The Guatemalan Military Project: A Violence Called Democracy

Winner of the 1999 PIOOM Human Rights Award
Guatemala has long been recognized as one of the countries suffering egregious violations of human rights. A principal actor has been the military, which has exercised effective control even during periods of formal civilian authority.In The Guatemalan Military Project, Jennifer Schirmer sheds light on the military's role in Guatemala through a series of extensive interviews striking in their brutal frankness and revealing of the character of the oppressors. High-ranking officers explain in their own words their thoughts and feelings regarding opposition, national security doctrine, democracy, human rights, and law. Additional interviews with congressional deputies, Guatemalan lawyers, journalists, social scientists, and even an ex-president give a full and vivid account of the Guatemalan power structure and ruling system.Successfully combining military, political, and cultural analysis with a serious treatment of legal and human rights considerations, this book will appeal to anyone interested in the conversion from war to peace in Latin America and around the world.