ABSTRACT
This chapter seeks to contribute to the understanding of the contributions of forensic anthropology to the knowledge and clarification of the acts of violence in Guatemala during the second half of the 20th century. It provides a review of the history of Guatemala for a better understanding of the dynamics of violence. The chapter aims to provide contextual information that enables description of the repressive strategies employed by the different governments of Guatemala between 1962 and 1996. Reporting and studying political violence in Guatemala date back to more than half a century, although proper academic investigation began towards the end of the 1970s and the beginning of the 1980s. The chapter presents an examination of the academic literature on violence, which will allow for the identification of the particular contributions of forensic anthropology. The United States government organised an intervention that led President Jacobo Arbenz Guzan to resign.
