Product Description
This George Lovell's classic work, based primarily on unpublished archival sources, examines the impact of Spanish rule on the Sierra de los Cuchumatanes, an isolated region of Guatemala running along the country's north-western border with Mexico. Although Spanish imperialism left its mark, Lovell reveals that the vibrant Maya culture found in the Cuchumatan highlands was not obliterated and, although under considerable stress, endures to this day. This extensively revised third edition includes a new preface, a chapter on native resistance to Spanish domination, an updated bibliography, and an epilogue which documents that postcolonial times had as much effect on people's lives as three centuries of Spanish rule. In discussions that focus on land, settlement, economy, access to resources, and population change over time, Lovell exposes the colonial roots of problems at the heart of Guatemala's ongoing political crises. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Essential reading
This book is an absolute must for any academic working in highland Guatemala. Probably not very good for the casual tourist though. ... Read more

Product Description
Compared to what is known about Mexico and Peru, our knowledge of the encounter between Spaniards and Indians in much of Central America remains blurred and speculative. While works exist that deal with the isthmus of Central America as a whole and the nation states that emerged within it, few detailed regional studies are available. Based primarily on unpublished archival sources, this work examines the impact of Spanish rule in the Sierra de los Cuchumatanes, an isolated region of north-western Guatemala. The Maya peoples who live there withstood the onslaught of European intrusion to a degree little known or appreciated before the original publication of "Conquest and survival in colonial Guatemala". This revised edition includes a new preface, an updated bibliography, and a substantive epilogue that stresses the theme of native resistance to Spanish domination. Maya resistance was demonstrated physically in the form of armed struggle and rebellion, and expressed culturally through fugitivism, idolatry, tax evasion, monolinguism, and civil disobedience.In chapters that focus on land, settlement, economy, and population, Lovell exposes the colonial roots of problems at the heart of Guatemala's current political crisis. "Conquest and survival in colonial Guatemala" modifies certain generalizations about the impact of Spanish rule in Central America and sharpens our understanding of how varied native response to this outside presence was. Spanish imperialism penetrated and left its mark on even the remote Cuchumatan highlands, but the vibrant Maya culture found there was not obliterated; indeed, although under considerable duress, it endures to this day. ... Read more

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An examination of the political nature of agrarian development in Guatemala, this book argues that agrarian policies, once implemented, often altered future political development. Dr Berger demonstrates that throughout the period, the Guatemalan leadership initiated major agrarian policy shifts without consideration for the demands of prominent political groups, pursued their own economic ideologies and built political coalitions. She contends, however, that state policies were often not successfully implemented because of weak bureaucratic organization, budget constraints and exclusionary practices. In addition, the author analyzes the repercussions of agrarian policies on political development, especially on the growth of the elite class and the increase in opposition from subordinate classes. She concludes that these factors ultimately led to the militarization of the state after 1963. ... Read more

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Harbury describes her desperate search to find out the truth about the whereabouts of her missing husband, Commander Everardo, a Mayan Indian guerrilla leader, from the U.S. government and the goverment's serious attempt to hide the facts about his death. Tour.Amazon.com Review
Though the civil war in Guatemala ended in December of 1996,the conflict still rages for human rights activist JenniferK. Harbury. Searching for Everardo is an often chilling accountof her search for her husband, a communist guerrilla leader, who wastortured and killed in 1992 by members of the Guatemalan army. Whiledesperately clinging to the hope that he was still alive, Harburyspent three years battling the governments of both Guatemala and theU.S. to discover his fate, gaining insights into the covert dealingsof the CIA in Guatemala.

Her contention is that members of the CIAknew what happened to her husband, but withheld the information in anattempt to cover up the actions of its agents. The Guatemalangovernment did a similar dance around the facts in order to hide thebrutality of its own military forces. After unwavering pressure andprotests, legal action, and three hunger strikes, Harbury finallyforced the two governments to release the information they held on herhusband and reveal the painful truth. This powerful memoir details herstruggle in the most personal terms while offering a detailed--ifone-sided--examination of the insidious political forces at work inthe conflict. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (13)

6 Star Epic--Genocide, CIA Complicity, & Indigenous Honor
This is one of multiple books by this author, and a huge bargain as a used book--I got the used hardcopy.This book is a book-end to Secret History: The CIA's Classified Account of Its Operations in Guatemala, 1952-1954.

