KU ScholarWorks | The University of Kansas Central American Theses and Dissertations Collection
Indigenismo: The Guatemalan 
Experience
Professor in Charge
Charles L. Stansifer
by Dennis F. Casey
B. A., California State University at Los Angeles, 1964
M. A., California State University at Los Angeles, 1967
The University of Kansas has long historical connections with Central America and the many Central 
Americans who have earned graduate degrees at KU. This work is part of the Central American Theses 
and Dissertations collection in KU ScholarWorks and is being made freely available with permission of the 
author through the efforts of Professor Emeritus Charles Stansifer of the History department and the staff of 
the Scholarly Communications program at the University of Kansas Libraries’ Center for Digital Scholarship.
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INDIGENISMO: 
i » 
THE GUATEMALAN EXPERIENCE 
by 
Dennis F. Casey 
B.A,, California State University at Los Angeles, 1964 
M.A, , California State University at Los Angeles, 1967 
Submitted to the Department of History 
and the Faculty of the Graduate School 
of the University of Kansas in partial 
fulfillment of the requirements for the 
degree of Doctor of Philosophy. 
May 1979 
Dissertation Committee: 
RD0DD1 binSS 
TABLE OF CONTENTS 
Preface i 
Acknowledgments ii 
Chapter 
I. THE COLONIAL EXPERIENCE 1 
II. THE SEARCH FOR A LEGISLATIVE IDENTITY 72 
INDIGENISTA AND INDIAN-ORIENTED 119 
GUATEMALAN LITERARY WORKS 
III. INDIGENISMO AND THE INDIAN IN GUATEMALAN 120 
LITERATURE 
IV. THE AVENUE TOWARD NATIONAL INDIGENISMO 184 
IN GUATEMALA 
V. THE BEGINNINGS OF A NATIONALISTIC INDIGENIS- 224 
MO IN GUATEMALA 1945-1946 
VI. THE INSTITUTIONALIZATION OF GUATEMALAN 263 
INDIGENISMO 
VII. THE REVOLUTIONARY APPLICATION OF THE 299 
INDIGENISTA ORIENTATION TO EDUCATIONAL 
REFORM 
VIII. OTHER ASPECTS OF INDIGENISMO DURING THE 357 
AREVALO YEARS 
IX. THE RADICALIZATION AND DENOUEMENT OF 396 
INDIGENISMO IN GUATEMALA 
X. CONCLUSIONS 451 
BIBLIOGRAPHY 466 
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 
Undertaking a study of Indigenismo whose roots extend to the 
very basis of Guatemalan culture brings one face to face with a 
myriad of issues and events often supercharged with emotion and 
surrounded by widely divergent political, social and economic views 
as well as national policy. In sorting through this multiplicity of 
viewpoints and convictions, the advice and enthusiastic support pro 
vided by the staff of the Instituto Indigenista Nacional Guatemalteca 
was invaluable. For the assistance made available to me by a 
Fulbright-Hays research fellowship I remain most appreciative. 
Lastly, I am indebted to my family for their unalterable support. 
ii 
CHAPTER I 
THE COLONIAL EXPERIENCE 
As a result of his famed adventures from 1519 to 1521, Hernán Cor 
tes and his following of conquistadores and Indian allies had just solidi 
fied their supremacy over a portion of the Aztec empire in 1523 when 
reports from the south indicated that this control might be endangered. 
An Indian revolt south of Mexico City appeared a distinct possibility. 
Wishing to avoid this threat to the recently acquired Spanish hegemony, 
Cortés called upon Pedro de Alvarado, one of his most distinguished 
and trusted captains. On December 6, 1523 Alvarado departed Mexico, 
having been ordered by hi-s commander to subjugate the cities of Iclaclan 
(Utatlan) and Iximche (Tecpan-Guatemala) and bring under Spanish con 
trol the Mayan city states which were threatening revolt.^" Pedro de 
Alvarado was to accomplish this by peaceful means and in the process 
demand that the Indians accept the Christian faith. Although subse 
quent events would demonstrate that Alvarado disobeyed his orders, 
this conquest being anything but a peaceful one, the nature and pattern 
of events which were to follow indicated that the Spanish were not with-
3 
out prior experience in such endeavors. 
Considerable practical knowledge of course had been gained in the 
conquest of the Aztecs. But beyond this Alvarado and his army entered 
1 
2 
Guatemala with the benefit of knowledge gained from earlier Spanish 
experience in the West Indies. The institutions and concepts which 
would be utilized in subjugating the Indian populations of Guatemala to 
a large extent had been refined and modified earlier as a result of their 
4 
experiences on Hispaniola. The fact that these same practices and 
institutions were not accepted universally by all Spanish officials and 
clerics in both Spain and in the New World provided the basis for the 
first verbalizations of a series of ideas that would germinate centuries 
later into a philosophical framework called indigenismo. 
Prior to the 1944 revolution indigenismo as a philosophical and ideo 
logical point of view in Guatemala was quite fragmented. There seemed 
to be as many expressions and definitions or explanations of indigenismo 
as there were adherents and supporters. For over four and one half 
centuries government officials, clerics and socio-political theorists, 
as well as journalists, novelists, travellers, and even presidents had 
expressed their particular views on the Indian, the Indian problem, and 
indigenismo. More often than not these ideas mirrored the social values 
attendant to the writer's historical period. What remained at the center 
of this ideological and literary corpus was the recognition that the Indian 
and his culture and traditions constituted a fundamental part of the Gua 
temalan experience whether as a Spanish colonial possession or as an 
independent nation. That the Indian remained apart from the main 
stream of Guatemala as an exploited and therefore a disadvantaged 
3 
being, they felt, was unjust and represented a major problem in need 
of correction. Incorporation of the Indian was the answer. About this 
point, however, the prescriptions and remedies suggested by indigenis 
tas were numerous and often contradictory depending upon the accepted 
social and political attitudes prevalent at the times the author wrote his 
remarks. 
After 1944 indigenismo was manifested in Guatemala in an official 
government institution called the Instituto Nacional Indigenista Guate 
malteca. More than any other single domestic factor in Guatemala be 
tween 1944 and 1953, this institutionalization of what for years had been 
a philosophical and ideological point of view brought organization to in 
digenismo. It became a complex persuasion that called for the full and 
complete integration and acculturation of the Indian into Guatemalan 
society which by definition included both Ladinos and Indians. This was 
to be accomplished with government programs and private efforts spon 
sored by the government to educate the Indian, to provide economic op 
portunity to the Indian by encouraging native industries and ultimately 
by agrarian reform and to provide political opportunity to the Indian. An 
Indian Guatemalan eventually would emerge and would be capable of con 
tributing to, participating in, and benefiting from the political, economic 
and social systems of the nation. Whether reiterated in a novel devoted 
to explaining the Indian psyche and subconscious or explained in the le 
galistic phraseology of a Work Code, integration has remained the basis 
4 
of indigenista thought. Integration or incorporation of the Indian became 
indigenismo1 s common denominator, particularly after 1944. Indigenis 
mo in Guatemala, however, is not strictly a recent development but one 
which was born in the early years of the colonial period. 
From the time of the first Spanish contacts in the New World, the 
crown as well as leading Spanish jurists and theologians were dubious 
of the king*s legal title to the lands that were being subjected to royal 
control. Had the territories been uninhabited, they could have been 
claimed upon the basis of their discovery and occupation which was con 
sistent with current legal concepts. The lands, however, were popu 
lated. It was felt, therefore, that legal justification must be secured 
for the conquest of these areas and the peoples inhabiting them. Numer 
ous meetings of civil and religious authorities sponsored by the crown 
were called to debate this question and to determine the roles and re 
sponsibilities of the crown in these new regions. 
A point of considerable debate was whether or not the Indians were 
rational beings and if so, by what right or justification could their lands 
be taken from them. A question of concern was whether or not the 
Indians were depraved and barbarous beings and thus inferior by nature 
5 
according to Aristotelian doctrine. The Indians, it was explained, 
were being exposed to a higher level of civilization and human experi 
ence. Not all Spaniards, however, during these first years of the six 
teenth century, were in agreement with this philosophical and theoiogi-
5 
cal position. In voicing their opposition, the dissidents placed the 
values of the humanitarian oriented Renaissance world against those of 
the Aristotelian medieval world and generated a controversy that would 
endure for a major portion of the colonial period. 
The net result of the investigation into the crown's title to lands in 
the New World was the requerimiento, a document which demanded that 
the newly encountered native groups acknowledge and recognize not only 
the supremacy of the Spanish crown, but also the principles and doc 
trines of Christianity. Every conquistador by royal decree was to have 
this document read to the Indians by a notary and in the Indians' language 
before any overt action on the part of the Spaniards could be legally un-
7 
dertaken. With this curious document, justification for the Spanish con 
quest in the New World was achieved. 
The Spanish right of conquest in the New World, at least as far as 
Ferdinand and Isabella were concerned, was firmly grounded in the 
Papal bulls issued by Pope Alexander VI in 1492 after Columbus's first 
g 
voyage. Through these bulls Spain was granted all lands found west 
and south of a predetermined meridian as long as they were not the pro 
perty of another European power. This line was later established by 
the Treaty of Tor de sillas between Castile and Portugal in 1494 as 370 
leagues west of the Cape Verde Islands. A papal bull in 1493, "Inter-
Cetera, M had granted to Spain the obligation and responsibility of spread-
9 
ing the Christian faith to the natives of the New World. Although not 
6 
recognized and regarded as fanciful by other European states, it was 
with these documents and the requerimiento that the crown and the 
Spanish conquistadores began their first extensive colonial experience 
in the New World in the West Indies. Indigenismo as a religious, moral 
and political per suasion had its beginnings in these same documents. 
As was true of most early colonizing expeditions, the first settlers 
to arrive on Hispaniola found sickness, poverty, and disillusionment 
rather than easily acquirable wealth and a life of luxury and ease. 
Rather than devoting their first energies to agricultural pursuits, the 
Spaniards preferred to rely upon the meager resources of the Indian 
population and the infrequent shipments of supplies from Spain. Occa 
sionally, the threat of a lack of foodstuffs was temporarily solved by 
foraging expeditions, more often than not resulting in plunder and blood 
shed at the expense of the Indians. Mineral wealth was available on 
Hispaniola, but only could be acquired by the arduous labor of extract 
ing it from the river sands. Given these circumstances and the fact 
that many of these early colonists felt agricultural pursuits and manual 
labor to be beneath their station, it was not long before the Indiana 
capacity as a labor force would be freely utilized and various measures 
would be adopted to provide economic support for the colonists using 
this resident labor force. ^ 
In an attempt to alter what had become the uncontrolled exploitation 
of the Indians as well as to make Hispaniola a stable colony, the crown 
7 
in 15 01 appointed Nicolás de Ovando as the new governor of Hispaniola. 
He was instructed to implement a policy whereby the Indians would only 
be required to pay royal tribute as all crown subjects and be willing to 
work as needed on public works projects and in the mines. Given com 
plete authority to rule the colony, Ovando was to send back to Spain 
those officials and colonists who refused to acknowledge his decrees. 
When the Indians finally refused to work, the result was a sharp decline 
in tribute and a scarcity of laborers. ^ Reacting to this, the crown in 
15 03 ordered that forced Indian labor be legalized, but that such work 
would be in moderation and for wages. This, the decree of Medina del 
Campo, also required that the Indians, considered in the document as 
free persons, be grouped into villages to ensure their Christianization 
and control. Ovando!s interpretation of these orders took the form of 
the encomienda, an institution which would become most important later 
12 
in colonial Guatemala. 
The encomienda was not entirely new to the Spanish experience. 
It had been used during the reconquista in Spain and consisted of a tem 
porary grant by the crown of jurisdiction and manorial rights over 
lands conquered from the Moors. Its roots as an institution could be 
seen in Castilian feudalism in the form of the señorío. ^ The encomien 
da, however, was not a grant implying ownership of land, as the crown 
retained the basic title. As used in Spain and in the New World, the 
encomienda was a grant for services rendered and by this means the 
8 
crown could insure permanent colonization of newly acquired lands. 
The encomienda as it was operative in the New World essentially im 
plied a feudal relationship between the Indians and the grantee of the 
encomienda or the encomendero. The latter was responsible for in 
structing his charges in Christianity and providing for their protection. 
In return the encomendero was to receive tribute and often services in 
the form of labor from the Indians under his jurisdiction. In times of 
distress, he was to provide the military means for protecting the crown's 
14 
possessions. Ultimately the encomienda in the New World served as a 
15 
means of maintaining control over the Indian populations. The institu 
tion was thus introduced into the New World by Nicolás de Ovandors need 
to provide a sound economic basis for the Spanish colony on Hispaniola, 
as well as the need to create a system whereby the Indians could be ef 
fectively supervised and governed. The encomienda and the institutions 
which developed from it served as a focal point for Spanish-Indian rela 
tions in the first century after the conquest and became important in 
perpetuating the Spanish upper class and in maintaining the Indian as a 
cheap source of labor. 
Although Bartolomé de Las Casas traditionally has been considered 
as the father of indigenismo, an event occurred prior to his dedication 
to this cause which constituted a most influential factor in his decision 
to initiate what would become a crusade against the progress of the con 
quest. Prior to the arrival of Las Casas on Hispaniola. a controversy 
9 
over the legal status of the Indians had become a point of open and public 
debate with the Dominicans on the island. As Antonio de Montesinos, 
one of the first Dominicans to come to Hispaniola, reviewed the effects 
of some ten years of Spanish occupation of the island, it seemed to him 
that the net result for the native had been something short of a disaster. 
The forced labor required of the Indians in the mines and on the enco 
miendas, the heavy extractions of tribute from them and their exposure 
to disease threatened their extermination. ^ 
The first Dominican friars arriving in Santo Domingo in 1510 began 
rather early to protest the exploitation of the aborigines. No doubt with 
all of this in mind, on November 3 0, 1511, in the presence of Diego Colón 
and other crown officials, Antonio Montesinos delivered a sermon which 
17 
was an unqualified denunciation of the enslavement of the Indians. En 
comenderos were characterized as being unjust, arbitrary, and needless 
ly cruel in their relations with the Indians. In subsequent sermons the 
Spaniards were castigated further by the indignant friar, his inflamma 
tory remarks being destined to open the path to a controversy that would 
endure long past the sixteenth century. 
Irritated that Spanish clerics as well as royal officials and others 
were discussing openly matters of crown policy in the Indies, Ferdinand 
ordered Diego Colón to halt such controversy on the part of the Domini 
cans and further demanded their exclusion from Hispaniola should they 
persist in their open opposition. Montesinos, who had been warned to 
10 
avoid preaching such unfavorable views of crown policy, responded by-
providing Ferdinand with such a shocking account of Spanish cruelties 
that the king ordered a commission or junta of clergymen and crown 
officials to review the entire situation and propose reforms. As a group 
the junta tended to support the views expressed by Antonio de Montesinos. 
However, they eventually would conclude that although the Indians were 
free individuals, the encomienda, the object of Montesinos1 s caustic 
rhetoric, was a necessary institution. The thirty-two Laws of Burgos 
emanating from the junta1 s deliberations were passed into law in Decem 
ber of 1512.18 
Overall, the Law of Burgos sought to regulate relations between the 
Spanish and the Indians, paying particular attention to labor conditions, 
education, food, and Christianization. The Indians were first declared 
to be free. Instruction in the faith was to proceed with all possible dili 
gence. Indians were to be obliged to work nine months out of every year, 
but in such a manner as not to interfere with or impede their religious 
instruction or their usefulness to themselves and to the crown. Rest 
periods of forty days for every five months of work for Indian workers 
were to be provided for and the Indians were to have houses and property 
of their own plus time to farm their own lands. Payment for their labor 
19 
either in kind or in specie was to be arranged. 
One of the premises behind the Laws of Burgos was that if the Indians 
were put into closer geographical and cultural contact with the Spaniards 
11 
the latter's goals of colonization as well as Christianization would be 
achieved more rapidly and more effectively. To facilitate this aim 
encomenderos were to build on their encomiendas a lodge thirty feet 
by fifteen feet for every fifty Indians, to provide each native with a 
hammock, to discourage them from practicing bigamy, to provide 
each one with a given amount of clothing valued at one peso per year, 
and to erect a church on the encomienda for their religious training. 
The Indians were to be brought to this new environment from their 
former villages. Once in this atmosphere, the most talented of the 
Indians were to be selected as future teachers and trained accordingly 
with the sons of caciques being destined to receive instruction in 
20 
Latin. 
Although the Laws of Burgos forbade ill treatment of the Indians 
and declared them to be free, once they had demonstrated their capa 
city to receive the Christian faith, they failed to terminate the encomi 
enda and lessen the labor demands placed upon them. In the sense 
that the status of the Indians was even discussed in the authoritarian 
atmosphere of Ferdinand's Spain followed by the passage of several 
laws which at best skirted the issue of reform, may be seen as a par 
tial victory for those few who had espoused the rights of the Indian. 
The net effect of these decrees, however, was merely to grant legal 
sanction to Spanish programs of exploitation which would endure in 
principle and more often than not in practice throughout the colonial 
period. The lot of the natives after the passage of the Laws of Burgos 
21 
remained basically unchanged. 
12 
In speaking oat against the pattern and nature of the Spanish con 
quest and attempting to protect the Indians from exploitation, Antonio 
de Montesinos had opened for debate the question of the nature of the 
Indian that would be an issue in twentieth century Guatemala as well as 
in the Hispanic world of the sixteenth century. Spain in the 1500fs was 
22 
a country of eminent thinkers and scholars. Not all were in agree 
ment with Montesinos. A fellow Dominican, Bernardo de Mesa, sup 
ported the more popular view of sanctioned Indian servitude, seeing 
this as a necessity because of the natural lack of understanding, capa 
city, and perseverance of the Indian. For Bernardo de Mesa, the In 
dians were depraved beings and should be treated kindly only as long 
as this did not interfere with their conversion. Because of their evil 
intentions, he stressed, absolute liberty was bad for them. Although 
he saw them as able to receive the faith and having enough virtue for 
salvation, their inclination to these ends was so minimal that some 
23 
form of servitude was essential. Coupled with this were the pleas 
of Juan Ponce de León, Francisco de Garay and others, who, in serv 
ing as representatives for the colonists on Hispaniola before the Coun 
cil of the Indies, were calling for encomiendas to be granted in perpe 
tuity or at least for three lives. Given these arguments, it is not sur 
prising that the Laws of Burgos were something less than Montesinos 
and others had hoped for as they in effect gave legal sanction to the 
despised encomienda. ^ 
13 
he was aware of the arguments currently being proposed by Montesinos. 
A 
28 
The plea of justice for the Indians by Antonio de Montesinos and the 
rhetoric centering around the formulation of the Laws of Burgos were 
not to be lost on Bartolomé de Las Casas, destined to be the most active 
voice for Indian rights in the areas of the New World under Spanish con 
trol. A native of Seville and educated at the University of Salamanca, 
Las Casas journeyed to the New World for the first time with Nicolás 
25 
de Ovando in 1502. His father, the merchant Pedro de Las Casas, 
had acquired an estate on Hispaniola after accompanying Columbus on 
2 6 
his second voyage. According to Henry Raup Wagner, Las Casas 
apparently functioned as an agriculturalist during his first years in the 
New World, having previously obtained his father's lands. Finding the 
landed life unsuited to his tastes, Bartolomé took his holy vows and was 
ordained in 1510, celebrating his first mass in Santo Domingo in 1511. 
In the following year, Las Casas joined Diego Velasquez in the conquest 
of Cuba. Las Casas for his role as a cleric in the Velasquez expedi 
tion was awarded, with his friend Pablo de la Renteria, an encomienda 
in an area reputed to be rich in yet undiscovered gold. 
Las Casas, hardly an insensitive man, was soon to become disturbed 
by the lack of food available to the Indians and their families as well as 
the rigor of working in the mines and on the encomiendas. Also the ac 
cumulation of outrages and abuses that had been committed by the Span 
iards against the Indians affected the mind of Las Casas. Very likely 
14 
Las Casas began to feel that the encomienda was wrong and he, by 
being an encomendero, had stepped beyond the bounds of morality and 
decency consistent with his own convictions and his position as a cleric. 
He, therefore, decided to renounce his prestigious and remunerative 
social position as an encomendero. On August 15, 1514, Las Casas de 
livered a sermon against the encomienda and announced dramatically 
before Diego Velasquez and other royal authorities then present that 
he was giving up his own grant of an encomienda. ^ Whether or not 
this abrupt reversal by Las Casas was evidence of a pathological par 
anoia as Menénedez Pidal has suggested in his study of Las Casas re 
mains insignificant in view of the fact that the Indians had just gained 
the person who would become their most consistent and energetic 
spokesman and one whose undaunting fight for Indian justice for more 
than half a century would have noticeable effects four hundred years 
later. 
The task facing Bartolomé de Las Casas was, indeed, a formidable 
one. Spain at this time was a desperately poor country and could ill 
afford to maintain an empire without the gold it was receiving from the 
New World. The export of gold was not only the principal business of 
the West Indies but was quickly becoming the most important factor in 
the Spanish economy. Although by 1515 the period of the greatest gold 
export from Santo Domingo had passed, the promise of future exports 
from Cuba were being anticipated as was the promise of yet greater 
15 
31 
wealth in undiscovered and unexplored areas. 
