Guatemala Education

Education
In the mid-1980s about 55% of the Guatemalan people aged 15 or more years were literate. Education is theoretically free at all levels, but because of the acute shortage of public schools, many private schools are in operation. Primary education is compulsory.

Elementary and Secondary Schools
In the late 1980s the school system of Guatemala included about 8500 primary schools, which were attended annually by some 1,098,000 pupils. Secondary schools had an annual enrollment of about 241,100 students.

Universities and Colleges
The University of San Carlos of Guatemala (1676), in the city of Guatemala, is the country's major institution of higher education. A private university, the Rafael Landívar University (1961), is also in the capital city. The country has three other universities, as well as schools of music and plastic arts. Total university and college enrollment in the late 1980s exceeded 67,000.

Guatemala (republic), republic of Central America, bounded on the west and north by Mexico, on the east by Belize and the Gulf of Honduras (an arm of the Caribbean Sea), on the southeast by Honduras and El Salvador, and on the south by the Pacific Ocean. The country has a total area of 108,889 sq km (42,042 sq mi).

Land and Resources
Roughly two-thirds of the total land area of Guatemala is made up of mountains, many of which are volcanic. The Sierra Madre system, traversing Guatemala from east to west, divides the country into two drainage areas of unequal extent. The Pacific slope, relatively narrow, is abundantly watered and fertile in its midregion, in which the greatest density of population occurs. The northern slope, notably the broad area around Lake Petén-Itzá, ranges from grazing land to tropical rain forest and is thinly populated. Most of the volcanoes of Guatemala are extinct; severe eruptions have been recorded, however, for Tacaná on the Mexican border. The country's highest point is Volcán Tajumulco (4220 m/13,845 ft). Earthquakes are frequent in the vicinity of the southern volcanic belt, where many towns have been destroyed.
The longest rivers of Guatemala are the Motagua; the Usumacinta, which forms part of the boundary with Mexico; the Chixoy; and the Sarstún, forming a section of the boundary with Belize.

Climate
The climate of Guatemala is, for the most part, equable, although temperatures vary considerably according to altitude. Between about 915 and 2440 m (about 3000 and 8000 ft) above sea level, where most of the population is concentrated, the days are warm and the nights cool; the average annual temperature is about 20° C (about 68° F). The weather in the low-lying coastal regions is more tropical in character, with an average annual temperature of about 28.3° C (about 83° F). The rainy season occurs between May and October, with a corresponding dry season from November to April. Annual rainfall in the north averages between 1525 and 2540 mm (about 60 and 100 in); the city of Guatemala, in the southern highlands, receives about 1320 mm (about 52 in) annually.

Natural Resources
Exceedingly fertile soil is the most important resource of Guatemala, which is basically an agricultural country. Minerals include petroleum, nickel, lead, zinc, and chromite; deposits of uranium and mercury have been reported. Extensive forests provide valuable timber and other products for local consumption as well as for export.

Plants and Animals
Most plants typical of tropical areas are found in the lowlands of Guatemala. In the mountain regions oak forests predominate on the lower slopes, giving way to pine forests above about 2135 m (about 7000 ft). Orchids and other brilliant flowers grow abundantly in all parts of the country.
Deer, monkeys, and peccaries are common, especially in the sparsely populated lowlands. Other wild animals, including jaguar, tapir, and puma, are found in smaller numbers, and crocodiles inhabit some rivers. Birdlife is extremely rich; the brilliantly plumaged quetzal is the national bird.

Population
Maya peoples make up about 55% of the population of Guatemala, and the remainder consists largely of mestizos or Ladinos, that is, persons of mixed Native American and Spanish descent. Approximately 64% of the country's population is defined as rural.

Population Characteristics
The population of Guatemala (1989 estimate) was 8,935,000. The overall density was about 82 persons per sq km (about 213 per sq mi), but most of the population was concentrated mainly in the central highland region. The country's population was increasing at a rate of 2.4 percent a year in the late 1980s.

