The Eternal Glass Ceiling :: The Neo-Reconquista

A Woeful Life

[ The Year 2010 ]

Amaru was raised in a country plagued with poverty, inequality and social unrest. Crime was rampant among the citizens who lived in the inner city. Homicide rates were at an all-time high with many individuals meeting an untimely demise at the trigger of a gun, or a severe stab wounds from of a blade. The government was greedy and corrupted, using the ignorance of their malleable citizens like human-chattel for their political agendas. Frustration, starvation and miseducation afflicted many of the population. Indigenous Guatemalans, including children were vulnerable to forced labor and exploitation. Children were exploited regularly by traffickers, being forced into begging and street vending. Criminal organizations such as gangs, would coerce young girls into having sex, prostitution or trafficking. Young males in urban areas were persuaded to sell and transport drugs or commit extortions. Additionally, police, military, and elected officials were placed under investigation for paying children for sex acts, facilitating sex trafficking and protecting sex trafficking venues.

These were all the lingering effects of the civil war, government corruption, foreign meddling, economic crisis and military coups backed by The CIA and the United States government. The U.S. provided hundreds of millions of dollars to dictatorships following the 1954 coup and during the 36 year long Civil War. They played an important role in nearly every stage of the war. They provided them with extensive military training, weapons and U.S. soldiers on the ground. The U.S. helped bring to power some of the worst dictators in history, including Rios Montt whom Ronald Reagan referred to as "a man of great integrity". Montt wanted to "drain the sea" of the guerrilla movement and largely targeted indigenous peoples. He led the "Scorched Earth" military strategy in which more than 70,000 people died and went missing. He killed children and elderly who could not have possibly been guerrillas.

Reagan provided financial support, military advising and lifted the U.S. embargo that Jimmy Carter had placed to pressure Guatemala to stop the abuses. Reagan was not making these statements and assisting Montt without knowing the human rights violations occurring in Guatemala. He was well aware of the large scale killings of indigenous people committed by the Guatemalan army. Instead of cutting off funding to the Guatemalan government and admitting that those in power were leading a genocidal war, the U.S. continued their support. They reinforced the continuation of this war and the demise of the country.

With U.S. support, Montt continued attacking indigenous communities and by the end of the war, nearly 200,000 people were killed and 45,000 "disappeared." After the Civil War, the country was in shambles. There was no economic opportunity, but rather rampant violence for those who survived. Most had no other choice but to leave in search of a better life. Many that fled to the U.S. after the war became involved in the gang networks there and would end up getting deported back to Guatemala. Guatemala never had experience with gangs, but as deportations began to rise, so did gang membership within Guatemala.

Youths were the main targets of Guatemalan gangs because they had few options other than to join. They were mostly orphans, uneducated with very few prospects of employment. As gang membership increased and spread throughout Guatemala and Central America in general, so did human trafficking. With the advantage of international gang networks throughout Central America and within the U.S. with gangs such as the Maras, human trafficking took off. They would target poor, vulnerable girls and women with promises of economic opportunity through careers such as modeling or waitressing.

At the same time, the violence that women experienced, particularly Mayan women was horrifying. They faced countless rapes, pregnant women being eviscerated publicly, women being burnt alive and public decapitations. Their bodies would be hung for everyone to see as evidence of the armed forces' disregard of life, especially indigenous life. These new criminal organizations took advantage of the weakened institutions after the Civil War along with the poverty and social alienation that left people with no other choice than to get involved with criminal activity.