To maintain this flow of wealth, the consistent availability of a cheap 
labor force was of paramount importance. Beyond this a good portion 
of the influential officials in Spain had a direct interest in maintaining 
the encomiendas. The two individuals in charge of American affairs, 
Lope Conchillos and the Bishop of Burgos, Juan Rodriguez de Fonseca, 
who had provisioned one of Columbus's expeditions while Archdeacon of 
Seville, had been awarded encomiendas earlier. Faced with this oppo 
sition the relatively unknown cleric fought to alter the trend of events 
32 
in favor of the Indians in the New World by going directly to Spain. 
The first encounters by Las Casas with crown officials in 1515 and 
1516 were frustrated first by the indifference of Rodriguez de Fonseca 
and secondly by the death of Ferdinand early in 1516. Las Casas, 
however, did gain a hearing with Cardinal Francisco Jimenez de Cis-
neros and Adriano de Utrecht, the two crown regents appointed upon 
34 
Ferdinand's death. 
The exposition he presented to the crown regents in 1516, curiously 
the same year in which Sir Thomas More published his Utopia, was es 
sentially a community scheme involving a new plan of government. Be 
lieving that with the abolishment of the encomienda, the Indian's condi 
tion would improve measurably, Las Casas called for the suppression 
of all encomiendas and the placing at liberty of all the natives. Span 
iards who had benefited from the unscrupulous use of Indian labor were 
16 
to return all of their acquired riches. The natives were to be grouped 
into villages of about three hundred members each, in or near a Span-
35 
ish town. They were to pay annually a fixed tribute to the crown. 
Each community was to have a church, a hospital and sufficient com 
munal lands. Every Indian village was to be ruled by a mayordomo with 
no prior or vested interest and was to be assisted by the caciques. An 
administrator and a priest were also to serve in these villages, their 
salaries being paid in part by the Indians. Those colonists deprived of 
their Indians were to receive compensation from the tribute. In all, 
every community was to include ten clerics, one doctor, a druggist, 
3 6 
herdsmen and craftsmen, as well as twenty negroes as slaves. The 
friar's blueprint for these communities was as detailed as it was impres 
sive, the life style intended for these future settlements being quite 
regimented by twentieth-century standards. 
Intrigued with this scheme Cardinal Cisneros gave to Las Casas and 
the Order of Hieronymite friars the responsibilities of implementing 
such a scheme as well as governing the Indies and conducting a complete 
investigation of the Indian problem. Armed with the title of "Protector 
of the Indians, M Las Casas and the Hieronymites were in a sense, to 
establish a new crown policy and were ordered to go to the Indies on 
3 7 
September 17, 1616. 
Putting into operation such a scheme designed to revolutionize 
Spanish-Indian relations proved to be difficult. The colonists on Santo 
17 
Domingo were alarmed with the arrival of so formidable a foe which 
threatened their life style. After an extensive investigation the Hiero -
nymites concluded in a report to Cisneros that the colony would collapse 
were it not for Indian labor. There simply were not enough Spaniards 
to maintain the colony alone. The HLeronymites, therefore, concentra 
ted their efforts toward assuring the fair treatment of the Indian. Al 
though the scheme of Spanish-Indian relations was not altered in any 
appreciable way, the Hieronymite experience did indicate that Span 
iards in the New World generally felt the natives to be prodigal, having 
no interest in economic activity of any kind, and having no capacity for 
freedom. Any future reform program, therefore, would be faced with 
38 
difficulties at best. 
Although frustrated and humiliated by the outcome of the Hierony 
mite mission, Las Casas continued to denounce the encomienda and 
crown policies and was joined by Bernardo de Santo Domingo who de 
clared that encomenderos were living in sin along with those clerics 
who unwisely absolved them. He insisted that the encomienda could 
39 
not be justified by any legal or moral law or premise. 
Undaunted by his lack of success on Hispaniola, Las Casas attempted 
another scheme at colonization in 1520 in the area of the Cumaná river 
in present-day Venezuela. This scheme, which had been based upon 
the immigration of Spanish laborers resulted in another failure for Las 
40 
Casas. The Cumaná experiment included a concept of the Indian as 
18 
a free laborer capable of a mutually beneficial and cohesive relation 
ship with Spanish laborers, but it was simply not consistent with the 
then current attitudes and points of view held by the Spanish toward the 
Indians. 
Although these early efforts by Las Casas and others to improve the 
status of the Indians in the New World had not generated any remarkable 
changes, they were not without their effects upon Charles V. The new 
king, by the force and direction of circumstances, became the first 
monarch who was required, in a sense, to learn something of the Indian 
situation in the New World. 4^ As early as 1520 he had ordered aLl Span 
ish officials in the New World to initiate whatever steps were deemed 
necessary to eliminate the encomienda as an institution. However hu 
manitarian the feelings and conscience of the king may have been, the 
gradual realization that the future of the Spanish possessions in the New 
World was utterly dependent upon the presence of an Indian labor force 
resulted eventually in the crown rescinding its orders and declaring the 
encomiendas to be a beneficial institution and useful for implementing 
the goal of conversion. 
This episode as with many others that followed indicated that there 
was a marked division of opinion in Spain regarding the Indian and sub 
jects relating to him. During the reign of Charles V, these diverging 
concepts and points of view were most accurately represented by two 
individuals. One knew the Indies and the Indians well, having crossed 
19 
the ocean several times and having conducted extensive studies of them. 
He had written a multitude of folios describing their customs, their tra 
ditions, their life styles and their environments. The other, in con 
trast, had lived in Salamanca and had never traveled to the New World. 
His concern asa theologian was the salvation of the soul of the Indian 
rather than his body, an idea that had been an obsession with other 
43 
clerics before him. These two individuals, Gonzalo Fernández de 
Oviedo and Francisco Victoria, each in his own direction and academic 
persuasion, helped the emperor in knowing the Indian in the New World. 
The former had concluded that the Indian possessed a soul and was 
capable of salvation. He, therefore, questioned the legal and moral 
premises of the conquest and mildly denied its validity as based upon 
Spanish law and the teachings of Christianity. The latter justified the 
44 
conquest. Throughout the colonial period the crown would alter its 
concept of the Indian to correspond with one or the other of these view 
points. The net result was an Indian policy which was seldom firm in 
its goals and direction, motivated and influenced as it was by moral 
arguments on the one hand and the force of economic necessity on the 
other. In this atmosphere of periodic change, the Spanish entry into 
Guatemala would be effected. 
When Pedro de Alvarado entered what is today Guatemala, he did 
not encounter a series of simple hunting and gathering tribes that could 
easily be subdued, but, quite the contrary, found himself confronted 
20 
with an advanced and sophisticated civilization with historical roots 
stretching back to the second millennium B.C.3 At one time the 
Mayas could boast an extension of city-states and population centers 
which included the present-day areas of Campeche, Chiapas, Yucatan, 
and Tabasco in Mexico, Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala, inclu 
ding El Peten. 
The Maya culture included a language which incorporated approxi 
mately fifteen spoken dialects, some of these being Ixil, Quiche, and 
Tzeltal which were spoken in the Guatemalan highlands. Collectively, 
the Mayas utilized a common glyph-written language which was to be 
46 
found in cities some five hundred miles apart. The Maya social or 
ganization, like that of most theocratic states, contained essentially 
two classes, the noble class or ahme nhenob and the y alba uinicob or 
the lower man which constituted the broad base of the social pyramid 
47 
and included millions of slaves. Although the Mayas did not have an 
empire comparable to the Incas or Aztecs where one ruler controlled 
vast areas of land and people through various economic and political 
means, they were organized into city-states similar to those familiar 
to the ancient Greeks. 
Many sections of the Mayan culture were considerably advanced for 
their time. In the preparation of huípiles and other textiles, they uti 
lized a wide variety of mineral and vegetable dyes which outdistanced 
by a generous margin the technological capabilities of European weavers 
21 
in the sixteenth century. The arts of feather work, basketry, ropemak-
ing and pottery making not only met the daily needs of their society, but 
provided for often complex artistic expressions and symbolic represen-
48 
tations. An impressive expanse of trade routes had been developed 
by the Mayas which incorporated geographically most of present-day 
Central America and southern Mexico. Not only were their accomplish 
ments in medicine, music, dance, and drama noteworthy, but their fes 
tivals were highly sophisticated expressions of political, social and par 
ticularly religious topics and themes. In the fields of architecture and 
astronomy their achievements were monumental as evidenced by their 
highly accurate calendar and the magnificence of such edifices as those 
at Tikal, Uxmal, Palenque and Chichen Itzá, all of which demonstrated 
their aesthetic and practical sensibilities. ^ 
This civilization was that which faced Pedro de Alvarado and his 
following in 1523 as they entered Guatemala. Fortunately for the future 
success of Al varado1 s intentions, the apex of Mayan culture had long 
50 
passed by 1523. The Mayas1 period of greatest accomplishment was 
around the beginning of the tenth century A. D. and they had not since 
51 
experienced a renaissance nor had their cultural unity been regained. 
The Indian population which Alvarado aimed to subdue numbered pro 
bably around one million persons and was divided roughly into three 
kingdoms: the Quiche which extended from the Pacific coast to El 
Peten and centered at Utatlán, the Cakchiquels which extended from 
22 
Lake Atitlán to the volcanoes of Agua and Fuego and into the northern 
highland plateau and centered at kme, and the Tzutohiles located on 
5 2 
the shores of Lake Atitlan. Although the Cakchiquels chose not to 
resist the invaders, the others fought. What was to have been a peace 
ful introduction of Spanish civilization into this new area of potential gain 
was to become a long and bloody series of armed encounters reminis 
cent of the Spanish experience in Mexico. 
The eventual success enjoyed by Pedro de Alvarado and his army 
in the conquest of Guatemala could be attributed to a number of factors. 
Not the least important of these was that the Mayas were not unified. 
Their division into three main kingdoms and a number of lesser groups 
allowed the Spaniards to subdue these various elements separately. 
The Quichés and later the Tzutohiles were overcome while the other 
groups remained inactive such as the Cakchiquels, the Mam groups in 
Huehuetenango and San Marcos, the Quekchi and Pocomchi in Vera Paz 
and the Lacandones in the upper reaches of the highland plateau. In 
deed, several of these Indian groups, particularly the Quichés, the 
Cakchiquels, and the Tzutohiles had been weakened by wars among 
themselves just prior to the Spanish conquest and were thus not willing 
to lend any assistance to their former adversaries. The military prow 
ess of the Spaniards, their use of firearms and horses which terrified 
the Indians, the fact that the Indian nobility considered the Spaniards 
to be deities, and Alvar ado's ability to set one native group against 
23 
another were all factors contributing to his victory over seemingly in-
53 
surmountable odds. 
Religion was the central force in the Indians1 life. In contrast to 
the vibrant optimism of the Spaniard that had been nurtured by the 
Renaissance, the Indians conceived of their past as having been regu 
lated entirely by the supernatural. Catastrophe and disaster were com 
mon elements in this past, Their present and future were predestined 
and a function of the desires of a complicated set of mystical beings with 
extensive powers. As the Popol Vuh related, humans were created from 
corn to be respectable and obedient beings who would nourish and sus-
54 
tain their creators. In this environment man had no control whatso 
ever over his own destiny as a host of deities as in the Popol Vuh ap 
peared and reappeared to exert their influence. 
Quite different from the SpaniardTs sense of self-reliance and be 
lief in one's fundamental capacity to achieve, the Indians were passive 
and willing to accept their fate as their role in life had been determined 
by the gods. At times they were melancholical. Progress and indivi 
dual achievement were not values in the native society. The Indians' 
environment long before the conquest had been and was filled with vio 
lence and immolation. Their life was one of expected sacrifice. Des 
truction by some supernatural being could come at any time as evidenced 
by the adventures of the two youths Hunahpu and Xbalanque described in 
the Popol Vuh. The Indians saw themselves essentially helpless in the 
24 
midst of a cosmic struggle. Stemming no doubt from this sense of pes 
simism and inexorable fate was the stoicism and indifference to pain, 
violence, and suffering, which became the theme of many colonial 
55 
epics. 
In contrast to the Spaniard's view of a man-centered universe and 
his senses of logic and realism, the Indians1 environment was one of 
mysterious relationships and one of the obscure metaphor. Magic, 
divinations, sorcery, and superstition were fundamental to their life 
style. Confronted with this type of mentality which was so different 
from their own, the difficulties encountered by the Spaniards later in 
obtaining an effective labor force can be explained in part. The Indian 
often remained indifferent to threats posed by their conquerors, violent 
or otherwise. Often these threats were not seen as ultimate by the In 
dians. An impending destruction or horrible death could not in the end 
alter the native's pattern of existence which had been similarly prede 
termined. Many natives, indeed, felt the Spaniards to be nothing more 
than gods themselves and the instruments of their predetermined demise 
within the constructs of their cosmic world. A pessimistic, stoic, and 
passive personality implanted into an aboriginal people used to pain and 
suffering and a people whose lives were controlled at every point by the 
supernatural were what the Spaniards encountered in Guatemala in the 
5 6 
sixteenth century. This and the passive resistance of the Indians to 
the demands placed upon them by the Spaniards after the conquest con-
25 
stituted, in many respects, a focal point for some three centuries of 
Spanish domination over aboriginal Guatemala. 
By July of 1524 Pedro de Alvarado and his following had been able to 
achieve a position of relative supremacy over the natives of Guatemala. 
This struggle had been an arduous one for the Spaniards. Contending 
with an intemperate climate, a nearly impassable terrain with swarms 
of insects, dense forests, volcanic mountains which periodically erup 
ted and dry plains, not to mention the forces of their adversaries, Span 
ish hegemony was eventually achieved. At times the barbarity of the 
conquest had exceeded the ferocity attributed to the deities of the Popol 
Vuh. 
Having endured the pains of the conquest, the Spanish were anxious 
to take advantage of their new situation. Apparently satisfied that the 
natives had been sufficiently subdued, Pedro de Alvarado decided to 
make more permanent the Spanish presence in the conquered territory 
which would later become part of the Spanish empire. In the midst of 
a cornfield near Iximche, the former capital of Cakchiquels, Alvarado 
established a capital city patterned on the Spanish grid style on St. 
5 8 
James Day, July 25, 1524. Named Santiago, the population of the 
new settlement included the natives of the area, the remaining mem 
bers of Alvar ado's expedition and approximately two hundred Spaniards 
who had come as reinforcements. 
The first phase of colonization in Guatemala following the initial 
conquest was essentially a brutal despotism. Believing that the natives 
possessed great stores of mineral wealth on the order of the Aztecs in 
New Spain, the Spaniards, following the example of Alvarado, resor 
ted to trickery, bribery and whatever other means that would yield the 
hidden wealth of Guatemala. Alvarado, according to the "Memorial de 
Tecpan-Atitlan11 threatened to burn alive and to hang native chieftains 
should they refuse or be unable to bring to the Spaniards the gold con 
cealed in the villages of their peoples. In order to acquire the surface 
wealth available, Alvarado was quick to enslave the native residents, 
requiring them to work the mines as well as the rivers. 7 Even Indian 
children were forced to labor in the river sands near a hill named Chack-
60 
chehal. 
Enslavement was thus the treatment handed out to the Indians by 
Alvarado, who was later blamed by Las Casas for establishing the slave 
trade in Guatemala and for not only exacting heavy tributes from the In 
dians, but for exporting young natives as slaves to Panama and Peru. 
Women were not exempt; Guatemala became the only area in the New 
World to practice openly the enslavement of Indian women. ^ The gen 
eral enslavement of the Indians was widespread enough in Guatemala for 
the audiencia in Mexico City to report to the king in May of 1533 that 
the common market price for a slave in Guatemala was only about two 
62 
pesos. In 1530 Indian slaves were being used extensively in placer 
mining projects. ^ 
27 
The despotism imposed by Alvarado included at the outset the use 
of the encomienda and the repartimiento, the latter referring to a 
64 
grouping of Indian laborers to accomplish a given task. Entire vil 
lages and geographical areas of Indians were placed on these early en 
comiendas or divided into work groups and forced to work without remu 
neration. By preserving the Indian political and economic organization 
at the village level and working through native caciques, the collection 
of the tribute and the gathering of laborers was considerably facilitated. 
Although the injustices in the assignment of repartimientos and encomien 
das were reported to the Audiencia of Mexico in 1526, the overt exploita 
tion of the natives in nearly all respects became a common practice in 
Guatemala soon after the conquest. Indeed, a slave trade was in opera 
tion which endured until 1540 and which involved more than twenty ships 
65 
sailing regularly between Realejo, Nicoya, Panama and Peru. 
The Laws of Burgos, which had sought to regulate relations between 
the Spaniards and the Indians, along with other crown legislation and 
decrees relating to native matters, were largely ignored in Guatemala. 
Instead of existing as free individuals, the natives were enslaved on a 
large scale. ^ The absence of clerics who might have dampened the 
zeal for exploitation through programs of conversion indicated that 
native Christianization was not initially a fundamental point in the 
Spanish conquest of Guatemala. Even by November 22, 1527, when the 
capital city was relocated in the lush valley between the volcanoes Agua 
28 
and Fuego, it being renamed Santiago de los Caballeros, the first cleric 
had not yet arrived. Indeed, it seemed that the crown was predisposed 
to favor Alvarado as he received several titles including that of adelan-
67 
tado and was named Captain General and Governor of Guatemala. By 
1529 Jorge de Alvarado, the conqueror's brother, had extended the cir 
cle of Spanish control and had reduced to slavery the Indians in the re 
gion which today is appropriately named the Río de los Esclavos. In 
the following year the natives were required to pay a heavy tribute and 
large numbers of them were collected for work in the construction of 
the first permanent buildings in Santiago de los Caballeros. An exten 
sive mining effort in 1530 demanded the use of hundreds of Indian labor-
68 
ers. 
Francisco Marroquin, who arrived in Santiago in 15 30 to be the first 
bishop of Guatemala, wrote to Charles V stating that the use of the na 
tives as carriers was severely reducing their numbers. He affirmed 
that M. . . although your majesty has ordered that Indians not be used 
to transport material, the practice still exists and for every ten or so 
employed, only five return home. By 1532 Alvarado had received 
the power to enslave all those Indian auxiliaries who had assisted him 
in the conquest. They were favored with the option of employment in 
public works. Those who resisted, if fourteen years of age or over, 
were enslaved, some destined to perform personal services for the 
Spaniards. According to Bartolomé de las Casas, Alvarado1 s mis-
29 
treatment of the Indians was boundless as hundreds were subjected to 
70 
the most rigorous forms of labor. 
For the Indians it appeared that a life of perpetual serfdom was their 
destiny. However, beginning in 1536 and later in the 1540fs.a series of 
events threatened a basic alteration of this entire situation. In 153 6 the 
crown declared that Indians from the highlands in Guatemala were not 
to be taken to the coasts for the purposes of labor. iL Prior to the is 
suing of this decree it had been common for encomenderos to bring In 
dians from the highlands to work on their encomiendas on the coastal 
plains. The result of this practice spelled disaster for the Indians as 
they died in large numbers when exposed to the malaria-ridden and di 
sease-infested lowlands. Alvarado,• in journeying"to Ecuador to gain 
a role in the conquest of the Inca Empire, complemented this wholesale 
decimation by utilizing some two thousand Indian slaves from the high 
lands. The majority never returned to their homes. In this same year 
72 
slavery was prohibited by royal decree in Guatemala and Nicaragua. 
A supplement to this legislation appeared at about the same time in the 
form of a Papal Bull. Pope Paul III in his "Sublimis Deustr declared 
that the Indians were true men, it being against just principles to en-
73 
slave them. Regardless of the source, whether King, Pope, or Coun 
cil of the Indies, the bulk of legislation attempting to regulate the ex 
ploitation of the Indians was ignored by the colonists. Observances of 
such decrees would have posed a fundamental threat to continued Span-
30 
ish domination in Guatemala. The situation of the Indian would not be 
altered by a Papal Bull or a few foyal pronouncements. 
In 1531 after some nine years of exclusion from the secular world 
following his failure with the Cumaná experiment, Las Casas decided 
again to enter the fight for a just treatment of the natives. Beginning 
in 1531 with a series of letters to the Council of the Indies, Las Casas 
urged the Council to halt the horrible extermination of the Indians and 
see to their conversion to Christianity. His argument in these letters 
was that conquistadores and royal officials, through their ill treatment 
of the Indians, were bringing about an economic loss to the crown as 
74 
tribute payments were being diminished with the death of each Indian. 
Las Casas explained that a new system of colonization must be adopted 
that would employ peaceful means and avoid the evils of limitless ex 
ploitation. This would be successful, he said, because the Indians were 
rational beings and capable of accepting Christianity without the imple 
mentation of brutal force. 
