Guatemala
The Left: A Past with no Present But with a Future?
The left: dispersed, decimated, exhausted and confused? Able to create a new party, one that is capable of dialogue and making new alliances? Willing to combat verticalism and authoritarianism? The debate on the future of the left is worldwide, and it’s also being debated in Guatemala.
Juan Hernández Pico, SJ
The magazine called Debate, and subtitled "Toward Consensus," put out by the Center for Legal Action in Human Rights (CALDH), headed by Frank La Rué, published a journalistic investigation a few weeks ago titled, "Where is the Left Headed?" In addition to the Guatemalans interviewed, the editors added some other opinions about the future of the left that had already been published in Guatemala or Mexico. The results of this investigation merit careful examination.
Who Participated; Who Didn'tOf the 23 people who participated, 11 are active in politics or have a political past, 7 work in political analysis or journalism and 5 work in other civil society movements or associations. Only six women were among those consulted.
A greater effort could have been made to stir up the feminine imagination at the moment of asking about the future of Guatemala's left. Not only, obviously, because of the proportion of women in the general population and in organizations committed to either building or blocking a leftwing alternative, but also because of the proportion of women in human rights associations, nongovernmental organizations and public administration posts.
None of the URNG ex-comandantes accepted the invitation to express their opinion on the issue. They are currently busy fulfilling the necessary requirements to become a party and do not want to express political opinions until they can do so from a party platform.
Background to the Debate: An Important PastIt is evident that Guatemala's left has had an important past. It tried to work within the legal framework and when the 1954 counterrevolution—a symbiosis of domestic forces and US intervention—severely restricted its legal margins and bit by bit also repressed its real spaces to work, part of the left chose to challenge the system through taking up arms. It sustained this challenge for 36 years, until peace was signed in December 1996. To respond to issues of respect for or negligence of humanitarian aspects during the war, the URNG is about to face the Commission for Historical Clarification, a tribunal that the URNG itself agreed to with the Guatemalan government in order to clarify the parameters within which the state and the guerrillas fought.
Divisions in the PresentGuatemala's left wing does not have the same importance today that it did in the past. The New Guatemala Democratic Front (FDNG), one political organization that represents it, won six congressional seats in the 1995 elections, making it the third largest party in Congress, with more representatives than the Christian Democrats or the Union of the National Center, two parties that have played an important role in the transition to democracy. But the FDNG was born with that stigma of division that the left tends to suffer, and could not pull in historical figures like veteran Alfonso Bauer Páiz, a former minister of the Arbenz government—committed in recent years to the refugee return—or independent personalities like Oscar Clemente Marroquín, ex-director of the prestigious evening paper La Hora.
The most common justification given for this division is the hegemonic maneuvers of the URNG within the recently formed FDNG. Three pre-party groupings are currently being formed from the leftwing currents that did not find space within the FDNG: the Unity of Democratic Left (UNID), led by Alfonso Bauer and ex-guerrilla comandante César Montes, among others; the Democratic Alliance (AD) with Oscar Clemente Marroquín; and the Democratic United Revolutionary Front (FUR-D), which encompasses the remains of social democracy led by the charismatic ex-mayor of Guatemala City, Manuel Colom Argueta, until he was assassinated in 1979. There is also talk of a Guatemalan Communitary Party (PCG), which would try to unify a broad spectrum of the country's indigenous organizations.
The FDNG legislators have made some consistent effort to promote the perspective of grassroots interests in the laws that the governing National Advancement Party (PAN) is pushing through; above all when the PAN cannot achieve its goals without allies in initiatives requiring more than a simple parliamentary majority. Meanwhile, the URNG, busy building its own party, has had little political presence beyond the commissions supervising fulfillment of the peace accords.
These are the circumstances surrounding the transition of the Guatemalan left toward the future within Guatemala's greater transition to democracy. The current divisions within the left— from the most traditionally civilist currents to those that come from the armed tradition—is not, however, its greatest and most unavoidable challenge. It faces an even greater one in the electoral abstentionism among the Guatemalan population, which has been growing since the beginning of the democratic transition in 1985 and has reached 50% of eligible voters in major elections. Overcoming abstentionism is closely linked to the ability to develop a new politics less dependent on electoral strategies, more decentralized, and better articulated to the participatory responsibilities of civil society.
