The Last Colonial Massacre: Latin America in the Cold War

Many books discuss the violence and political turmoil in Guatemala. What Grandin has done is add a wonderfully distinctive and long-overdue Mayan voice to a terrible history. He describes the May 29, 1978 massacre of approximately 100 Q'eqchi' Indians in Panzos, Alta Verapaz. Grandin profiles a number of Q'eqchi' throughout his book culminating in Mama Maquin, the Q'eqchi' woman leader who was killed attempting to deliver a letter of protest to the local governmental authorities in Panzos. Grandin lays the foundation for the 1978 massacre by going back to the critical events of the 1950s Arbenz adminstration. He describes how the Q'eqchi' were increasingly dispossessed of their land, going from 97 Q'eqchi' in 1888 owning fincas, or large plantations, to just 9 in 1930 and then dropping to none in 1949. (p. 26) After World War I, German immigrants to the Alta Verapaz acquired more and more land. Grandin notes: "Swastikas hung from municipal buildings and flew above German plantations." (pages 24-25.) Perhaps the gem of Grandin's book is a quotation from a portion of Arbenz's sole campaign stop to the Alta Verapaz during the election of 1950. The speech was translated into Q'eqchi' word for word as it was given by Arbenz. Here is an excerpt: "From the time when Alta Verapaz was populated by only the brave Q'eqchi' race until this moment...from the exploitation of the conquistadores' whip to the infamous exploitation of the plantation onwers...they have taken your property, your liberties, your rights...Alta Verapaz workers are the most exploited in all the country. The struggle of the reactionaries, of these 'friends of order' who scowl at us on the street, is to impose this regime on the whole republic. We, in contrast, want to destroy this system. It is not only agrarian reform that will resolve the problem. We need to treat Indians justly..with respect like human beings. We promise you better houses and a better salary. We promise you a little more justice." (p. 44.) Arbenz won the election and instituted land reform that placed hundereds of thousands of acres of previously fallow land in the hands of Mayans. He was deposed in a CIA-sponsored coup in 1954. Grandin shows how that tragic loss of democracy led to the Panzos massacre in 1978, which set the fuse for the explosion of the long-simmering guerilla war and the genocidal military campaign in 1982 of President Rios Montt, who was praised at time by Ronald Reagan as getting a "bum rap" on human rights and being a man of "great integrity." Grandin's book for the first time tells the story of the Q'eqchi' and their quest for justice. Kudos to him.