In May of 153 7 Las Casas embarked upon his new scheme accompa 
nied by Pedro de Ángulo, Luís Cancer, and Rodrigo de Landa in a region 
in the northeastern part of Guatemala called the land of war, now Vera-
paz. In a contract drawn up between Alonso de Maldonado, then acting 
Governor of Guatemala, and Las Casas, it was agreed that no encomi 
endas would be established in the area and that Spanish civil officials 
75 
would not enter the zone for a five-year period. The work of peace-
31 
ful conversion which earlier had been used successfully by Friar Jacobo 
de Testera in Yucatan was initiated by composing verses in Quiche rela 
ting the creation of the world, the fall of man, his banishment from para 
dise, the life and miracles of Jesus Christ, the resurrection, the ascent 
into Heaven and other religious themes. The initial contact was made by 
employing some merchants who traveled throughout the area. These in 
dividuals learned the verses and recited them to the Indians. Apparently 
impressed by what they heard, Indians from Zacapulas invited the friars 
76 
to enter the area. Later "successes in Atitlán, Tecpan Atitlán and Chi-
chicastenango indicated that peaceful conversion was accomplishing what 
Spanish military prowess had been unable to do. 
Supported by the success of peaceful conversion, Las Casas for the 
next decade through works such as "Del único modo de atraer a todos 
los pueblos a la religión verdadera" would argue before the Council of 
the Indies and the Crown that the Indians could be induced to accept 
77 
Christianity by utilizing persuasive rather than forceful means. The 
Indians he included in a concept of predestined salvation and saw them 
as rational beings. 
The persuasiveness of the arguments of Las Casas resulted, in part, 
in a new legislative departure by the crown in 1542. The New Laws, 
promulgated and signed by Charles V on November 20, 1542, sought to 
reorganize the juridical and economic meaning and function of the en-
78 
comienda. The encomendero in a sense was to be placed outside the 
32 
arena of direct control over the Indians. Under these laws, personal 
service was to be abolished with the Indians paying only a tribute to the 
encomendero, the amount to be determined by the audiencia. New en 
comiendas were not to be granted under any circumstances and all 
crown officials, religious houses and monastic groups were comman 
ded to give up their encomiendas, this order arriving in Guatemala in 
79 
1544. Those who could establish legal title to their encomiendas 
would be allowed to keep them but could not pass them on to their heirs. 
Upon the death of an encomendero, the encomienda would revert to the 
crown. Encomenderos were to live in the province where their enco 
miendas were located. Absenteeism was thus disallowed. Those who 
possessed Indians without proper royal title were to have them taken 
80 
away, said Indians reverting to crown control. Those holding an ex 
cessive number of Indians in encomiendas were to have their allotment 
reduced to a fair and moderate quantity by the audiencia. Indians who 
81 
had been abused by encomenderos were to revert to crown control. 
The audiencias were given the responsibility of seeing to the good 
treatment of the Indians and were to bring to justice those Spaniards 
guilty of consistent mistreatment. Indian slavery was expressly for 
go 
bidden and all under such circumstances were to be free. When In- 4 
dians were employed, the burden of labor was to be moderate and the 
83 
Indian laborers were to be paid. 
The New Laws, the first extensive colonial legislation in favor of 
33 
Indian rights with provisions for setting up administrative and judicial 
bodies in the New World to protect these rights, as can be seen, attemp 
ted to bring a new political organization to the colonies. The Indians, 
once freed from the tutelage and influence of the encomenderos and the 
yoke of slavery, were to be governed by corregidores. They were to 
have their own municipal governments and were to pay their tribute 
directly to the corregidores when possible. Concurrent with this was 
the decree issued in 1542, creating a separate audiencia for Central 
America, first set up in Gracias a Dios in 1544 but moved to Santiago 
de los Caballeros in 1549. The chief function of this new audiencia was 
to be the enforcement of the New Laws and assuring the good treatment 
84 
of the Indians. The responsibility of carrying out this monumental 
task fell to Alonso de Maldonado who became the president of the new 
audienc ia. 
Once news of the New Laws reached the New World, open and often 
loud and threatening opposition was not long in coming to a head. Al 
though given portions of the New Laws may not have been particularly 
irksome to the Spanish populace in a given area, taken as a whole their 
enforcement in any colony would have spelled disaster. Threatening as 
they did the very foundation of Spanish wealth and prestige in the New 
World, opposition was to be expected. The threat of rebellion existed 
in both Mexico and Guatemala. In Peru a bloody civil war broke out 
resulting in the death of a viceroy. Antonio de Mendoza, viceroy of 
34 
New Spain, sensing the potential danger to the Crown, withheld publica-
85 
tion of the laws in Mexico City. The cabildo of Mexico City sent at 
torneys to Spain to present its grievances before the Council of the In 
dies and express the opposition of the colonists. 
In Guatemala, where the encomienda as an institution was as firmly 
entrenched as anywhere in the New World, notice of the New Laws caused 
considerable alarm. In October of 1543 the town council of Santiago ag 
reed to send lobbyists directly to Spain to press for the abrogation of the 
laws. Two years later the ayuntamiento wrote directly to the king ask 
ing for the cancellation of those laws relating to the encomiendas and 
86 
sponsored by that "fraile bellaco y mentiroso. 11 Archbishop García 
Peláez, in relating the plight of the encomenderos, explained that most 
Indians held as slaves in Guatemala would have to be freed as few en 
comenderos could produce just titles. This meant the financial ruin of 
a considerable portion of the Spanish sector in Guatemala society. Al 
though the crown as early as 1545 revoked some of the decrees included 
in the New Laws, it felt that the balance should be implemented. For 
several reasons Alonso de Maldonado was recalled as president of the 
Audiencia de los Confines. Married to the daughter of Adelantado Fran 
cisco de Montejo, who operated several encomiendas, Maldonado was 
not sympathetic to the intent and goals of the New Laws. His replace-
8 7 
ment arrived at Gracias a Dios, the seat of the audiencia in 1548. 
Lic. Alonso López de Cerrato, who had been active earlier as an 
35 
oidor on Hispaniola in freeing the Indian slaves, began his tenure as the 
new president of the audiencia determined to implement the New Laws. 
In his activities toward eliminating Indian slavery Cerrato was opposed 
by most of the Spanish colonists. Even Bishop Marroquin, who held the 
title of "Protector of the Indians, M selected a moderate course which in 
dulged the Spaniards and privately was opposed to the New Laws and 
Cerrato's efforts to enforce them. Cerrato!s only open support in Gua 
temala came from the Dominicans. 
Criticized for being abrupt in his treatment of the Spanish colonists 
and serving as the instrument which could destroy the colony, Cerrato 
continued in his efforts to carry out the letter and intent of the New Laws 
88 
and by 1550 the lot of the natives was visibly ..improved. In 1544 the 
audiencia had taken steps to prohibit the use of women and men under 
fourteen years of age as slaves. Bishop Marroquin described the plight 
of the Indians prior to Cerrato's arrival when he wrote that, "These 
people are great in numbers, poor and lacking in faith and reason. For 
us, who are few, we have God, the king, and twenty forms of justice; 
89 
for them there is nothing. 11 In attempting to bring justice to the In 
dians, Cerrato forbade their use as laborers in the search for buried 
wealth. The jailing of Indians for failing to pay their tributes had 
90 
forced the crown to favor a general review of the entire situation. 
To limit the pervasive influence of the encomenderos, Cerrato 
placed all Indian villages under the jurisdiction of alcades mayores and 
corregidores and prohibited encomenderos from renting out their Indian 
laborers. The forced deportation of Indian slaves was prohibited as 
was the transportation of Indian women for purposes of labor away from 
91 92 
their homes. All Indian slaves were declared to be free. The en 
comenderos of Izalcos, Naslingo and Tacuzculco were publicly denounced 
by Cerrato for the abuses of Indian laborers and all such individuals by 
93 
subsequent legislation were to be punished. Considered a fanatic by 
his Spanish vecinos, Cerrato courageously continued to enforce the New 
Laws where other officials were afraid to do so. 
Lic. Alonso Lopez de Cerrato, Bartolomé de las Casas, and other 
proponents and defenders of Indian rights of this period achieved only 
a temporary victory with the passage of the New Laws. Although many 
of the laws affecting the encomienda were abrogated, those forbidding 
slavery and personal service were maintained. The New Laws in one 
sense were destined to failure in that they did not accurately reflect 
any reasonable knowledge of the actual conditions in the Indies and did 
not consider that Indian servitude was fundamental to continued Spanish 
domination. After 1550 many of the New Laws that had not been revoked 
were simply not enforced in Guatemala and the efforts of Bishop Las 
Casas to implement them in Chiapas met with failure even when he 
94 
threatened to excommunicate encomenderos. In several letters to 
the king in 1550, the procurador-sindico of Guatemala who was none 
other than Bernal Diaz del Castillo, stressed that the Indians performed 
37 
the most fundamental tasks necessary for the continued life of the colony 
and, therefore, should not be freed from slavery as they were basically 
indolent and needed to be coerced into becoming productive. Diaz had 
considered Cerrato's policies as unrealistic. ^5 
The furor and confusion which resulted over the crown's legislation 
of the New Laws had left the king and many of his officials undecided over 
which course to pursue in the Indies with respect to the Indians. Politi 
cal turmoil and chaos in some areas had resulted. Angered by his fail 
ure to limit the exploitation of the Indians, Las Casas renounced his 
title as Bishop of Chiapas and returned to Spain in 1550 to plead further 
his contentions. He arrived in Spain at a time when Juan Ginés de Sepul-
veda, a noted humanist and translator of Aristotle, was at court seeking 
official approval and support for a work he had completed entitled MDemo-
96 
crates Alter. 11 Enraged by what Sepulveda hoped to put into print, Las 
Casas quickly opposed the doctor's efforts to have his book published. So 
extensive was the opposition that it was decided that the differing view 
points of the two should be debated at Valladolid. 
Sepulveda's fundamental contention was that the conquest or war 
against the Indian was just. It was so, he affirmed, because of the 
gravity and extent of sin of the Indians, especially their idolatry, their 
incest, and their moral irregularities. Secondly, the utter rudeness 
of the Indians, he argued, and their low level of civilization made it 
necessary for them to serve the Spaniards. The conquest was just 
38 
because the Indians were being introduced to Christianity, a higher 
level of spiritual, moral and religious sensibility. This would extract 
them from their environment of utter depravity which was punctuated 
97 
by cannibalism and human sacrifice to false gods. 
Las Casas maintained that although war was commanded by God 
as stated in the Bible, this was not against idolators, but only against 
particular tribes of the era. As was his style, in a long dissertation 
he denied the rudeness of the Indians and affirmed that they were ra 
tional and free human beings and should be so considered. The argu 
mentative friar considered peaceful conversion as the only effective 
means of bringing the natives to Christianity. ^8 With respect to Sepul-
veda's charge of cannibalism and human sacrifice, Las Casas stated 
that a little of the latter was a lesser evil than the indiscriminate war-
99 
fare that had been practiced to date by Spain. Throughout the debates 
Sepulveda maintained the king's hegemony in the Indies to be based upon 
military supremacy and the need to end the immoral practices of the 
Indians while Las Casas steadfastly adhered to the thesis that the king's 
rights in the Indies were founded upon grants by the papacy to convert 
the natives to Christianity. 
No firm decision was ever reached from the Vallad olid debate. Al 
though Las Casas and Sepulveda both claimed victory, no such result 
was evident. The conquest could not have been annulled nor was there 
any vast repeal of former legislation. The debate emphasized the fact 
39 
that the crown's policy toward the Indians was a dichotomous one and 
would remain so for the balance of the colonial period. Las Casas 
emerged from the debate with an increased degree of influence which 
he would utilize until his death. 
During the reign of Charles V it was to be the misfortune of the In 
dian to be the object of a policy which was based upon foundations and 
premises often untested and frequently altered to fit the differing cir 
cumstances encountered in the New World. The data from which ra 
tional policies of state were formulated were more often than not in 
complete, and when such information was available, it often reflected 
the personal interests of the reporter. Not only were some of the basic 
institutions taken to the New World such as the encomienda and the re 
partimiento under periodic debate, but the very nature of the native in 
habitants could not be determined sufficiently to arrive at a basic crown 
101 
policy. 
Although Charles V was far from being ignorant of the Indies and its 
native inhabitants, his knowledge was conditioned early by the diametri 
cally opposed views of Victoria and Fernández de Oviedo and later by 
Las Casas and Sepulveda, not to mention the substantial body of conquis 
tadores. The passage of the New Laws served as a case in point. Con 
stantly subject to change, the crown's Indian policy created a situation 
that was often confusing to officials in the Indies. 
The long tenure of Philip II as king of Spain did not alter substan-
40 
tially the nature of crown legislation with regard to the Indians. Legis 
lation protecting the Indians and recognizing Indian rights was often fol 
lowed by royal decrees lending juridic authority to various means of 
their exploitation. In 1560, apparently concerned over some of the more 
subtle means utilized in taking advantage of the natives in Guatemala, 
Philip ordered that Indians were not to be punished for minor offences 
by the assignment of a labor term in an obraje or workhouse. They 
were not to be defrauded of their salaries or have the length of their 
labor service extended. Indian alcaldes were to remain dependent upon 
the audiencia for instructions and guidance and clerics were not, hence 
forth, to ask of the natives fees for the administration of the sacraments.' 
This legislation, however, was followed in 1561 by a grant to a group of 
103 
expeditionaries who wished to subdue the Lacandones in Guatemala. 
This confusing and contradictory pattern of legislation was, to a 
large extent, a function of the crown's constant need of funds to main 
tain its responsibilities in Europe as well as in its vast overseas empire. 
Philip, constantly aware of the shortage of funds, was seldom adverse to 
granting rights and privileges to potential conquistadores and officials 
promising to add to the royal coffers. Legislative clarity with respect 
to the native inhabitants of the Indies was sacrificed to satisfy the greater 
need of financial and economic stability. 
On July 20, 1566, the cause of the Indian was dealt a blow by the loss 
of his greatest spokesman. After fighting for over a half a century for 
41 
just treatment of the Indian the vociferous friar Bartolomé de Las Casas 
died at ninety-two years of age. His denunciation of the Spanish conquest 
and the influences generated by this, however, did not likewise succumb, 
but, indeed, would be felt four hundred years later in twentieth-century 
Guatemala as his theme of the universality of human dignity would be 
104 
expressed in indigenista legislation and literature. The majority of 
his literary efforts amounted to a forceful condemnation of Spanish In 
dian policies in the New World which not only had pronounced effects 
on two Spanish kings and upon numerous officials, but would serve later 
as an example as well as a catalyst for subsequent indigenistas through 
out Latin America. 
The written word was the media of communication chosen by Barto 
lomé de Las Casas to wage his crusade on behalf of Indian rights. Most 
of his writings, from the first memorial sent from Hispaniola in 1516 to 
his treatise on Peru, De Thesauris, presented to Philip II as a last will 
and testament, were aimed toward persuading the Spanish authorities 
that injustice was being done the Indians and that the government must 
105 
undertake actions to prevent this. His Tratado sobre el gobierno que 
los reyes de España deben adoptar para los indios and his Del modo legal 
y cristiano en que los reyes de España pueden extender su dominación en 
las Indias, written in 1539, not only damned current Spanish policies in 
the Indies, but proposed new ones. His Apologética his tor ia, begun in 
1527 and finally terminated in 1550, was an impressive accumulation of 
42 
information on the customs and life of the Indians designed to defend 
them from the charge that they were slaves according to Aristotelian 
theory by virtue of their inheritance and class. Las Casas advocated 
that the Indians should be understood in light of their own customs and 
beliefs and their own culture rather than by European or Spanish stan-
dards.106 
The most widely known tract by the friar, his Brevísima relación 
de la destrucción de las Indias, completed in 1542 and presented to 
Charles V, was a stinging denunciation of the conquest. In this work 
Las Casas through a vehement prose attempted to utterly discredit some 
forty-five years of conquest by enumerating abuses including robberies, 
murder, rape, and plunder, all committed by the Spaniards and often 
107 
resulting in native depopulation. Throughout this work and others 
the conquistador was presented as the greedy and cruel opportunist whose 
actions were outside the bounds of Christian decency and proper moral and 
juridical conduct. Las Casas in this work, as in most of his writings, 
maintained that the Indian was a rational being capable of accepting Chris 
tianity. His treatment at the hands of the Spaniards was therefore unjust, 
cruel, and immoral. His enslavement, the theft of his property and world 
ly goods, the destruction of his artifacts, and the tearing apart of his cul 
ture, the friar explained, could not be justified by any means whatever. 
Las Casas became the first prominent indigenista in the sense that he 
questioned and criticized the exploitation of the Indian and strove to im-
43 
prove his situation through legal, social, economic and spiritual reform. 
Although Las Casas devoted much of his energy toward the fight for 
a more just treatment of the Indian, the conclusion that Las Casas was 
an indigenista is, in many respects, unwarranted. With the possible 
exception of his pleas in favor of the Cumaná experiment, Las Casas 
did not argue for complete integration, the goal of most modern indi 
genistas. His plans were proteetionistic. They were designed to pre 
serve the Indian from exploitation and possible extermination. The In 
dian in the prose of Las Casas never became a being exactly equal in 
all respects to the Spaniard. He was to be a free vassal of the crown 
just as the Spaniard, but would demonstrate his loyalty to the crown 
ultimately through Spanish officials in the New World. 
Although ideologically and philosophically the Indian was a rational 
being capable of accepting conversion like the Spaniard, he was still 
apart from the Spaniard. Complete and unconditional integration was 
not a goal promoted by Las Casas. Las Casas established the idea that 
an Indian problem existed and that the dominant Spanish society should 
utilize legislation and adopt moral practices consistent with the Chris 
tian ethic that would protect the Indian from unfair exploitation. Las 
Casas can be considered as the father of modern indigenismo in the 
sense that he initiated the first step toward an indigenista philosophy. 
He urged protectionistic legislation. * 
Need for the continued use of Indian laborers persisted throughout 
44 
the colonial period and policies and institutions were developed and al 
tered to meet this need. When the encomienda and the repartimiento 
ceased to exist as institutions beneficial to the Spaniards because of 
crown legislation which restricted their use, they were replaced by 
the mandamiento and the hacienda in Guatemala. The latter was seen 
as an advantage over the encomienda as the Indians could work for a 
particular time to pay their tribute and would not owe an obligation to 
an encomendero. By 1577 the mandamiento was being used extensively 
by the Indians in the Verapaz region asa means of paying their tribute 
through labor and it was being increasingly considered as an effective 
institution by the Spanish colonists. 
At the same time steps were taken that were of some benefit to the 
natives. All legal cases coming before the audiencia which involved 
Indians were to be translated into the appropriate Indian languages. 
Each native village in Guatemala was to have assigned to it a protector 
of Indians and all labor performed on private projects was to be salaried. 
Indian workers were not to be used in obrajes processing wool, silk or 
cotton or on fincas raising sugar cane or indigo. All Spaniards guilty 
of crimes against the natives were to be punished without making a dis 
tinction under the law as to the Spaniard's social or economic position. 
The sixteenth century closed in Guatemala with a style or pattern of ex 
ploitation that had become much more subtle and sophisticated than the 
outright slavery practiced immediately after the conquest. These soph-
45 
isticated forms would be those utilized throughout the remainder of the 
colonial period. The avenue of this exploitation was the hacienda. 
The picture painted by many conquistadores and popularizers during 
the sixteenth century of a New World offering promises of economic ad 
vancement was altered by developments in the sixteenth century. Econo 
mic progress turned into a depression that was felt in the New World as 
well as in Europe. In reacting to this Spaniards in Guatemala and else-
108 
where retreated to the countryside. Land became the symbol of 
wealth for the Spaniards and the hacienda became the institution to re 
place the largely defunct encomienda. Not related to the earlier hold 
ings of conquistadores and encomenderos, the hacienda, which was a 
privately owned landed estate, came into being through land grants, 
109 
purchase agreements, accretion and usurpation. It had the distinct 
advantage of being divorced from the whims of royal perogatives. The 
hacendado was the director of his own property and could sell it if he so 
desired. In Guatemala and particularly in the areas of Chiapas, Hue-
huetenango and Quetzaltenango where entrepreneurial possibilities for 
the Spaniards were few, a close link was formed between the encomien 
da and the hacienda. The hacienda developed quickly in these areas. 
As with the encomienda, the Indian became the basis for the opera 
tion of the hacienda. Often by circumventing royal labor codes, Indian 
workers would be invited by the hacendado to settle on his estate. He 
would then pay their tribute to the crown authorities and offer to pay 
46 
them wages for their labor. Small sums of money would be advanced 
to the workers and they would be given the right to purchase goods on 
credit from the hacendado!s store of supplies. Laborers were general 
ly provided with small plots of land upon which they could grow their 
own crops. Now indebted, the worker would agree to repay the hacen 
dado through his labor. Utilizing this technique, Juan de Leon operating 
in Totonicapán and Quetzaltenango was able to create a large commer 
cial enterprise involving large herds of sheep. By often devious means, 
the peones were maintained in their state of indebtedness. With this 
mechanism debt peonage became the dominant labor or employment sys 
tem in Spanish America and the hacienda became the chief institution of 
111 
the new social and economic order. 