It is in this framework that the reflection on the left in Debate becomes even more interesting.
Leftwing Identity: 1) With the PoorThe majority of the participants in the Debate investigation fundamentally identified the left with a political project of social justice, eradication of poverty, and defense of the interests of the excluded majority.
Leftwing people are "those whose goal is always to resolve people's basic problems, who fight to close the abysmal gap between the rich few and the many poor" (Alfonso Bauer, UNID).
The left is "a political position that defends social interests, a political identity that challenges exploitation of the most unprotected social classes" (César Montes, UNID).
The left is "a real political force, some of whose values are the changing of economic and social structures and the constructing of a just and human society in solidarity and free of inequalities" (Factor Méndez, UNID).
The left wing is made up of "the people and sectors that aspire to a change in the country's human and social conditions, to make possible fundamental changes for the poor. We cannot put names or categories on hunger. What is needed are solutions in education and to dire poverty, exploitation, low salaries and unjust land tenure. It is not a matter of left or right, but of justice" (Rosalina Tuyuc, FDNG Congressional representative, founder and leader of CONAVIGUA, which represents widows of war victims).
The leftwing current is characterized "by the search for changes in society in order to benefit the popular classes" (Antonio Mobil, FDNG Congressional representative).
It is, "conceptually, a political force that centers its objectives on representing the interests of the popular sectors, especially workers, peasants, and salaried workers" (Gustavo Porras, Private Secretary to the Presidency of the Republic).
2) Counterweight to NeoliberalismOthers offer this same emphasis with references to neoliberalism. For example, the left is "a clear posture against neoliberalism and, concretely, about privatizations" (Miguel Angel Sandoval, URNG), or is "defining an alternative path and identity to avoid being coopted by neoliberalism, and to resist neoliberalism from the smallest social organization to the largest political organizations, also seeking alternatives" (Byron Morales, FDNG and leader of the UNISTRAGUA union).
Various political analysts talked along this same line. Leftwing people are "all of those who want to pull the 80% of the poor out of poverty and extreme poverty and overcome a reality that prevents justice" (Carlos Rafael Soto, journalist).
The left should "transform itself into a political force that counteracts the neoliberal program" (Edgard Gutiérrez, director of analysis in the Mirna Mack Foundation and coordinator of the Catholic Church's REMHI project to recover the memory of the war).
The left could be called "those currents that fight for justice and the distribution of wealth" (Tania Palencia, social researcher and editor of Inforpress).
For some, this left identity related to socioeconomic changes in favor of greater justice for the poor is complemented by its relationship to the objective of "overcoming a reality that prevents justice" (Carlos Rafael Soto), trying "to see the country in a global sense" (Miguel Angel Albizures, journalist and humanitarian activist), inspiring "a progressive tendency, an accelerated transformation for the country" (César Montes), promoting "development, progress" (Wilfredo Valenzuela, lawyer and former secretary of the San Carlos National University), and "economic, political, social and educational prosperity and health" (Otto Rolando Bekker, URNG).
Other participants in the debate added to or underlined the aspect of political change as the left wing's fundamental identity. The left with the best future will be "that which can present a different face from the current political parties, does not have politics as its modus vivendi, goes beyond simple protests and only an electoral presence, has internal democracy and facilitates the emergence of new leaders" (Miguel Angel Albizures).
3) For Democratic ParticipationThe left is in a political position that defends "democracy with equality for ethnicities and gender, that confronts authoritarianism" (César Montes).
It "is not defeated; it has many possibilities for converting itself into an alternative for power, but first must prove that there is a difference with respect to traditional, rightwing, neoliberal forces" (Byron Barrera, journalist).
The left is "a political force that focuses its objectives on representing popular goals with a concept that public power is crucial to producing results" (Gustavo Porras).
