December 30, 1996
Guatemalans Formally End 36-Year Civil War, Central America's Longest and Deadliest
By LARRY ROHTER
GUATEMALA, Dec. 29--After 36 years of civil war that left more than 100,000 people dead and devastated this country's society, a grateful but weary Guatemala formally returned to a state of peace today with the signing of a final armistice between the Government and the leftist guerrillas who have been its traditional adversaries.
As thousands of people watched on giant television screens in the main square in front of the National Palace here, the principal leaders of the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity and members of the Government's Peace Commission signed a document that, if fully carried out, will transform nearly every aspect of Guatemalan society.
With President Alvaro Arzu Irigoyen looking on, the senior rebel leader Rolando Moran and other signers then embraced each other, in the first public sign of the reconciliation that must occur for peace truly to take root.
Today's ''Accord for a Firm and Lasting Peace'' brought to a formal end the longest and most destructive of Central America's civil wars. In addition to the 100,000 killed, most of them by the Guatemalan armed forces or paramilitary groups, an estimated 40,000 ''disappeared,'' and a million more were driven from their homes or into exile.
Perhaps because of the magnitude of the suffering that this country of 10.5 million people has endured, the tone surrounding the peace ceremonies was more solemn than celebratory. This morning, groups sympathetic to the left marched to the General Cemetery here to honor the dead, while Mayan religious leaders organized a ritual to plead with one of their deities ''to make peace between our peoples a reality.''
According to a poll published today by the newspaper Prensa Libre, many Guatemalans still have doubts that the peace will hold. The survey, conducted last week, indicated that while 78 percent of those polled approved of the accords, only 38 percent believed that they ''will be respected.''
The only overtly discordant note, however, was struck by a local rebel unit that refused to take part in ceremonies in the city of Quezaltenango to mark the end of the hostilities. According to news reports here, guerrillas from the Organization of the People in Arms sent a letter to the local Governor saying their absence would serve as ''a sign of rejection of some of the accords signed by the U.R.N.G. with the Government of Guatemala.''
As established by the timetable negotiated by the warring sides, the first phase of the agreement calls for the demobilization of the guerrilla troops, estimated at fewer than 3,000, and their ''reinsertion'' into civil society. In the first 90 days, the armed forces are required to begin reducing their strength to a level that will eventually be one-third below the current figure of 46,000 troops.
The agreement also foresees deployment of a small detachment of United Nations troops -- about 150 soldiers -- not as a peacekeeping force as in Haiti and other places, but as a means of verifying compliance with demobilization. China, however, has threatened to veto that arrangement when it comes to the Security Council to protest Guatemala's diplomatic relations with Taiwan.
In an interview late Friday, Mr. Arzu described China's attitude as ''worrisome'' and said he hoped that ''reason will prevail in the end.'' But he emphasized that his Government would not abandon its relationship with Taiwan, including support for its readmission to the United Nations, and said he has begun studying alternatives to a United Nations force if China vetoes it.
''That could be the Organization of American States, a South American group, whatever,'' Mr. Arzu said. ''There are always mechanisms.''
He also suggested that the international monitoring force could be done away with if the process of organizing it proves too cumbersome.
''The thing is that both sides, the army and the U.R.N.G., have stated that there is not a pressing need for international verification,'' he said, citing the ''mutual confidence'' that has developed during six years of negotiations. ''We are quite clear on both sides as to our obligations, and we are willing to respect them.''
In recognition of the importance that the Spanish-speaking world attaches to the end of 36 years of conflict here, the Presidents of eight Latin American nations and the Prime Minister of Spain, Jose Maria Aznar, attended the ceremonies. Also present, in one of his last official acts, was Boutros Boutros-Ghali, the departing Secretary General of the United Nations, which played a decisive role in moderating the peace talks.
The United States, which organized the 1954 military coup that began the cycle of state-sponsored violence and repression, was represented by Thomas F. McLarty, President Clinton's special envoy for Latin America and the Caribbean. In remarks to American reporters today, Mr. McLarty pledged continued American support for Guatemalan efforts to ''move toward peace and justice and democracy'' under Mr. Arzu's leadership.
Guatemalans seemed most impressed, though, by the arrival on Saturday afternoon of the guerrillas' top military and political commanders, some of whom have been outside the country since the 1960's. As a marimba band played, several hundred guerrillas and their sympathizers waited outside the airport here, chanting revolutionary slogans and waving banners proclaiming that ''we are here to continue our struggle.''
''I find it hard to believe this is actually happening,'' said a young man whose face was covered with the blue bandanna that identified him as a guerrilla fighter. ''A year ago, the army would have killed all of us for trying to do something like this.''