Taking What Is Ours, According to Law: “Land Rights” and Conflict in Guatemala and Honduras, 1954–Present

In 1954, two major political events struck Central America.  The first was the military coup against the democratically elected Guatemalan president, Jacobo Árbenz.  The second was the general strike in Honduras that began in the banana-growing region and eventually brought the entire country to an economic standstill.

The Guatemalan coup in 1954 led to decades of right wing military repression, a bloody civil war, a genocide, and the end of progressive agrarian reforms.  The memory of state violence has shaped the way that many Guatemalans envision the possibility of change in their country.  Few hold out hope for present day reforms, and that disbelief in the possibility of change is shaped by Guatemalans’ memories of state violence.

The Honduran general strike in 1954 and its popular memory had a very different influence on Hondurans’ impressions of political reform.  The 1954 general strike was a bloody one, with state troops and United Fruit Company security forces opening fire on demonstrating banana workers.  However, the workers ultimately prevailed.  The strike was so devastating economically that political leaders caved in and created progressive labour and agrarian reforms.  Many Hondurans remember their participation in the 1954 general strike with pride.

Using oral histories I collected in Puerto Barrios, Guatemala, and Tela, Honduras, my paper will examine the legacies of the memories of state violence on land rights activism in Guatemala and Honduras.  I argue that, in winning the general strike and major concessions from the government, Hondurans remember and experience state violence with the belief that they can resist it.  Conversely, following the devastating loss faced after the Árbenz coup, Guatemalans have abandoned attempts for radical change, fearful of the state violence that has marred Guatemala since 1954.