The left signifies "a political space won through 34 years of fighting, delineated in the peace accords, that can be utilized to make democracy concrete if there is an organized political force based on a consensus of Guatemala's revolutionaries" (Marco Tulio, Teresa and Hector Soto Garcia, ex-militants of FAR).
4) Against Discrimination and CorruptionAnother important emphasis in leftwing identity is in the area of culture. On the Guatemalan left are those who fight to "close the abysmal gap between rich and poor, still mostly peasants and indigenous; that difference has repercussions in dignity and the right to live with a different culture" (Alfonso Bauer).
The left is "a political position that defends freedom of thought and expression, freedom of religion or of being an atheist" (César Montes).
The left is "a real political force, a current of living thought that believes in a clean revolutionary process, a tomorrow of peace, without racist, discriminatory or marginalizing attitudes" (Factor Méndez).
The left "should integrate sectors of gender, Mayas, workers, peasants, intellectuals, etc., in a united front to erase attitudes of marginalization, machismo and discrimination forever" (Marco Augusto Quiroa, painter and political analyst).
"As long as there continues to be injustice, inequality and stupidity of any type, there will continue to be criticisms of those positions, criticisms that rebel in some form against them, that work to change things, and that is what the left is in reality—in art or in real life, in films or in politics" (Camilo Salvado, film critic).
They also point to a leftwing identity defined as much or more by an ethical, legal and judicial fight. The left would be "those who fight against political-ethical issues like impunity and corruption" (Alfonso Bauer). The left would be part of a movement with "the goal of installing clear rules about the limits for the use of force by the state" (Luis Ramírez, penologist).
In this attempt to design a leftwing identity, perhaps Gustavo Porras holds the most definitive position. Social researcher, former URNG militant and currently a member of President Arzú's governing team, he proposes that the left take the realistic option of winning positions in favor of a more just and democratic future from within a power alternative that, although it is not exactly leftwing, is open to giving weight to common social interests. All the others are in contrast to this; they conceive of the left as the path to a more just and democratic future.
Who is the Left Today?Few participants in the debate began from the premise that the left is already formed. Almost everyone sees it in the formation process, in a dispersion that, if there is a corresponding political will, can converge toward an alliance of groups and tendencies.
"No one can judge the representation of the left in Guatemala. This is why the friends of the Popular Action Group have thought of the name United Left. We do not want to be confrontational with the URNG or the FDNG" (Alfonso Bauer).
In the same vein, always taking the URNG as a reference point because it is presumably tempted to protagonism, it is stated that "the URNG is one force within the left. Its incorporation within political party life contributes to the left's presence in Guatemala, but should not be considered as the left in and of itself" (Miguel Angel Abizures).
Today there is "a propitious framework for social participation and organization, which we are interpreting from within civil society to strengthen the organization and occupy spaces for participation. The prospects for success will be real insofar as we manage to join efforts and gain unity, which is the sum of all wills" (Factor Méndez).
"The left is not only the URNG, as was thought until now, nor is it only the union movement. It is also the FDNG, a catalyzer of the leftwing forces" (Byron Morales).
"There are three currents in the left, organized from center to extreme left. One of them is the URNG, another centers on the FDNG and the third is organizing in a new political party that calls itself United Left [it now appears that it will call itself Unity of Democratic Left—UNID]. The ideal is that all the democratic forces that promote the country's development seek a minimal platform" (Antonio Mobil).
"The formation of a leftwing political party requires an analysis of political and ideological values and constructive self-criticism" (Marco Tulio, Teresa and Hector Soto García).
Left Labels?"In this historical stage, the left wing could be called Social Democrat, Social Christian, progressive businesspeople and merchants and all citizens with enough of a conscience to recognize the need for change. I don't think that the left at this time should restrict itself to an exclusivist ideological character. This process does not necessarily need to be run by the URNG or the FDNG, but by the people through outstanding citizens" (Carlos Rafael Soto).
"From the radical to the moderate left, including the Social Democrats [sympathizers of Colom in the FUR or of Alberto Fuentes Mohr, also assassinated in 1979] and those who make up our national culture and identity [indigenous and peasants] and the FDNG" (Otto Rolando Bekker).