Political Divisions and Principal Cities
Guatemala is divided into 22 administrative departments, each headed by a governor appointed by the president. Guatemala, the capital and largest city, has a population of 1,307,300 (1981 preliminary). Other principal cities, with their populations, include Quezaltenango (72,745), the center of a grain-growing region; Puerto Barrios (46,782), the chief port on the Caribbean coast; Mazatenango (37,633); and Antigua (27,000).

Religion and Language
Roman Catholicism is the faith of the vast majority of the people of Guatemala. The leading Protestant denominations are the Baptist and the Evangelical. Spanish is the official language of Guatemala, but Native American languages are widely spoken.


Culture
The contrast between the modern modes in Guatemala City, the capital and center of Guatemalan cultural life, and the customs of the descendants of the highly civilized Maya peoples, whose crafts and traditions still predominate today, gives Guatemala a colorful and dynamic culture. Spanish colonists gave Guatemala its official language and many architectural and art treasures. Magnificent buildings of the colonial period remain at Antigua, the colonial capital, located near Guatemala. Contemporary crafts such as weaving, jewelry making, and ceramics combine Native American design and color patterns with Spanish technical skills.
Among 20th-century Guatemalan artists of international repute, the writers Enrique Gómez Carrillo, Rafael Arévalo Martinez, Mario Monteforte Toledo, and Miguel Ángel Asturias, winner of the 1967 Nobel Prize in literature, are preeminent. The 20th-century painters Carlos Mérida, Alfredo Gálvez Suárez, and Valentín Abascal have been inspired by the Native American heritage of their nation. A noted Guatemalan composer is José Castañeda.

Libraries and Museums
Of about 100 libraries located throughout the country, more than half are in the city of Guatemala. The most noteworthy in the capital are the National Archives, the National Library, the Library of the Supreme Court of Justice, and the Library of the Government Printers.
Also situated in the capital are the Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, with an excellent collection of Mayan artifacts, and museums of modern art, history, and natural history. The Colonial Museum, in Antigua, has vast exhibits of colonial artworks.

Economy
Since World War II the government of Guatemala has encouraged the expansion of mining and manufacturing in order to offset an overdependence on coffee and banana production. A 5-year development plan of the 1970s was aimed at increasing exports, improving tax collections, and utilizing foreign credits to increase the yearly economic growth rate; austerity measures aimed at curbing imports and increasing domestic revenue were imposed in 1985. In the late 1980s, Guatemala's gross national product was about $900 per capita. During the same period, annual budgets included revenue of about $821 million and expenditure of some $1 billion.

Agriculture
In the late 1980s agriculture employed about 50% of the labor force and accounted for 26% of the gross domestic product. The chief commercial crop is coffee, with a total production of about 162,000 metric tons annually. Most of the crop is harvested from large plantations along the southern border of the highlands. Cotton is another important commercial crop; production in the late 1980s was about 44,000 metric tons. Bananas are grown on plantations along the Pacific coast, in the Motagua River valley, and near the Caribbean. Sugarcane production increased to about 7 million metric tons annually in the late 1980s. Corn, rice, beans, and wheat are raised for local consumption, as are pigs and poultry. Cattle raising is being developed; in the late 1980s the number of cattle on Guatemalan ranges, the largest of which were near the Pacific, was estimated at approximately 2.1 million head.

Forestry and Fishing
About 37% of the land area of Guatemala is covered with forest, and forestry is an important sector of the Guatemalan economy. Important forest products are cabinet woods, balsam, chicle, and oils. Guatemala ranks among the leaders in world production of chicle, which is used in the manufacture of chewing gum. The annual output of roundwood was 7.2 million cu m (254 million cu ft) in the late 1980s. About 2400 metric tons of fish were caught yearly.

