Complete Thesis_double spaced abstract.pdf

In the 1970s Colonel Arana concentrated his efforts to eliminate resistance in Zacapa and
Izabal in the Northwestern sections of Guatemala. In addition to Guatemala City, these areas
housed the greatest support for the guerrilla’s causes. Colonel Arana earned his monikers, “the
butcher of Zacapa” and the “Jackal of Zapaca” for his counterinsurgency strategy in the two
areas. He initiated the “draining of the sea,” a term used to describe the mass killings of peasants
in order to capture or force out members of the FAR, PGT, or M-13 (Jonas, 1991, 68; Handy,
1984, 164). The scorched earth offensive was adopted from the United States’ counterinsurgency
efforts in Vietnam the tactics left entire villages annihilated and abandoned. Killings were carried
out with the use of aerial bombings of napalm and death squads on the ground.
In addition to the eight thousand peasants killed during Colonel Arana’s military
offensive several guerrilla leaders were also tortured and killed: Edgar Ibarra, Alejandro Leon,
Yon Sosa, and Otto Rene Castillo (Jonas, 1991, 68). Furthermore, in 1968 members of the MLN
kidnapped the archbishop of Guatemala. Their plan was to place blame on the FAR and
strengthen the counterinsurgency efforts; however, the plan turned out to be a failure and
prominent right-wing supporters were implicated in the kidnapping. The debacle temporarily
displaced Colonel Arana to Nicaragua where a sympathetic Anastasio Somoza was the dictator.
The debacle also led to the removal of the police chief and head of Mano Blanca. The reprieve
was temporary as Colonel Arana was to be elected to the presidency two years later in 1970. The
lead up to the 1970 election was a time of further terror and repression in Guatemala; the military
commissioners “threatened to burn down whole villages that did not vote for the MLN [party]”
and polling places in unsympathetic neighborhoods were closed for the election (Handy, 1984,
167). Several high profile political kidnappings and assassinations took place in the weeks before
the election. Voter turnout was especially low during the 1970 election, the killings combined
with calls to boycott the election and fear in the general populace meant that it only took 4% of
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