Hope in a Blood-Soaked Land : Suddenly, prospect for peace dawns in Guatemala civil conflict

The announcement by Guatemalan guerrillas that they will honor an open-ended cease-fire has brought unexpected hope for peace in the troubled country. The subsequent order by President Alvaro Arzu that the army end counterinsurgency operations furthers that hope.

Now, after 35 bloody years, the armed conflict that has taken more than 100,000 lives and left 40,000 “disappeared” and presumed dead, many of them poor Indian farmers caught in the cross-fire, may be ending. The development could mean that the Guatemala highlands will no longer be the killing fields of Central America.

United Nations-mediated peace talks that began two years ago in Mexico had shown only modest progress until this week. An agreement on respect for human rights of the indigenous population, though important, fell far short of the mark needed to give credibility to the Guatemalan peace process. Now the agreement to stop the shooting raises the prospects for peace to heights unimaginable just months ago.

Observers of the talks credit the breakthrough to the political agility of Arzu, Guatemala’s recently elected president. In only two months, he has been able to do what none of his predecessors had even attempted. His tools were goodwill and trust, the necessary elements of a lasting agreement. The Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unit--the guerrillas--has responded in kind.

There are still many hurdles ahead. In a relatively short time, the army will have to dismantle its nationwide paramilitary network, which took decades to establish. Nonmilitary agreements will be needed regarding delicate, fundamental issues such as land tenure. Respect for the civil rights of a population that has been abused for centuries must be established in deeds, not just words.

The peace talks, now boosted enormously by the cease-fire, will continue. Credit goes to all sides.