Mining
Considerable amounts of nickel ore were mined in the Lago de Izabal area of Guatemala in the late 1970s. Modest quantities of petroleum are produced in oil fields near Rubelsanto and Chinajá. Other mineral products are lead, zinc, silver, and chromite.

Manufacturing
Most manufacturing firms in Guatemala operate on a small scale. Output grew at a considerable rate in the 1970s but declined during the 1980s because of political instability. The major products include food and beverages, tobacco, chemicals and pharmaceuticals, paper, hides and skins, textiles, apparel, refined petroleum, wood items, electrical goods, plastics, metal furniture, and Native American handicrafts.

Energy
About 62% of Guatemala's electricity is generated by thermal facilities. In the late 1980s the country had a total electricity-generating capacity of about 785,000 kw, and yearly production was 1.8 billion kwh.

Currency and Banking
The unit of currency of Guatemala is the quetzal of 100 centavos (3.9 quetzals equal U.S.$1; 1990). The Bank of Guatemala (established 1946) is the central bank and bank of issue. The country has several other banks, most of which are headquartered in the city of Guatemala.

Foreign Trade
In the late 1980s Guatemala's annual imports were about $1.4 billion and its exports totaled $1.1 billion. The United States, Japan, Germany, Mexico, Venezuela, and the four other members of the Central American Common Market are the principal trading partners. The chief imports are petroleum products, raw materials and intermediate products, transportation equipment, machinery, tools, and building materials. Principal exports are coffee, cardamom, cotton, sugar, chemicals, textiles, bananas, vegetables, and beef.

Transportation
In the late 1980s the total length of railroads in Guatemala was about 1055 km (about 655 mi), most of which was part of the government-owned Ferrocarriles de Guatemala. A railroad link between North America and Central America was established in 1942 with the opening of a railroad bridge across the Suchiate River between Mexico and Guatemala. Guatemala has about 17,300 km (about 10,750 mi) of highways and secondary roads, of which about 2940 km (about 1830 mi) are paved. The Pan-American Highway traverses Guatemala from Mexico to El Salvador. The country's major seaports are Puerto Barrios, San José, Santo Tomás de Castilla, and Champerico. The Guatemalan airline, Aviateca, provides domestic and international service, and several other airlines provide international flights.

Communications
Most postal, telephone, and telegraph services of Guatemala are government owned. In the mid-1980s about 128,200 telephones were in use. Guatemala is served by about 90 radio and 5 television stations; about 407,500 radios and 128,200 television receivers are licensed.

Labor
Of a total Guatamalan labor force of more than 2.7 million, about 50% are employed in agriculture, 12% in industry, and 38% in services. The largest trade union organization is the National Trade Union Front, founded in 1968.

Government
Until a military coup in 1982, Guatemala was governed under a constitution that became effective in 1966. Following the coup, Guatemala was ruled by the military. A new constitution based on the 1966 model was drafted in 1984. National elections were held late in 1985, and the new constitution took effect in January 1986.

Executive
Under the 1986 constitution, executive power in Guatemala is vested in a president, popularly elected to a nonrenewable 5-year term. The president exercises a broad range of powers, including the authority to preserve public order, command the armed forces, and nominate and remove cabinet ministers and other officials. The president is aided by a vice president, who presides over congress.

Legislature
Legislative functions are exercised by a unicameral National Congress, whose 100 deputies serve 5-year terms. Three-fourths of the deputies are directly elected by universal suffrage; the remaining 25 are elected on the basis of proportional representation.

Political Parties
After the military coup in 1982, all political organizations were required to disband; political parties were once again legalized in 1985. In congressional elections held that November, the Guatemalan Christian Democrat party (founded in 1968) won 51 of the 100 seats. The candidate of the Christian Democrat party was the leading vote-getter in the 1985 presidential elections, followed by the nominee of Union of the National Center (1984).

Local Government
Each of the 22 departments of Guatemala is ruled by a governor. Departments are divided into municipalities.

