Guatemala: Calling on the International Community
Guatemala: Calling on the International Community
Posted: 02/05/2014 1:04 pm EST Updated: 02/05/2014 12:59 pm EST
Barbara Borst
Center for Global Affairs and Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute, New York University
Guatemalans paid a terrible price for decades of conflict: 200,000 people dead or forcibly disappeared, the vast majority of them Maya civilians killed by members and allies of the armed forces.
Twice the country has called for, and received, international help, including through a program that continues today.
In the 1990s, the United Nations supported several years of negotiations between Guatemala's leaders and the Marxist rebel movement Guatemalan Revolutionary National Unity. In 1996, the two signed the Agreement on a Firm and Lasting Peace. The UN deployed a verification and peacekeeping mission.
The accords covered difficult issues, including reintegration of rebel forces, resettlement of displaced persons, civilian control over the military, constitutional and electoral reform, socioeconomic and land issues, human rights and the rights of indigenous peoples.
More:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/barbara-borst/guatemala-calling-on-the-_b_4726976.html