The hacienda was both capitalistic and feudalistic in its general 
character. With the presence of a landowner dominant over an indebted 
labor force, it appeared feudalistic but lacked the guarantees of security 
that had existed with the encomienda where the Indian laborer in a sense 
was reimbursed for his lack of choice or self-determination. It was 
capitalistic as it was organized as an institution to yield a profit from 
the sale of goods that were produced and fundamentally involved the pri 
vate ownership of property. Yet the hacienda was so ineffective in its 
operation that it is difficult to conclude that it was a capitalistic institu 
tion. Crop yields were often low, profits were quickly consumed, the 
technology employed often involved techniques utilized by pre-Hispanic 
47 
agriculturalists, and new lands were often acquired not for the purpose 
of increasing production, but for removing lands from possible use by 
Indian farmers, thus forcing them to become dependent upon the hacien 
da. With the labor groups being obtained through use of the repartimien 
to and other means, the hacienda became a curious blend of the feudal 
112 
and the capitalistic. With the emergence of the hacienda and the pas 
sage of time, the hacendado became the symbol of authority and pres 
tige replacing the viceroy and the king. The hacienda became the insti 
tution which to a large extent regulated and controlled the lives of the 
rural Indian peasantry as no former Spanish institution had been able 
to do. No successor to the hacienda would appear until the twentieth 
century. 
Although the hacendado occupied a position of considerable power 
over his Indian peons, the crown in the seventeenth century was still 
able to exert its influence. By the opening of the seventeenth century 
it appeared that any crown legislation in favor of the Indians would sel 
dom go beyond regulating the nature of the exploitation. The native 
labor force was still essential to the Spanish maintenance of power in 
Guatemala. In 1601 it was declared that all natives were to be free to 
113 
contract for labor by the day or by the week. At approximately the 
same time the repartimiento was restricted and not to be applied to 
natives working as domestics, cattle herdsmen, agricultural workers, 
or construction workers. All labor on estates or obrajes was to be 
48 
voluntary and all Indians were to live as free vassals of the crown. The 
Indians were not to be subjected to a repartimiento if the work site was 
a considerable distance from their home. Negro workers rather than 
.115 
Indians were to be used in the mines. Mayordomos, often the most 
sophisticated in their means of taking advantage of the Indians, were to 
be removed from the haciendas. 
It was not until 1620 that Philip III forbade the practice of buying cer 
tain items cheaply from the Indians and selling to them at inflated prices 
a variety of non-essential items. ^"^ The filching of Indian property by 
often false purchase agreements occasionally practiced by escribanos 
was prohibited. Throughout the century other forms of exploitation and 
institutions leading to undue exploitation were dealt with by crown legis 
lation. By 1631 the lucrative office of repartidor de indios had been dis 
solved as had been such positions as jueces para azúcar, jueces de obra-
117 
jes de panos, and jueces de grano. Although the list of legislation 
favorable to the Indian during the seventeenth century was considerable, 
seldom was their basic situation altered. 
The eighteenth century in Guatemala was little different from the 
two preceding centuries as far as the Indians were concerned. As a 
group they continued to remain at the bottom of the social scale as the 
basic element in the labor pool. Although legislation attempted, as in 
former times, to protect the Indians from specific avenues of exploita 
tion, their overall effect was largely negligible. Indeed, the century 
49 
witnessed in some respects a retrogression to older forms of exploita 
tion. As the depression of the seventeenth century was followed by an 
upswing in the economy and labor demands increased, the repartimien 
to was openly and frequently utilized. In 1719 fifty Indians per week 
v 118 from the village of San Juan Amatitlan were placed in repartimientos. 
Twenty per week were called upon from San Andres Izapa and the valley 
119 
of Chimaltenango. 7 The practice of placing entire villages in reparti 
mientos for extended periods of time had become commonplace and in 
1712 Chinautal, San Amatitlan, Santo Domingo Xenacoj and all of the 
Indian villages in the valley of Guatemala were so affected. Even reli 
gious orders had ceased to be spokesmen for Indian rights as the Jesuits 
in 1759 made use of Indian laborers from San Juan and San Cristobal Ama 
titlan on their sugar cane plantations.120 The view that the Indian la 
borers should make themselves available for mandamientos and repar 
timientos was commonly held throughout the century. The native resi 
dents of Santiago Momostenango and Santa Maria Chiquimula were ob 
liged to work on several occasions on road construction projects. 
By the middle of the century when Guatemalan indigo production was 
being threatened by excellent crop yields from Asia, the crown, in an 
effort to decrease the effects of this competition, permitted the whole 
sale conscription of Indian workers, the justification being the familiar 
one that this would bring to an end the scandalous idleness of the natives. 
Although the Bourbon reforms of the eighteenth century altered consi-
50 
derably the nature of Spanish colonial administration, they did not lead 
to any fundamental change for the Indian. Indeed, in the wake of the 
destruction of Santiago de los Caballeros in 1773 by a violent earthquake, 
the Indians were again herded into service via the repartimiento for the 
121 
construction of the new capital. While the sixteenth century was wit 
ness to legislation limiting the encomienda and the repartimiento, not 
to mention the New Laws, all seemed to be forgotten, practically 
speaking, by the eighteenth century as the forms and style of active 
exploitation returned to the more severe patterns exercised in the first 
half of the sixteenth century. 
Although the colonial period saw periodic attempts on the part of 
the audiencia and the crown to legislate in favor of the Indian population, 
the net effect was always one that was determined more by economic 
considerations and the frontier conditions in Guatemala than by moral 
or humanitarian persuasions. The continuing domination of the Span 
iards was dependent ultimately upon the subjugation of the Indians. They 
remained the disadvantaged sector in the economic and social melieu of 
colonial Guatemala. 
The cause of the Indian, however, during the colonial period was not 
one restricted only to the efforts by Bartolomé de Las Casas and Alonso 
López de Cerrato in the sixteenth century. The Spanish story in Guate 
mala included the zealous cleric as well as the ambitious conquistador. 
The goal of the crown throughout most of the colonial period remained 
51 
two-fold. The Indian was not only to be made a good vassal of the crown, 
but a Spanish Catholic as well. He was to receive and hopefully embrace 
Christianity. Yet, if Christianization was to remain with any degree of 
permanence, as many clerics were soon to realize, dictionaries, gram 
mars, and a variety of materials explaining the faith in the Indian lan 
guage was essential. Studies of Indian customs and traditions, it was 
felt, were needed. In their production of these materials and to their 
efforts to undertake effective Christianization programs in the shadow 
of the conquest, the Indians became the favorite cause of numerous 
clerics who through their interest and activities would enlarge the ranks 
of those favoring a more just treatment of the Indians and whose works 
would provide the foundation for the development of an interest in the 
Indians at a later date. 
Many of the clerics who came to colonial Guatemala and who would 
become extensively involved with the Indians to the point of advocating 
protectionistic legislation were products of traditionalism and authori 
tarianism. They were, nevertheless, men cut from a somewhat differ 
ent intellectual cloth. They came to the New World for reasons basi 
cally different from a desire for the acquisition of wealth and fame. 
Their motives were those of the missionary. To this challenge many 
of these clerics would bring a mild discontent with the rigid social 
structure of their homeland where many of the avenues leading toward 
vocational achievement were closed. As later events would indicate, 
52 
the interest of the clerics in natural history and pragmatic learning 
created a consciousness somewhat divorced from the intellectual and 
practical persuasions of the conquistadores. 
In their writings and often in their activities on behalf of the Indians 
the clerics argued for a better idea of justice which would include the 
natives. Their stand occasionally against the abuses of the Indians in 
the form of the encomienda, the repartimiento, the mandamiento and 
the many forms of ever-increasing taxation utilized, including the tri 
bute, by the eighteenth century had approached the ideal and the roman-
122 
tic hope of redemption. Sought was a new kind of well-being. As 
Mariano Picón-Salas suggested, by the eighteenth century a njesuitic 
humanism" was evident in the colonies which indicated that the Indian 
and his culture should be incorporated into a more universal aesthetic 
system. Culture, in this context, was to be the agency that would level 
123 
differences, antagonisms and feelings of inferiority among races. In 
coming, therefore, to Guatemala and other parts of the New World with 
at least the fundamentals that would later be termed Jesuitic humanism, 
these indigenista-oriented clerics began to undertake their tasks with a 
cultural frame of reference often quite different from that of the conquis 
tador . 
Bartolomé de Las Casas, be sides being consistent in his defense of 
the Indians, was also steadfast in persuading other clerics to come to 
the New World. One such cleric was friar Domingo Vico. A native of 
53 
Andalucía, Vico came to the New World in either 1534 or 1536 with Las 
Casas, after having completed his formal education at the University of 
Salamanca and taking his vows into the Order of Predicadores.Vico 
accompanied Las Casas on his initial journey through Chiapas and Vera-
paz and was credited with the founding of numerous settlements in the 
area. Active until his death at seventy years of age, he was continuously 
engaged in religious activities in Guatemala, especially in the Chisec 
region. Various religious works of his were written in Indian languages 
for the purpose of facilitating the process of conversion, non-violent in 
125 
its character. He was also the author of several catecismos, an 
ethnographical study entitled Historia de los indios, sus fábulas, super-
sticiones y costumbres, and several language studies. His Poesías 
sagradas de la pasión y los hechos de los apostóles en cakchiquel repre 
sented one of his several literary efforts to promote Christianity to the 
12 6 
Indians utilizing their own conceptual media. A prolific author and 
one of the most active clerics in colonial Guatemala, Vico through 
peaceful and humanitarian persuasions based upon extensive objective 
study of native languages and cultures, sought to bring Christianity and 
the Christian ethic to several of the Indian groups in Guatemala. -
Another friar active in Verapaz and a defender of the Indian in his 
own right was Luis Cancer. Born in the province of Aragón and a mem 
ber of the Order of Predicadores, Luís Cancer was brought to Guate 
mala by Las Casas for the specific purpose of Christianizing the Indians. 
54 
His conversion of the Indian groups in and around the Cobán area in 
Verapaz was a remarkable success story. One who deeply appreciated 
and wished to preserve the Indian culture, Cancer capitalized upon 
those feelings and produced numerous songs, verses, hymns and poems 
in the Indian dialects to explain the Christian message. His Varias can-
ciones enver so sobre los misterios de la religión para uso de los neó 
fito s de la Vera Paz en lengua Cobán was one of the few that has sur 
vived. It represents a unique but effective way of relating to his lis-
127 
teners the Christian story. Up to the time of his death at the hands 
of an unfriendly cacique, Cancer followed Las Casas in denouncing the 
encomienda asa completely unjust institution. 
Joining with Las Casas and Luis Cancer in their denunciations of the 
encomienda was Friar Pedro Calvo who came to Guatemala in 1544. By 
extensive study Calvo mastered the native language of Chiapas and be 
came the first friar to speak to the Indians in their own tongues about 
the kings of Spain and other non-religious subjects. Until his death in 
1550 he remained, like his fellow Dominicans, a vigorous opponent of 
the encomienda and a spokesman for the contention that the Indians 
were rational human beings and should be so treated. His Meditaciones 
espirituales acomodadas y la inteligencia de los neófitos explained in 
128 
some detail this contention. 
As was the case with Las Casas and other clerics in sixteenth-cen 
tury Guatemala, Friar Tomás de Cardenas became angry over the 
55 
Spaniard's mistreatment of the Indians. Such abuses, he felt, could 
easily undermine the basically humanitarian efforts of the friars. Later 
to become archbishop of Chiapas, Tomas de Cardenas, while serving 
in Sacapulas, became disturbed about the tribute system, tie considered 
it to be an excessively cruel and arbitrary m,eans of exploiting the Indian 
populations. So incensed was he with the tribute and related means of 
taxation that in 1576 he paid the tribute for a group of Indians in his 
parish with his own funds. His stand for a more just means of relating 
to the Indians and his works including Doctrina cristiana y documentos 
morales _y políticos en lengua zapoteca, Representaciones al rey sobre 
el estado de los pueblos de VeraPaz and Arte de la lengua cacchi place 
him in the front ranks of these early clerics concerned with Spanish -
Indian relations and interested in altering the basic nature of these re-
lations. 
During the sixteenth century in Guatemala and elsewhere the Indian 
on various occasions had become the chief topic of consideration in the 
crown's attempt to administer its colonial empire. By the seventeenth 
century, however, and in the decades to follow before independence, 
the Indian problem seemed relatively unimportant as the question of 
the viability of the Spanish economy, threats of foreign encroachment 
in Spanish colonial territories and events in Europe relegated to a mat 
ter of secondary importance the Indian question. 
An interest in the Indian populations of Guatemala, however, did 
56 
not abruptly end during the seventeenth century. Although the appeal 
for human rights in behalf of the Indians had lessened in degree, there 
were numerous studies and commentaries produced on the Indian popu 
lations. Friar Esteban de Aviles with his Historia de Guatemala provi 
ded a detailed account of the Indian cultures that he encountered. Nu 
merous language studies were produced by clerics during this period. 
The Quiche language was studied by friars Juan Molina, Damián Del 
gado, and Domingo Basseta; the Cakchiquel language by Tomás de la 
Cruz, Esteban Castañeda, Juan Alonso, and José Angel Zenoyo; and 
the Zendal and Mam languages by Melchor Gómez, Luís Gonzáles and 
Jerónimo de la Cruz respectively. These works and numerous others 
which includedjreligious tracts and travel logs provided an impressive 
130 
body of knowledge of the Indians in Guatemala. 
Throughout most of the eighteenth century the Indians of the New 
World had been replaced by topics of a broader scope among those wish 
ing to criticize the crown and its colonial institutions. During this 
period overt feelings of discontent were beginning to be formulated. 
Spanish monopolistic practices and traditionalism as well as the entire 
Spanish administrative and institutional structure operative in the New 
World were beginning to be seen as handicaps rather than advantages by 
many influential clerics and civil officials in the colonies not to mention 
the creóles. Many seemed to be looking for a new order to replace that 
which had existed since the initial conquests. The humanistic orienta-
57 
tion exhibited by many clerics in Guatemala toward the Indians during 
the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries would assume eventually new 
directions. Included were those of a new nationalism, the feeling that 
local institutions were better than those of the crown, and the conten 
tion that a new political and social order free from the restrictive ten 
dencies of Spanish mercantilism and colonialism would be advantageous 
to all. Encouraged by the development of a wider scope of references, 
new perceptions and interests appeared in the writings and achievements 
of individuals like Rafael Landívar, Andrés Cavo, and Francisco Javier 
Clavijero. Their points of view became included within the movement 
toward independence and separation from Spain. 
Of those writing during this period, Rafael Landívar remains the 
most celebrated in Guatemalan letters. Although not an indigenista in 
the contemporary understanding of the term, Landívar was instrumen 
tal with his work Rusticatio Mexicana in creating an atmosphere that 
would urge writers and indigenistas years later to consider the Indian 
with respect to his environment and the circumstances therein. Educa 
ted at the University of San Carlos and a member of the Jesuit Order, 
Landívar in 1755, after his ordination, was ready to embark on what 
131 
promised to be a long and productive career. However, in 1767 his 
expulsion along with other members of his order forced him to leave 
132 
Guatemala. He wrote his masterpiece Rusticatio Mexicana in Italy. 
Wishing to return to his native land, Rafael Landívar in Rusticatio 
58 
Mexicana dealt with Guatemala in poetic detail. He described its flora 
and fauna and particularly its native inhabitants, the Indians. At times 
approaching in style that of a heroic ode, Landívar presented an envi 
ronment of boundless beauty in which there lived a noble rural Indian 
population whose labors, genius and natural simplicity he greatly ad-
133 
mired. The Indian was seen as a being with natural capabilities 
that had been conditioned by an environment devoid of the Spaniard. 
For those who perused Rusticatio Mexicana, the Indian was seen to be 
as natural a part of Guatemala as its striking physical characteristics. 
It would be this viewpoint that would become a central premise in the 
indigenista thought of the twentieth century as scholars would refer to 
Landívar's masterpiece as a poetic summary of Guatemala and its 
Indians. 
The clerics and others who had argued for justice for the Indians 
in Guatemala and who had appealed to the crown's sense of humanitar-
ianism on their behalf throughout the colonial period did not constitute 
an early group of indigenistas in the strict sense of the term. Antonio 
García Córdoba, a student and later an official at the Universidad de 
San Carlos, represented an exception to this. In arguing against the 
thesis that Indians suffered from a natural debility, he advocated Indian 
rights and the mixing of the Ladino and the Indian elements in Guate 
mala. This view was shared by Garcia Cordoba's associates in The 
Sociedad Económica de Amigos de País who periodically championed 
59 
135 Indian rights. Further, their arguments were protectionists in 
character. They wished not so much to alter fundamentally the status 
of the Indian in colonial society as to protect him from excessive ex 
ploitation and possible extermination. 
The legislation which was passed at different points in time which 
had been supported by Bartolomé de Las Casas and others including the 
Laws of Burgos, the New Laws and folios of separate decrees were 
largely protectionistic. They were designed to limit the excesses of 
Spanish institutions. Only Las Casas traveled the uncertain path of 
basic practicality on two occasions and attempted first at Cumana and 
later in Vera Paz and Chiapas to establish a social system which would 
include in a positive and much less exploitative manner the Indian and 
his culture. Yet, in the final analysis, it was the Spaniard who re 
mained at the apex of the schemes promoted by Las Casas and it was 
the Spaniard with his religion and his social and economic institutions 
who remained the final authority. Under the body of laws which gov 
erned Spain's colonial empire, the Indian remained the victim of the 
conquest. He was the vanquished. 
Rather than an integrated system of laws which could have consi 
dered the Indian and Spaniard alike, Spanish law was directed actually to 
two republics, that of the Indian and that of the Spaniard. One writer, 
Magnus Morner, has referred to this as the practice of racial segrega 
tion. The Indian under the law as well as in the daily pattern of life 
60 
was kept apart from the Spaniard. Under such a system the complete 
and unrestrained integration of the Indian which is basic to many modern 
indigenistas simply did not occur. Even an exponent of Indian justice as 
vociferous as Las Casas or an official as dedicated as López de Cerrato 
were unable to alter irrevocably the basic circumstances endured by the 
Indian populations in Guatemala. 
The conquest and many of the institutions that emerged from it in 
colonial Guatemala in relation to the Indians represent the antithesis of 
modern indigenismo. Throughout the colonial period the most clearly 
defined needs of the crown in areas like Guatemala which were not en 
dowed with vast amounts of mineral wealth were tribute, labor and land. 
As only the Indian could satisfy these needs, their exploitation remained 
fundamental as the overall consequence of the conquest. The first few 
decades of the colonial period was witness to the outright exploitation 
and enslavement of the Indians. From 1540 to approximately 1630 the 
Indians lost their lands and were incorporated into the hacienda system 
in large numbers. From 1630 until the end of the century the pressure 
upon the Indian population in this era of depression was intense as the 
Spaniards induced various means to assure and maintain their economic 
and social position, their dominance. From 1790 until the end of the 
colonial period the Indian served as the labor force in the boom and 
bust economy that would come to characterize Guatemala and which in 
volved at different times indigo and cacao. 
61 
What those in the colonial period who argued for Indian justice 
managed to accomplish was to provide the spade work for those in the 
twentieth century who would develop the indigenista persuasion in its 
various medias of expression. Las Casas and others provided an im 
petus for interest in the Indian as they collectively seemed to suggest 
that the predominantly Indian region of Guatemala needed an identity 
and a social and political system that would not operate to destroy this 
basic factor in the Guatemalan identity. Indigenismo emerged as an 
antithetical reaction to the conquest and the nearly four hundred years 
of exploitation which followed it. 
NOTES 
CHAPTER I 
Sedley J. Mackie (ed. ), An Account of the Conquest of Guate 
mala in 1524 by Pedro de Alvarado (Boston: ~Milford House Inc. , 1972), 
p. 9; J. Daniel Contreras R. , Breve historia de Guatemala (Guatemala: 
Editorial del Ministerio de Educación Publica, 1961), p. 33. 
2 
Chester Lloyd Jones, Guatemala: Past and Present (New York: 
Russell and Russell, 1966), pp. 6-8. 
3 
Clarence H. Haring, The Spanish Empire in America (New York: 
Brace and World Inc., 1947), p. 6; Alberto Estrada Quevedo, Cinco 
heroes indígenas de América (Mexico: Ediciones Especiales No. 41, 
I960), p. 17. 
4 
Silvio Zavala, La encomienda indiana (Madrid: Centro de Estu 
dios Históricos, Sección Hispanoamericano, 1935), pp. 1-38. 
5 
Lewis Hanke, The Spanish Struggle for Justice in the Conquest 
of America (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1949), 
pp. 10-13, 40-41, 122-23; Silvio Zavala, New Viewpoints on the Spanish 
Colonization of America (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 
1943), pp. 43-48. 
6 
Zavala, New Viewpoints on the Spanish Colonization of America, 
pp. 46-48. 
7 
Lewis Hanke, ,rThe Development of Regulations for Conquista 
dores, 11 Contribucione s para el estudio de la historia de América: 
Homenaje al Dr. Emilio Ravignani (Buenos Aires: Editores Peuser, 
Ltd., 1941)Tpp^ 73-75. 
o 
Haring, The Spanish Empire in America, p. 7. 
^Mary P. Holleran, Church and State in Guatemala (New York: 
Columbia University Press, 1966), p. 17; Haring, The Spanish Empire 
in America, p. 7. 
