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Wondrous Life Of Oscar Wao And How The Street Gangs Took Central America

881 Words4 Pages

State terror, which manifested itself in many forms including imprisonment and death squads, was an extremely terrifying aspect of life that many Latinos had to face. One of the reasons why state terror was such a prevalent problem was because government either supported it or did nothing to prevent it. For example, some of the governments in the Americas are extremely corrupt and use brutal methods to silence those who protest against them, creating state terror. These threats were extremely prominent in texts such as I, Rigoberta Menchu, The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, and "How the Street Gangs Took Central America." In The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Juno Diaz, the main antagonist of the book is Trujillo, the former …show more content…

At the time, the indigenous people of Guatemala were being oppressed by the ladinos, who forced the native people to not only work for low wages, but also to concede their lands. Menchu's father was imprisoned because he refused to cooperate with the ladinos. Those who opposed the ladinos were subject to punishment from Guatemalan soldiers who "were kidnapping people all the time" (Menchu 215). Many of these people disappeared for a long time and were later dug up in deep holes and wells that served as graves. The ruthless massacre of all these villages would be known as the Guatemalan genocide. Many of the soldiers were cruel, not only killing unarmed people, but also raping "hundreds of women, young girls, widows" (Menchu 166). These murders discouraged some people from protesting, but it made other people realize that they had to be willing to sacrifice their lives to bring about change However, it is revealed the soldiers, who were painted as monsters, may also be victims of state terror. One broke down, claiming that he had to take "orders from a captain" or else he would be killed. If he obeyed, he would be "an enemy of the people" and if he didn't, he would be "the army's enemy," conveying how some soldiers had no choice and were as scared as everyone else (Menchu

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