Writing Right-Wing Histories of Guatemala

The history of twentieth-century Guatemala as it is understood and taught outside the country has a recognizable form: relying on two invaluable Truth Commission reports, historians acknowledge the 200,000 people killed in the 36-year war, alongside the “genocidal acts” committed against Maya Indigenous peoples. Asymmetry of violence is at the heart of this (accurate) narrative: the vast majority of killings were committed by armed forces. Within Guatemala, the picture is quite different. Historical works—both academic and non-academic—as well as cultural products like films, promote right-wing, exculpatory views of the war. Titles like The Farce of Genocide, In the Boots of a Kaibil and many others argue, against available historical evidence, that the Guatemalan military did not commit war crimes should be thanked for saving Guatemala from becoming “another Cuba.” The most frequently taught books in Guatemalan academia on the conflict are by Carlos Sabino, a right-wing historian who left his job in Chile in protest when Salvador Allende was elected. Recently, I attended a screening of a film, Nebaj, directed by Kenneth Müller in Guatemala City, and the discussion afterwards turned out to be a historical memory session for those who see the international consensus as overly sympathetic to guerrillas if not overtly “Communist.” I am working on an article that grapples with right-wing historical memory and historical writing in Guatemala ranging from outright genocide denial to subtler forms of exculpating armed forces and police for crimes committed. This paper draws on this work to think through a) how to analyze inaccurate historical work that nevertheless enjoys broad dissemination b) how to insist on factually supported histories of the conflict in the context of extreme power inequalities both within Guatemala and between Guatemala and other places where more accurate historical narratives hold sway.