Guatemala By Daniel Wilkinson Summary

Huy Pham: Response #1 To gather materials for his academic article, Daniel Wilkinson traveled to various coffee plantations in Guatemala and interviewed people about the war between the Guatemalan government and the insurgency. The responses that Wilkinson received were vague and contradictive. Sara Endler, the plantation owner, asserts that there were battles on these lands, but she cannot provide any firsthand detail because she was not present at that time. The plantation workers, however, are hesitant to speak about the war, and they gave Wilkinson a nonchalant reply when they are asked. Wilkinson describes this as a form of “silence”. The reason that the people hesitated is that they are living under constant fear. They are afraid of

In comparison to the repressive government, the guerilla was the lesser of the two evils. However, they were not the force that the Guatemalan people could place their trust in completely. Associating with the insurgency would incur the wrath of the Army. Fuentes’ story of women and children were burnt to death and the U.N.’s accounts of formerly occupied towns were destroyed by the Army showed that the insurgency lacked the manpower to protect everybody. It was better for ordinary citizens to not pick a side in this conflict. On the other hand, the people had to walk a fine line to not antagonize the insurgent paramilitary. The guerilla did not have the ability to discern clearly between friends or foes. A perfect example of this was the burning of Sara Endler’s plantation. The previous owner did not make the decision in providing support to the Army, but the guerilla still considered the owner a collaborator with the Army. They proceeded to loot and burned down the plantation. Like the government, the insurgency was also guilty of cruel acts of violence and murder. It was obvious that the people were afraid of talking about the war, because what they said might be perceived as antagonistic toward the guerilla. If that happened, they would face the retribution from the insurgent