Mayan Self Interest Essay

The Effects of Self Interest and Manipulation

Genocides are one of the most heinous crimes against humanity and have been around for many decades. People worldwide are affected by these mass atrocities and suffer the consequences of delusional individuals who cause them. The act of hatred and violence towards a specific cultural, ethnic, national, racial or political group results in millions of deaths. One of these tragedies include the Guatemalan Genocide, where an estimated 200,000 Mayan civilians were murdered and terrorized. Many groups contributed to the start of the war and helped perpetuate the genocide. In Guatemala, The American-owned United Fruit Company and Guatemalan Government’s self interest led to the mass killings of poor

Once Colonel Armas took control over Guatemala, he and his military stripped the poor of their rights, which caused them to rebel(Genocide). During the 1970s, the Mayans realized they were being treated unfairly and “began participating in protests against the repressive government, demanding greater equality and inclusion of the Mayan language and culture”(Genocide). The government responded with violent actions targeting the Mayan population because they did not believe the Mayans deserved equality. Therefore, they justified these repressive regimes with the excuse of trying to contain and suppress the rural poor, who were supposedly guerilla war sympathizers, from rebelling. In reality, the government’s true intentions were to eliminate the Mayan and indigenous poor because they saw them as inferior. The government promoted the notion that the Spanish were “inferior to the Latin people, lazy, barbaric and primitive; therefore, they were to blame for the country’s poverty”(Guatemala). As a result, the government conducted military operations aiming to physically exterminate the “inferior race”. In a sense the government’s self interest was to eliminate the Mayan race, which led to these crimes against humanity. The Guatemalan Genocide was an ethnic cleansing in the eyes of the government. Thus, affirming that the government’s circle of obligation excluded the indigenous poor. They executed their ruthless tactics to ensure the eradication of the Mayans. The Commission of Historical Clarification (CEH) concluded the military committed genocide against four indigenous groups: “the Ixil Mayas; the Q'anjob'al and Chuj Mayas; the K'iche' Mayas of Joyabaj, Zacualpa and Chiché; and the Achi Mayas”(Genocide). Guatemalans military reason for murdering civilians was because they thought they were guerilla sympathizers or in the