ABSTRACT
The central social characteristic of Guatemala remains increasing concentration of wealth amid pervasive poverty. Guatemala's reconstituted popular movement also included human rights groups organized around demands that were openly political and directly related to the ongoing counterinsurgency war. Already before Cerezo took office, while Guatemala was still under the Mejia Victores military dictatorship, the first austerity protest exploded in August 1985. Guatemala's new popular bloc is the product not only of austerity, but of Guatemala's multiple crises. A significant political expression of this bloc is the popular/revolutionary convergence or "front", which is being formed outside the traditional political parties. By the late 1980s, the context for political action was also shaped by the resurgence of the revolutionary movement. Throughout the late 1980s, there was consistent pressure from most sectors of civil society, including all major political parties except the ultraright MLN, for continued discussions to end the war.
