Hundreds Mark End of Guatemalan War
Maria Maldonado is proud of her Guatemalan heritage, but she admits knowing little about that nation’s civil war.
“To me, it’s history,” said Maldonado, a 17-year-old South Gate resident whose parents moved to the United States in the 1970s.
But that history was made immediate Saturday in Barnsdall Park, as Maldonado joined several hundred members of Southern California’s Guatemalan community to celebrate the end of the brutal 35-year conflict.
The war, ending with a peace treaty signed in December, left more than 140,000 people dead or missing and created millions of refugees.
“We can feel kind of happy--relief that there aren’t these political problems in Guatemala,” said Victor Motta, who left in 1982 after the fighting ruined his tour guide business.
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