Judiciary
The highest tribunal is the Supreme Court of Justice, made up of at least seven judges elected to 4-year terms by the National Congress. It nominates judges of lower tribunals, such as the court of appeal, the administrative disputes tribunal, and courts of first instance.

Defense
Military service is by conscription for a period of 30 months. In the late 1980s the country had an army of 40,000 members, an air force of 1000, and a navy of 1200. Guatamalan military officers historically have played a major role in government.

Health and Welfare
A social security program in Guatemala was established by a law of 1946. As amended, the law requires participation by all employers of five or more persons. Accidents, maternity, hospitalization, disability, and old age are covered under the program. Life expectancy at birth in Guatemala—about 62 years—is among the lowest in Latin America, a fact attributable in part to the shortage of physicians.

History
Guatemala was the center of the old Maya civilization, and many sites from the classic Maya period (3rd-10th century AD) have been excavated and studied. The largest of these is Tikal in the northern lowlands, where some 3000 structures, including tall temple pyramids, as well as plazas and monuments, cover an area of about 15.5 sq km (about 6 sq mi). Thought to have sustained a population of 50,000 at its peak, it was abandoned for unknown reasons at the end of the 10th century.

Colonization and Independence
The country was conquered by a Spanish force under Pedro de Alvarado in 1523-24. After three centuries of Spanish domination, Guatemala, which included present-day Central America from Chiapas to Costa Rica, proclaimed its independence on September 15, 1821. Almost at once, Agustín de Iturbide incorporated the territory into his Mexican Empire. Guatemala did not regain its autonomy until 1823, when a revolution in Mexico forced Iturbide to abdicate and a Mexican republic was proclaimed. In the same year, the United Provinces of Central America was established, including present-day Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica; Chiapas remained under Mexican rule. The federation was maintained only with the greatest difficulty, was formally dissolved in 1838, and finally collapsed with the defeat of President Francisco Morazán in 1840.

Early Dictators
The government of Guatemala has been in the hands of the military virtually from the beginning of the republican era. These military leaders were often self-appointed and had come up through the ranks in the process of frequent revolutions. In 1854 Rafael Carrera, who 14 years earlier had made himself dictator of Guatemala and a large portion of Central America, became president for life. In 1873, eight years after the death of Carrera, Justo Rufino Barrios, formerly supreme commander of the army, was elected to the presidency. Barrios, seeking to revive the Central American federation by military means, invaded El Salvador and was killed in the ensuing battle. His successor, General Manuel Barillas, reestablished peaceful relations with El Salvador and the other countries of Central America. José María Reina Barrios, elected president in 1892 and reelected five years later, was assassinated in 1898.

Later Dictators
For the next 22 years, the politician Manuel Estrada Cabrera was dictator of Guatemala. In 1906 ex-president Barillas organized a revolt against the Estrada Cabrera regime that soon involved all Central America in war, Nicaragua alone excepted. Further hostilities were averted by the intervention of President Theodore Roosevelt of the U.S. and Porfirio Díaz of Mexico, who arranged an armistice.
In 1920 President Estrada Cabrera was forced to resign. Carlos Herrera was appointed provisional president, taking the oath for the unexpired term (1916-23). Herrera, however, was overthrown in 1921, and General José María Orellana, the Guatemalan chief of staff, succeeded to the presidency, serving until his death. Unrest resulting from economic depression and charges of corruption leveled against the dictatorship of the new president, former army officer and politician Lázaro Chacón, culminated in a brief revolution and the government's overthrow in December 1930.
General Jorge Ubico Castañeda was elected president in February 1931. Under his regime Guatemala recovered from the economic depression of the 1930s, and its economy enjoyed some prosperity. Ubico quickly proved, however, to be only the latest in the line of military dictators who had dominated Guatemala for a century. His exercise of power became so repressive that in June 1944 a general strike forced his resignation.

