Political Representation, Policy & Inclusion NINA AGRAWAL, RICHARD ANDRÉ, RYAN BERGER, AND WILDA ESCARFULLER
GUATEMALA
Guatemala’s 36-year-long civil war had a dramatic effect on the country’s Indigenous population. The negotiation of the peace
process in the early 1990s created
an opportunity for Indigenous organizations to help shape post-war
Guatemala. The Acuerdo de Identi-dad y Derechos de los Pueblos Indígenas (Agreement on the Identity and
Rights of Indigenous Peoples)—part
of the Peace Accords signed by the
government, Unidad Revolucionaria
Nacional Guatemalteca (Guatemalan
National Revolutionary Unity), guerrillas, and the UN in 1996—
recognized Guatemala for the first time as
a multiethnic, multilingual and multicultural nation. The following year,
the Guatemalan government signed
ILO Convention 169.6
Many of these legislative victories
came about because of pressure from
the Coordinadora de Organizaciones
del Pueblo Maya de Guatemala (
Coalition of Mayan People’s Organizations—COPMAGUA), an alliance of
more than 200 Indigenous organizations and the first national Indigenous movement. COPMAGUA fought
for: constitutional recognition of the
Mayan people; legal recognition of
Mayan forms of organization, political practices and customary law; participation in state institutions; and
recognition of territorial autonomy
on the basis of history and language. 7
Responding to international pressure, the government of President Álvaro Arzú (1996–2000) carried out a
popular referendum in 1999 to decide
on 47 constitutional reforms agreed
Rosalina Tuyuc helped found Guatemala’s committee for war widows. Read her
AQ profile on p. 56.
102 Americas Quarterly SPRING 2012
upon in the Peace Accords. During this
process, Indigenous leaders formed
the Comisión Indígena para Reformas
Constitucionales (Indigenous Commission for Constitutional Reforms),
which proposed 157 distinct reforms,
most of them guaranteeing equal
rights for Indigenous populations.
The resulting referendum was a
centerpiece of the Indigenous movement, but the rejection of the reforms
robbed it of much of its momentum.
COPMAGUA disintegrated in 2000,
and the massive political movements
of the previous decade gave way to
individual participation of Indigenous groups via party politics. Guatemala does not have formal laws
or policies—in the constitution or
elsewhere—to promote political representation of Indigenous peoples.
Since the transition to democracy
in 1985, Indigenous populations have
participated in great numbers as voters, but in low percentages as representatives in Guatemala’s unicameral
National Assembly.
National Assembly, 1986–1991
The first general election under the
new constitution was in 1985. Of the
100 representatives elected to the National Assembly, eight were Indigenous (all of them Maya). Seven were
part of the Democrácia Cristiana Guatemalteca (Guatemalan Christian Democracy) party, while only Waldemar
Caal Rossi was elected through the
Unión del Centro Nacional (National
Union of the Center) party. Ana María
Xuyá Cuxil, elected from the electoral
district of Chimaltenango, was the
first Indigenous woman to hold the
title of deputy. During this period, no
laws affecting the Indigenous community were authored by the eight
Indigenous representatives.
LUIS FERNANDO PONCE
AMERICASQUARTERLY.ORG
