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Memory of Silence: The Guatemalan Truth Commission Report
This edited, one-volume version presents the first ever English translation of the report of The Guatemalan Commission for Historical Clarification (CEH), a truth commission that exposed the details of 'la violenca,' during which hundreds of massacres were committed in a scorched-earth campaign that displaced approximately one million people.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published March 5, 2008
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November 23, 2025
Memory of Silence: The Guatemalan Truth Commission Report, Daniel Rothenberg, ed., 2012, 278 pages, Library-of-Congress JC 599 G8 G7813 2012 Memorial Library, Dewey 972.8105'3, ISBN 9780230340244 https://search.library.wisc.edu/catal...
This is a relatively-accessible 278-page 2012 English-language distillation of and epilog to the 12-volume, 4,383-page 1999 Guatemalan Truth Commission (Commission for Historical Clarification, CEH) report, /Guatemala, memoria del silencio/.
This 2012 278-page summary also benefits from the elapse of 13 years from the original's date: the commission's report specifies a long list of detailed recommendations for the Guatemalan government to act to restore civil society. The 2012 editor tells us that the Guatemalan government ignored the recommendations.
However short in whatever language it's not fun to read.
STATE TERROR
Atrocities committed 1962-1996: more than 200,000 killed. 93% by the state, 3% by rebels, 4% by other or unknown. p. 179-180. The army and affiliated paramilitary destroyed thousands of villages. pp. xv-xvi, xix, xxii, xxvi, 179. The Guatemalan government abdicated its responsibility to provide law and order. There was no law. pp. xvi, 181, 189-190. [This is what the Trump administration and its patrons and enablers want in the U.S., as of 2025.] Soldiers and officials were all shielded from accountability for their acts. Terror was the government's goal. pp. xxiii, 143-161, 181, 186-187.
IMPUNITY
The Guatemalan government took no action based on the report. No one was held accountable. Perpetrators continue in office in the army, police, and government. Guatemala's history of violence is not taught in school. pp. xvi-xvii, 179, 187, 190, 192, 217-226.
The corruption, dysfunction, disempowerment, and violence that characterize 2012 Guatemala are closely linked to institutionalized impunity following decades of state repression. p. 225.
RULE BY WEALTH
A small elite controls most of Guatemala's land and wealth. [This is what the masters of the universe are pushing toward everywhere.] The masses are repressed, backed by state violence. pp. xx, 180.
As of 2012, over half of Guatemalans are in poverty, 15% in extreme poverty. More than 40% of children under age five are chronically malnourished. p. xx. During Guatemala's most rapid economic growth, 1960-1980, state social spending and taxation were the lowest in Central America. Taxes were 7.1% of GDP in 1984. pp. 180, 191.
Guatemalan elites have always relied on large numbers of disempowered workers. The state became the enforcer. United Fruit Company (UFCo, now Chiquita) gained control of much of Guatemala, enabled by U.S. politicians. p. xxvi.
DEMOCRATIC SPRING, 1944-1954
Guatemalans overthrew dictator General Jorge Ubico in 1944. President Juan Jose Arévalo set up a social security system, a minimum wage, and labor laws including a right to organize. The Catholic Church, landowners, and empowered elites fumed, but reform held sway in the military. President Jacobo Arbenz required the largest landowners, including the largest, UFCo, to sell some of their unused land to the government, at the owner's declared tax value. pp. xxvi-xxvii, 180, 182.
U.S. SPONSORSHIP
U.S. President Eisenhower approved the CIA overthrow of Guatemala's democratic government in 1954, leading to decades of military rule, repression, and state violence to protect empowered interests. Armed insurrection ensued, crushed by the army with U.S. help. The insurgency grew, 1975-1984: state violence became totalizing. The U.S. lavished money, arms, and training on the genocidal government, instigating terror tactics developed in Vietnam. pp. xx-xxi, xxvii-xxviii, 182.
NATIONAL SECURITY STATES
The U.S. supports governments that respond to any opposition to rule-by-wealth--union organizing, student movements, church activities, community development projects--as a threat to national security. The Guatemalan military controlled the country (and took the lion's share of the already-low tax revenue). pp. xx-xxi, xxvii-xxviii, 181-182, 186, 191.
RESISTANCE
The Guatemalan government responded to citizen political action with violence, leaving violent rebellion the only possible resistance. pp. xxix, 181-183, 190. Armed rebels had the support of many Guatemalans.
