History History

After being influenced by the Olmecs until 550, the Maya were influenced by the civilization of Teotihuacan, which radiated from present-day Mexico. With the mixture of their customs, the Esperanza culture was born, with, as a symbol, the city of Kaminaljuyú, in Guatemala City. It was not until the year 600 that the Mayan civilization existed outside of any external power and finally reached its apogee, exemplified by Tikal - in the Petén - its most prestigious city. To its power answers that ofUaxactún,El Ceibal, Piedras Negras, or Quiriguá. In cause: the organization of the Maya civilization, governed by a set of urban sites and not by a politically unified empire. Thus, apart from their common architectural norms, the cities have their own topography, with buildings of specific size and unique decorative motifs.

Occurring from the beginning of the tenth century, the brutal decline of the Maya is still the subject of many hypotheses, such as a too high population density, at the origin of the exhaustion of the fragile tropical soils, famines and epidemics. Other possibilities: massive popular revolts, but also social unrest favoring the invasion of external enemies. If the majority of the sites were abandoned, some were still inhabited at the arrival of the Spaniards in 1524, like Utatlán and Iximché.

After distinguishing himself by his feats of arms, he accompanied the famous conquistador Hernán Cortés to Mexico in 1519. In charge of Mexico City, Pedro de Alvarado (1485-1541) massacred an assembly of Aztec notables during a religious festival in 1520, triggering an uprising in the city and the retreat of the Spaniards. Once the conquest of the Aztec empire was completed, he left for Guatemala, where he became governor in 1527, once the resistance of the Mayan peoples had died out. He set out to conquer Peru in 1534, before dying seven years later while trying to quell the uprising of the Mixtón Indians in Mexico. The violence he committed against the natives makes him one of the conquistadors with the worst reputation today.

The city was first established in 1524 as Santiago de Guatemala, but was destroyed by a fire caused by an uprising of the indigenous population. It was refounded in 1527, but was buried by earthquakes and an avalanche 14 years later. It was finally inaugurated in 1543 as the capital of Guatemala and became its cultural, economic, religious, political and educational centre.

Although classes did not begin until 1681, the institution of the University of San Carlos was a milestone in Spanish society. It was the first university to be established in the country and the fourth in America. In 1687, Pope Inocencio XI granted it the title of "Pontifical", giving its graduates the same level of education as those who had studied in Europe. Today, it is still the only national university in Guatemala.

The Santa Marta earthquakes destroyed much of the city of Antigua. The conquistadors moved the capital to a safer place, the present Guatemala City.

The beginning of the 19th century saw the growth of the desire for a certain "emancipation" of the Central American colonies from Spain. This idea heralded the process of independence that would sweep the continent in the 1820s. Thus, Guatemala's independence was signed on September 15, 1821. The country joined the empire of Iturbide - another name given to Mexico - until 1823, and the following year formed the federation of the United Provinces of Central America, along with the other countries of the region

With the support of indigenous peasants and the lower clergy - who despised the anti-clerical liberal government - the conservative Rafael Carrera took over Guatemala City.

Torn apart by the autonomist tendencies of the states, as well as by the struggles between liberals and conservatives, the federation broke up. Rafael Carrera led an Indian uprising to overthrow Honduran Francisco Morazán, the liberal president - and dictator - of the United Provinces of Central America since 1830. The man who had taken Guatemala City by force the previous year thus consolidated his power and became the country's "official" dictator

Elected president in 1844, Rafael Carrera governed in a dictatorial manner... So much so that he abolished the elections in 1854 and was proclaimed ruler for life. Although he had no education, he was appreciated by the clergy and the aristocracy because he respected the notion of property and supported the Church. During his "reign", Guatemala became a major exporter of coffee - with German planters taking control of the land - and made economic progress. Above all, the country achieved a measure of ethnic equality, including the inclusion of indigenous and mestizo people in military and political positions.

After the death of Rafael Carrera in 1865, several governments succeeded one another, among which we will remember that of Justo Rufino Barrios - in power from 1873 to 1885 - to whom we owe the modern infrastructure of Guatemala. His election marked the great return of liberalism: he separated the Church from the State and attacked the collective properties of the indigenous communities.

During his 22-year dictatorship, he brought American politics and capital into Guatemala through the United Fruit Company - or UFC, an American exotic fruit production and marketing company founded in 1899. Although his investments in the postal, transport and agricultural sectors helped the country's development, they penalized almost the entire population, starting with the peasants, who were mainly indigenous. Subjected to taxes in kind, they had to build the country's infrastructure, as in the days of the Conquista. Discontent grew until the popular revolt of 1920, which overthrew Cabrera.

