Historical Dictionary of Terrorism Third Edition

GUEVARA, ERNESTO “CHE” • 223few of its weapons, apparently out of concern that certain of themilitary forces as well as powerful landowners would not respectthe peace settlement and might attack the resettled rebels and peasants.On 25 February 1999 the Historical Clarification Commission,a truth commission set up by the United Nations as part of its effortto supervise the 1996 peace accord, presented its report, whichestimated that more than 200,000 people had been killed and thatheld the Guatemalan government responsible for 90 percent of the42,000 documented human rights violations, of which 29,000 hadresulted in deaths or disappearances. Copies of this report weregiven to representatives both of the Guatemalan government andof the URNG, which had become an official political party withinGuatemala. In the 7 November 1999 congressional elections, theURNG won nine of the 113 seats in the Congress of the Republicwhile its presidential and vice presidential candidates, ÁlvaroColom Caballeros and Vitalino Similox, won 12.3 percent in thefirst round of elections. As the URNG presidential candidate teamplaced third, the URNG did not qualify for the 26 December 1999presidential runoff election.GUERRILLA FORCES OF LIBERATION. The Guerrilla Forcesof Liberation was an obscure Puerto Rican independence groupthat claimed credit for a series of bombings that occurred in PuertoRico on 25 May 1987, the day King Juan Carlos and Queen Sophiaof Spain visited the island. Five pipe bombs exploded withminimal damage and no injuries. Three others were defused andanother exploded en route to a demolition center. The caller claimingcredit stated that the bombings were a protest against “colonialism.”As the group was previously unknown, the “Guerrilla Forcesof Liberation” may have been a nom de guerre for another knownorganization.GUEVARA, ERNESTO “CHE” (1928–1967). A revolutionary, aguerrilla leader, and the close aide and friend of Fidel Castro, CheGuevara was also a theorist of revolutionary warfare who becameidolized by sympathizers worldwide following his death at the handsof Bolivian counterinsurgency forces. His work Guerrilla Warfareadvocated the use of terrorist violence to create intense fear, includingthe assassination and mutilation of local notables who refused