SCORCHED EARTH
The government unleashed genocide against its people, especially Mayan peasants, especially from 1980 through 1985 [during the Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan presidencies in the U.S., and those of Lucas García, Ríos Montt, and Mejía Víctores in Guatemala]. p. xxx, 236, 238. The rebels never had enough men, arms, or training to militarily challenge the U.S.-client Guatemalan terror state. pp. xxxi, 184-189. [Guatemala's use of indiscriminate mass murder for political control looks a lot like Hitler's and Stalin's, told by Hannah Arendt in /The Origins of Totalitarianism/: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... ]
SECRET
U.S. President Jimmy Carter ended direct U.S. support of the genocidal Guatemalan military. So the U.S. military and CIA gave money to Israel to continue arming the Guatemalan military. pp. xxxi-xxxii. [For the limits of U.S. presidential power to curb rule-by-wealth, see /The Devil's Chessboard: Allen Dulles, the CIA, and the Rise of America's Secret Government/, David Talbot, 2015: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... , and /JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why It Matters/, James W. Douglass, 2008: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... ]
U.S. FASCISM
[Coming home to roost: President Trump's 2025 National Security Presidential Memorandum 7 (NSPM 7) defines any expression of non-fascist opinion as domestic terrorism, and orders all federal departments to crush it: https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidenti... ]
ELSEWHERE
Truth commissions have been created in
Argentina 1983
Brazil 1985
Chile 1990
El Salvador 1992
Haiti 1995
Ecuador 1996
Guatemala 1997
Uruguay 2000
Panama 2001
Peru 2001
Paraguay 2004
pp. xv, xxv. All victims of U.S.-sponsored state terror.
Also
South Africa 1995
and others around the world.
AMERICAN IGNORANCE
In the U.S., the terrible suffering of Guatemalans is almost entirely unknown. p. 226.
WORDS
"Human rights violations" are abuses committed by state actors.
"Acts of violence" are abuses committed by nonstate actors. p. xxxv.
GUATEMALAN DEMOGRAPHICS
Guatemala's median age is around 20: https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i2... ; about 40% of the population is under 15, as of 2012: https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i2... . p. 224.
SEE ALSO
The Truth Commission's Conclusions and Recommendations are available in English:
https://search.worldcat.org/title/434...
https://search.library.wisc.edu/catal... 86 pages.
OTHER BOOKS ABOUT GUATEMALA
https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...
This is a relatively-accessible 278-page 2012 English-language distillation of and epilog to the 12-volume, 4,383-page 1999 Guatemalan Truth Commission (Commission for Historical Clarification, CEH) report, /Guatemala, memoria del silencio/.
This 2012 278-page summary also benefits from the elapse of 13 years from the original's date: the commission's report specifies a long list of detailed recommendations for the Guatemalan government to act to restore civil society. The 2012 editor tells us that the Guatemalan government ignored the recommendations.
However short in whatever language it's not fun to read.
STATE TERROR
Atrocities committed 1962-1996: more than 200,000 killed. 93% by the state, 3% by rebels, 4% by other or unknown. p. 179-180. The army and affiliated paramilitary destroyed thousands of villages. pp. xv-xvi, xix, xxii, xxvi, 179. The Guatemalan government abdicated its responsibility to provide law and order. There was no law. pp. xvi, 181, 189-190. [This is what the Trump administration and its patrons and enablers want in the U.S., as of 2025.] Soldiers and officials were all shielded from accountability for their acts. Terror was the government's goal. pp. xxiii, 143-161, 181, 186-187.
IMPUNITY
The Guatemalan government took no action based on the report. No one was held accountable. Perpetrators continue in office in the army, police, and government. Guatemala's history of violence is not taught in school. pp. xvi-xvii, 179, 187, 190, 192, 217-226.
The corruption, dysfunction, disempowerment, and violence that characterize 2012 Guatemala are closely linked to institutionalized impunity following decades of state repression. p. 225.
RULE BY WEALTH
A small elite controls most of Guatemala's land and wealth. [This is what the masters of the universe are pushing toward everywhere.] The masses are repressed, backed by state violence. pp. xx, 180.
