Government oppression and politically inspired crimes continue to plague Guatemala, Guatemalan citizen Irma Graciela Azmitia Dorantes said at last night's La Sociedad Latina meeting in New Cabell Hall.
Dorantes fled Guatemala in 1982 after three members of her family were killed by whom she thought may be the Guatemalan military. She lived in Mexico until returning home in 1992, when she joined community organization efforts to record the experiences of political victims and strengthen the rule of democratic law in Guatemala.
Speaking through a translator, Dorantes described a chaotic political environment in which landowners, the military and rural guerillas vie for power at the expense of the people.
In urban areas, the military regulates life strictly, keeping a close watch on humanitarian efforts and sometimes killing those they consider dangerous, she said.
"Guatemala has almost always been ruled by the military," she added. "All of us in Guatemala -- we're being watched by a very prepared military intelligence apparatus."
The military supports the wealthy ruling class, a group of about 25 families who own most of the land in Guatemala, Dorantes said.
She said she sees little hope for political reform in her country as long as power sharing among the elite continues.
"Until the political clans are broken up, I'm afraid there won't be real democracy in Guatemala," she added.
The government was at war with guerilla groups until the two sides signed a peace agreement in 1996. The agreement included political reforms such as full demilitarization of the army, but such terms have not been honored by the government or demanded by the guerillas, Dorantes said.
She said the United States government, particularly the Central Intelligence Agency, has provided financial aid and technical training to Guatemala's ruling class and the military.
"In the past, the CIA reached into Guatemala to aid the landholders," she added.
Dorantes called for the CIA to release uncensored documents to help people discover the fate of family members who have disappeared and who were presumably killed by political groups.
Turning to social conditions, Dorantes said about 80 percent of the Guatemalan population is impoverished and about 60 percent are unemployed. She partially attributed the success of government oppression and corporate exploitation of the people to widespread illiteracy. She also gave a gloomy picture of the nation's health care, referring to rare diseases, antiquated hospitals and extremely expensive medical treatment.
"The area of health and medicine needs a total overhaul," Dorantes said.
Greg Staff, culture chairman of La Sociedad Latina, said they invited Dorantes to broaden people's perspectives.
"The U.S. population in general needs to open its eyes to events that happen beyond our borders," Staff said.
Fourth-year College student Stephan Villavicencio said he was glad to hear about the conditions in Guatemala from a primary source.
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