Guatemala History
Guatemala has a long history. If I am to start somewhere I would have to begin at the the time when Guatemala was Maya land. They Maya were a high quality civilization that were standing from 300 AD to 900 AD. Then, after Spain took over Central America, Mexico, much of the current United States, and South America, the Spanish had control. The Spaniards were in charge of Guatemala in the years of 1524 through 1821. In 1821 the reigns to Guatemala were handed to Mexico who was in control for 17 years until 1838. At this time Guatemala had branched off to the Central American Federation. In 1944 a revolution began. Any attempts to stop it did not work. That was until 1954 when the president, Jacobo Arbenz Guzman, was overthrown in a military coup.
This did not last for even seven years, when rebels started a civil war in the year of 1960. This war would end up going on and off for 36 years. The war had been going on for 24 years when a Constitution was established in 1984. This put in its its first calm stage in a long time but it went back and forth for quite a while, but more about that later.
In 1990 the first ever election took place and President Jorges Serrano Elias was put in command of Guatemala, the still protesting country. In three years after Elias' command he created a "staged coup." He made it look like the government had been overpowered by the military, but really it was him behind it all. Soon the army withdrew from the plan and the public were shown the truth. Serrano quickly fled to Panama. Then afterwards a new president had to be elected to carry out the rest of Serrano's term. But that was not the end of the arguments in Guatemala.
In 1996 when President Alvaro Arzu Irigoyen took office and negotiations began about a peace treaty. So in that same year a peace treaty was created, with the help of the UN. This ended the longest ever war, 36 years, that ever took place in Latin America. The war took aproximately 15,00 lives from people, but now that it was over Guatemala finally had many laws. Though this solved much, it did not end Guatmala's troubles. Guatemala is still in a very bad economic state and the murder rate is still very high.
This did not last for even seven years, when rebels started a civil war in the year of 1960. This war would end up going on and off for 36 years. The war had been going on for 24 years when a Constitution was established in 1984. This put in its its first calm stage in a long time but it went back and forth for quite a while, but more about that later.
In 1990 the first ever election took place and President Jorges Serrano Elias was put in command of Guatemala, the still protesting country. In three years after Elias' command he created a "staged coup." He made it look like the government had been overpowered by the military, but really it was him behind it all. Soon the army withdrew from the plan and the public were shown the truth. Serrano quickly fled to Panama. Then afterwards a new president had to be elected to carry out the rest of Serrano's term. But that was not the end of the arguments in Guatemala.
In 1996 when President Alvaro Arzu Irigoyen took office and negotiations began about a peace treaty. So in that same year a peace treaty was created, with the help of the UN. This ended the longest ever war, 36 years, that ever took place in Latin America. The war took aproximately 15,00 lives from people, but now that it was over Guatemala finally had many laws. Though this solved much, it did not end Guatmala's troubles. Guatemala is still in a very bad economic state and the murder rate is still very high.