Complete Thesis_double spaced abstract.pdf

the population to elect Colonel Arana to the presidency (Handy, 1984, 167). State sponsored
violence continued when Colonel Arana replaced President Méndez, death lists were again
circulated, the universities were placed under siege, and labor organizers were assassinated. In
the six months after Colonel Arana took office there were “700 political killings in Guatemala”
and in the 1971 there were “483 people disappeared…nationally known figures-intellectuals,
trade union officials, moderate party leaders” (Black, 1984, 30; Handy, 1984, 168). The bodies
of those who disappeared were often dumped in public places with notes attached detailing why
they were killed. In 1972 eight leaders of the FAR were executed, crippling any growth of the
group (Dunkerly, 1988, 460). Domestic groups tracking the violence in Guatemala, such as the
Committee of Relatives of the Disappeared, allege that 15,325 people were killed between 1970
and 1973. 29
The counterinsurgency had its own internal conflicts, Oliver Castaneda Paiz the
leader of Mano Blanca along with four other MLN party members were assassinated in 1972.
The assassinations were a result of President Arana consolidating power after he was elected to
office in 1970. He eliminated members of the MLN including the leaders of the Mano Blanca
death squad to prevent rival groups from challenging his rule in the future. In the beginning of
his administration General Arana also had members of the Christian Democrats, professors at San
Carlos University, and student leaders assassinated. The REMHI recorded over 300 incidents
with multiple victims during General Arana’s regime.
The earthquake in 1976 was a turning point for the worse in Guatemala. The new
president, General Laugerud, had slightly relaxed the restrictions on social and community
organizing in order to address the fallout from the earthquake. However, the formation and
activation of indigenous, peasant and labor organizations after the 1976 earthquake agitated the
military, the elites, and foreign investors. Consequently, the government’s violent response over
29 Dunkerly, 460. The CEH (1999) does not report this number for the same time period.
161