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Transnational Politics of Road Building in 1960S Petén, Guatemala

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Transnational Politics of Road Building in 1960S Petén, Guatemala Transnational Politics of Road Building in 1960s Petén, Guatemala Barbara Bottini-Havrillay A Thesis in The Department of Geography, Planning and Environment Presented in the Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Geography, Urban & Environmental Studies At Concordia University Montreal, Quebec, Canada April 2016 © Barbara Bottini-Havrillay, 2016 CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY School of Graduate Studies This is to certify that the thesis prepared By: Barbara Bottini-Havrillay Entitled: Transnational Politics of Road Building in 1960s Petén, Guatemala And submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Geography, Urban & Environmental Studies Complies with the regulations of the University and meets the accepted standards with respect to originality and quality. Signed by the final examining committee: ________________________________________________ Chair Dr. Craig Townsend ________________________________________________ Examiner Dr. Kregg Hetherington ________________________________________________ Examiner Dr Patricia Martin ________________________________________________ Supervisor Dr. Kevin Gould Approved by ___________________________________________ Dr. Monica Mulrennan Chair of Department ___________________________________________ Dr. André Roy Dean of Faculty of Arts and Science Date __________________________________________________________________ ABSTRACT Transnational Politics of Road Building in 1960s Petén, Guatemala Barbara Bottini-Havrillay In the 1960s, as part of the US government’s Cold War strategy to fight communism in Latin America, the US and the Guatemalan militaries performed joint road development efforts to open Guatemala’s frontier region of Petén for agriculture and economic development. Two decades later, the same militaries that managed these road projects in Petén committed genocide against the indigenous Maya in other parts of Guatemala. While violence that took place in Petén is not considered genocide, it was part of a period in the civil war in which military violence was classified as genocidal by the UN. Despite previous findings that new roads in Petén were a catalyst of military violence, road building in Petén has yet to be studied comprehensively from this perspective. Drawing on oral history interviews with former US military advisors, photo albums, memoirs and newspaper articles collected at the Center for Mesoamerican Research in Guatemala, this study discusses how making roads in Petén assisted in creating the ideological preconditions and means of transport for the Guatemalan military. More precisely, this paper examines how road building and its military leadership improved the logistical capabilities of the military in Petén and reinforced eugenic ideologies about the “racial health” of the Guatemalan nation. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My appreciation goes to all the people who supported me during my studies at Concordia University. First, I owe my deepest gratitude to my thesis supervisor, Dr. Kevin Gould. His intellectual insights, good judgment, patience and mentorship has turned me into a better writer and a researcher. Kevin’s trust in me and my ideas made my research journey more complete and rewarding. I would also like to thank Professor Alan Nash as he so generously made time to follow directed studies course with me. Next, I need to thank Professor Kregg Hetherington for his feedback and suggestions on my work. From the time I first submitted my admissions application at the Department of Geography, Planning and Environment, I was surrounded by professional team of people who made it pleasant for me to move to Canada and pursue my graduate degree at Concordia. I especially want to thank our departmental assistant Mae Anne Burridge for being very helpful and resourceful. This thesis was funded through various fellowships and awards I received at Concordia University: Concordia University Special Merit Entrance Awards, Power Corporation of Canada Fellowships, Faculty of Arts and Science Graduate Fellowship, Graduate Fellowship in Social Diversity/ Ethnic Studies and Concordia University field research and travel award. I would also like to thank Professor Kevin Gould for his additional financial support during the first year of my studies as well as during my field research in Guatemala. It helped a lot. I continue by expressing my gratitude to the staff of CIRMA (Center for Mesoamerican research) in Antigua, Guatemala. Especially, I owe my thanks to Mrs. Thelma Porres for her kindness and collaboration while conducting my archival research in Guatemala. I also want to thank the GIS lab at Brock University for providing me with their map collection on Petén. I also iv can’t forget to thank my two interviewees for their time, enthusiasm and their willingness to share their experiences with me. This thesis would not have been possible without a sustainment of my family. Especially, my husband Tarik who has been my guide and every day support with my son while writing my manuscript. Second I want to thank my grandparents, my grandfather Tibor for being an example of academic excellence and influencing me to develop passion for genocide studies as I spent my childhood listening to his stories about the events of Holocaust and Cold War. I thank my grandmother for being the angel she is. I would also like to thank my stepfather Peter for intellectual stimulation, mentorship and reading my writing along the way. I want to thank my mom for her support during my field research in Guatemala. My biggest thanks goes to my son Gianpiero as I could not have asked for more patient and understanding son. Especially when he had to give up his fun time with me so I could focus on my research and writing. I love you Gianpiero. This thesis is dedicated to my father Jan Havrillay as he didn’t live to share this journey with me but my loving memory of him is my motivation every step of the way. v TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES _________________________________________________________ VI LIST OF FIGURES _______________________________________________________ VIII LIST OF ACRONYMS ______________________________________________________ X Chapter I. Introduction _______________________________________________________1 Chapter II. Context of Research ______________________________________________16 Petén .......................................................................................................................................16 Military Civic Action in Cold War Guatemala ......................................................................19 The Genocide ..........................................................................................................................25 Race and Nation in Guatemalan history .................................................................................28 Chapter III. Literature review ________________________________________________32 Causes of the Guatemalan genocide .......................................................................................32 Debates of US Cold War involvement in Latin America ......................................................33 1960s Frontier Colonization in Guatemala .............................................................................35 Road building in Petén ...........................................................................................................37 Chapter IV. Methodology ____________________________________________________39 Methods ..................................................................................................................................39 Field Research and Archival Materials Analysis ...................................................................39 Oral History Interviews ..........................................................................................................42 Violence in Petén Database & Mapping .................................................................................43 Positionality ............................................................................................................................43 Theoretical approaches ...........................................................................................................45 Chapter V. Militarization & Ideology: From Heroes to Killers? ____________________48 Introduction ............................................................................................................................48 The Triumvirate -US MILGP, “Battalion of Engineers” & FYDEP: Role of the Guatemalan military....................................................................................................................................50 Petén- the Guatemalan military’s dream ................................................................................54 FYDEP - The Guatemalan military enterprise .......................................................................59 Oliverio Casasola y Casasola .................................................................................................67 Indigenismo Movement & Ladinoization ...............................................................................72 vi Chapter VI. Logistics: Roads to Progress? ______________________________________76 Introduction ............................................................................................................................76 Methodology ...........................................................................................................................77
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