The Guatemalan Military Project Pennsylvania Studies in Human Rights Bert B. Lockwood, Jr., Series Editor A complete list of books in the series is available from the publisher The Guatemalan Military Project A Violence Called Democracy Jennifer Schirmer PENN University of Pennsylvania Press Philadelphia Copyright © 1998 University of Pennsylvania Press All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 32 Published by University of Pennsylvania Press Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104–4011 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Schirmer, Jennifer G. The Guatemalan military project: a violence called democracy / Jennifer Schirmer. p. cm. (Pennsylvania Studies in Human Rights) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-8122-3325-5 (cloth : alk. paper). - ISBN 0-8122-1730-6 (pbk.: alk. paper) 1. Guatemala — Politics and government—1945-1985. 2. Guatemala– Politics and government—1985- . 3. Guatemala—Armed Forces— Political activity — History — 20th century. 4. Guatemala — Military policy. 5. Political persecution —Guatemala —History —20th century. 6. Indians of Central America — Guatemala — Government relations. 7. Civil-military relations — Guatemala — History — 20th century. I. Title. F1466.5.S33 1998 972.8105'2-dc21 98-28114 CIP Contents Acknowledgments vii Maps and Chart ix Introduction 1 1. A Brief History of the Guatemalan Military's Rise to Power 9 2. Anatomy of the Counterinsurgency I: From Tactical to Strategic Pacification 35 3. Anatomy of the Counterinsurgency II: Restructuring Indigenous Life 64 4. Indian Soldiers and Civil Patrols of Self-Defense 81 5. Civil Affairs: Psychological Warfare, Social Intelligence, and the Sanctioned Mayan 103 6. A Military View of Law and Security 125 7. Army Intelligence 151 8. The Regime of Vinicio Cerezo: The Christian Democratic Party-Army Pact and the Militarization of the Presidency 185 9. Contradictions of the Politico-Military Project: Officers of the Mountain and the 1988 and 1989 Coup Attempts 205 10. The Thesis of National Stability and Opponents of the State 235 vi Contents 11. Conclusions 258 Appendix 1: Interview List 275 Appendix 2: Documents and Abbreviated Interview with a G-2 Torturer 281 Notes 299 Bibliography 321 Index 333 Acknowledgments Many people at Harvard University have generously provided me with an intellectual home since the early 1980s; I deeply appreciate the encourage- ment and steadfast support for my work, especially from Stanley Hoffmann and Peter Hall at the Center for European Studies. The Human Rights Program of the Harvard Law School, too, served as a haven from 1983 to 1986 with the support of the Ella Lyman Cabot Trust Award. During this time I developed the thesis for the book and began my interviews, first with Chilean and Guatemalan judges, lawyers, and journalists and later with military officers. C. Clyde Ferguson, wholly dedicated to human rights, first had confidence in my research; Fred Snyder, generous to a fault, invited me to lecture his classes. Both, sadly, have passed away. Phil Heymann, David Smith, Phil Alston, and Hugo Fruhling all deserve thanks for giving me their time, comments, and support. Early on, Donald Fox, Aryeh Neier, Allan Nairn, Jean-Marie Simon, and George Black were generous with their ad- vice, analysis and contacts; I also thank George for sharing his copies of Revista Mililar and for first encouraging me to speak with military officers about the war. Guatemalan colleagues in Washington and Costa Rica at the time, Frank LaRue and Edelberto Torres-Rivas, have always provided suc- cinct intellectual analyses of la situatión, and remain invaluable friends. Gabriel Aguilera Peralta is to be thanked for his generosity in enhancing and encouraging my work on the military. In Guatemala, Hector Rosada Granados, the late Lieutenant Colonel Jose Luis Cruz Salazar, and Miguel Balcárcel generously provided me with office space, interviews, and cogent analyses during the torrential months of August and September 1988 at the research institute ASIES. Several of the staff at Inforpress Centroamericana, along with a number of journalists who cannot be named, were most gen- erous with their sources and archives throughout the 1980s. I thank you profusely and remain in awe of your courage. Fred Halliday of the Centre for International Studies at the London School of Politics and Economics deserves my sincere thanks for providing viii Acknowledgments me with a refuge in the spring of 1991 for writing up my interviews. Lars Schoultz, Sam Fitch, and Robert Fishman all provided invaluable intellec- tual encouragement and advice that sometimes went unheeded. Martin Diskin, with his thoughtful and persistently keen eye for the overall picture and his dogged commitment to justice, was an invaluable source of intellec- tual support and inspiration; he will be much missed. Bert Lockwood is to be thanked for having faith in the book and seeing it through to publication. Margaret Thomas provided me firm guidance during my first anthropologi- cal fieldwork in Guatemala in 1970, establishing in my mind a respect for and dedication to anthropological methods as well as to Guatemala; I value her loyal and generous friendship. Susana Beatriz Herrera has made an inestimable contribution to this book by providing flawless and prompt bilingual transcriptions; Iris Gomez must be thanked for her good humor and patience during our sessions of bilingual editing of the interviews. Keith O'Connor patiently created the superb detailed maps in the book; Keith Garner skillfully crafted the intel- ligence charts; Stephanie Hollyman generously provided her photograph for the front cover; and I thank Doug Cogger for lending his excellent photographic skills to make the illustrations camera-ready. Most important of all, Eddie Robbins's constant intellectual (and edi- torial) challenges and wonderful companionship (together with Kiné and Apurimac), helped sustain me in the research and writing of this book. Finally, I would like to thank General Gramajo and the late Colonel Girón Tanchez in particular, and the dozens of other officers and espetialistas who were generous with their time to speak with me about their perspective on the war, about the civil-military proyecto, and about their worldview in gen- eral, especially for a book over which they had no control. Regrettably, there are many, many more Guatemalans who cannot be named. This book is dedicated to their commitment to create, against all odds, an authentic democracy in Guatemala. Maps and Chart