
labor movement had been striking frequently in Guatemala City and Quezaltenango; grievances
122