"^Lesley Byrd Simpson, The Encomienda in New Spain (Berkeley": 
University of California Press, I960), pp. 14-72. 
62 
63 
11 Haring, The Spanish Empire in America, pp. 10-13. 
12Ibid. 
13 
Robert S. Chamberlain, irCastillian Backgrounds of the Reparti 
miento-Encomienda, fr Contribution to American Anthropology and His 
tory, Vol. V, No. 24-29 (Washington, D.C: Carnegie Institution of 
Washington Publications, 1947), pp. 23-66. 
14 
Haring, The Spanish Empire in America, p. 40. 
15 
Charles Gibson, Spain in America (New York: Harper and Row, 
1966), pp. 46-67. 
^Eric Wolf, Sons of the Shaking Earth (Chicago: University of 
Chicago Press, 1962), pp. 189-90. 
17 
Silvio Zavala, "Los trabajadores antillanes en el siglo XVI, n 
Revista de historia de América, No. 31 (1938), pp. 31-67; Silvio Zavala, 
"Los trabajadores antillanes en el siglo XVI, M Revista de historia de 
América, No. ni (1938), pp. 60-88. 
18 r r 
Ramón Menéndez Pidal, El Padre Las Casas, su doble person 
alidad (Madrid: Espasa Calpe, 1963), p. 3; Luis G. Alonso Getino, 
Influencia de los dominicanos en las leyes nuevas (Sevilla: Escuela de 
Estudios Hispano-americanos de la Universidad de Sevilla, 1945), 
pp. 18-20, 45-47. 
19 
Henry R. Wagner and Helen R. Parish, The Life and Writings 
of Bartolomé de Las Casas (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico 
Press, 1967), p. 8. 
20 
Lesley Byrd Simpson (ed. ), The Laws of Burgos of 1512-1513: 
Royal Ordinances for the Good Government and Treatment of the Indians 
(San Francisco: John Howell Publishers, I960), pp. 135-44. 
21 
Rafael Altamira, ME1 texto de las leyes de Burgos de 1512, n 
Revista de historia de América, No. 4 (1938), pp. 5-80. 
22 
Roland B. Hussey, HText of the Laws of Burgos (1512-1513), 
Concerning the Treatment of the Indians,!t Hispanic American Historical 
Review, XII (1932), pp. 301-26. 
23 
Lewis Hanke, Bartolomé De Las Casas: Bookman and Scholar 
(Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1952), p. 1. 
64 
24 Wagner and Parish, The Life and Writings of Bartolomé de 
Las Casas, p. 10. 
25 
Ibid. , pp. 10-14. 
26 
Jose P. Urrueta, "Noticia de la vida y escritos de D. Fr. Bar 
tolomé de Las Casas, Obispo de Chiapas, 11 Anales de la sociedad de 
geografía e historia, XXIII (marzo-junio, 1948), p. 125. 
27 
Wagner and Parish, The Life and Writings of Bartolomé de 
Las Casas, p. 4. 
28 
Ibid. ; J. Armengol Molins, !fEn el IV centenario de la muerte 
de Fray Bartolomé de las Casas," El Maestro, No. 10 (septiembre, 
1966), p. 87. 
29 J. H. Elliott, Imperial Spain, 1469-1716 (New York: Mentor 
Books, The New American Library Inc. , 1966), pp. 70-71. 
30 
Menéndez Pidal, El padre Las Casas, su doble personalidad, 
p. 9; Efraín de Los Ríos, "Pincelada histórico-biográfico de Fray 
Bartolomé de Las Casas: El defensor de la raza indígena frente a la 
crueldad de los conquistadores, 1475-1566, " pp. 91-96. 
31 
Victor M. Castillo F. , "Presencia de Fray Bartolomé, " 
América indígena (octubre, 1966), p. 374. 
32Elliott, Imperial Spain, 1468-1716, p. 171. 
33 
Earl J. Hamilton, American Treasure and the Price Revolution 
in Spain, 1501-1650 (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1934), p. 34. 
34 
Antonio de Remesal, Historia general de las Indias occidentales 
particular de la gobernación de Chiapa y Guatemala, Vol. I, third edi 
tion (Guatemala: Editorial "José de Pineda Ibarra," I960), p. 181. 
35 
Ibid. 
36 
Jaime Delgado, "El problema del indio en tiempos de Carlo V, " 
Cuadernos hispanoamericanos, CVIE-CVITE (noviembre-diciembre, 1958), 
p. 149. 
3 7 
Wagner and Parish, The Life and Writings of Bartolomé de Las 
Casas, pp. 14-18. 
3 8 
Menéndez Pidal, El Padre Las Casas, su doble personalidad, 
pp. 19-21. 
65 
39 Ernesto Chinchilla Aguilar, "Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas, " 
Istmena, No. XIV (abril, 1955), n. p. 
40 
Wagner and Parish, The Life and Writings of Bartolomé de Las 
Casas, p. 56. 
41 
Gibson, Spain in America» pp. 48-67. 
42 
Leoncio Cabrero, "Vision del indio americano en tiempos de 
Carlos V, " Cuadernos hispanoamericanos, CVII-CVIII (noviembre -
diciembre, 1958), p. 169. 
43Ibid. , pp. 169-73. 
44 
Ibid. , pp. 168-82. 
45 
Sylvanus G. Morley, The Ancient Maya, third edition (Palo 
Alto: Stanford University Press, 1956), p. 40. 
46 
J. Eric S. Thompson, The Rise and Fall of Maya Civilization 
(Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1966), pp. 27-29. 
47Ibid. , pp. 90-93. 
48 
Delia Goetz and Sylvanus G. Morley (ed. ), Popol Vuh: The 
Sacred Book of the Ancient Quiche-Maya (Norman: Univer sity of Okla 
homa Press, 1969), pp. 61-74. 
49Morley, The Ancient Maya, pp. 80-81, 143-44, 148-49, 209-10, 
271, 293-94, 306, 387-88; Thompson, The Rise and Fall of the Maya 
Civilization, pp. 3-11, 55-56, 69-75, 83-85, 97-100, 120-21, 210, 260-
62, 268, 292-96; Adrian Recinos and Delia Goetz (ed. ), Annals of the 
Cakchiquels: Title of the Lords of Totonicapan (Norman: University 
of Oklahoma Press, 1967), pp. 3-42. 
50 
Morley, The Ancient Maya, pp. 79, 82-83, 97; Thompson, The 
Rise and Fall of the Maya Civilization, pp. 51, .100-104, 304, 305. 
51 
Charles Gallenkamp, Maya: The Riddle and Rediscovery of a 
Lost Civilization (New York: Daniel McKay Co. , Inc. , 1962), pp. 153-
56. 
52 
Angel Rosenblat, La población indígena (Buenos Aires: Edi 
torial Nova, 1954), p. 102; Population figures throughout the colonial 
period, whether provided by such noted scholars as Juan de Zumárraga 
or Montolinia or by those who tended to utilize numbers to add strength 
66 
to their arguments such as Bartolomé de Las Casas, all tended to 
exaggerate the number of Indians present in a given area at a specific 
time. Conquistadores as well as clerics were prone to such exaggera 
tions as they attempted to glorify their accomplishments or explain 
their failures in reports to the crown. Rosenblat's estimate of 800, 000 
for all of Central America is more realistic than some of the figures 
employed by Las Casas in his works. 
53 
Goetz and Recinos, The Annals of the Cakchiquels, pp. 15-20; 
Goetz and Morley, Popol Vuh: The Sacred Book of the Quiche-Maya, 
pp. 3-5; Remesal, Historia general de las Indias occidentales y par 
ticular de la gobernación de Chiapa y Guatemala, pp. 28-33. 
54 * Goetz and Morley, Popol Vuh: The Sacred Book of the Quiche -
Maya, p. 85. 
55Ibid. , pp. 81-90,110, 165. 
56 
Goetz and Recinos, The Annals of the Cakchiquels, pp. 119-36. 
57 
Amy Elizabeth Jensen, Guatemala: A Historical Survey (New 
York: Exposition Press, 1955), p. 22. 
CO 
Reme sal, Historia general de las Indias occidentales £ particu 
lar de la gobernación de Chiapa y Guatemala, pp. 34-36 
59 
Silvio Zavala, Contribución a la historia de las instituc 
coloniales en Guatemala (Mexico: Editorial Stylo, 1945), p. 11. 
Valentín F. Solórzano, Evolución económica de Guatemala 
(Guatemala: Editorial del Ministerio de Educación Publica, 1963), 
pp. 56-57. 
6lIbid. , pp. 57-58. 
62 • • 
Severo Martínez Peláez, La patria del criollo: ensayos de in 
terpretación de la realidad colonial guatemalteca (Guatemala: Editorial 
Universitaria, 1970), p. 67. 
63 
Murdo J. MacLeod, Spanish Central America: A Socioeconomic 
History, 1520-1720 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1973), 
pp. 56-57. 
64 
F. A. Kirkpatrick, "Repartimiento-Encomienda, 11 Hispanic 
American Historical Review, XIX (1939), pp. 372-79. 
67 
65 MacLeod, Spanish Central America: A Socioeconomic History, 
1520-1720, p. 52. 
66 
Martínez Peláez, La patria del criollo: ensayos de interpre 
tación de la realidad colonial guatemalteca, p. 96. 
67 
Julio Hernández Sifontes, Realidad jurídica del indígena guate 
malteca (Guatemala: Editorial del Ministerio de Educación Pública, 
68 
Zavala, Contribución a la historia de las instituciones en Gua 
temala, pp. 11-16; Andre Saint-Lu, Condition Coloniaje et Conscience 
Creole en Guatemala (Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1970), 
pp. 11-13, 27. 
69 
Sifontes, Realidad jurídica del indígena guatemalteca, p. 164. 
70 
Guatemala, Archivo de Centro America: (2 agosto 1530; Signa 
tura A 1. 2. 4, Expediente 15752, folio 17v; Martínez Peláez, La patria 
del criolla: ensayos de interpretación de la realidad colonial guatemal 
teca, pp. 28-33, 42, 44, 45. 
71 
Guatemala, Archivo de Centro America: (30 marzo 1536; Signa 
tura A 1. 23, legajo 4575, folio 39v. ). 
72 
Guatemala, Archivo de Centro América: (23 noviembre 1540; 
Signatura AL. 2-4, Expediente 15752, legajo 2197, 52v. ). 
73 
Lewis Hanke, "Pope Paul III and the American Indians, 11 Har 
vard Theological Review, XXX (n. d. ), pp. 65-162; Haring, Spain in 
America, pp. 50-51. 
74 
Martínez Peláez, La patria del criollo: ensayos de interpre 
tación de la realidad colonial guatemalteca, p. 72; Juan Friede, f,Fray 
Bartolomé de Las Casas, exponente del movimiento indigenista español 
del siglo XVI, " Revista de Indias, Vól. XIII, No. 51 (Madrid, 1953), 
p. 25. 
Guatemala, Archivo de Centro América: (7 septiembre 1543; 
Signature AL 23, legajo 1511, folio 17v. ). 
76 
Wagner and Parish, The Life and Writings of Bartolomé de Las 
Casas, p. 92. 
77 
Lewis Hanke, Bartolomé De Las Casas, Historian: An Essay 
in Spanish Historiography (Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 
1952), pp. 2-3. 
68 
78 • 
J. Antonio Villacorta C. , Historia de la capitanía general de 
Guatemala (Guatemala: Tipografía Nacional, 1942), p, 402. 
79 
Ibid. , pp. 402-403. 
80 
Remesal, Historia general de las Indias occidentales y parti 
cular de la gobernación de Chiapa y Guatemala, Vol. II, p. 493. 
81Ibid. 
82 • 
Villacorta, Historia de la capitanía general de Guatemala, 
pp. 402-403. 
83 
Martínez Peláez, La patria del criollo: ensayos de interpreta 
ción de la realidad colonial guatemalteca, p. 44. 
84 
Remesal, Historia general de las indias occidentales y particu 
lar de la gobernación de Chiapa y Guatemala, Vol. II, p. 49L 
85 
Henry Bamford Parkes, A History of Mexico (Boston: Houghton 
Mifflin Company, I960), p. 94. . 
86 
Martinez Pelaez, La patria del criollo: ensayos de interpreta 
ción de la realidad colonial guatemalteca, p. 77. 
87 
William Sherman, "Indian Slavery and the Cerrato Reforms, 11 
Hispanic American Historical Review (February, 1971), pp. 27-29. 
88 
Ibid. 
89 
Sifontes, Realidad jurídica del indígena guatemalteca, p. 171. 
90 
Guatemala, Archivo de Centro América: (9 octubre 1549, Signa 
tura Al. 23, legajo 4575, folio 109v); Guatemala, Archivo de Centro Amér 
ica (9 octubre 1549, Signatura AL 23, legijo 575, folio 110. ). 
91 
Guatemala, Archivo de Centro América: (23 noviembre 1550, 
Signatura AL 23, legajo 1511, folio 154v. ). 
92 
Julio Gómez Padilla, "Breve referencia a nuestros primitivos 
y al indios envolvimiento de nuestra economía hasta hoy, " Capítulos 
a la introducción a la economía (Guatemala: Imprenta Eros, 1963), 
p. 166; Guatemala, Archivo de Centro América: (14 julio 1548, Signa 
tura AL 23, legajo 4575, folio 76. ). 
93 
Guatemala, Archivo de Centro América: (20 febrero 15 48, 
Signatura AL 23, legajo 4575, folio 69e/v. ). 
69 
94 
Gibson, Spain in America, pp. 152-54. 109 
Wagner and Parish, The Life and Writings of Bartolome de Las 
Casas, pp. 145-46; Menéndez Pidal, El padre Las Casas, su doble per 
sonalidad, pp. 174-88. 
95 
Gomez Padilla, "Breve referencia a nuestros primitivos y al 
indios envolvimiento de nuestra economía hasta hoy, ,r p. 166. 
96 
Menéndez Pidal, El padre Las Casas, su doble personalidad, 
pp. 207-10. 
97 
Lewis Hanke, All Mankind is One: A Study of the Disputation 
Between Bartolomé De Las Casas and Ginés de Sepulveda in 1550 on 
the Intellectual and Religious Capacity of the American Indians (DeKalb: 
Northern Illinois University Press, 1974), pp. 60-63. 
98 
Chinchilla Aguilar, "Fray Bartolomé De Las Casas, "pp. 10-11, 
99 
Wagner and Parish, The Life and Writings of Bartolomé de Las 
Casas, p. 179. 
^^Hanke, All Mankind is One, pp. 113-17. 
Delga do, "El problema del indio americano en tiempos de 
Carlos V, " p. 144.-
102 • • 
Hernández Sifontes, Realidad jurídica del indígena guatemalteca, 
pp. 176-77. 
103 
Ibid. 
104 
Castillo F. , "Presencia de Fray Bartolomé, " p. 374. 
105 
Hanke, Bartolomé De Las Casas: Bookman and Scholar, p. 4. 
10^Ibid. ; Urrueta, "Noticia de la vida y escritos de D. Fr. Bartol 
omé de Las Casas, obispo de Chiapa, " pp. 132-42. 
107 
Wolf, Sons of the Shaking Earth, p. 202; Rene Augusto Flores, 
"Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas," El Maestro, No. 10 (septiembre, 1966), 
108 , 
Juan Comas, "Resena bibliográfica: historia de las Indias por 
Fray Bartolomé de las Casas, " América indígena, XII (abril, 1952), 
pp. 157-59; Wolf, Sons of the Shaking Earth, p. 202. 
70 
110 MacLeod, Spanish Central America: A Socioeconomic History, 
1520-1720, pp. 129-32. ~ 
111 
Wolf, Sons of the Shaking Earth, pp. 202-204. 
112 
Martínez Peláez, La patria del criollo: ensayos de interpreta 
ción de la realidad colonial guatemalteca, pp. 231-32. 
113 
Hector Humberto Samayoa Guevara, "El mestizo en Guatemala 
en el siglo XVI, a través de la legislación indígena, 11 Antropología e 
historia de Guatemala, XXIII (enero, 1966), p. 71. 
114 
Guatemala, Archivo de Centro América: (24 noviembre 1601, 
Signatura AL 23, legajo 4576, folio 46. ); Guatemala, Archivo de Centro 
América: (26 mayo 1609, Signatura Al. 23, legajo 4576, folio 9. ). 
115 
Guatemala, Archivo de Centro América: (24 noviembre 1601, 
Signatura AL 23, legajo 4576, folio 50. ). 
^Guatemala, Archivo de Centro América: (12 diciembre 1619, 
Signatura Al. 23, legajo 1515, folio 231. ). 
117 
Hernández Sifontes, Realidad jurídica del indígena guatemalteca, 
p. 192. 
118 
Guatemala, Archivo de Centro América: (1719, Signatura A3.13, 
Expediente 40127, legajo 2773.). 
119 
Guatemala, Archivo de Centro América: (1772, Signatura A3.12, 
Expediente 42194, legajo 2886.). 
120 , 
Hernandez Sifontes, Realidad jurídica del indígena guatemalteca, 
p. 207. 
121 
Robert Smith, "Indian Labor on índigo Plantations, " Hispanic 
American Historical Review, XXXVI (August, 1956), p. 319. 
122 . „ 
Mariano Picon-Salas, A Cultural History of Spanish America 
(Berkeley: University of California Press, 1968), pp. 131-41. 
123 
Ibid. , pp. 140-41. 
*^Luis Antonio Díaz Vasconcelos, Apuntes para la historia de la 
literatura guatemalteca, 2nd ed. (Guatemala: Tipografía Nacional, 
1950), p. 187. 
71 
12« 5 s 
Juan Rodriquez Cabal, "Catalogo de escritores dominicos en la 
capitanía general de Guatemala, 11 Anales de la sociedad de geografía e 
historia, XXXIV (enero-diciembre, 1961),~~pp~160-61; Ramón A. Salazar, 
Historia del desenvolvimiento intelectual de Guatemala (Guatemala: Edi 
torial del Ministerio de Educación Publica, 1956), p. 161. 
12 6 s 
Rodriquez Cabal, "Catalogo de escritores dominicos en la capi 
tanía general de Guatemala, 11 p. 161. 
12 7 s 
Díaz Vasconcelos, Apuntes para la historia de la literatura gua 
temalteca, pp. 186-87. 
"""Rodriquez Cabal, "Catalogo de escritores dominicos en la 
capitanía general de Guatemala, 11 p. 161. 
129 
Guatemala, Archivo del Instituto Indigenista Nacional Guatemal 
teca, "Breve biografía y lista de indigenistas en el período colonial, fí 
pp. 6-9; J. Antonio Villacorta C, "Cronistas olvidados," Anales de la 
sociedad de geografía e historia, VII (marzo, 1931), pp. 352-56. 
130 
Eleanor Burnham Adams, A Bio-bibliography of Franciscan 
Authors in Colonial Central America (Washington: Academy of American 
Franciscan History, 1953), pp. 16-17. 
131 y s 
Jose Mata Gavidia, Landívar: el poeta de guatemala, 2nd ed. 
(Guatemala: Ministerio de EducacionTPublica, 1967), p. 16. 
132 
Ibid., p. 21. 
133 
Ibid. 
134 ^ 
Pedro Zamora Castellanos, "Landívar, 11 Anales de la sociedad 
de geografía e historia, VII (junio, 1931), pp. 478-81. 
135 
John Tate Lanning, The Eighteenth Century Enlightenment in 
the University of San Carlos de Guatemala (Ithaca, New York: (Torne 11 
University Press, 1956), pp."T"6-37, 42, 44. 
CHAPTER II 
THE SEARCH FOR A LEGISLATIVE IDENTITY 
The movement for Central American independence from Spain in 
volved few armed encounters compared to the same movement in Mex 
ico and in much of South America. The colonial government had been 
relatively successful in keeping the news of revolts elsewhere in the 
hemisphere from the colonists. Events such as the French Revolution 
with its poetic theme of liberty, equality, and fraternity, and the Amer 
ican Revolution which espoused, among other things, the right of revo 
lution and the inalienable rights of man, were but muted echoes in Gua 
temala. The motivations for independence seemed based upon other 
factors and considerations in Central America, particularly the Creole 
mistrust and dislike of the peninsulares, who traditionally occupied the 
most prestigious and remunerative social and economic positions. Al 
though certain measures were taken in 1808 to calm local unrest, inclu 
ding the granting to Creoles the same rights and privileges as peninsu 
lares and some legal reforms, their effects were only temporary. By 
18Z1 separation from Spain had been achieved. * 
Throughout the first two decades of the nineteenth century, the In 
dians, who still constituted the majority of the population in Guatemala, 
72 
73 
were but an inert force. The privileges, rights and advantages were 
destined for the Creoles. Long reminded that they were, in effect, 
second class citizens, the Creoles were quick to secure the new reins 
of power and advantage for themselves. That the Indian would not be 
effectively included as an element in this exchange of power was a fore 
gone conclusion. Although a royal decree in 1801 had sought to end the 
long-standing problem of the lack of legal representation for the Indians 
by ordering lawyers to take periodic turns in defending or taking cases 
involving them, their use even in 1803 as essentially forced laborers 
was confirmed as the audiencia directed its attention to the allotment 
of Indians by corregidores and alcaldes mayores. The repartimiento 
was still in operation not only in principle but in name as well. The 
hacienda with its system of debt peonage was the major agrarian insti 
tution. 