The author wrote Bridge of Courage: Life Stories of the Guatemalan Companeros & Companeras first, and then a book that Amazon lists but does not offer for sale nor does it appear easily when trying to insert the product link: Seeds of Rage: CIA Torture Practices from Vietnam to El Salvador to Abu Ghraib.

See also her Truth, Torture, and the American Way: The History and Consequences of U.S. Involvement in Torture.In selecting this title, I see also GUATEMALA: HUMAN RIGHTS LAWYER JENNIFER HARBURY LOSES SUPREME COURT CASE AS FORMER OFFICIALS CLAIM RIGHT TO LIE.: An article from: NotiCen: Central American & Caribbean Affairs which is depressing--the "right to lie" just astounds me.

As a former case officer (spy) with the CIA, in the Latin American area from 1979 to 1988, and now on my way out of Guatemala, this book is one that I am going to rate as beyond 5 stars, 6 stars and above, because it is a phenomenal vortex that brings together genocide (called "the patriotic wars" by the white minority "conquistadores" seeking to keep the 80% indigenous in slave status), CIA complicity in genocide and torture, and the deep, deep honor and courage and intelligence of the indigenous people.See 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus for the larger treatment.

Highlights for me:

Tens of thousands in unmarked graves, but the villagers in each vicinity KNOW the details and have maps [the peace process included truth & reconciliation, a lot of information came out and the process continues to this day, but reconciliation has never occurred--nothing in the vital Socio-Economic Accord of the Peace Agreement has actually been implemented].

Court orders useless in confronting Army (this was before the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala, CICIG, where I worked for three months, but the reality is that CICIG has focused on high impact cases revolving around corruption, and not on the daily corruption associated with the placement of 80% of the population in servitude)

Mayans who fled to the US were rejected by the Reagan-Bush Administrations that found them "lacking in credibility"--overall this book is an indictment--distilled objective outrage--at the lies that the US Embassy in Guatemala and the US Departments of State and Defense, and the White House back to Tony Lake and Leon Fuerth--has sanctioned.The "right to lie" on the part of the government is in my view both treason and a crime against humanity.

--big lie number one: nationalists and Mayans fighting for human rights were communists

--big lie number two:Army was pursuing a "patriotic war" against communists, rather than a genocidal campaign replete with many other atrocities against an entire civilization that was here centuries before the Conquistadores [as a side note, I believe Spanish intelligence in Guatemala is out of control and probably influenced the first Commissioner of CICIG--a Spaniard--in a very destructive manner).

--big lie number three:Mayans killed prisoners and committed all the atrocities ascribed to common criminals.In fact we now know that with the exception of the Maras who are killing bus drivers as part of their extortion racket, virtually every homicide and most femicide in Guatemala is committed on the orders of the white minority, the "intellectual authors" behind the 147 private security companies with 36,000 registered weapons.

WHAT THE US IS DOING TODAY AGAINST VENEZUELA IS A PRECISE REPEAT OF THESE BIG LIES.

In a conference at a major university here in Guatemala, I pointed out that an honest assessment of what the white minority and the rising business class pay in extortion and in private security is probably three to five times what they would pay in legitimate taxes that would enable the social and security safety nets for all.Guatemala lacks a strategic "net assessment" of where all the money is going and how the United Nations might better use its "Deliver As One" concept to harmonize how all incoming funds (investors, aid, repatriated funds) are spent--this latter point is covered in generic terms in my new book, INTELLIGENCE for EARTH: Clarity, Diversity, Integrity, & Sustainaabilty whose intellectual foundation is the preceding book with 55 authors, Collective Intelligence: Creating a Prosperous World at Peace--both are free online as well as sold at cost at Amazon (which takes 55% off the top).

Mayans "not worth teaching to read" according to the landed aristocracy, but they are worth pressing into service as slaves and common soldiers.No lands, no money, no representation, no rights, but they do have 26 languages that hang on.

Blown away to see the connection between Eduardo the guerrilla and Rodrigo Asturias, whose son Sandino Asturias carries on today with the politically neutral Center for the Study of Guatemala, and is every bit the proven son of a warrior and grand-son of one of two Nobel Laureates from Guatemala.

Rodrigo Asturias and Efrain Bamaca Velaquez shared one bottom line goal that I also share: equal rights for Mayans and the development of Mayan leaders.What the oligarchs and military "hidden powers" do not yet understand is that this is a NON-VIOLENT objective that does NOT confiscate or redistribute wealth.It creates infinite wealth and turns Guatemala into the paradise it would be without the narrow-minded and homicidal views of the white minority.

