ABSTRACT
This chapter considers issues of a political-cultural nature: demilitarization, formation and functioning of the civilian police, reforms of the justice system and the combat against impunity, the Truth Commission, and indigenous rights. It focuses on the struggles over the other landmark issue, the tax reform needed to provide internal financing for implementation of all the accords and hence to guarantee their financial viability. The politically delicate challenge for the Unidad Revolucionaria Nacional Guatemalteca (URNG) was to fully use its leverage for compliance with the peace accords while at the same time becoming an opposition party to the PAN. The method of assassination of Msgr. Juan Gerardi was designed to be grotesque, the message an unmistakable reminder of the worst atrocities of the war. The Truth Commission or Historical Clarification Commission (CEH) was empowered neither to take judicial action nor even to name individually those responsible for human rights crimes.