With the exception of a revolt in Cobán against the alcalde mayor 
by the natives who burned and sacked the homes of the Ladinos, the In 
dian generally remained docile and peaceful and was easily manipulated 
by those wishing to gain some advantage at his expense. Few Creoles 
were interested in protecting the rights of the Indians. Those Creloes 
appointed to the office of Protector of Indians so frequently through 
their Creole attorneys exploited the natives that they were forbidden 
the use of attorneys. The collection of excessive fees for ser-
74 
vices rendered had been commonplace. The alcalde mayor of Toto 
nicapán and Huehuetenango, writing to the audiencia in 1809, noted the 
lack of persons residing in his area who were either interested or willing 
4 
to assume the role of protector of Indian rights. The Indians reixiained 
the tribute-paying laborers with little judicial recourse until 1811 when 
the cortes generales decreed the end of the tribute. With but a few no 
table exceptions, the first tumultuous years of the nineteenth century 
passed leaving the Indians as they had been in the colonial period. Sel 
dom were they participants or leaders in the events of the period and 
rarely were they the topics of major legislation of any kind. 
The Cadiz constitution of 1812 written by Spanish liberals stated 
that all men were born free and that the Indians were indeed citizens 
of Spain. Whatever reform and change this constitution promised was 
promptly rejected as Ferdinand VII in 1814 abrogated the constitution and 
sought to return Spain to the absolutism of earlier years. ^ The manda 
miento, the repartimiento, and other services demanded of the Indians 
which had been abolished by the cortes of Cadiz were restored in 1815. ^ 
A revolt against tribute collection as well as other grievances occurred 
in Totonicapán in 1812. Before it was concluded it involved Indian groups 
from San Francisco el Alto, Momostenango, San Andrés Xecul, San Cris 
tobal, San Miguel Totonicapán, Santa Maria Chiquimula, and San Gaspar 
Chabul. Also involved were the Ladino aldeas of San Luis Sahcaja and 
San Carlos Siji. 
75 
Although the primary cause of the revolt was displeasure over the 
payment of the tribute, there were other underlying reasons which led 
the leaders of the revolt, Atanasio Tzul and Lucas Aguilar, to select 
the path of armed resistance and violence. The rebellion was essen 
tially expressive of the Indians1 dissatisfaction, punctuated as it was 
by the repartimiento and the mandamiento and their continued existence 
as subjugated and exploited beings in an environment of perpetual ser 
vitude. The only means by which the Indians were able to maintain 
their qualities as Indians was to cling tenaciously to their own customs 
and traditions and certain aspects of their own religions. With virtually 
no means of controlling their destiny, their liberty even as individuals 
was conditioned and patterned by others, particularly non-Indian alcal 
des. Indian leaders served basically as agents of the dominant class 
and more often than not held the opinion of their superiors that the In 
dians were incapable, ignorant, and immoral. 
In Totonicapán, located in a zone important for its industry and com 
mercial activities, troubles with the Indians actually began in 1813 when 
Marcico Mallol, the alcalde mayor of the area, beat an Indian. This 
incident plus the underlying objections to Ladino encroachment on In 
dian lands, brought the Indians to the point of revolt. Although the dis 
content and looting which followed was quelled, general unrest appeared 
again in 1816 when the Indians openly demonstrated against the collection 
g 
of the tribute. All that was needed to spark an open revolt was a per-
76 
sonality to elucidate and direct this ill-feeling. Such a person was 
Atanasio Tzul. 
Atanasio Tzul, an Indian of about sixty years of age in 1820, had for 
merly been alcalde of his village and had gained some initial political 
experience in 1816 when he had openly protested the payment of the tri-
9 
bute. Lucas Aguilar, also a farmer, was another important chief of 
the rebellion. During the revolt most of the Spanish authorities in the 
area fled for their lives. Those who remained were jailed. To make 
legitimate his action Tzul crowned himself king of the Quichés and 
adopted the Spanish symbols of authority including a staff of office, 
Spanish dress, a three-cornered hat and a medallion of office, A con 
stitution was proclaimed and Aguilar was named president. The two 
men then sought to govern their newly acquired realm which they hoped 
would be totally separate and free from Spanish influence or domination. 
The kingdom of the two illiterate Indians, however, was to be short 
lived. King Tzul ruled for twenty-nine days before he was apprehended 
by Spanish authorities and jailed in Quezaltenango along with some forty 
other individuals.^ Unlike the earlier spontaneous uprisings that had 
occurred in Guatemala, the Totonicapán revolt was planned. In this 
respect it was similar to the 1780 revolt in Peru headed by José Gabriel 
Condorcanqui or Tupac Amaru. Although the revolt was doomed to 
failure, it did represent the ultimate and desperate act of a subjugated 
people to end continued oppression and institute a means to express 
77 
their social identity as a group. The Indians1 role, however, after this 
brief experiment with liberty, would remain unaltered to a large extent 
until the twentieth century. 
In this somewhat confusing sequence of events leading first to Gua 
temala's independence from Spain, then its tie with Agustín Iturbide in 
Mexico and lastly the establishment of the federation of Central Ameri 
can states, the Indian was not a principal participant. The wealthy 
Creoles in Guatemala City to a considerable degree had directed the 
developments and had made the decisions. They had supplanted the 
positions of influence formerly held by the chapetones and the officials 
of the Spanish crown. In September of 1821 when Captain General Gabino 
Gainza called a conference of public authorities and influential citizens 
to consider the plan of guarantees that had been sent from Mexico by 
12 
Iturbide, the Creoles were those present. 
The document stated that Mexico and the kingdom of Guatemala should 
declare independence from Spain and invite a Spanish prince to come to 
the New World to rule them jointly as an independent empire. It empha 
sized that the Catholic Church should be the only religious authority and 
that Creoles and chapetones should forget their differences and live peace 
fully together. The plan of guarantees, however, contained no comment 
on the intended destiny of the Indian majority. Although Gainza and the 
junta placed in charge of affairs illegally voted to join Iturbide in what 
amounted to a plan of annexation, the latter rs fall from power in 1823 
78 
left Central America alone to determine its own destiny. By December 
of 1823 a federation had been established.^ 
The federation experienced other difficulties that obscured the entire 
problem of the Indian. In their eagerness to dissolve the Spanish tax 
system, the legislators abolished the tribute system, the royal fifth, 
the tobacco monopoly, and the interior customs houses, all of which 
had been important sources of revenue. The direct taxes which were 
to supplant these sources brought in precious little revenue. This cou 
pled with the fact that each state was self-oriented rather than directed 
toward the federation, spelled economic disaster for the new experience 
in government. Added to the economic problems was a political one. 
Each state had liberal groups which opposed the Church and conserva 
tive groups usually composed of landowners and merchants who suppor 
ted it. Disagreement over religious issues was commonplace.^ Sel 
dom was an agreement reached on any question, political or otherwise. 
With the exception of Dr. Pedro Molina who had actively supported 
independence from Spain in Guatemala and who had made emotional ap 
peals in his newspaper on behalf of Mel miserable indio, nuestro susten 
tador, nuestro verdadero hermano, ,f the only legal acts of consequence 
for the Indians during this entire period were the constitutional articles 
in 1823 which raised Guatemalan Indians to the category of citizens. 
15 
This was important chiefly in the sense that they set legal precedent. 
In effect, the Indians were citizens by constitutional decree only. Long 
79 
kept apart from the mainstream of political events and tenaciously cling 
ing to their own customs and traditions, the Indians maintained their 
identity and preserved elements of their culture by demonstrating only 
a surface acceptance of Spanish and later Creole cultural traits, values, 
and practices. Yet even this semipermeable shield of cultural separ-
ateness of the Indians was to be challenged by the newly constituted au 
thorities in Guatemala as they sought by a legislative decree in October 
of 1824 to extinguish the use of native languages and promote the use of 
Spanish throughout Guatemala. 
The only effort made in these early years of independence to make 
viable the concept of Indian citizenry was a legislative act passed on 
February 21 of 1825 to provide scholarships to Indian students wishing 
to attend the Colegio Tridentino. Particular attention was to be paid to 
those having the qualifications necessary for service in the choir. ^ In 
the political confusion during Guatemalan first decade of independence, 
the situation of the Indian stood little chance of improvement as the Cre 
oles, often untrained in political affairs and inadequately prepared for 
independence, attempted to direct the affairs of state. As the traveler 
Henry Dunn noted in 1827, the Guatemalan Indian, possessing an honor 
able yet passive character, was quite poor, subsisting only upon a mea 
ger diet of corn and was probably more advanced morally, civically, 
17 
and intellectually at the time of the conquest than in 1827. Dunn des 
cribed the Indians as indolent and utterly ignorant. Presidents in the 
80 
state of Guatemala between 1824 and 1831 including such individuals as 
Juan Barrundia, Manuel José Arce and Pedro Molina failed to concen 
trate their attentions upon the Indian majority of Guatemala. The ma 
jority had not been identified in any real sense as having any part what 
ever in the destiny of the nation, ^ 
With the coming of Mariano Gálvez to the presidency in August of 
1831, Guatemala experienced a liberal progressivism for the first time. 
A Guatemalan by birth, a distinguished lawyer and a member of the in 
dependence movement in 1821, Gálvez succeeded in kicking off an ener 
getic legislative program entailing numerous reforms. In attempting to 
lessen the burden of poverty and ignorance he encouraged agriculture, 
constructed new roads, opened the port of Iztapa on the Pacific coast, 
encouraged the development of commerce and industry, and distributed 
land to colonization companies. His general school system, emphasiz 
ing the natural and social sciences as well as practical subjects such as 
agriculture, hygiene, and commerce, promised to revolutionize and re 
vitalize the training of Guatemalans of all ages. He believed that the 
success of Guatemala as a republic rested upon the presence of an edu 
cated populace. The state was therefore responsible and obligated to 
meet the educational needs of all its people regardless of age, race, 
19 
religion, or ability. His complete revision of the tax system, the 
ending of monopolies, the establishment of free trade, the revision of 
the penal system, the introduction of the Livingston code, and numerous 
81 
other changes, taken as a whole, indicated that a new and progressive 
Guatemala devoid of colonial institutions and customs was the promise 
of the future. 
Although the major portion of Gal vez1 s reforms were not geared 
particularly for the Indian population of Guatemala, he doubtlessly was 
cognizant of their numerical majority and included within his vast legis 
lative program some earnest attempts toward alleviating the problems 
confronting them. In August of 1831, a few days after gaining power, 
he instructed the commandant of Peten, Juan Galindo, to deal diploma 
tically with the natives of the area and attempt to achieve a "modus 
vivendi" with them, a primary condition being their exemption from 
taxation for a ten-year period, Gálvez seemed to recognize that the 
native majority not only in Peten but throughout Guatemala was, indeed, 
apart from the national entity and sought to encourage social integration 
20 
by recognizing at the outset Indian cultural autonomy. He apparently 
felt asa humanitarian as well as an astute political leader that the In 
dians should be made a part of and should have a role in the national 
development of Guatemala, but not at the expense of extinguishing their 
21 
own cultural heritage. 
Mariano Gálvez selected the realm of education to be the operative 
medium for beginning his Indian program. By a government decree in 
March of 1832, it was stipulated that the majority of those students at 
tending schools in the departments were to be Indian children. Scholar-
82 
ships for such children were to be provided by the government and were 
to be made available to Indians between the ages of five and twenty years 
of age. " Included in the statutes for primary instruction was an article 
stipulating that an award of a gold medallion would be granted to the per 
son who presented during the year 183 6 the method judged as best for 
23 
teaching the Indians Spanish. Included in the statutes on education in 
general was the statement that the Indian was not to be excluded from 
receiving the benefits of a state sponsored education and that providing 
24 
for such was an obligation of the state. Private individuals willing to 
sponsor the education of an Indian child were encouraged to do so as 
well as participate in the organization of primary schools in the depart 
ments where they resided. Gálvez1 s aim was to instigate an educational 
program that would combat the intellectual backwardness and ignorance 
25 
that characterized Guatemala at this time. It was hoped that through 
such a program of primary education for Indian children that future In 
dian regidores and alcaldes and other Indian officials would be literate 
2 6 
and better able to function in their positions of authority. 
Concurrent with the statutes on education regarding the Indian were 
several other decrees which in their design were to operate on behalf 
of the native population. In March of 1836 a legislative decree stated 
that the Indian inhabitants of Yerapaz and Totonicapán were to come 
under the protection of the laws of the state and that the government was to extend these laws to all Indian groups in the territory of Guate-
83 
mala with the goal of incorporating these groups into the state. The 
following year a decree provided that no group of laborers or jornaleros 
could be compelled to work without a contract that had been previously 
2 7 
negotiated and formulated between said workers and the proprietors. 
Indians in 1835 had been exempted from personal service and when such 
service was deemed necessary, it was only to be tentative and appro 
priate salaries were to be paid. Taken as a whole, Galvez1 s effort to 
incorporate the Indian was genuine, but, as subsequent events would in 
dicate, only temporary. 
Although a few citizens recognized the need for many of Galvez1 s 
reforms which may be considered a natal form of indigenismo, the 
general population who were politically aware did not. The colonial 
institutions and customs which the majority of the population of just 
over a million had experienced for so many years were not easily dis 
carded and forgotten. ^ When Galvez attempted to undertake measures 
to stop a cholera epidemic from spreading, the continuing viability of 
the colonial heritage became evident. As the cholera spread southward 
from Chiapas in 183 7, Galvez sought to avoid a panic among the popu 
lace by ordering physicians into the area with medicines and ordering 
29 
that burial processions be halted. The Indians, feeling that the phy 
sicians were trying to poison them and that their rights as well as their 
religious beliefs were being threatened by Galvez1 s declaration for civil 
marriages and for jury trials, these being damaging to the Catholic cler-
84 
gy whom they saw as their defenders, refused to cooperate and ex 
pelled the physicians. They rejected the liberal programs.30 
At this juncture revolt was in the making and Rafael Carrera suc 
ceeded in placing himself at the head of this anti-Gálvez movement. 
Unable to overcome the opposition, Gálvez resigned in January of 1838 
and left Guatemala for Mexico, never to return to Guatemala or to poli-
tics. With Galvez ls departure of course went most of his reform pro 
grams including his legislative efforts on behalf of the Indians. Until 
his death, however, he would frequently speak of the need of incorpora 
ting the Indian, improving his education, and taking measures to keep 
him from being defrauded or molested as well as providing laws that 
32 
would not be contrary to his customs and traditions. Although it 
would be difficult to conclude that Gálvez was an indigenista, some of 
his programs and legislative designs were indigenista in character and 
similar to those which would be implemented in the twentieth century. 
Gálvez had attempted to include the Indian in his concept of Guatemala 
as a nation. In this effort he sought to identify the Indian as a compo 
nent of the totality of Guatemala. He felt that the Indian with education 
and legislation designed to protect him from exploitation could be wes 
ternized or, to use a more exact term, ladinoized. He ultimately would 
33 
be given the identity of a Ladino. 
The power vacuum created by Gálvez ls resignation, filled by Rafael 
Carrera some six years later, involved frequently shifting political al-
85 
liances and a rapid succession of presidents who seldom remained in 
office for more .than one year. It was during the first of three terms 
of office of Dr. Mariano Rivera Paz and particularly in 1839 that an 
effort toward an Indian program was made. In August of 1839 the con 
stituent assembly passed a decree which was designed to protect the 
Indians and improve their level of civilization. Expressed was the 
contention that this was in the public interest. To implement this de 
cree government officials were to see that all legal questions concern 
ing Indians be appropriately presented and handled by government agen 
cies. A commission of five individuals was to function as protectors 
of Indian rights. It was to see the general improvement of the Indians 
and the bettering of their conditions of livelihood. ^ 
How the commission was to achieve this was not spelled out. The 
decree at least gave the Indians a juridic personality. Yet any depth 
and range of understanding of the Indian situation at this time was sim 
ply not to be found. Ignoring the fact that the Indians had been exploited 
relentlessly since the sixteenth century and that this might account in 
part for their unfortunate state, the constituent assembly viewed their 
misery as being a result of another factor. Their excessive use of 
aguardiente was the demon of their distress. On November 25, 1839 
the manufacture and sale of aguardiente in Indian villages was prohibi-
4. A 35 
ted. 
Although the decree concerned with the Indians1 consumption of 
86 
aguardiente was short-sighted, legislation passed the following day, 
November 26, 1839, did hold the promise of the beginning of an effec 
tive Indian program. The decree stipulated that mayors or goberna 
dores of Indian communities were to be named by the corregidores in 
each department and that these new officials were to receive their in 
structions from the corregidores. Ascertaining the business of each 
inhabitant, noting those who were ill, surveying the size of all milpa 
holdings in their community, observing what crops were being pro 
duced and easing the pains of those who were unfortunate were the 
duties assigned to these new gobernadores. In conjunction with this 
all corregidores were ordered to center their attentions upon the In 
dians living in their area of authority and support all efforts directed 
3 6 
toward the improvement of their circumstances. 
This, the first extensive legislative attempt since the Galvez re 
forms to deal with and improve the lot of the Indians was submerged as 
current political uncertainties and frequent changes in government fo 
cused attention upon other matters, particularly Rafael Carrera. Again 
a set of laws which could have generated practices beneficial to and in 
volving Indians did not develop. Gálvez and Mariano Rivera Paz could 
be viewed as philosophical indigenistas in that their intent and overview 
of the Indian problem was indigenista. They could not be considered 
indigenistas in any practical sense as their plans never reached any 
degree of fruition. Mariano Rivera Paz seemed to be seeking a basic 
87 
understanding of what constituted rural Indian Guatemala and the reality 
of this rural setting. 
The period from 1844 to 1865, the era of Rafael Carrera who firmly 
held the reins of state either personally or through puppet presidents, 
was one in which the Indians for nearly all intents and purposes were 
tangential residents in Guatemala. Efforts to improve their economic, 
social or educational circumstances were few. Although many Indians 
in expressing their opposition to the Galvez reforms had lent their sup 
port to Carrera and had filled the ranks of his army, and although a few 
Indians were appointed to minor military and civil posts, the majority 
would be unaffected subsequently by Carrera's policies. A notable ex 
ception was 1851 when a decree was passed stating that Indian workers 
complying with a particular mandamiento were to be paid punctually and 
treated well, given medical aid when necessary, and educated in schools 
37 
designed to teach them Spanish. 
The whims and accomplishments of the dictator, however, became 
38 
the political focal point for this period. Few were the opportunities 
to implement long-range legislative programs for the integration of the 
Indians. Carrera's energies were directed chiefly toward discrediting 
the Liberal Party in Guatemala, subjecting the highlands to national 
control and maintaining Guatemala's independence from any efforts 
toward federation. His efforts toward ending the handicaps of an eco 
nomic monoculture which could have meant the beginning of some eco-
88 
nomic improvement for the Indians were unsuccessful largely because 
of conditions existing at the time. The Catholic clergy and the aristo 
cracy which had supported Carrera were more interested in exploiting 
their recently regained position of influence and potential that had been 
threatened during the Galvez years than sponsoring an extensive pro 
gram of reform designed to alleviate the misery of the Indian. When 
the Indians who had supported Carrera witnessed his success over the 
Liberals, they returned to the security of their highland villages. By 
1851, the mandamiento was reinstituted. Carrera in the same year, 
however, did order a compilation of juridical proceedings to be followed 
in questions involving Indians and at various points in his period of rule 
reinstituted those po'rtions of Spanish colonial legislation that had pro-
39 
vided legal protection to the Indians. 
That reaction to over two decades of suppression would eventually 
become expressive was to be expected. Carrera1 s death in 1865 had 
left the Conservatives with the problem of finding a suitable replace 
ment. Vicente Cerna, selected by Carrera to replace him, lacked 
the presence and initiative of his former chief and was unable to quell 
40 
the reaction that would soon unseat him. 
In 1869 when Vicente Cerna was just beginning his second term in 
office open opposition to continued Conservative rule had been evident 
for some time. Serapio Cruz led the first revolt against Cerna and his 
Conservative supporters but was unsuccessful.^* Subsequent attempts 
89 
by Cruz and Justo Rufino Barrios likewise proved unsuccessful, Barrios 
fleeing to Mexico. It was in Mexico, however, that Barrios eventually 
joined with another prominent liberal refugee, Miguel García Granados 
and together they were able to topple the Conservatives from power. 
Financial assistance from Guatemalan Liberals, from the United States, 
and support from Benito Juárez in Mexico, helped their cause. By June 
of 1871 the Liberals were in complete control and García Granados had 
been elected as provisional president. After a brief experience in the 
presidency in which the Liberals cemented their new political power, 
García Granados stepped aside, allowing Justo Rufino Barrios to fulfill 
42 
the promise of a popular and progressive government. 
Justo Rufino Barrios, Guatemalan by birth and a lawyer by profes-
43 
sion, in many respects was the ideal of a nineteenth-century Liberal. 
An individual of character and considerable presence, he had exhibited 
in his opposition to Cerna anticlericalism and a strong desire to bring 
progress and civilization to Guatemala. He was an astute and persua 
sive man of firm convictions who believed that democratic principles 
rather than medievalism held the hope for Guatemala. Wielding consi 
derable power, he was able to control the political destinies of Guate 
mala from 1873 until 1885. He gathered the most enlightened leaders 
around him and brought a considerable number of changes to Guatemala. 