Despite the end of Manuel Estrada Cabrera's regime, Guatemala continues to be built as a "banana republic," a dictatorial and corrupt country under the thumb of a foreign power - in this case the United States. In ten years, four presidents - the first overthrown by a coup d'état and the last provisional - have succeeded one another, maintaining the prevailing political instability

The dictator Jorge Ubico was brought to power. He grants new benefits to the United Fruit Company and attacks the field of education, among others.

After demonstrations by students and teachers, as well as strikes in the plantations of the United Fruit Company, small military groups supported by the population overthrew Jorge Ubico on October 20, 1944. He was replaced by the Revolutionary Council of Government.

Juan José Arévalo (1904-1990), the first democratically elected president, took office on March 15, 1945. A new constitution was put in place and social reforms were made. Favourable to independence from North American tutelage, the humanitarian philosopher limited the power of large multinational companies and established a Labour Code - which came into force in 1947. He set up crèches and popular refectories in indigenous areas and created organizations such as the Guatemalan Institute of Social Security in 1946. American companies, landowners and conservatives opposed this social policy: in six years, Juan José Arévalo was the object of multiple plots. In vain. Once his term of office was over, he went into exile and did not really return to Guatemala until the 1970s. When he died in 1990, a national funeral was organized for him.

As the bearer of the immense hopes of the people, he was elected by universal suffrage and continued the social advances begun by his predecessor. Above all, he opposed the United States diplomatically and launched a vast attempt at agrarian reform and land redistribution at the expense of the large landowners and the United Fruit Company. As a result, the latter fomented a putsch with the CIA and overthrew the president in 1954.

Once Jacobo Árbenz Guzman was removed from office, military juntas took over the country. They abolished the agrarian reform, returned land to the richest and reversed most of the social advances of the previous decade.

On November 13, 1960, liberal officers rose up against the corrupt regime in place, supported by the United States. The coup d'état was a failure, but various guerrilla groups formed in the years that followed, such as the November 13 Revolutionary Movement (MR-13) in 1962 and the Armed Forces Rebels (FAR) in 1963.

The EGP - Ejército Guerrillero de los Pobres - was born out of the crisis of the FAR in the late 1960s. The actions of the Guerrilla Army of the Poor are guided by the principles of "prolonged popular war" and separate themselves from the "foquism" - a theory of revolutionary war defended by the Argentinean Che Guevara - of the FAR. The EGP forges links with the communities of the mountains to constitute a network, a support. In addition to working with indigenous people, attacking the armed forces, and executing landowners, much of the popular support for the EGP was in response to massacres committed by the government. In the late 1970s, the Guerrilla Army of the Poor became the strongest armed group in the conflict.

On the morning of 4 February 1976, an earthquake measuring 7.5 on the Richter scale struck the country. Particularly violent in Guatemala City and in the rural areas of the central Altiplano, it killed 23,000 people, injured 76,000 and affected more than one million. At least 258,000 houses were destroyed, leaving some 1.2 million people homeless.

Faced with the hardening of the government's actions, several guerrillas united on February 7, 1982 to form the URNG - Unidad Revolucionaria Nacional Guatemalteca. Armed by Cuba and supported by the indigenous population, it includes the EGP, the FAR, the Organisation of the Armed People - ORPA - and the Guatemalan Labour Party - PGT. At the same time, violence reached a peak under the regime of General Efraín Ríos Montt - in power from 1982 to 1983 - with the massacre of indigenous people and the multiplication of kidnappings and assassinations. It was the policy of "scorched earth".

Faced with international pressure, the military was forced to hold elections in December 1985. The Christian Democrat Vinicio Cerezo Arévalo took over a country traumatized by years of bloody repression and population displacement. He was unable to restore peace or solve the economic and social problems that had plagued Guatemala.

Shortly after taking office, Liberal President Jorge Serrano began the first real negotiations with the URNG. They failed. The reason: the military terror that continues to plague the country.

The Nobel Peace Prize brings the Guatemalan civil war back into the international spotlight, as it is awarded to Rigoberta Menchú, who fights against the government and in favor of human rights. Born into a poor indigenous Quiché family in 1959, she lived in the Altiplano. After discovering the feudal living and working conditions in the fincas of the Pacific coast, she was confronted with anti-Indian racism when she joined a wealthy family in Guatemala City as a teenager. Barely of age, she joined the Peasant Unity Committee - CUC - through which she learned Spanish and organized community self-defense. Branded a "subversive" by the government, she suffered the full force of the civil war. She witnessed the execution of one of her brothers in 1979, before losing her father the following year in a fire deliberately set by the police while he was peacefully demonstrating with other villagers. Just three months later, his mother was kidnapped and tortured by the military. Forced into exile, Rigoberta Menchú left for Mexico in 1981. Her goal then and now: to devote her life to denouncing the crimes committed in her country. She is now one of the leading figures in the movement for recognition of Indian rights throughout the Americas.

