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Political Science Thesis From War to “Peace” in Guatemala and the Following Effects on The Ixil Community - A study on the transition to peace in Guatemala after the civil war for the Ixil community and the post-effects of the conflict C Thesis in Political Science Author: Frida Mérida Lindgren Supervisor: Natia Gamkrelidze Examiner: Martin Nilsson Course: 2SK31E Växjö 25-08-2021 1 Abstract The civil war in Guatemala was a conflict that lasted for over three decades and was strongly characterized by human rights violations, massacres and genocide attacks. This was a conflict regarding a political dispute between the government of Guatemala and the guerrilla movement. However the violence escalated to a level so drastic that many maya indigenous civilians resulted as the principal victims of the war. In this research the maya Ixil community is in focus as they were primary victims of the army’s attacks on civilians. Further this thesis seeks to analyse the transition from war to peace in Guatemala in relation to the Ixil community and with the help of transitional justice theory as a tool and analytical lens. The method to develop this research is a qualitative analysis and the principal data for findings and analysis was acquired through primary data which was interviews with individuals part of the Ixil community that were victims of the civil war in Guatemala. The findings were built on the data collected from the interviews and were focused on the persecution of the Ixil community, transition to peace and the transitional justice perspective on the topic of research. The research culminates with a conclusion on the whole investigation involving how transitional justice intervention is appropriate for Guatemala's case and how harmful and consequential que transitional and postconflict effects were on the Ixil community. Keywords: Guatemala, Civil War, Ixil Community, Transitional Justice, Peace negotiations, Victims, Reparations, Post conflict 2 Table of Contents 1. Introduction…………………………………………………………4 1.1 Introduction and Research Problem…………………………….4 1.2 Aim and Research Questions…………………………………...6 2. Theoretical Framework……………………………………………...7 2.1 Transitional Justice Theory……………………………………...7 2.2 Transitional Justice applied to Research………………………...9 3. Previous Research……………………………………………....….10 3.1 Guatemalan Civil War Implications……...……………………10 4. Methodology……....……………………………………………….12 4.1 Methodology for the Thesis…………………………………....12 4.2 Qualitative Case Study Method...………………………….......12 4.3 Material………………………………………………………...13 4.4 The Interviewees……………………………………………….15 4.5 Theory Consuming Study..…………………………………….16 4.6 Limitations and Delimitations…………………………………16 4.7 Ethical Considerations………………………………………....17 5. Findings and Analysis..……………………………………………18 5.1 The Persecution of The Ixil Community……………………....18 5.1.1 How it Started……………………………………....…18 5.1.2 The Strict Military Control……………………………19 5.1.3 Between Both Party Sides…………………………..…20 5.1.4 During The Civil War……………………………….…21 5.2 The Transition from War to Peace……………………………..24 5.3 Transitional Justice in Guatemala's Time of Postconflict……...27 5.3.1 Fulfillment of The Peace Accords…………………….28 5.3.2 Compensations and Reparations Post War…………....28 5.3.3 Traumas Caused by The War……………………….....30 5.3.4 The Lack of Value in The Ixil Communities Voices…..30 3 5.3.5 Transitional Justice Discussion in Regards to The Topic………………………………...……………………….31 6. Conclusion…………………………………………………………34 7. References…………………………………………………………36 4 1. Introduction ___________________________________________________________________________ 1.1 Introduction and Research Problem The Guatemalan civil war was a war that commenced in the 1960s when an ideological leftist guerrilla group attempted without further success to revolt, striving to reform the autocratic military government in Guatemala. This event gave rise to the 36 years of civil war that the nation suffered. This conflict caused the death of over 200,000 Guatemalans and around 85% of this number consisted of indigenous Mayans. Countless human rights violations were committed during this period and the absolute most of these violations were an initiative from the military forces and the government (World Without Genocide, 2020). In the late 1980’s negotiations towards a peace agreement started in the country and so the last stage of the civil war had commenced, the war remained active until 1995, however it was not until the end of 1996 the peace agreement was signed in Guatemala (UCDP, 2021). Guatemala experienced this intrastate civil war from the years 1960’s until 1990’s, during this period of time the Guatemalan government was facing a violent conflict against several guerilla groups such as FAR (Rebel Armed Forces - Fuerzas Armadas Rebeldes), the