Eduardo knew his generation's fight was doomed, he was laying a foundation for the next generation.

The author spent two years waiting to climb the volcano with permission.

The level of detail is not only just right, it "frames" the entire matter in such a striking way that one can feel and appreciate the "ground truth" in Guatemala during this period (1990's).

I learn that Mayans refuse foreign fighters and that Eduardo taught and ordered the freeing of all prisoners after they were disarmed.

A large portion of the book is a detailed account of how she was able, with no salary, only contributions, to visit, inform, and mobilize all manner of organizations and a wide variety of US Members of Congress--by tying US aid to resolution of this case, and adding a couple of hunger strikes, she was able to confront two imperial powers--her own in the US and her husband's in Guatemala.

The big insights for me come at the end of the book, and although I am disappointed that discussion of the CIA's role in all this is limited to the fact that CIA was paying the intellectual author of the torture and murder of Eduardo the grand sum of $44,000 a month, the only thing we really learn is that CIA knew Eduardo was captured and alive within weeks of his 1992 capture.

Big Insight #1:Army and Oligarchy thought that simply signing the peace accord would make all the international pressure go away.They think the Mayans, the reformers, and the rest of the world are stupid.

Big Insight #2:The Army--and I have seen unclassified documents closely tying the Army to Israel and to Taiwan, inclusive of deep training in Psychological Operations (PSYOP)--has for over two decades now mounted a very effective anti-foreigner campaign by spreading rumors of foreigners stealing Mayan babies.

The book ends with a reconstruction of Eduardo's final months of torture and exploitation during which he evidently did not give up a single name and in one instance led the Army into an ambush.

I already knew the US Government lacks ethics at all levels, so this was not a big insight for me, but for those who still harbor any view that the US Government is honorable, well-informed, and thoughtful in how it represents the US citizen-taxpayer, get over it.The US Government is OUT OF CONTROL and a crime against humanity on a scale that most simply cannot imagine.

CORRUPTION starts in the US Government as a captive of Wall Street and the banks and the military-industrial-intelligence-congressional complex.It is possible for Guatemala to get its own house in order, but first it must disconnect itself from the source of all corruption in foreign affairs and national security in Latin America, the US Government. Central America must make its own way, become its own region, and eschew all financial and other incentives to "go along" with NAFTA, the IMF, the World Bank, and all the other SUBVERSIVE and morally despicable "initiatives" of the traditional West.

With my two remaining authorized links I recommend:
The Global Class War: How America's Bipartisan Elite Lost Our Future - and What It Will Take to Win It Back
SAVAGE CAPITALISM AND THE MYTH OF DEMOCRACY: Latin America in the Third Millennium

For 1600 reviews in 98 categories supporting the above statement, please visit Phi Beta Iota, the Public Intelligence Blog, where each review leads back to its Amazon page, but they can be browsed in clusters, e.g. Empire, Pathology of Power, US Secret Intelligence, etcetera.

One afterthought relevant to Guatemala and the 5,000 secessionist movements world-wide (at least ten of those within the USA): indigenous people are like cockroaches in their survivability.Now armed with cell phones, they are BOTH everywhere AND well-informed.Trying to put down the indigenous peoples is like trying to machine gun a hoard of cockroaches, or fire ants, or a swarm of bees.IT DOES NOT WORK.Guatemala has one chance to become paradise, to become a country that is prosperous for all and at peace: by restoring land rights to the indigenous peoples, by coming together as one nation (all eight tribes including the cartels in the commercial tribe), and by recognizing that this is not about wealth redistribution, it is about redirecting Guatemala so it can create infinite wealth for all.The human brains of the indigenous, and their cultural heritage, are the ONE infinite resource Guatemala has.Teach them to read, give them all free cell phones, and get out of the way of their entrepreneurial initiative.

Eduardo was the norm, not the anomaly.

Compelling and Disturbing - Great Read about CIA and Guatemala
This book was recommended to me in 1997 while traveling to Guatemala for the first time. The book is very captivating and interesting, providing not just a love story between the author and Everado, her husband, but inside info about the 36 year civil war in Guatemala that "ended" with a Peace Treaty in 1996. This book is very sad, disturbing, and yet, empowering. Jennifer Harbury stands firm in the face of adversity and intense opposition from the US (CIA) and Guatemalan governments. She pursued justice at all cost, for the sake of the poor in Guatemala and her beloved Everado. Tragic story, yet very enlightening.

