If one were to observe charts and
graphs about Guatemala’s economy, without visiting the nation or surveying its
people, they could be convinced that Libertarians are absolutely right. Each year from 1960 to 2006 Guatemala lowered tax-rates,
unemployment was below three percent and their government is was not indebted
to even one other country. What that observer cannot learn from charts and
graphs though, is that those employed people were uneducated, underpaid, starving,
and often without clean water. The saddest part is, the citizens of Guatemala
had the opportunity change their circumstances, and chose not to do so. They are
terrified of giving any of their personal revenue to the government.
In 1999, the Consulta Popular bill
(C.P.), which would give indigenous (namely, Mayan) Guatemalans equal social
and political rights, was voted down almost as quickly as the tax reforms,
which would allow the government to provide citizens with clean water and
decent roads, were three years earlier. As a result, Guatemala has the lowest
tax rates of any established democracy and those who are in
charge today struggle to provide people with their most basic rights.
The aforementioned CP was not just
rejected by European Guatemalans, but by the Mayans themselves. Most readers will find this counter-intuitive
but neither group has any trust in authority. The European Guatemalans were afraid of loss
of power, and the Mayans were insulted by the proposal. Though it guaranteed
them the right to vote, and buy or own property, it did nothing to stop the
discrimination that occurred in the private-sector, or in schools and did not
impose a law that would force businesses to pay all employees equally,
regardless of race. The Mayans had fought too fiercely to accept less than they
deserved. (Carey, 2004)
Though it has long been run
democratically, for years the Guatemalan government was simply too big. Not
only was it controlling but there were also only one group with any power. The CACIF
was a political party similar to the communist party, but was led by the owners
of two corporations, who catered to their own. Like many corrupt governments, they owed their
power to the wealthy elite, and so, like many corrupt governments, they ignored
the poor. A result, in 1944, the
"October Revolutionaries", and their leader, Juan Arbez staged a
coup, and overthrew the oligarchy, or organizationally-run government. They established
liberal economic policies, which benefited
and greatly strengthened the civil and labor rights of the urban working
class and the peasants. This movement
seems like an occurrence the United States would celebrate. During the 1950’s,
however the US was right in the middle of what is now referred to as The Red Scare
and anything that resembled communism was thought to be evil. The U.S. government ordered Central Intelligence
to stop what they called, Guatemala’s “communist revolt", and placed
unbelievably strict sanctions on Guatemala, and even stopped funding American
fruit companies that were growing their products in Guatemala. The United States’
extreme action was a major component in Guatemalans mistrust of their leaders
because it led to a wider division between the underprivileged Mayans, and wealthy
citizens of a European decent. Unlike
in many minorities in other countries, the Mayans, who are very obviously
discriminated, against were and are almost forty-seven percent of the population. The majority of this group was sick and tired
of being ignored. They staged uprising that led to a bloody civil-war that
lasted thirty-six years, from 1960-1996.
As was stated earlier, the year the
war ended a tax reform, which would only raise taxes by four and a half percent,
was proposed and voted down. Because
there were no checks and balances in place, all Guatemalans were fearful of
returning to the oligarchy that was in place before 1944, and refused to give
the government the chance to do so. Why did the elite fear the kind of
government that had made their lives so easy? They had seen what is possible
when running one’s own business, and wanted that ability.
Fortunately, in 2003, a PAN
candidate, Oscar Berger was elected. Berger is a moderate, who was able to win the
support of European Guatemalans by promising to enforce a US-like market reform,
and won the Mayan vote by promising a stronger equal rights bill. In 2006, that
bill was passed, and so were the exact tax reforms proposed at the end of the
Civil War in 1996.
Berger’s willingness to pass these bills
and the citizens’ willingness to trust him are certainly a turn for the better.
Enforcing these laws however, has proven to be very difficult. No equivalent
the Internal Revenue Service exists in Guatemala and tax evasion has become a
major problem. Racism still is rampant,
and deep. European Guatemalans make excuses not hire Mayans, despite the fact
that the discrimination is technically illegal. Both issues, according to
outside economist and sociologists, are predicted to be issues for a long
time.
It appears that European Guatemalans
are currently in a situation similar the one that the Caucasian Americans were
during the Civil-Rights, and Women’s Liberation movements of the 1960s. They
may not like the government is asking them to open their minds, and are
attempting to find ways to keep them closed. The U.S. has not come far enough
since the sixties, but we have made remarkable progress. Every generation has
become more and more tolerant, and the laws put in place to protect
African-Americans and women were certainly a huge part of that. I believe the
same can and will happen for Mayans in Guatemalan. That is why I agree with the
statement, “the evolution of tax policy and indigenous rights show that, slowly
but surely, democracy is improving the lives of all Guatemalans.”
Works Cited
Blake, C. (2008). Politics of latin america. (2nd
ed., pp. 298-318). New York, New York: Houghton Mifflin.
Carey, D. (2004). The struggle continues:
Consciousness, social movement, and class action,. Latin american Prospective. , 31(6), 69-95. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/4141608
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