L.A. Expo Promotes Image of a Changed, Peaceful Guatemala

After 35 years of civil war in Guatemala, thousands of Southlanders, many of whom fled the violence and poverty themselves, came together Saturday to witness the recasting of a country’s image.

Tourism officials pitched their country’s Mayan ruins and mountain lakes. Artists displayed woven goods and hand-carved furniture. Real estate agents offered deals for Angelenos who might want to live there.

Most of all, government officials pledged that the country is safe, both to visit and to return home to.

“There was not enough respect for life,” said Guatemalan Atty. Gen. Acisclo Valladares Molina of the country’s past. “And in a certain way, we got used to it. But the new Guatemala is rising. We need a new culture of life.”

At the Los Angeles Convention Center on Saturday, Molina displayed day-to-day records of Guatemala’s conflict, including the names of those who were killed. He said people could look at the records on the Internet and add information of their own.

For Molina, the day was an attempt to reach out to those who left the country. He distributed a brochure that promised citizenship to immigrants and to their children who were born in the U.S.

For event organizers, the Guatemala Expo was also an attempt to open new markets for the country’s exports, and to boost tourism and business within its borders.

As the airy sound of the marimba came from the stage, the nation’s largest newspaper, La Prensa Libre, gave out samples from its booth in an effort to increase its circulation in Los Angeles. One assistant manager emphasized the community inserts--showing a tabloid that covered the Huehuetenango area--to demonstrate that immigrants could keep in touch with what was going on in their old villages.

In another part of the giant hall, a glass blower hoped to find a wholesaler to buy his goods. But he had not made any strong contacts and said the many interested passerby were just casual shoppers.

“If we knew that from the beginning, we would have brought a cargo container to sell,” said Carlos Villagrande. “We only have samples. We made a big effort to come here, and we are still waiting.”

Others foresaw Saturday’s event as a retail opportunity.

Next to Villagrande, two indigenous Mayans were selling their woven goods at a frantic pace. Next to them, throngs of people watched videos and bought posters at the Eco Maya booth--which promoted the country’s rain forests and archeological ruins. And nearby, a line stood waiting for packaged chocolate-covered bananas called Choco Bananos.

While many came to reunite with ways of life left behind, some said they were wary of violence that continues in the countryside.

“They signed [the peace accords], but nothing has changed.” said Erasmo Agueda, 30. “They say there is peace, but what peace?”

Agueda said he recently called his mother, who still lives on the small patch of land in the sweltering Pacific lowlands where he grew up. There was another slaying in his small pueblo, he said--the fifth he could remember.

Atty. Gen. Molina responded: “When you finish a war, the effects of it still remain.” He added that since the peace accords were signed last December, the military has been put under civilian control.

Some immigrants believe that the brutality is diminishing and plan to retire in their native land. Antonia Villatoro, 66, left in 1968 but returned for a brief visit to the jungles and archeological ruins of Tikal.

“Now that we are here, we appreciate it,” she said. “We would like to buy a home over there and visit.”

She and her family came to the expo primarily to look into the feasibility of buying a home on Lake Atitlan, a tourist center in the Guatemalan mountains.

Brenda Lainfiesta, president of the Casa de la Cultura de Guatemala and director of the event, saw this as a major draw for many of the 300,000 immigrants living in the Los Angeles area. When she traveled throughout Guatemala seeking sponsors and businesses to attend the expo, she came across two firms, Valores Antigua and the Central Mortgage Co., which could provide expatriates with assistance in buying a home in their native land.

Among those hoping to promote Guatemala’s Mayan culture was a civil engineer and amateur archeologist named Jorge Vasquez. In his free time, he gives lectures to local schoolchildren about the wonders and myths of his people.

He told of a ritual used in rural Mayan villages to avoid making bad decisions. A pinata was used to symbolize evil. “The only people who could destroy evil were the innocent,” he said. “So they gave the stick to children.”

Once the evil was destroyed, he said, only good decisions could be made.

Part of the reason Vasquez likes to promote his heritage is because he feels that other Latinos discriminate against those of Mayan descent. “I want to explain to people this is not witchcraft,” he said. “It’s part of the religion; it’s part of the culture.”

The expo, which is scheduled to end today at 7 p.m., also features performances by dancers and musical groups, paintings and demonstrations of traditional textile weavings.