A Very Human Story
Harbury's book tells a griping and human story about a woman's search for the truth. A "Reader" who left a negative review is mistaken in his/her accusation that Harbury and Bamaca were never married, sadly this is one of the lies that the Guatemalan Government has spread in a attempt to discredit Harbury. As to attrocities committed by the Guerillas, its true 3% of all human rights abuses were committed by the Guerillas (this figure is from the UN truth commission the Committee for Historical Clarification). And while there is no excuse for these violations of human rights it must be put into the perspective and compared to the 93% of human rights violations committed by the Guatemalan Army. Harbury's story puts a human face to this effects of a very violent and tragic civil war. However if you want to know more I would recommend " Guatemala: Never Again" by
the archdioses of Guatemala.

If only people knew the WHOLE truth
Unfortunately, what a lot of people don't know is that Harbury has done more damage to Guatemala's economy and native people (who she claims to want to help), more than any good. As a result of her demands for "justice," and attempting to cause a stir here in the US and the rest of the world, much aid and tourism has gone down through the years, hurting the country's economy and businesses/vendors of those who rely on tourism. Those who make a living selling goods and bringing home bread and sustenance for their families are the ones who have suffered the most by Harbury and her scandalous accusations - NOT the military. Does she mention all the atrocities the guerrillas committed (and continue to commit), as well as the army? I seriously doubt it. When I was there, many murders, rapes, and other atrocities were regularly committed by these so-called "fighters of freedom" - the guerrillas. I personally knew some of the poorer natives who were continuously intimidated and threatened by them. Bamaca was no exception.

What about the average Guatemalan citizen? What do they think of Harbury? You'd be surprised - most Guatemalans do NOT want her there, and have always considered her a nuisance to their country, for the exact reasons I mentioned above. I'll give you a first-hand account: During the years I lived there, one of the times I was in downtown Guatemala City (Central Square), Ms. Harbury was holding a "hunger" strike in the middle of city square, across the street from the Presidential Palace, camping in a small tent. The only people who seemed somewhat interested were a few traveling young tourists, standing around her tent taking pictures. The average citizens were paying no attention to her, walking by going about their business....as I said, they consider her a nuisance to their country. The only folks there who speak up for her are those who have political agendas, or those who aren't from Guatemala.

*One note I'd like to point out - Harbury and Bamaca were never actually married - in the early 90s she obtained a marriage license and got "legally wed" at a Texas courthouse, without him ever being present -- because he'd already been dead for years! Being a lawyer, she somehow pulled this off and made it "legal." One of the reviewers of this book falsely claimed that this is a lie spread by the Guatemalan government. On the contrary, I got the account in an article from the Dallas Morning News(!), circa 1994, when she obtained the "marriage license" that year in a small Texas town. Investigate for yourself if there's any doubt. If only the American public knew the "whole story" of Jennifer Harbury. Best thing to do - go get an opinion from the average Guatemalan citizen - they'll give you the facts. Good news is these days she's becoming a forgotten figure....for the good of the Guatemalan people and nation. Tragically we may never know the extent of the harm that she's done to that wonderful country.

Truth
Harbury's book is magnificent.It allows readers to glimpse the truth, the agony, behind civil war in Central and South America; and it explores every inch of the tear-stained emotions of the author.It has eyes that see the entire circle of human affairs, exploding into a grisly flow of blood that allows for no escape.The author paints a world of pain and joy, and of irrevocable loss; I cried at its conclusion.The book lodged itself into my soul and has not ever left. ... Read more

Product Description
This digital document is an article from NotiCen: Central American & Caribbean Affairs, published by Latin American Data Base/Latin American Institute on March 29, 2001. The length of the article is 1427 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: GUATEMALA: GOVERNMENT BAILS OUT THREE BANKS, MINISTER RESIGNS IN BANKING SCANDAL.
Publication: NotiCen: Central American & Caribbean Affairs (Newsletter)
Date: March 29, 2001
Publisher: Latin American Data Base/Latin American Institute
Page: NA