Seeing the Catholic Church as the obstacle to Liberal progress, 
Barrios so limited its influence that it virtually had no role whatsoever 
90 
in public affairs. The Jesuit Order was expelled as were many in the 
Church hierarchy. Nunneries were forbidden and religious endowments 
were placed under state management. Clerics were placed under state 
management. Clerics were forbidden a role in public education. Civil 
marriages became obligatory, public religious processions were dis 
allowed, and a good percentage of the Church's land holdings were con-
44 
fiscated. 
The Liberal reforms, however, entailed much more than an active 
anticlericalism. In an effort to end the patria chica orientation of local 
officials and to create a form of local government more consistent with 
the national government, the duties and responsibilities of the jefes 
políticos, or provincial governors were more clearly defined. Charged 
with numerous duties including the maintenance of public order, the pro 
tection of life and property, the regulation of relations between Ladinos 
and Indians, the prosecution of law breakers, and numerous other tasks, 
the jefe político was periodically to report to the national government 
and was subject to review. By encouraging new industries, promoting 
agricultural diversification and enforcing the laws on public education, 
the provincial governor was to become an arm of the central govern 
ment and an agent of liberal reform. 
Numerous were the efforts undertaken by Barrios to create a more 
modern Guatemala. Through a series of arrangements with the United 
States, technologists were contracted for building railroads, installing 
91 
plumbing, introducing agricultural machinery, constructing telephone 
45 
and telegraph lines, and organizing an electrical system. Experts 
were sent in for advice in the cultivation of crops. Barrios began an 
extensive road construction program and opened new ports in an effort 
to improve transportation and stimulate commerce. In an effort to 
create a more diversified economy, potential producers of coffee, ba 
nanas, rubber, and cacao were given financial inducements of various 
types. The entire banking system of the country was overhauled and 
improved considerably with the establishment of a National Bank and 
later the Banco Agrícola de Occidente. Education was promoted through 
out the republic. Yet how did all of this affect the Indian in Guatemala? 
With but a few notable exceptions, the liberal and progressive revo 
lution was only felt by the non-Indian population of Guatemala. Although 
Barrios travelled extensively throughout the country and seemed to take 
an immense pride in associating with the humble poor of the country, 
he essentially regarded the Indian as would a patron, a race to be ex-
46 
ploited. The lands of the Indians, as those of the Church, were fre 
quently confiscated as new haciendas employing hundreds of Indian la 
borers were developed. Under Barrios the mandamiento was not ended 
but expanded and a new vagrancy law was adopted which was utilized as 
the legal means of gathering potential Indian laborers not snared by the 
47 
mandamiento. 
There were, however, a few laws designed to favor the Indian popu-
92 
lace of Guatemala. In December of 1871, apparently realizing that 
often the distinction between Ladinos and Indians was one which was a 
potential problem for government, particularly at the local level, a 
decree was passed allowing for the election of Indian municipal officials 
in San Pedro Pinula. Effectively speaking, for the first time since the 
colonial period the sanctioning of local Indian governmental officials 
came from the national government. In this case there was to be a 
Ladino alcalde and an Indian alcalde as well as three Ladino regidores 
and three Indian regidores. ° Another primary step was taken in Oc 
tober of 18 76 when it was declared by governmental decree that the In 
dians of San Pedro Sacatepéquez were to be accorded the same legal 
rights as Ladinos and were to be permitted to wear Ladino clothing. 
With these two decrees the promise of equality of status before the 
law and equality of local political rights was at least expressed in 
49 
legal form. 7 
With three decrees passed in 1879, 1880, and 1881, an effort was 
made to open educational facilities to Indians. Intended as measures 
to alter the incapacity of the Indians and to educate them, the decree 
passed on September 6, 1879 incorporated the municipality of Jocote-
nango, populated largely by natives, into Guatemala City and founded 
a school which would be dedicated exclusively to the "civilization" of 
the Indians. Yields from the communal lands of Jocotenango were to 
be used to support the school. In the following year Barrios established 
in Quezaltenango a preparatory school for Indian children. ^° In 1881 
93 
a liceo for Indian girls was set up in Cobán where it was hoped that the 
future students would not only be able to learn Spanish but would re 
ceive the opportunity to learn a practical trade and "las nociones mas 
y 5.1 
indispensables para la vida practica. M These schools constituted 
another limited beginning toward an indigenista-oriented educational 
program. Educate the Indian and they will become an operative part 
of republican Guatemala seemed to be the underlying philosophy. Al 
though the Indians might be incorporated into the Liberal scheme of 
things through education, they were to remain under Barrios, as under 
former regimes, the basic labor element in Guatemala and still the ex 
ploited sector of Guatemala. 
In 1876 in an effort to lend encouragement to the production of coffee, 
a decree was passed allowing jefes políticos to assign agricultural 
workers to various coffee fincas. On the one hand the decree sought 
to limit some of the abusive practices of those employing Indian laborers, 
but on the other hand it attempted to provide the labor force necessary 
for the expansion of this new industry. Coffee production in 1870 had 
amounted to 113, 000 quintales and Barrios hoped to increase this con 
siderably by instituting labor controls as well as the limitation of taxes 
52 
and duties. The decree specified the number of Indian workers in a 
given area who could be assigned as finca laborers. Salaries to be paid 
such workers were to be verified as fair by the local alcalde. Finqueros 
defrauding their workers were to be punished and all laborers were sub-
94 
ject to the vagrancy laws. At this point in his regime, Justo Rufino 
Barrios saw the Indian laborer as the key to economic improvement 
and utilized his position to achieve this goal. By 1880 coffee produc 
tion had increased by over one hundred and fifty percent. 
A decree which became law in April 1877, sought to regularize the 
nature of labor relationships between employers and employees. Under 
this law the patron or his authorized representative was to maintain 
order on his finca, assure that his workers did not owe debts to another 
patron, provide living quarters and a plot of land for personal use for 
each jornalero and his family, permit his employees to contract for 
work elsewhere if they so desired with written consent from the patron, 
and provide the worker with a libreto stating the particular terms of his 
53 
work contract and his financial obligation if any to the patron. The 
patrones were to provide an adequate and sanitary diet to the workers, 
provide a free school on fincas where ten percent or more workers 
and their families were permanently housed and make available to the 
nearest governmental authority a list of those jornaleros obligated to 
work on the roads. The patrones were not to punish their workers in 
any way but were to turn over troublesome cases to local authorities. 
Failure to comply with these several provisions would draw fines. 
Under the decree workers were divided into three groups, colonos, 
jornaleros habilitados and jornaleros no habilitados. A colono was de 
fined as a laborer who both resided and worked on a given finca, usually 
95 
by contract or rent arrangements. The colono was obligated to make 
himself available for work for a stated salary and the contract was not 
to be for a period in excess of four years. The colono was not to leave 
the finca without written permission from the patron. A jornalero 
habilitado worked for wages only, this often being paid in advance. 
The jornalero no habilitado was to work as his counterpart, but would 
receive a salary upon completion of his tasks. Both the colonos and 
particularly the jornaleros were subject to the mandamiento, the num 
ber to be taken from a given finca not to exceed seventy. If the work 
site for a crew secured via a mandamiento was located in the same de 
partment, the service time was to be between eight and fifteen days. 
If outside the department where the finca was located, one month was 
to be the service time. All workers were further subject to military 
service and were to be registered with the local military commander. 
Although the decree did not provide for the punishment of patrones or 
government officials who exploited the Indian workers, the decree was 
more a justification for the use of Indian laborers than an effort to pro 
tect their rights. 
The Indian remained under the Liberal regime of Justo Rufino Bar 
rios a second-class citizen. The indigenista persuasion of Barrios 
was essentially limited to an effort to promote the education of the 
Indian. Barrios wanted the Indian to be raised to Ladino standards. 
Forced labor laws he believed were a necessity if Guatemala were to 
96 
advance agriculturally, particularly in coffee production. 55 As on many 
previous occasions the needs of the boom and bust economy of Guatemala 
had taken precedence over the basic needs of the Indian. Although phil 
osophically speaking Barrios recognized the potential of the Indian ma 
jority and through legislation attempted to preserve some aspects of 
this potential, he could not be considered an indigenista. The Indian 
legislation passed during his tenure of office was not designed to alter 
the basic status of the Indian. Indeed, by the end of his regime the 
Indian sector had migrated to the expanding hacienda system leaving 
fewer Indians in possession of their own lands. Barrios, in effect, 
held on to the view that the Indians were to be utilized for the benefit 
of the nation. 
With but a few exceptions the presidential regime of Manuel Lisandro 
Barillas, 1885-1892, was to bring no major developments to a slowly 
evolving indigenismo. Lisandro Barillas's success in carrying out the 
reforms of his predecessor was severely limited. He did, however, in 
December of 1889 pass legislation geared toward granting legal title to 
56 
lands held by Indians in Alta Verapaz. The decree referred to only 
one area of Guatemala and did not concern the Indians living in the rest 
of the republic. 
However, under the regime of José María Reina Barrios consider 
able attention was given to the Indian situation. During his term of 
office, a period when the first national printing press was established 
and when social life, the arts and new industries were encouraged, the 
97 
Indian was not completely forgotten. Reina Barrios recognized that 
the Indian majority was not effectively part of the Guatemalan national 
experience and in 1892 he took the first step in several decades to do 
something about it. In an effort to include the Indian in this experience, 
his exclusion being seen as an obstacle to the country's progress, he 
called an assembly whose task was to arrive at a system whereby the 
level of civilization of the Indians could be improved. 
All who were interested were encouraged to present their ideas in 
written form. Authors were to provide a critical commentary on the 
actual state of the Indians and what could be done to improve their lot. 
The errors of past experiences since the conquest were to be given 
special consideration. The authors of the three winning essays were 
to be given prizes of two thousand, one thousand, and five hundred dol 
lars respectively. It was an effort to understand systematically the 
plight of the Indians. This step was designed to gather opinions and 
encourage interest in the Indian problem and arrive at some solutions 
to the problem that could be put into practice legally and otherwise. 
Reina Barrios believed that if the Indians were exposed to Ladinos some 
advance could be made. This exposure was to serve in breaking down 
the separateness of the Indians. In 1892 in the municipalities of Sum-
pango in Sacatepéquez and Alzatate in Jalapa were declared to be com 
posed legally of both Indians and Ladinos. In the municipality of Totoni 
capán another decree accorded Indians the same burial rights as Ladinos. 
98 
In the same year the president decreed that all Indians in Alta Verapaz 
and Baja Verapaz were to be exempt from military service during the 
school year. Such exemption was to be for the purpose of teaching the 
57 
Indians Spanish. 
On October 23, 1893 Reina Barrios declared that from the fifteenth 
of March 1894 all mandamientos for jornaleros of Indian blood were to 
be abolished. Beyond this date Indian jornaleros were free to nego-
58 
tiate labor contracts with whomever they wished. With this decree 
the institution that had been the most abusive of the Indians since the 
first decades of the sixteenth century was ended. Swept out with the 
mandamiento would be the financial payoffs from finqueros to willing 
administrators and bureaucrats for special consideration and a host 
of other irregularities that fostered dishonest government. 
The underlying motive behind the issuance of this decree was that 
the mandamiento denied to the Indians their constitutionally guaran 
teed rights of liberty, equality, personal security, and the security 
of one's property. The decree further affirmed that the mandamiento 
was in opposition to several basic goals of the current administration, 
these being the emancipation of the Indians from their state of prostra 
tion and their improvement through education. Implied was the con 
tention that economic development could only occur in a system where 
labor agreements could be formulated freely and openly between all 
parties involved. This decree which must have been a surprise to 
99 
many Guatemalan landowners who utilized the mandamiento was fol 
lowed by another on October 24, 1893, which provided for separate 
municipal elections for Indian and Ladino officials in Totonicapán, 
this providing Indians with the opportunity to take part in local elec-
59 
tions • 
Firmly believing that the Indians should be given an education de 
signed to facilitate their incorporation into Guatemalan affairs, Reina 
Barrios signed into law in 1893 decree number 474 providing for the 
establishment of the first national Indian Institute whose chief aim was 
to aid in the "civilization11 of the Indians. The Institute was to operate 
on the government-owned finca Aceituno and was to be provided with 
a monthly budget of 4, 000 dollars. The Institute's officials were to 
begin as soon as possible in selecting students from the various re 
gions of Guatemala. 
On January 20, 1894, another institute was created, the Instituto 
Agrícola de Indígenas. Realizing that agriculture was Guatemala's 
economic foundation, Reina Barrios hoped that with this institute the 
Indian through training could enter this sector of Guatemalan economy 
and not only be of benefit to himself but to the entire economy. A 
director appointed by the President was to see to the functioning of 
the Institute which was to become operative under the supervision of 
the Ministry of Instruction. The fundamental aim of the Institute was 
to civilize the Indian students and acquaint them with modern agricul-
100 
tur al methods and techniques. As the entire curriculum, four years 
in length, was based upon the assumption that the students upon com 
pletion of their studies would return to their native villages, various 
aspects of horticulture, crop rotation and climatology were emphasized. 
Although the Instituted program was quite regimented by modern 
standards and although it tended to be repressive of Indian customs and 
traditions, it represented a bold effort and at least a start toward end 
ing the misery of a few Indian youths by providing them with the basics 
for overcoming their circumstances. Unfortunately neither the Insti 
tuto Nacional Central Indígenas or the Instituto Agrícola de Indígenas 
would develop as fully operative institutions. The failure to imple 
ment the decrees authorizing these institutes and the death of Reina 
Barrios in 1898 left the task of creating a viable system of Indian educa-
61 
tion to the twentieth century. 
Reina Barrios did not, however, end his Indian program here. A 
new work code was formulated in February of 1894 which was followed 
by another in May of 1894. With the two work codes the Indian laborer 
acquired some rights not previously held. The code was written with 
several goals in mind, namely the stimulation of agricultural produc 
tion, the ending of vagrancy, the regularizing of relations between 
workers and hacendados, the alleviation of some of the dangers facing 
Guatemala's nascent agricultural industries, the elimination of some 
of the former abuses of the mandamiento laws, and the creation of a 
101 
work code where the conditions of supply and demand could come into 
62 
effective play. 
The work laws, among other things, enumerated a series of res 
ponsibilities of the patron which had not appeared in such detail on any 
previous occasion. These included the maintenance of order on the 
finca, keeping an accurate list of employees including colonos, utili 
zing written work contracts including a stated salary for every colono, 
and providing a sufficient diet and sanitary living accommodations for 
every employee and his family. The patron was to have all of his 
workers vaccinated against smallpox, provide a free school for the 
education of the employee's children, present annual reports to the 
local authorities on the outstanding work periods each colono owed to 
the patron, maintain accurate financial reports, especially as they 
related to the colonos and in cases involving crime, report such to 
the local authorities for whatever juridic action that was appropriate. 
Under no circumstances was the colono to be forced to work against 
his will. This was designed to plug the several legal loopholes that 
63 
had been used on former occasions to acquire native laborers. 
The colono was to make himself available for work for the salary 
and conditions stated in the contract and he was to obey the orders of 
the patron and his agents. He was to maintain a work report or libreto 
and was not to be obligated to more than one patron at any given time. 
The worker was not to obligate himself for more than four years at a 
102 
time and if required to travel a long distance to the worksite, was to 
be paid for the time spent in traveling. 
In an effort to correct the practices of former years when colonos 
were tricked and forced into military service, all Indian laborers who 
worked for three months or more on coffee, sugar cane or banana plan 
tations were to be exempt from such service. To determine who was 
eligible for military service and who was to be exempt, periodic reports 
were to be presented by the patron to the local military commander. As 
a means of enforcing the law, jueces de agricultura were to be named 
for each agricultural zone in the country. Their responsibilities were 
to include solving all contract disputes between workers' and patrones, 
dealing with delinquents and law-breakers among the colonos, and 
granting travel papers to those colonos who were free of obligations 
and wished to seek a means of livelihood elsewhere. ^ 
Although these codes sought to solve several problems and achieve 
several goals, by more recent standards they could hardly be said to 
have provided a situation where the colono could exercise any freedom 
of choice in selecting the type of work he desired. Through various 
means often quite subtle including the tienda de raya or company store, 
the colono could be maintained in a perpetual state of indebtedness to 
the patron and difficult it was to obtain permission to leave a finca 
when one was financially indebted to the patron. Although the living 
conditions of the colonos were to be improved, this being a responsi-
103 
bility of the patron, deficiencies were apparently the rule rather than 
the exception. 
Seldom was a respectable education provided the young people of 
a finca. Without a signed boleto de solvencia, the colono's freedom to 
search for another position was severely curtailed. The two codes, in 
naming certain exceptions to military service and in spelling out obli 
gations of the patron toward their workers, seemed to be effective in 
limiting the horizons of exploitation visible in previous decades. As 
far as freeing the Indian from his predetermined role as a worker, they 
were not effective. This legislation which might have become part of 
the foundation for a truly effective indigenista program, however, not 
only came to an environment unprepared for such a persuasion, but 
was abruptly ended by the assassination of President Reina Barrios in 
1898. 
José María Reina Barrios was the first president of Guatemala 
since Mariano Gálvez to recognize openly not only the potential of the 
Indian majority but att empted to define and utilize this potential as it 
applied to the overall social and economic structure of the nation. 
Through a series of labor laws and educational reforms Reina Barrios 
sought to provide the Indian as laborer or student with some feeling of 
self-determination at least to the extent that he would by his own voli 
tion and official encouragement undertake to exercise his capabilities 
in a manner meaningful to him as well as to the national society to 
104 
which he belonged. With legislation that was both protectionistic and 
designed to improve the circumstances of the Indian, Reina Barrios 
hoped to make the identity of the Indian one that was consistent with 
what he felt constituted the social and economic identity of Guatemala. 
Although his death terminated efforts to implement fully much of this 
legislation which would have, in effect, westernized the Indian and 
made him into a newly culturated Ladino, a genuine if not idealistic 
and simplistic attempt at what could be concluded to have been a pre 
liminary form of indigenismo had been discussed and initially promul 
gated into law. As the arts and the ethic of progress flourished during 
the short regime of Reina Barrios, so did thoughts of the Indian and 
how this untapped potential could be harnessed to create eventually 
a national republic wherein Ladino and Indian alike could function fully 
as citizens. 
The man who succeeded Reina Barrios in the presidency shared 
neither his interest in the Indian nor his desire to implement some 
program designed to alter the Indian1 s circumstances. Manuel Estrada 
Cabrera, who remained in office for over two decades as a despot who 
had not been truly enlightened, ruled Guatemala with an iron hand that 
left little room for social or economically oriented programs designed 
to better the Indian. Although notable advances were made in transpor 
tation and some impetus was given to education, the Indian remained 
in a state of peonage. 
105 
Although a law passed in 1909 might have made the jueces de agri 
cultura more representative of Indian interests by giving them exten 
sive judicial and administrative powers to review and take action on 
all cases involving excessive or unfair exploitation, this did not occur. 
The records kept by the jueces de agricultura of the colonos working 
on each finca in their area, the degree of indebtedness of each Indian 
worker, the nature of their work contract, and other statistics were 
more often than not used for various political or personal reasons. 
The tendency to use government to satisfy the interests and demands 
of the few permeated even the highest levels of public service as Es 
trada Cabrera was re-elected on at least one occasion by a majority 
greater than the entire pppulation of Guatemala. For promises of 
various sorts, Indian colonos were transported to election sites in 
numbers greater than in other elections to cast their votes for the 
caudillo who offered them aguardiente and a day away from their 
toils. 
Throughout Estrada Cabrera's regime, the Indians on occasions 
were mistreated to the extreme and seldom did they voice any sus 
tained or overt opposition. In 1898, however, the Indian population of 
San Juan Ixcoy provided a marked exception to this general trend. For 
some time the Indians in this area had been subjected to nearly inhu 
man treatment by the local Ladino population who imposed lengthy 
work periods and excessive tributes. On July 17, 1898, the repressed 
106 
hatred the Indians felt toward the Ladinos surfaced and took the path 
of violence. Virtually all of the Ladino population of San Juan Ixcoy, 
including women and children, were exterminated and a substantial 
portion of the town, including the municipal buildings, were destroyed. 
Order was restored quickly to San Juan Ixcoy by the Guatemalan army. 
The fact that nothing was done to correct the distress that was instru 
mental in triggering this violence until many years later remains in 
structive of the lack of concern for the Indian in Guatemala during the 
Cabrera regime. 
After two decades of repression and dictatorial rule, political op 
ponents of Estrada Cabrera in 1919 organized the Unionist Party which 
soon became dedicated to overthrowing his government. By April of 
1920, their efforts came to fruition as the dictator was deposed follow 
ing a ten-day revolution. 
With the ousting of Estrada Cabrera from power, the political at 
mosphere seemed primed to accept some change that would erase the 
dictatorial personalismo that had been Guatemala for the past two 
decades. The impetus for progressive reform that had been expressed 
by the Unionist Party and various Liberal political elements was not to 
forget completely the Indian and his mountain of needs. In December 
of 1920 under the provisional presidency of Carlos Herrera, a decree 
was passed which was to attempt to alter the educational inadequacies 
of the Indian. Herrera, like Barrios, wanted to begin an educational 
107 
program for the Indians which, if successful, in due time would pro 
vide a basis for meaningful and substantial change. 
