Fernando Cajas
The most important event in the social history of Guatemala is the Revolution of October 20, 1944. Our Revolution is certainly not born from nothing. He was born after decades of tyrannies. We woke up in the 20th century with the Municipal Theater of Quetzaltenango full of marimba. On board the Quetzaltecan government were the plans for the Los Altos Railroad. The Quetzalteans had recently taken up arms, again fighting for their independence. Western State University was in full swing. The Tunnel of Santa María de Jesús, a village in the town of Zunil, the territory of Wutizil Sunum, was opened with a pick and shovel. The marimba Hurtado Hermanos hosted the inauguration of the Panama Canal in Panama City, and then made an artistic tour of Europe. The Quetzaltecos then learned to integrate into the Republic of Guatemala, after giving up their dreams of the State of Los Altos. Then, the earthquake of San Perfecto came in 1902 and with it the dictatorship of Quetzaltecan: Manuel Estrada Cabrera.
One of the worst legacies of the Liberal Revolution of 1871 was decree 177 by Justo Rufino Barrios that issued the Labor Regulations of the Day, a way to legislate slavery in Guatemala so that labor would be free, not large amount free to landowners, to improve their crops. He not only distributed land, but also gave them slaves. The deplorable rule of day laborers was repealed in 1894 by President Reina Barrios, showing that forced work on farms is against the Constitution and the true vision of the government in power. There is a beautiful monument at the entrance to the City of Quetzaltenango, from Almolonga, a monument of the Sociedad el Adelanto that celebrates the abolition of the Day Labor Regulations. However, due to pressure from landowners and the fall in the price of coffee, the Day Labor Regulations were restored in 1897.
Forced labor continued in the 20th century, but not only for peasants but also extended to workers and artisans, especially because of the 1917 earthquake and the global economic crisis. In fact, tailors, shoemakers, bricklayers, and carpenters are reported to have been brought to work for free for the State. Along with that, Estrada Cabrera’s crazy vision of the United Fruit Company was already troubling the emerging businessmen. The new local business was treated with disdain. Thus a general discontent towards the dictatorship of Estrada Cabrera gathered from all social strata. When the Cabrerista regime fell there was already an incipient social movement against the dictatorship. Despite this, another long dictatorship followed, that of Jorge Ubico, a heavy-handed government that was ultimately widely rejected by Guatemalans.
Then came the Revolution of 1944. But it was not born in 1944, it was born dozens of years before. The example of the Revolution of 1944 is that it is the result of a general social movement. People from all social classes participated in this social movement. That is the fundamental lesson for our times. The great achievements of the Revolution were the result of strong popular support for the need to change the country. As people we were tired of the trapped conditions of the military dictators and that is why we united. The revolution was the result of a series of false beliefs that Guatemala was becoming a communist country. None of that was in the Revolution’s plans. It was a revolution as a result of a widespread social movement where the economic crisis of the 1930s had reached everyone, as reported by Alfredo Guerra-Borges. This time the crisis affected everyone, farmers, emerging businessmen, bankers, artisans, workers, professionals, workers, everyone. In his economic interpretation of the genealogy of the 1944 Revolution, Alfredo Guerra-Borges shows that the economy based on traditional agriculture had frustrated the system itself. Ubico could not understand that the country had to change its economic structure and therefore change its social structure. This was the place that filled the October Revolution.
In the same way we now find ourselves with a social, that is, economic, political and cultural system that no longer suits the majority of Guatemalans. The legal system has, unfortunately, protected a political system created by and for corruption. During the last two governments, the government of Jimmy Morales and Alejandro Giammatei, corruption deepened and those who stole carefully before now did it clearly. A culture of corruption was embedded in Guatemalan institutions and with it increased poverty. More than half of the Guatemalan population is considered to be in poverty, 56% live in poverty, with half of our children suffering from malnutrition, with very low levels of reading and learning mathematics in school, with grades very high migration to the United States because Our economy does not provide jobs and it is also co-opted as the judicial system itself at the service of the corrupt. In short, we are a failed democracy that is only a facade.
The October Revolution was an example of liberation. Certainly, we had a counter-revolution that stopped the transformation process and that sad story has already been written. We must now draw inspiration from the united struggle of the majority of Guatemalans in 1944 and in the previous decades. Already in 2023 we gave an example of the union of all social sectors, urban and rural. It was the indigenous people, the 48 Cantons, who set an example of resistance and protection. This process of struggle must continue. The transformation of Guatemala must be a demand from everyone. Privileges must end and the fight against corruption must bear fruit. That means that a solicitor general should not be the reason for our failure. We need to get the justice system back. The revolution of 1944 already gave us a very good example. Let’s do it then, let’s change this democracy into a real democracy that works for everyone, that gives justice, that gives decent work, that makes a real country. Let’s do it. If not now, it will never be to Guatemala.
