Guatemala: overview and contemporary issues

Guatemala

Colorful, warm, lush, and friendly, Guatemala remains one of the prime tourist destinations of the Americas. Originally settled thousands of years ago, Guatemala's indigenous Mayan population comprise a sizeable proportion of its modern society, although many Guatemalans have mixed European and Mayan heritage and are known as Mestizo or Ladino. The majority of Ladino Guatemalans have practiced Catholicism since colonization by the Spaniards. However, Guatemalan culture retains a significant amount of indigenous cultural traditions, visible in handicraft, art, food, language, religion, and worldview, especially in rural regions. About sixty percent of the population speaks Spanish as a primary language; the other forty percent speak one of many Mayan languages, often in addition to Spanish as a second language. The nearly two-dozen surviving Mayan languages include Quiche, Cakchiquel, Kekchi, Mam, Garifuna, and Xinca, adding to the cultural and ethnic diversity of the nation.

A substantial number of Guatemalans, especially Mayans, live in poverty. The majority of wealthy elite are Ladino or persons of direct European descent rather than Mayan. In addition to the original Spanish colonialists, a small group of Germans settled in Guatemala around the turn of the last century. Other ethnic minorities in Guatemala include the small number of persons from African descent, who live mostly along the country's Caribbean coast. Many of the black Caribs, known as "Garifunas," were descendents of runaway slaves from St. Vincent ("Guatemalan Culture and History").

Guatemalan Mayans are probably best known internationally for their spectacular woven textiles. However, the economy depends on agricultural exports and the peasant farmers see far fewer profits for their labors than the minority of wealthy business owners. Guatemalan's indigenous farmers have been forced into a near-feudalistic system to produce cash crops. As a result of the diminished agricultural diversity and the elimination of community subsistence agriculture, many Mayans have begun to migrate to the nation's urban centers like the capital Guatemala City in search of work.

In addition to poverty, the nation's residents have endured centuries of political turmoil, too. Conquistadores altered the political and social landscape of the country, which at one point was part of the Mexican territory. Since the nation gained independence from Spain it has been ruled by a chain of military dictatorships ("Guatemalan Culture and History"). Guatemala has also run into some territorial disputes with neighboring nations like Belize and in fact land disputes with Belize continue today.