Without a solid majority, Serrano dissolved parliament and the Supreme Court in May 1993. Finally deposed, he was replaced by Ramiro de León Carpio, a convinced anti-militarist. Under the aegis of the United Nations, negotiations between the government and the URNG seem to be successful.

The CEH has extensive powers to investigate abuses committed by the army, mainly in indigenous communities.

The longest and deadliest conflict in Central America, Guatemala's civil war left more than 200,000 people dead - mostly Mayan civilians - 40,000 missing and hundreds of thousands fleeing the country. It ended on 29 December 1996 with the signing of the peace accords, under the presidency of the conservative Álvaro Arzú Irigoyen.

The URNG becomes a legal political party.

This right-wing populist became president against a backdrop of increasing crime and social and economic inequality during his predecessor's term. Despite measures to democratize Guatemala, the government cannot fight crime - one of the highest in Latin America - which is driving the population to emigrate. Corruption, too, is still with us: in 2014, nine years after the end of his mandate, Alfonso Portillo Cabrera was sentenced by a court in New York to 5 years and 10 months in prison for embezzlement of public funds.

Racial discrimination increased under the right-wing conservative President Óscar Berger Perdomo. In addition, 2,900 women were murdered between 2002 and 2007. Still suffering from extreme poverty, the country is also plagued by corruption, impunity and the free circulation of arms.

Creation of the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala - CICIG - to address the inertia of the judiciary and Congress.

Álvaro Colom is the first leftist president to take office since Jacobo Árbenz Guzmán 50 years ago. Despite his desire to build "a model of social democracy with a Mayan face", he is confronted with endemic violence - more than 5,000 murders are recorded every year - and the presence of Mexican cartels in Guatemala.

The President of CICIG resigned and was replaced by the lawyer Claudia Paz y Paz, who is known for her firmness.

The change in the CICIG presidency is bearing fruit: a high-ranking military officer is arrested for the first time since the end of the civil war. Sentenced to 80 years in prison - 50 for genocide and 30 for war crimes - in 2013, former dictator Efraín Ríos Montt has his sentence overturned on procedural grounds the following year. He will die in 2018 while on trial again for genocide.

The general insecurity and violence in the country were such that the social measures taken by Álvaro Colom - particularly in the area of education and health care - were relegated to the background. The right wing returned to power in the person of Otto Pérez Molina, the first ex-military man to take office since the overthrow of the dictatorship.

Implicated in a corruption scandal - the La Linea affair - Otto Pérez Molina resigned on September 2, 2015 and was jailed the next day. Vice President Alejandro Maldonado replaced him until the end of his term.

The right-wing comedian known for his television shows was elected thanks to his campaign based on the fight against state corruption.

Jimmy Morales declares the anti-corruption magistrate at the head of CICIG, Iván Velásquez, persona non grata . At issue: his revelations about the illegal financing of the 2015 presidential campaign. The same year, Jimmy Morales' brother and a son were indicted for tax fraud. His popularity rating fell.

Alejandro Giammattei, a fourth-time presidential candidate, was finally elected in the colors of the right-wing Vamos party. Described as "impulsive, irascible, uncontrollable, despotic, tyrannical, unpredictable, capricious and vindictive", this former director of the penitentiary administration himself spent time in prison in 2010. The case involved the extrajudicial execution of eight prisoners. For lack of evidence, he was released after ten months. In the face of widespread corruption and popular discontent, he has pledged that he will be "the nation's first servant".

On July 25, five months after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Alejandro Giammattei met his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, to express his support and denounce an "illegal war of aggression". This stance on foreign policy was not well received by the government's critics, who accused the President of neglecting human rights issues and problems within his own country, with corruption and impunity at the forefront.

The progressive Bernardo Arévalo was widely elected as the country's new president, thanks in particular to his strong anti-corruption stance and his commitment to social justice. Between his election and his assumption of office in January 2024, he was the victim of a judicial relentlessness on the part of the Public Prosecutor's Office, which at the same time brought anti-corruption officials to heel. In a country where corruption is endemic, Arévalo's election has led some to fear the loss of their privileges.