PGT (Guatemalan Workers Party - Partido Guatemalteco del Trabajo), and the EPG (Guerrilla Army of the poor - Ejército Guerrilleros de los Pobres). In 1982 several of these guerilla groups created the URNG (Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity - Unidad Revolucionaria Nacional Guatemalteca), with the common goal of bringing down the government and forming a society built on equality. Throughout these decades of conflict and violence the Guatemalan government was well-known to have used high levels of one-sided violence from their side (UCDP, 2021). In the end of the 1980’s negotiations towards a peace agreement started in the country and so the last stage of the civil war had commenced, the war remained active until 1995, however it was not until the end of 1996 the peace agreement was signed and Guatemala returned to a democratic system where the government was elected by the countries citizens, this political process remained and continued during the following decades (UCDP, 2021). Especially exposed to the violence performed by the governmental military forces was the Ixil area. The military attacks committed against the inhabitants of this area meant catastrophic impacts on the Ixil population and came to be labeled as genocidal acts. This was a result of the war since the Ixil area and its communities were one of the main objectives the 5 military focused their aggression on. Nebaj, a municipality in Guatemala and one principal home for the Ixil community was during the civil war in 1983, a center for the governmental combatants, many patrols were based in this area as well as the first ‘model villages’ also known as the army’s concentration camps. The Ixil area is possible to have become recognised, during this period, as laboratory of terror for the genocide (Dynos, 2020). Scholars have laid focus on the Guatemalan civil war and explained central topics closely related to this thesis topic. Roman Krznaric (1999) for instance argues in his article “Civil and Uncivil Actors in the Guatemalan Peace Process”, the role of civil society and their influence in the transition to peace in the Guatemalan civil war from a perspective including social movement theory. An article; “Honouring, commemorating, compensating: state and civil society in response to victims of the armed conflict in the Ixil region” by Clara Duterme (2016) centered on the Ixil region gives an emphasis to the compensation of the victims of the civil war in Guatemala with an additional focus on victims rights. Also in the investigation “Negar el pasado: reparaciones en Guatemala y El Salvador” (“Deny the past: repairs in Guatemala and El Salvador”) Martha Gutiérrez (2019) examines the progress and lack of progress in reparations and constructions following the destruction caused by the civil war with a method that involves transitional justice as a form of analysis. The research problem, to make it clear, is not about the Ixil community and the civil war in Guatemala as two separated subjects, but rather about the relation between the two subjects, meaning how the Guatemalan civil war and its transition influenced the Ixil community. A further explanation to the research problem is to view it as the case study of the Ixil community in regards to the Guatemalan war circumstances. To acquire a complex and appropriate view on the subject, this research lies an emphasis on three epochs; the civil war (1960-1996), the peace negotiations (1985-1996) and post-conflict time up until this day (1996-2021) (Chamarbagwala & Morán 2011). The research problem for this thesis in political science; how the transition in Guatemala from civil war to peace and post-conflict effects influenced the Ixil community. The main data on which this thesis will be based on in order to respond to the research problem consists of interviews and text analysis. The interview data is of deep academic value as it is a primary source and it contributes to new and unique knowledge into the field. The interviews were performed by the researcher personally to avoid missing out on valuable information. The research has a clear relevance in its field as essential topics that are included and indispensable in the thesis present strong political features. The topics in the thesis include a political internal conflict, the national government as an important actor in the issue, an 6 imbalance in power structures across Guatemala, visible inequality within the citizens, as well as other matters which are directly or indirectly related to the study of political science. 1.2 Aim and Research questions This study aims to analyse, from a transitional justice theory point of view, the transition from civil war to peace and the post-conflict effects for the Ixil community in Guatemala during
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