With Future Perspectives?Two other analysts note more difficulties for the left, saying that they have been too hard hit and dispersed by the war. The left "in this moment is a dispersed hope, a great group of groups with proposals, some coherent and others the result of enthusiasm and emotion. The dispersion and dissension have been permanent characteristics" (Marco Augusto Quiroa). "The left is in an identity and political strategy crisis. Today it is dispersed, decimated, exhausted, confused" (Edgar Gutiérrez).
On the other hand, there are opinions that "the left based on Marxist currents that proposed prolonged popular war and radical change in the state is no longer useful, is not an alternative in our countries, and those who continue with that same voice are politically dead" (Tania Palencia).
Mario Sandoval Alarcón, from the Guatemalan ultra-right, who also chose the armed route and was founder and leader for many years of the National Liberation Movement, today reduced to one Congressional representative, agrees with Palencia: "This country's left wing has no future, although the defeat of the socialist camp does not signify the end of Marxist ideology. Alfonso Bauer and Mario Monteforte Toledo [sociologist, novelist, president of Congress at the time of Arbenz's defeat in 1954], represent the conservative left, and the leadership of those former comandantes was only recognized when they were in the mountains." Sandoval Alarcón was the only participant in this debate who was not leftwing.
The authentic left would be "a posture that seeks human reconstruction, if we understand that in the humanist, solidary sense, that is to say far from arrogance and machismo. It is a position of men and women who seek to resolve the most urgent problems, the most dramatic needs affecting the country, for example and fundamentally those relating to children, to have a better future. The feminist movement represents this part of the left" (Gladis Bailey, feminist activist and candidate for rector of the USAC).
Finally, Luis Ramírez, director of the Institute of Comparative Studies in Penal Sciences in Guatemala, gives a twist to the question, proposing that more important than building a leftwing political party or even a leftwing movement would be constituting "a meeting place for the different progressive social movements, both on the right and on the left, with respect to individual human rights, as well as limits on the abuse of power and state violence."
Here would also be a sort of border line that would separate two alternatives: those who promote the construction of a large united leftwing political front, and those who prioritize strengthening social spaces for the legal and judicial humanization of society before or at least more important than the presence of the left as a political party force.
The Demons of the LeftOpen criticisms without concessions formed part of the debate we are summarizing. To promote debate and the search for consensus, "We want to see verticalism and hegemony extinguished, both in the URNG and the FDNG" (Alfonso Bauer).
The new leaders "who emerge must break with sectarianism and excluding ideology, to break down our own ideological wall" (Carlos Rafael Soto).
"Leave verticalism, the desire to be the vanguard, aside" (Miguel Angel Albizures); "an effective democratization and the abandonment of old practices" (Miguel Angel Sandoval); there must be firm rejection of "a left enriched thanks to the struggle of the poor or deified as a substitute for the popular sectors" (César Montes).
The left "was a cause of heroism and dedication, but also of betrayal and loyalty, ferocious intrigue, personal and power struggles in full view of the enemy, dissidence that translated into political fractures. There was a prolonged situation of limits. That is why, inevitably, there was a frenetic, irrational, almost blind voluntarism. And there were also structures of death, among those who saw the abyss so much they were touched by that very abyss, as Nietzsche would say" (Edgar Gutiérrez).
The left should give up its "obsolete instruments and practices, combatting verticalism and authoritarianism" created by the war (Byron Morales).
To the URNG, concretely, "a political pact with the PAN has annulled it as an opposition to the government's economic policy. The URNG is too weak to generate political stability and its weakness derives from the absence of political militants and a line of organizational political work. It lacks belligerence and objectivity with respect to fulfilling the accords and the ability to make new alliances. In addition, it lacks a renovation of leaders. No one can be convinced that the old comandantes should be the new leaders. The FDNG lacks greater alliances, moving beyond personal leadership and the ability to create a citizens' party" (Tania Palencia).
