ABSTRACT
Guatemala, with a population of approximately twelve million, is the northernmost and most populous country of Central America. The Spanish invasion decimated Mayan society in at least three ways: the violence of the warfare itself, disease, and cultural disruption. Independence for Guatemala meant the ascension to power of, and intermittent political conflict between, two elite factions, the Liberals and Conservatives. The "Decade of Spring," 1944 to 1954, is a fascinating, complex, and controversial period in Guatemalan history. Elected after the suspicious assassination of his main rival, like Jacobo Arbenz also a colonel in the Guatemalan army, Arbenz engineered more significant reforms, most important a major land reform initiative. The United States supported the successful rebellion that ended the Decade of Spring in 1954, bringing an almost instant end to the reforms and a new wave of repressive violence. President Cerezo was inaugurated in 1986 amid great hopes for a return to democratic normalcy, economic prosperity, and social peace.