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Chapters: Vice President of Guatemala, Ministry of Defence, Guatemalan Passport, National Geographic Institute of Guatemala, Coordinadora Nacional Para La Reducción de Desastres, Instituto Nacional de Sismología, Vulcanología, Meteorología E Hidrología, Instituto de Antropología E Historia, Secretariats of the Presidency of Guatemala, Centro de Restauración de Bienes Muebles, Ministries of Guatemala, Consejo Nacional de Areas Protegidas. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 38. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: This article is part of the series:Politics and government ofGuatemala Vice President of Guatemala is a political position in Guatemala which is since 1966 elected concurrently with the position of President of Guatemala. Latest Vice President who took over as President was Gustavo Espina in 1993. Historically there has been provisions for multiple Vice Presidents elected for one-year-term. The election was carried in Congress of Guatemala. A provision for First and Second Vice Presidents existed 1882-1921, 1921-1928 and 1956-1966. A provision for First, Second and Third Vice Presidents existed 1921 and 1928-1944. History of the office holders follows. ...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=17241067 ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from NotiCen: Central American & Caribbean Affairs, published by Latin American Data Base/Latin American Institute on April 10, 2003. The length of the article is 1296 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: GUATEMALA GOVERNMENT SUFFERS CONSEQUENCES OF COMMITMENT TO COMPENSATE P.A.C.
Publication: NotiCen: Central American & Caribbean Affairs (Newsletter)
Date: April 10, 2003
Publisher: Latin American Data Base/Latin American Institute


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This digital document is an article from NotiCen: Central American & Caribbean Affairs, published by Latin American Data Base/Latin American Institute on June 27, 2002. The length of the article is 1949 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: GUATEMALA: GOVERNMENT ACCUSED OF COMPLICITY IN THREATS & ABUSES AGAINST HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS, OTHER SOCIAL ACTIVISTS.
Publication: NotiCen: Central American & Caribbean Affairs (Newsletter)
Date: June 27, 2002
Publisher: Latin American Data Base/Latin American Institute
Page: NA

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This digital document is an article from Siempre!, published by Edicional Siempre on March 16, 2000. The length of the article is 906 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Gobierno errático en Guatemala.(TT: Guatemala's erratic Government.)(Artículo Breve)
Author: Ileana Alamilla
Publication: Siempre! (Refereed)
Date: March 16, 2000
Publisher: Edicional Siempre
Volume: 46Issue: 2439Page: 60

Article Type: Artículo Breve

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Chapters: Government Ministers of Guatemala, Mayors of Places in Guatemala, Members of the Congress of Guatemala, Miguel Ángel Asturias, Efraín Ríos Montt, Vinicio Cerezo, Alfonso Portillo, Zury Ríos Montt, Ramiro de León Carpio, Manuel Colom Argueta, Otto Pérez Molina, Edmond Mulet, Francisco Villagrán Kramer, Vinicio Gómez, Rosalina Tuyuc, Mario Monteforte Toledo, Nineth Montenegro, Rafael Castillo Valdez, Amílcar Méndez Urízar, Alberto Fuentes Mohr, Haroldo Rodas, Otilia Lux, Ronaldo Cecilio Leiva. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 85. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Miguel Ángel Asturias Rosales (October 19, 1899 June 9, 1974) was a Nobel Prizewinning Guatemalan poet, novelist, playwright, journalist and diplomat. Asturias helped establish Latin American literature's contribution to mainstream Western culture, and at the same time drew attention to the importance of indigenous cultures, especially those of his native Guatemala. Asturias was born and raised in Guatemala. However, he lived a significant part of his life abroad. He first lived in Paris in the 1920s where he studied anthropology and Indian mythology. Some scholars such as Lourdes Royano Gutiérrez view him as the first Latin American novelist to show how the study of anthropology and linguistics could affect the writing of literature (Gutiérrez, Lourdes Royano. Las novelas de Miguel Angel Asturias. Valladolid: U de Vallodolid, 1993). While in Paris, Asturias also associated with the Surrealist movement, and he is credited with introducing many features of modernist style into Latin American letters. In this way, he is an important precursor of the Latin American Boom of the 1960s and 1970s. One of Asturias' most famous novels, El Señor Presidente, describes life under a ruthless dictator. Asturias' very public oppos...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=324391 ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from NotiCen: Central American & Caribbean Affairs, published by Latin American Data Base/Latin American Institute on April 15, 1999. The length of the article is 810 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: GUATEMALA: GOVERNMENT BACKS AWAY FROM TRUTH COMMISSION RECOMMENDATIONS.
Publication: NotiCen: Central American & Caribbean Affairs (Newsletter)
Date: April 15, 1999
Publisher: Latin American Data Base/Latin American Institute
Page: NA