It is clear that the "demons" of the left, according to the left itself, are sectarianism, authoritarianism, verticalism and hegemonic vanguardism.
The Antithesis of the RightThe greatest challenges to the left would not so much be those put forward by the traditional enemies of the left, but "the understanding between brothers" (Alfonso Bauer).
No less important is the challenge to unity: "to unite around a program with a living ideology, from Marxists to businesspeople, merchants and progressive military" (Carlos Rafael Soto); "to create a vanguard based on political, ideological and programmatic clarity, and contribute to the creation of an open, dialoguing party capable of alliances" (Miguel Angel Albizures); "to recast the URNG with an effective democratization, of which there are signs in the dissolution of the old organizations and their fusion into a single, necessarily different organization; and that this process of rearranging not be rejected by previous disqualification or gratuitous criticism" (Miguel Angel Sandoval); "to constitute organizations far away from military discipline, with internal democratic structures, not caudillism or gullible militants faithful to a core of illuminated" (César Montes).
The left should "transform its own political culture, make itself a moral force and win power to imagine a diverse, tolerant, solidary society. It should be the antithesis of the right. It should pass the ethical test and recover the ability of astonishment, drink of the wisdom of the primary elements of the cultural and human landscape where it has struggled and survived. It should recast itself and refocus its model of power" (Edgar Gutiérrez).
Morally UntouchableIn addition to this type of organizational and structural challenge are other challenges, not only structural, but also ethical. Leftwing politicians should "live a life as leader of the truly needy sectors, be committed to those sectors and be fully dedicated to the fight against extreme poverty" (Alfonso Bauer).
The left should be conceived of and practiced "as an example of struggle, dedication, simplicity, as a representative of the sectors most critical of the state of things and therefore not feeling oneself above criticism" (César Montes).
The left should conquer "an exemplary, ethical and morally untouchable political practice, which by itself generates social and political consensus" (Marco Tulio, Teresa and Hector Soto Garcia).
Only "if we recover the content of solidarity, if we criticize and self-criticize and reinforce the basic principles of revolutionary ideology, will we see a 21st century with a different Guatemala" (Marco Augusto Quiroa).
The same debate and search for understanding and alliances constitutes another challenge. "The negative, exploitative and sell-out right must be repudiated, but there must be an understanding with those who seek a Guatemala with social justice" (Alfonso Bauer).
"The left should find ways to benefit the popular sectors through an important role in public power and not leave it all to market mechanisms" (Gustavo Porras).
Get into the DebateThe left should instill in itself the habit of debate. A program must be presented "with great humility and dialogue in ever broader meetings until issues are sufficiently discussed" (Carlos Rafael Soto).
It must insert itself in a more universal debate: "The reflection process about the left today is an issue of world debate. It is not appropriate to do masturbatory exercises looking at the 1999 elections" (Miguel Angel Sandoval).
"The future is of a left without fear, defined before the people, defenders of national interests" (César Montes).
"The left should train itself for a theoretical, political and self-critical debate, if it aspires to reach power to transform the country" (Mario Monteforte).
"An alternative economic, social and political regime— socialism—is today only a long-term historic perspective" (Gustavo Porras).
There is a need for "more debate, for creating new structures before new ideas lead once more to authoritarianism" (Tania Palencia).
The new left will have to fight "against leftwing machismo— more elaborate in its discourse— and against rightwing machismo. From the feminist perspective, the left-right opposition has been superficial: it is the fight of machos for power. Now they are allying. Our position is that of dignity to keep this from reproducing" (Gladis Bailey).
At any rate, on the left, "debate, given the war's injuries, will only lead to new contradictions and greater dispersion and will make impossible the viability of an alternative project" (Byron Morales).
Definitively, the challenge of managing power is always there. As Edgar Gutiérrez says, "Power is not univocal and the left in state power has been the worst right." Thus, according to Soto García, the creation of internal democracy in the left's organizational structures "would configure a new way of doing politics in the country."
And the Peace Accords?"They are an important step, but insufficient. Guatemala is an agricultural country and the accords did not deal with the land issue. This will not be resolved with a new real estate registry. The agrarian reform was inconclusive" (Alfonso Bauer).