Arévalo's Presidency
In December 1944, after a period of general strife, the Guatemalan educator Juan José Arévalo, who had the support of the National Renovation and the Popular Front Liberation parties, was elected president. A new constitution was promulgated in March. In September 1945, Guatemala renewed its claim, outstanding since the republic was formed, to British Honduras (now Belize). A treaty negotiated with Great Britain in 1859 had laid down the southern boundary between Guatemala and British Honduras; claiming that Great Britain had not complied with all the terms of the boundary agreement, Guatemala reopened the entire dispute in the late 1930s. In January 1946, Great Britain proposed that the border dispute be submitted for arbitration to the United Nations International Court of Justice. The dispute was aggravated in 1948, when units of the British Caribbean navy were dispatched to the port of Belize City, British Honduras, to avert an alleged Guatemalan move to take over the colony. Guatemala issued a protest to the United Nations, the Pan-American Union, and all American countries. The republic then sealed off its frontier with British Honduras. See BELIZE.
Minor rightist uprisings occurred during the first half of 1949, but the principal political development of the year was the intervention by the government in a long-standing dispute between the American-owned United Fruit Company and its workers. As a result of official pressure from the government, the company capitulated to the demands of the workers.

Shift to the Left
Although Arévalo during his tenure faced more than 20 attempts to oust him, he served out his term. General elections were held in November 1950. Supported by a coalition of left-wing parties, presidential candidate Jacobo Arbenz Gúzman, minister of national defense in the Arévalo cabinet, won a decisive victory. The new administration assumed office in March 1951; for the remainder of the year Arbenz generally perpetuated the centrist domestic policies of his predecessor.
The administration moved steadily leftward during 1952. Among numerous indications of the growing influence of Guatemalan Communists was a government order (January) forbidding anti-Communist demonstrations. During the early part of the year the government intervened in another dispute between the United Fruit Company and its employees. The company again capitulated, making substantial concessions. In June the national assembly enacted an agrarian-reform law providing for the distribution of uncultivated estates of more than 91 hectares (225 acres) to landless workers.
The agrarian-reform program started in February 1953, and soon afterward the government approved expropriation of 91,000 hectares (225,000 acres) of United Fruit Company lands on the west coast. By mid-June, expropriated private property, paid for with nonnegotiable government bonds, totaled 121,460 hectares (300,000 acres); more than 162,000 hectares (400,000 acres) of government-owned lands had been distributed to landless workers.
Opposition to the Arbenz regime mounted on both the international and domestic fronts during the first half of 1954. At the Tenth Inter-American Conference, held in March, the U.S. secured approval of an anti-Communist resolution implicitly condemning the Guatemalan government. In April the Roman Catholic archbishop of Guatemala, in a pastoral letter, appealed for an uprising against communism. Claiming discovery of a plot aimed at its overthrow (an attempt had been made in 1953), the government began a roundup of opposition leaders on May 31; on June 8 civil rights were suspended.

Anti-Communist Takeover
On June 18 a so-called liberating army of political exiles, clandestinely trained and supported by the U.S. and led by Colonel Carlos Castillo Armas, invaded Guatemala from headquarters in Honduras. The rebels' ground forces quickly captured key supply points, and their planes bombed the capital and other cities. The army offered only token resistance to the invaders. Arbenz resigned on June 27, and two days later the legislature was dissolved, prominent Communist leaders arrested, and some 600 political prisoners of other ideologies released.
Castillo Armas was named provisional president on July 8. On October 10 a national plebiscite resulted in an overwhelming victory for Castillo Armas; he was formally installed as president for a 5-year term on November 6. Meanwhile, a constituent assembly convened to draft a new constitution. In November 1955 the government authorized the formation of political parties. Elections for a new national assembly were held in December. The government party won all 66 seats. President Castillo Armas signed the new constitution on February 2, 1956, and the new assembly took office on March 1.