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This Book Is In Spanish And English. ... Read more

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"This book presents new research that throws significant light on old questions, and the scholarship of the work is excellent.This is an exceedingly important contribution to Central American history."
—Peter Guardino, Indiana University

"Based on prolonged research in multiple regional archives, this book offers an innovative perspective on nineteenth-century politics, nationalism, and state formation.Mixing together quantitative statistical analysis with qualitative textual interpretation, the author offers an important contribution to a number of conceptual problems: gender relations, race and national identity, gendered economic activity, the relationship of debt labor to capitalist transformation, and the commodification of property relations."
—Greg Grandin, New York University

In the late 1830s an uprising of mestizos and Maya destroyed Guatemala's Liberal government for imposing reforms aimed at expanding the state, assimilating indigenous peoples, and encouraging commercial agriculture.Liberal partisans were unable to retake the state until 1871, but after they did they successfully implemented their earlier reform agenda.In contrast to the late 1830s, they met only sporadic resistance.Reeves confronts this paradox of Guatemala's nineteenth century by focusing on the rural folk of the western highlands.He links the area of study to the national level in an explicitly comparative enterprise, unlike most investigations of Mesoamerican communities.He finds that changes in land, labor, and ethnic politics from the 1840s to the 1870s left popular sectors unwilling or unable to mount a repeat of the earlier anti-Liberal mobilization.Because of these changes, the Liberals of the 1870s and beyond consolidated their hold on power more successfully than their counterparts of the 1830s.Ultimately, Reeves shows that community politics and regional ethnic tensions were the crucible of nation-state formation in nineteenth-century Guatemala. ... Read more

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Part human rights drama, part political thriller, part love story, this riveting narrative chronicles the disappearance of one woman as it tells the larger story of the past fifty years of violence and struggle for social justice and democracy, and U.S. intervention in Guatemala. Maritza Urrutia was abducted from a middle-class neighborhood while taking her son to school in 1992. To Save Her Life tells the story of her ordeal which included being interrogated in secret by army intelligence officers about her activities as part of a political opposition group. Chained to a bed, blindfolded, and deprived of sleep, Maritza was ultimately spared because her family was able to contact influential intermediaries, including author Dan Saxon, who was in Guatemala working for the Catholic Church's Human Rights Office. Here Saxon brings to life the web of players who achieved her release: the Church, the U.S. State Department, the U.S. Congress, numerous NGOs, guerrilla groups, politicians, students, and the media. Reaching back to 1954, when Maritza's grandparents were activists, the book is a study of the complex and often cruel politics of human rights, and its themes reverberate from Guatemala to Guantánamo to Iraq. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

One life and one light
Dan Saxon, a prosecutor for the United Nations Tribunal for crimes in ex-Yugoslavia, provides a humane and chilling investigation of civil war in Guatemala starting with October 20, 1944. On this date, Guatemala City erupted in artillery and small weapons fire as insurgents advanced toward a government stronghold called San Jose.

Among the insurgents were two children, Julia and Edmundo Urrutia, brother and sister whose curiosity and familial sympathy with Captain Laguardia leading the rebel assault in Guatemala City that day had ignited the passions of youth to march behind rebels toward the San Jose. Gunfire from snipers along streets and within the walls of the San Jose took the lives of many marchers.

Along comes Dan Saxon in the early 1990's to pick up the story of the rebellion and its three-generation struggle for justice in an Urrutia descendant. Saxon reports that Maritza--a grandchild of the Urrutia matriarch, Ester--had been abducted by "an army intelligence unit," because she was a member of an "insurgent organization." Maritza's disappearance then forms the narrative kernel of the author's thesis.

Saxon's thesis is best told in his own words: "...I believed that Maritza's story was about the collision of humanitarianism and politics. By the time I finished writing--nearly twelve years later--I understood that humanitarianism is [italics] politics" (Preface, xix). Writing from the Hague in September 2006, Saxon prefaces the book not only with his thesis, but also with his take on humanity as phenomenon under investigation.

In short, humanity for Saxon is paradoxical and often ambiguous. But humanitarian action demands courageous response to counteract abuses. He discovered or shaped his take on humanity by accepting that "...little room exists for moral ambiguity or shades of gray. But the efforts we make to resolve and heal human rights violations may say more about our disparate, flawed humanity than the abuse itself" (Preface, xxi).

