How genocide affected the relationship between the Maya and the Guatemalan government. How would they react to the offer of military assistance to assist them in recovering from the Hurricane Stan?
The two articles give a clear and detailed picture of the effects of genocide. How the Maya community perceptions towards the Guatemalan government was distorted. The Guatemalan army, according to the articles, conducted all inhuman activities that you can imagine off, with the intention of implanting fear to the people. The military adopted harmful and dangerous techniques. They crushed communities, resulting to death of more than 200,000 citizens. More than 600 massacres were also inflicted by the military causing the displacement of 1.5 million citizens and disappearance of tens of thousands. The citizens feared for their life, hence the need to move in search for a better place (Brinton, 2007).
The PACS-rural paramilitary organizations-were forcefully recruited by the military to perform the following duties on their behalf; conducting patrols, astuteness, and supervision. It was required of them to inform the military on fellow villagers; and carrying out sensitive roles such as murder and punishment as intended for by the army. The articles also illustrate the enormous powers that the military had at their hands. They could bestow power to the local gangs, who often used that in brutal ways-fighting their own village people. In case of a dispute, the military was always smart enough in adopting the concept of direct violence. It was the only method that they viewed as effective as far as security matters were concerned. At the moment as captured from the articles, paramilitary groups and ex- members of the military are energetically engaged in scandalous actions, ranging from individual grudges and settling scores to dishonesty, rapes, shootings, robbery, kidnapping, and drug trafficking (Beatriz, 2008). The evolution from military totalitarianism to nominated resident government did not in itself bring about much desirable changes and performances.
This means that the cost of torment, gigantic displacement, and desolation are far from being addressed. It is a true fact that, ultimately, revival is discouraging for the sufferers of war, and memory has a long and depilating perseverance. The legacy of genocide, conducted by the military, is at hand in day after day lives. The environment of panic implanted during the genocide still exists and includes the following social effects: reserved communication, whereby one was not supposed to communicate freely, social segregation, and questioning of value. These negative acts performed by the military have changed the citizens ideas about the army making it complicated to believe in them. The citizens have developed hatred for the government and its military that carries out injustice acts. The relationship between the Guatemalan government and the Maya has totally been destroyed (Brinton, 2007).
References
Brinton, M. & Maria, L. Vol.63, No. 2, (2007), pp.369-385,.Boston College. Political Violence,
Impunity, and Emotional Climate in Maya Communities .
Beatriz, M. Social analysis 52 no2 s (2008).pp 151-64.The continuum of violence in post-War
Guatemala .