As of 2012, over half of Guatemalans are in poverty, 15% in extreme poverty. More than 40% of children under age five are chronically malnourished. p. xx. During Guatemala's most rapid economic growth, 1960-1980, state social spending and taxation were the lowest in Central America. Taxes were 7.1% of GDP in 1984. pp. 180, 191.
Guatemalan elites have always relied on large numbers of disempowered workers. The state became the enforcer. United Fruit Company (UFCo, now Chiquita) gained control of much of Guatemala, enabled by U.S. politicians. p. xxvi.
DEMOCRATIC SPRING, 1944-1954
Guatemalans overthrew dictator General Jorge Ubico in 1944. President Juan Jose Arévalo set up a social security system, a minimum wage, and labor laws including a right to organize. The Catholic Church, landowners, and empowered elites fumed, but reform held sway in the military. President Jacobo Arbenz required the largest landowners, including the largest, UFCo, to sell some of their unused land to the government, at the owner's declared tax value. pp. xxvi-xxvii, 180, 182.
U.S. SPONSORSHIP
U.S. President Eisenhower approved the CIA overthrow of Guatemala's democratic government in 1954, leading to decades of military rule, repression, and state violence to protect empowered interests. Armed insurrection ensued, crushed by the army with U.S. help. The insurgency grew, 1975-1984: state violence became totalizing. The U.S. lavished money, arms, and training on the genocidal government, instigating terror tactics developed in Vietnam. pp. xx-xxi, xxvii-xxviii, 182.
NATIONAL SECURITY STATES
The U.S. supports governments that respond to any opposition to rule-by-wealth--union organizing, student movements, church activities, community development projects--as a threat to national security. The Guatemalan military controlled the country (and took the lion's share of the already-low tax revenue). pp. xx-xxi, xxvii-xxviii, 181-182, 186, 191.
RESISTANCE
The Guatemalan government responded to citizen political action with violence, leaving violent rebellion the only possible resistance. pp. xxix, 181-183, 190. Armed rebels had the support of many Guatemalans.
SCORCHED EARTH
The government unleashed genocide against its people, especially Mayan peasants, especially from 1980 through 1985 [during the Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan presidencies in the U.S., and those of Lucas García, Ríos Montt, and Mejía Víctores in Guatemala]. p. xxx, 236, 238. The rebels never had enough men, arms, or training to militarily challenge the U.S.-client Guatemalan terror state. pp. xxxi, 184-189. [Guatemala's use of indiscriminate mass murder for political control looks a lot like Hitler's and Stalin's, told by Hannah Arendt in /The Origins of Totalitarianism/: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... ]
SECRET
U.S. President Jimmy Carter ended direct U.S. support of the genocidal Guatemalan military. So the U.S. military and CIA gave money to Israel to continue arming the Guatemalan military. pp. xxxi-xxxii. [For the limits of U.S. presidential power to curb rule-by-wealth, see /The Devil's Chessboard: Allen Dulles, the CIA, and the Rise of America's Secret Government/, David Talbot, 2015: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... , and /JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why It Matters/, James W. Douglass, 2008: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... ]
U.S. FASCISM
[Coming home to roost: President Trump's 2025 National Security Presidential Memorandum 7 (NSPM 7) defines any expression of non-fascist opinion as domestic terrorism, and orders all federal departments to crush it: https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidenti... ]
ELSEWHERE
Truth commissions have been created in
Argentina 1983
Brazil 1985
Chile 1990
El Salvador 1992
Haiti 1995
Ecuador 1996
Guatemala 1997
Uruguay 2000
Panama 2001
Peru 2001
Paraguay 2004
pp. xv, xxv. All victims of U.S.-sponsored state terror.
Also
South Africa 1995
and others around the world.
AMERICAN IGNORANCE
In the U.S., the terrible suffering of Guatemalans is almost entirely unknown. p. 226.
WORDS
"Human rights violations" are abuses committed by state actors.
"Acts of violence" are abuses committed by nonstate actors. p. xxxv.
GUATEMALAN DEMOGRAPHICS
Guatemala's median age is around 20: https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i2... ; about 40% of the population is under 15, as of 2012: https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i2... . p. 224.
SEE ALSO
The Truth Commission's Conclusions and Recommendations are available in English:
https://search.worldcat.org/title/434...
https://search.library.wisc.edu/catal... 86 pages.
OTHER BOOKS ABOUT GUATEMALA
https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...
Displaying 1 of 1 review