If Saxon has shaped or constructed his view of humanity, as I perceive multiple examples of having shaped a personal perspective for him throughout this book of investigative review, then the pervasive cause for his opinion came not from discovering insight into his own sense of humanitarianism.

Instead, Saxon reviewed archival data that spanned half a century of Guatemalan and international history to achieve what amounts to his thesis. In capable hands as his, judicious investigation attracts mystery-genre readers, political activists, international politicians and their critics, ecclesiastical and other voices of organized religion, non-governmental organizations providing humanitarian relief, and the young in age and/or heart.

Saxon spares little in detail, but leaves out enough gruesome aspects of torture, neglect, and political charades to attract a reader's imagination. He never strays into ideology and political cant, which is a feat of editing stamina on the author's part, especially when his tale is of egregious abuse by many characters in this historical plot.

The saga of Maritza's disappearance lasts 15 days, each day captured in a chapter of the book. The abduction occurred July 23, 1992, and the concluding chapter is dated August 6, 1992. However, the fact that her assailants, who were on the dole and under orders of the nation admitted wrongful action, Saxon explores what it means that they escaped further criminal charges through an amnesty deal cut by the Attorney General. Saxon returns to his thesis to draw expert conclusions about humanitarian action is politics in Maritza's case.

Read this book for its suspense, economy of lacing sources from many accounts of events into a narrative of "humanity," and applications to present and future humanitarian initiatives in your backyard and across the globe.

True Crime Drama
Rarely does an academic book read so well as this one; equally rare is a first-rate suspense novel that gets the facts right.The book is anchored by its focus on a single event, the ordeal of a young mother who was "disappeared" for seven days in 1992 in Guatemala.Details of the ordeal, which evolve chronologically, are interspersed with the history of the young mother's family as well as the history of Guatemala.The human rights situation of this one woman is illuminated by an examination of international, national, and local concerns with human rights in the 1990s in Guatemala as well as in the U.S.The book demonstrates how one person's disappearance--and reappearance--could trigger actions and reactions from governments, militaries, and revolutionaries, as well as from the media, the Catholic Church, and even U.S. task forces on drug smuggling."To Save Her Life" succeeds at making connections of the personal with the political, the local with the international, and the past with the present.This book is accessible by and recommended for all readers. ... Read more

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Stunning photographic images of the Maya Indians in Guatemala excavating and reviving their buried culture

After 500 years of colonial suppression and a brutal civil war, the Maya Indians in Guatemala finally have a chance to live in peace. Latin America's longest civil war ended on December 29, 1996, with a peace accord between the conservative government of President Arzu and the Marxist guerrilla group URNG. According to official estimates, 150,000 people were killed in the thirty-six-year war, and another 50,000 are still missing. Most of the victims were Maya Indians who were brutally oppressed by both sides of the conflict.

Now the Maya are searching the killing fields for their dead, rediscovering their own grandiose culture and history. They are finally free to practice their ancient religion at remote altars on mountaintops, in caves, ravines or near waterfalls, and to begin to heal their souls. Magnum photographer Thomas Hoepker visited Guatemala three times in 1997. He has captured many aspects of this remarkable period of transition in an array of astonishing, full-color shots that will disturb, enchant, and ultimately instruct. ... Read more

Product Description
Understanding democracy, human rights, and development in the conflict-ridden societies of the third world is at the heart of "Journeys of Fear", a stimulating collection of papers prepared by Canadian and Guatemalan scholars. Edited and with contributions by Liisa North and Alan Simmons, this collection explores the participation of the oppressed and marginalised Guatemalan refugees, most of them indigenous Mayas who fled from the army's razed-earth campaign of the early 1980s, in government negotiations regarding the conditions for return. The essays adopt the refugees' language concerning return - defining it as a self-organized and participatory collective act that is very different from repatriation, a passive process often organized by others with the objective of reintegration into the status quo. Contributors examine the extent to which the organized returnees and other social organizations with similar objectives have been successful in transforming Guatemalan society, creating greater respect for political, social, and economic rights.They also consider the obstacles to democratization in a country just emerging from a history of oppressive dictatorships and a thirty-six-year-long civil war. Liisa L. North is professor of political science and a fellow of the Centre for Research on Latin America and the Caribbean at York University. Alan B. Simmons is associate professor of sociology and a fellow of the Centre for Research on Latin America and the Caribbean at York University. ... Read more