Military Rule
On July 26, 1957, Castillo Armas was assassinated. Two days later the Guatemalan congress named Vice President Louis A. Gonzáles López provisional president. Gonzáles López pledged continuation of the anti-Communist policies of Castillo Armas and proclaimed a presidential election for October 20, 1957. The election was held as scheduled, but its validity was challenged by several minor political parties, and on October 25 a three-member military junta seized the government. Another presidential election was held on January 19, 1958, but no candidate received the required 51 percent majority of the vote. As a result, on February 12 the Congress chose General Miguel Ydígoras Fuentes as president. A former minister of public works under President Ubico and a bitter foe of the liberal presidents Arévalo and Arbenz, he was inaugurated on March 2, 1958.

Cuban Interlude
In April 1960, following an exchange of accusations with Cuba that each country was plotting to overthrow the government of the other, Guatemala severed diplomatic relations. Serious revolts occurred in Guatemala in July and again in November. On orders of U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, surface and air units of the U.S. Navy were stationed off the Caribbean coasts of Guatemala and Nicaragua on November 16 to prevent an attack from Cuba, which the two Central American countries claimed was imminent. The attack did not occur, and the naval units were withdrawn on December 7. After the abortive Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961, it was disclosed in hearings before the U.S. Senate that the invasion force had been recruited by U.S. intelligence agents and had been partly trained in Guatemala.

Political Violence
Widespread demonstrations preceding the elections scheduled for December 1963 offered the military an excuse for enacting a coup. In March 1963, Ydígoras was removed from office by his defense minister, Enrique Peralta Azurdia. Peralta declared a state of emergency and canceled the elections. He also began a crackdown on a growing leftist insurgency that was especially active in the Zapaca area. His harsh measures, however, did not stamp out the guerrillas. Right-wing counterterrorist groups, sanctioned by the army, that killed hundreds of people during the term (1966-70) of Peralta's successor, Julio Cesar Méndez Montenegro, only exacerbated the situation.
After a campaign marked by violence, a rightist candidate, General Carlos Araña Osorio, was elected president in 1970. His handpicked successor, General Kjell Eugenio Laugerud García, was installed in 1974. Throughout both their terms, the political killings continued, although some abatement was perceptible during the mid-1970s. At that time, however, the country was struck by a different kind of violence: a devastating hurricane (1974) and a violent earthquake (1976) that claimed more than 20,000 lives and left a million homeless. Guatemala's economy, nevertheless, enjoyed a remarkable growth, stimulated by oil developments and high coffee prices. An upsurge in civil savagery by left-wing guerrillas and right-wing “death squads” marked the presidential term of General Fernando Romeo Lucas García, who was elected in 1978.

Coup
On March 23, 1982, two weeks after the election as president of General Angel Aníbal Guevara, a military coup installed a three-man junta headed by General Efraín Ríos Montt. In June, Ríos Montt dissolved the junta and assumed the presidency, ruling as a dictator. After the guerrillas spurned an offer of amnesty, antiguerrilla activities in the countryside were expanded, leading to atrocities by government troops against Native Americans and peasants.
Ríos Montt was ousted on August 8, 1983, in another military coup, led by Brig. General Oscar Humberto Mejía Victores. Results of elections in December 1985 made Christian Democrat Marco Vinicio Cerezo Arévalo the first civilian president in 15 years. Cerezo was unable to end the civil war or to suppress drug trafficking and human rights abuses. Jorge Serrano Elías, a right-wing businessman and evangelical Protestant closely allied with Ríos Montt, won a presidential runoff election in 1991. Rigoberta Menchú, a Quiché Native American who fled to Mexico in 1981 to escape persecution, received the 1992 Nobel Peace Prize for her work on behalf of Guatemala's indigenous peoples. In May 1993 President Serrano, backed by the army, seized full control of the government. A wave of protest engulfed Serrano, and he was forced to leave office. The Congress elected Ramiro de Leon Carpio (1942- ) to serve out Serrano's term.