The peace accords are "a political pact between the PAN and the URNG, which has annulled the URNG as an opposition force to the government's economic policy, although it generates spaces for restructuring justice and reorganizing local power, as well as achieving an educational reform" (Tania Palencia).
The modifications of some laws in the peace accords "are cosmetic, because the Constitution has clauses that do not permit substantial changes. Winning spaces to propose constitutional changes that emerge from society itself is a fundamental and priority task" (Marco Tulio, Teresa and Héctor Soto García).
In contrast with these opinions, which ultra-right Mario Sandoval Alarcón seconds when he states that the accords "could only be effective through the approval of a Constituent Assembly and in consultation with the people," others view the accords as fundamental. "They are a true economic, social and institutional revolution and that is why they are so contested. They should not be a straitjacket, but the basis for a program. Their original sin is to have been approved by non-representative upper echelons" (Carlos Rafael Soto).
"They are a national platform, minimum if you must, but the only one possible today" (Miguel Angel Sandoval).
They are "the appropriate framework for social organization and participation" (Factor Méndez).
"There is no immediate perspective for the left today, although the peace accords may help" (Wilfredo Valenzuela).
"The peace accords are one expression of the adjusting methods and objectives to today's reality while maintaining principles. For example, the socioeconomic agreement is to seek basic positions to begin a realistic path in a world with rules independent of us. The left in Guatemala should have a great future from this perspective" (Gustavo Porras).
They are "an achievement that, when taken advantage of, can lead to a government where social justice prevails and cruel exploitation disappears" (Otto Rolando Bekker).
Will History Absolve It?In the coming months the Guatemalan left, together with the state and the right or center that has governed it, will face an historic tribunal. The Commission of Historical Clarification began to receive testimonies the first day of September.
In the written press the "crimes" of the former leftwing guerrilla movement and a massacre attributed to it are currently receiving more space than the institutional violations of human rights and humanitarian norms applicable to armed conflicts, including internal ones, committed by the Guatemalan state in far greater proportion than the left. It is logical, however the left will have to accept certain responsibility. How it does that will have a great impact on the Guatemalan people's reaction to it.
Constitutional ReformsWhile, the URNG announced the signing of the formal document constituting it as a pre-party committee, the political parties represented in Congress have begun to negotiate a formula of consensus about the constitutional reforms required to fulfill the peace accords.
There is still strong, though not very public, opposition to reforms that reduce the army's constitutional role and establish its submission to civil power. There is also an attempt by the FRG opposition (of retired General Ríos Montt) to trade support for constitutional reforms for another reform that would eliminate the constitutional block on Ríos Montt's presidential aspirations because he promoted a coup.
Land and Fiscal ReformOn all sides of Guatemalan reality it is clear that much is at risk today for the country's left wing. Among other things, the debate about the left is taking place in a country agitated by agrarian conflicts, wrapped in ongoing "clamor" about badly distributed and underutilized land in the hands of large landowners to the detriment of small peasants, squatters or those without land. After months of impasse, President Arzú decided to begin using force to evict land invaders. The Presidency's land conflicts office has barely begun its work. On the other hand, the privatizations of large state interests have not yet been made concrete, nor has the left presented and promoted alternative proposals.
It is still not clear if the state is using all means available to fulfill the goal of raising fiscal income by 50% for the year 2000. If the economic right's deaf opposition to an effective tributary reform manages to block it, frustrating that fiscal income increase, it will also endanger the funds conditionally promised for January 1997 to fulfill various aspects of the peace accords.
Fight Against ImpunityThe fight against impunity continues to be headed by social human rights organizations, especially those that converge in the Alliance Against Impunity. In September, the seventh anniversary of the assassination of anthropologist Mirna Mack, the Appeals Court reversed a lower court decision that had virtually forced the accusers in that case to begin the work they had done in conformity with the previous Penal Code all over again. The decision was a landmark in the path toward justice in a case where high-level military officers stand accused.
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