An Indian Normal School was established in Guatemala City. The 
Institution was provided with a yearly budget of 60,000 pesos. One hun 
dred Indian students were to be enrolled in the school, each with a gov-
68 
ernment scholarship of four hundred pesos. Although this was only 
a minor step, given the breadth of Guatemala's Indian population of ap 
proximately one million at this time, it revealed at least a concern for 
the depressed majority of the republic's population. The fact that the 
school made excellent progress spoke well for the experiment which 
was designed to create a corps of Indian elementary school teachers 
who would return to their rural villages throughout Guatemala and im 
part their acquired knowledge to others. Reflective of the educational 
institutions being advocated by José Vasconcelos in Mexico in this time, 
the establishment of this Normal School, however, was to be only a 
beginning and a sample of a progressive urge that would be manifested 
in many areas. 
When José María Orellana, an astute and talented administrator, 
was elected president in December of 1921, reform and innovation be 
came the by-words of his administration. One of his first tasks was 
to attempt to put the Guatemalan financial house in order. A commis 
sion was appointed to study the Guatemalan financial situation and make 
recommendations. Basing many of his policies upon the findings and 
108 
suggestions of this commission, Orellana stabilized the national cur 
rency, instituted the concept of a balanced budget which would allow a 
surplus that could be used in the liquidation of national debts, encour 
aged the expansion of agricultural production and directed the passage 
of a series of laws designed to protect property, capital and labor. In 
1923 a Central Bank was established and measures were undertaken to 
provide for an efficient and sound system of currency circulation. ^ 
The President, however, did not limit his efforts to the financial 
sphere. 
In the areas of health and education Orellana was active. Several 
primary schools were established throughout the republic and existing 
ones were repaired. A School of Medicine was organized and an Aca 
demy of Teachers was begun. Teachers1 salaries were increased and 
scholarships for further study were made available. A system of in 
spection of educational facilities was instituted and a progressive ap 
proach to curricula and the body of laws regarding primary education 
was undertaken. To meet the more practical educational needs of 
Guatemala, schools for the teaching of arts and crafts, agriculture, 
and commerce were organized and subsidized by the government. Li 
braries were established in several regions of the republic including 
the National Library which opened in 1925. Also organized were a 
National Archeological Museum and a National Museum of Ethnology 
and History on the format of similar Mexican institutions which in con-
109 
junction with the libraries were to provide learning facilities for all 
Guatemalans. In the field of health the President was instrumental in 
establishing a school of nursing, passing laws designed to regulate the 
pharmacy profession and the sale and distribution of drugs, and in co 
operating with the Rockefeller Foundation in its campaigns against 
diseases. A variety of other measures promised eventually to aid the 
Indian, but provided few immediate benefits. 
Orellana1 s sudden death of a heart attack in 1925 did not end his im-
70 
petus to reform. Lázaro Chacón, who succeeded Orellana, was gen 
erally successful in following his predecessor's energetic programs. 
Concerned about the lack of juridic recourse for the common people, 
Chacón in 1926 created a governmental agency whose assignment was 
to provide legal defense and assistance for those who would otherwise 
be unable to obtain such assistance. The agency was also to oversee 
the rights of the state in pending legal matters. A National Mortgage 
Bank was begun in 1929 to make available long-term loans on mortgages 
and in 1930 the National Bank of Guatemala was opened. 
The President followed the efforts of Orellana by promoting further 
penal reforms, encouraging the foundation of an institute to combat il 
literacy and sponsoring the organization of a National Council of Edu 
cation, which would consider educational reform of various types and 
the organization of the nation's schools. Inducements for teachers 
including scholarships and the improvement of educational standards 
110 
were implemented as was the first rural school in 1929 which was to 
teach courses in farming and the mechanical arts to Indian students. 
Industrial schools were also established as were textile schools. The 
People1 s University offering evening courses to workers was expanded 
and emphasis was given literacy programs. Libraries were authorized 
to expand their collections at government expense. Health stations 
throughout Guatemala were opened by the Chacón administration in an 
effort to bring medical treatment to rural Guatemala. 
The scope of activities of the Department of Agriculture was expan 
ded considerably as programs for the free distribution of seeds, the 
organization of agricultural expositions and the initiation of a body of 
instructors of agriculture to provide the rural farmer with instruction 
in various types of agriculture were begun. An Agricultural Experi 
mental School was founded in Jalapa in 1927 for the purpose of studying 
means of using public lands, giving assistance to farmers and attempt 
ing to raise the standard of living of rural Guatemala. An Agricultural 
Credit Institute was authorized in 1929 to provide loans to farmers. Cha 
con's energies on behalf of reform, improvement and modernization 
were only cut short by changing political fortunes and a revolution which 
71 
brought Jorge Ubico to power. 
Although the decade of progressive experience under the regimes 
of José María Orellana and Lázaro Chacón had accomplished a great 
deal, little of this would immediately and directly affect the Indian 
Ill 
population in Guatemala. The Ubico era, largely because of a lack of 
attention to social matters and a different orientation, would eventually 
nullify many of these accomplishments. Important, however, is the 
fact that many of these advances made in the 1920ls helped to create 
the environment and the institutions or tools that would later prove to 
be necessary and considerably useful in the implementation of an in 
tegrative and viable indigenismo. The fact that much of the legislation 
passed during this period was not directly aimed at the Indian resulted 
in little effect upon the Indian. Simply to legislate and establish pro 
grams was not enough. 
The one hundred and thirty year period from 1800 to 1930 in Guate 
mala was one in which the very fabric of Guatemala was altered and 
modified in countless ways. A colony of Spain in 1800 was in 1930 a 
nation engulfed in the complexities of the twentieth century. Much of 
this, however, affected the Indians of Guatemala in only a limited man 
ner. This was particularly true in the area of legislation designed to 
either improve the lot of the Indian or protect him from abuse. Al 
though some notable legislative efforts had taken place under the re 
gime of Mariano Gálvez, Guatemala was not prepared either socially 
or economically for any program of far reaching reform. 
The financial difficulties of Guatemala asa state in the Federation 
of Central America in itself indicated the difficulty even one as talented 
as Gálvez would face in bringing about any program of social change. 
112 
The forces and the difficulties created by regionalism, political unpre-
paredness, the religious question, an economic monoculture, instabil 
ity, and a general disdain for things Indian on many fronts utterly ab 
sorbed whatever energies, which, had circumstances been different, 
might have been channeled toward the Indian. Following the dictatorial 
era of Rafael Carrera, the Liberal reaction headed by Justo Rufino Bar 
rios largely considered the Indian to be simply a tool for economic advance 
and modernization. The Liberal accomplishments of the period benefited 
the Creole and the Ladino rather than the Indian. Under José María Rei 
na Barrios some promising starts were made in the area of indigenista 
legislation and a serious attempt was made via this legislation to consi 
der the identity of the Indian as being a basic part of the identity of Gua 
temala as a whole. However, the premature death of the President and 
the long and repressive regime of Manuel Estrada Cabrera which fol 
lowed nullified the advances made previously. 
Although the 1920!s brought to Guatemala an impressive array of 
reforms and truly progressive legislation which in time would have 
benefited the indigenous groups in Guatemala, the Ubico years which 
followed failed to direct these accomplishments toward the majority of 
Guatemala's population. When compared to the depth of discomfort ex 
perienced by Guatemala's Indians whose situation had changed little 
from what it had been in the colonial .period, it becomes abundantly 
clear that the few achievements in indigenista legislation between 1800 
113 
and 1930 at best only indicated that a difficult situation existed. Yet 
even this point of view was supported or expressed only by a minute 
portion of Guatemala's population who could be said to have been poli 
tically and socially aware and knowledgeable and in a position to make 
their views known. 
Much of the legislation of this long period was not reflective of the 
conditions and circumstances at hand. Although Gálvez and Rufino Bar 
rios appeared to envision the Indian as having a definite and important 
role in society, the exact nature of this role in the form of an overall 
view was not evident for a period of time that could ensure its full de 
velopment as a philosophy of government. The legislation appeared to 
have as its premise the view that the Indian was a part of Guatemala. 
Various decrees were passed to assure this identity or express it. Per 
manently to implant this identity was another matter. A more cohesive 
national policy which recognized the Indian problem and sought to iden 
tify the Indian as the most fundamental element in the national reality 
of Guatemala awaited another era. 
NOTES 
CHAPTER II 
1 
Arturo Valdés Oliva, Caminos y luchas por la independencia 
(Guatemala: Editorial del Ministerio de Educación Publica, 1956), 
pp. 56-119. 
2 
Julio Hernández Sifontes. Realidad jurídica del indígena guate 
malteca (Guatemala: Departamento Editorial "José de Pineda Ibarra, " 
1965), p. 218. 
3Ibid., p. 219. 
4 
Ibid. , pp. 218-20. 
5Raymond Carr, Spain, 1808-1939 (New York: Oxford University 
Press, 1966), pp. 97-99. 
^Hernández Sifontes, Realidad jurídica del indígena guatemalteca, 
p. 224. 
J. Daniel Contreras R. , Una rebelión indígena en el partido de 
Totonicapán en 1820: El indio y la independencia (Guatemala: Imprenta 
Universitaria, 1951), p. 135. 
8 
Ibid. , p. 3.1. 
9 
Ibid., p. 37. 
10 
Ibid. 
11 Ibid. , pp. 67-70. 
12 
Valdés Oliva, Caminos y luchas por la independencia, pp. 147-50. 
13 
Franklin D. Parker, The Central American Republics (New York: 
Oxford University Press, 1964), pp. 77-79. 
14 
Ralph Lee Woodward, Central America: A Nation Divided (New 
York: Oxford University Press, 1976), pp. 92-95; Mario Rodriguez, 
Central America (Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc. , 
1965), pp. 63-70. 114 
115 
15 
32 
p. 232. 
Hernández Sifontes, Realidad jurídica del indígena guatemalteca, 
Hernández Sifontes, Realidad jurídica del indígena guatemalteca. 
p. 228. 
16 
Jorge Skinner-Klee, Legislación indigenista de Guatemala 
(Mexico: Instituto Indigenista Interamer icano, 1964), p. 17. 
17 
Franklin D. Parker, Travels in Central America, 1821-1840 
(publication data not cited in this copy), p. 103. 
18Ibid. , p. 114. 
19 
Miriam Williford, MThe Educational Reforms of Dr. Mariano 
Gálvez, M Journal of Inter American Studies (July, 1968), p. 463. 
20 
Jorge Luis Arrióla, Galvez en la encrucijada (Mexico: B. 
Costa-Amic, 1961), pp. 163-64. 
21 
Jorge Luis Arrióla, rfEn torno al humanismo politico del Doctor 
Mariano Gálvez, 11 Anales de la sociedad de geografía y historia (enero -
diciembre, I960), p, 36. 
^Skinner-KLee, Legislación indigenista de Guatemala, p. 17. 
23 
Arrióla, Gálvez en la encrucijada, p. 165. 
24Ibid. , p. 166. 
Arrióla, nEn torno al humanismo político del Doctor Mariano 
Gálvez, 11 p. 3 7. 
26 
Williford, "The Educational Reforms of Dr. Mariano Gálvez, ,f 
pp. 463-65. 
27 
Skinner-Klee, Legislación indigenista de Guatemala, p. 22. 
28 
Ángel Rosenblat, La población indígena, 1492-1950 (Buenos 
Aires: Editorial Nova, 1954), p. 175. 
2^Amy Elizabeth Jensen, Guatemala: A Historical Survey (New 
York: Exposition Press, 1955), p. 77. 
30 
Arrióla, Gálvez en la encrucijada, pp. 245-91. 
31Ibid. , pp. 297-302. 
116 
33 Miriam Williford,
 11 Las luces y la civilización, the Social 
Reforms of Mariano Gálvez, 11 Applied Enlightenment-Nineteenth Cen-
tury Liberation (New Orleans: Tulane University Press, 1972), p. 35. 
• 34 
Skinner-KLee, Legislación indigenista de Guatemala, p. 23. 
35 
Ibid. , pp. 23-24; Ruth Bunzel, "The Role of Alcoholism in 
Two Central American Cultures, " Psychiatry, Vol. Ill, No. 3 (1940), 
pp. 366-87. 
36 
Skinner-Klee, Legislación indigenista de Guatemala, pp. 25-28. 
37 
Ibid. , p. 31. 
38 
Chester Lloyd Jones, Guatemala: Past and Present (New York: 
Russell and Russell, 1966), p. 43. 
39 
Hernández Sifontes, Realidad jurídica del indígena guatemalteca, 
p. 237; Woodward, Central America: A Nation Divided, pp. 114-16; 
Keith L. Miceli, HRafael Carrera: Defender and Promoter of Peasant 
Interest in Guatemala, 1837-1848, ,r The Americas, XXXI (July, 1974), 
pp. 78, 83-93. 
40 
Ibid., pp. 92. 
41 
Jones, Guatemala: Past and Present, pp. 47-92. 
42 
Ibid. 
43Paul Burgess, Justo Rufino Barrios: A Biography (Philadelphia: 
Dorance and Co. , 1926), pp. 134-35. 
44 
Jensen, Guatemala: A Historical Survey, p. 90. 
45 
Ibid., p. 92. 
46 
Burgess, Justo Rufino Barrios: A Biography, pp. 155-56. 
47 
Richard N. Adams, The Crucifixion of Power (Austin: Univer 
sity of Texas Press, 1970), pp. 177-425. 
48 
Skinner-KLee, Legislación indigenista de Guatemala, p. 33. 
5°Hernández Sifontes, Realidad jurídica del indígena guatemalteca, 
p. 244. 
117 
51 Skinner-Klee, Legislación indigenista de Guatemala, p. 43. 
52 
Sanford A. Mosk, 1'Economía Cafetalera de Guatemala durante 
el período 1850-1918, u Economía de Guatemala (Guatemala: Editorial 
del Ministerio de Educación Pública, 195 8), p. 167. 
53 
Guatemala, Decreto Gubernativo No. 177, "Reglamento de 
Jornaleros, ,r abril 3, 1877. 
54 
Ibid. 
55 
Burgess, Justo Rufino Barrios: A Biography, p. 163. 
56 
Guatemala, Acuerdo gubernativo de diciembre 3, 1889. 
57 
Skinner-Klee, Legislación indigenista de Guatemala, pp. 47-48. 
58 
Guatemala, Decreto Gubernativo, no. 471 (octuber 23, 1893). 
59 
7 Ibid. 
^Guatemala, Decreto Gubernativo, No. 474 (octubre 3 0, 1893). 
Guatemala, Acuerdo Gobernativo (enero 20, 1894), "Reglamento 
del Instituto Agrícola de Indígenas. ,r 
Guatemala, Decreto Gubernativo, no. 486 (febrero 14, 1894). 
63 
Ibid. 
64 
Ibid. 
65 
Interview, January 22, 1970, Francisco Rodriguez Rouanet, 
Instituto Indigenista Nacional Guatemalteca. 
66 
Adrian Recinos, Monografía del departamento de Huehuetenango 
(Guatemala: Editorial del Ministerio.de Educación Pública, 1954), p. 364. 
ojones, Guatemala: Past and Present, pp. 67-68. 
68 
Guatemala, Decreto Gubernativo No. 773 (diciembre 24, 1920). 
69 
Jensen, Guatemala: A Historical Survey, p. 106. 
70Ibid. , pp. 105-10. 
118 
71 Ibid. 
72 Ibid. , pp. 111-20. 
INDIGENISTA AND INDIAN-ORIENTED 
GUATEMALAN LITERARY "WORKS 
Miguel Angel Asturias El señor presidente; Leyendas de Guatemala; 
Hombres de maiz; Mulata de tal; Viento fuerte; 
El papa~erde; Los""ojos deTbs enterados, 
Francisco Barnoya Galvez Han de estar y estaran. 
Flavio Herrera Caos; El solar de las gonzagas; La gringa. 
Agustín Meneos Franco Don Juan Nunez García 
José Milla Vidaurre El visitador; La hija del adelantado; Los 
"Nazarenos. 
Mario Monteforte Toledo Anaite; Donde acaban los caminos; Entre la 
piedra y la cruz; La cueva~sin quietud. 
Carlos Samayoa Chinchilla Cuatro suertes; Madre milpa. 
Rosendo Santa Cruz Cuadro cae la noche; Tierras de lumbre. 
Rafael Zea Ruano Cactos; Tierra nuestra. 
119 
CHAPTER HI 
INDIGENISMO AND THE INDIAN 
IN GUATEMALAN LITERATURE 
Although the indigenista orientation in Guatemalan literature is 
largely a phenomenon of the twentieth century, its beginnings may be 
traced back to the years of the conquest and the colonial period. In 
deed, the arguments that were presented by Bartolomé de Las Casas, 
Antonio de Montesinos, and several others on behalf of Indian rights 
gained some international recognition not to mention the attention they 
received in Spain. An active interest in the Indians in general and in 
their customs, their traditions, their languages, and their culture was 
soon to be noted in the period following the initial conquest. 
A person who devoted a considerable portion of his energies to the 
studies of the Indian groups in Guatemala was Father Francisco Xirne-
nez. Andalusian by birth, Ximenez came to Guatemala in 1688. An 
astute cleric, he was well versed in the Indian languages soon after 
his arrival and was devoted to the conversion of the natives.''" Through 
his friendly dealings with them while parish priest at Santo Tomas 
Chichicastenango, he soon found himself at the beginning of the eigh 
teenth century in the position of being able to hear stories of the ancient 
Indian traditions and customs. Finally a volume which contained the 
120 
121 
ancient tales of the Quichés was made available for the Dominican's 
perusal. 
The work had been written shortly after the conquest of the Quichés 
by an Indian whose identity remains an uncertainty. Known as the 
Popul Vuh or National Book of the Quichés, it constituted a valuable 
find containing as it did the ancient traditions of the Quiches, their 
3 
cosmological thoughts and the history of their origins. Father Xime 
nez was quick to recognize the value of the book and transcribed the 
original Quiche text and then translated it into Spanish under the title 
Historia del origen de los indios de ésta provincia de Guatemala. Al 
though the fate of the original document is unknown, Ximénez's trans-
4 
lated copy of it is still preserved. 
The Popol Vuh must be considered as one of the most sophisticated 
native documents in the Americas. Although not an indigenista docu 
ment itself, it became, nevertheless, a focal point around which some 
of the indigenista literature would be written. Its stories of the crea 
tion of the universe, the adventures of the semi-gods Juna jap and 
Ixbalamqué, the endless encounters and obstacles overcome by the 
Quiche forefathers, the eventual unification of the clans and tribes, 
the political consolidation of the Quiche empire and descriptions of the 
Quiche's traditions, customs, and religious rites prior to the conquest 
must have excited the imagination and intellectual curiosity of Father 
Ximénez as well as others to follow. The stories of the ancient Quichés 
122 
which were set in an environment of strange combinations of the real 
and the mythological world attracted scholars from many disciplines 
who were seeking to understand some aspect or portion of the Quiche's 
pre-conquest experience. 
The Popol Vuh was a point of embarkation for much of the literary 
productions of Miguel Angel Asturias, the twentieth-century Guatemalan 
writer who strove to understand and explain the psychic orientation of 
the Guatemalan Indian. Composed by an Indian who had learned to write 
in his own language by using Latin characters and one who knew well the 
ancient traditions of his people, the Popol Vuh demonstrated that the 
Quichés possessed a complex and sophisticated culture. This aborigi 
nal document, however, was not the only one which would function as a 
focal point and as a catalyst for the development of an indigenista litera 
ture in Guatemala. 
Another native document around which considerable interest would 
develop in the nineteenth century and later was one entitled The Anna!s 
of the Cakchiquels or Memoria de Solóla. Where the Popol Vuh had 
been concerned with the traditions and history of the Quichés, the An 
nals related the past of the Cakchiquels, a branch of the Maya people, 
who separated from the Quichés about the middle of the fifteenth cen 
tury. The book itself, depicting the struggles, triumphs, and suffer 
ings of this group and their slavery and misery under the Spanish, was 
written at the end of the sixteenth century by several Indian authors who 
123 
had learned the art of modern writing from the Spanish. The document 
was kept in the highland village of Solóla overlooking Lake Atitlán and 
did not become known until it was deposited at the Franciscan monas 
tery in Guatemala. ^ It was first used as an academic source by Father 
Francisco Vasquez, chronicler of the Order of Saint Francis, in his 
account of various episodes in the history of Guatemala. 
The Memoria de Solóla contains information on the legendary begin 
nings of the Cakchiquels, the process of their separation from the Qui 
ches, and the coming of the Spaniards. It ranks equally in importance 
to the Popol Vuh and conforms in several instances to the details there 
presented. The Memoria de Solóla, the Popol Vuh, and other Indian 
documents, including one dealing with the history of the Indians in the 
Totonicapán area, did not receive overt and detailed attention of scho 
lars until the nineteenth century. Besides Francisco Vasquez and Fran 
cisco Ximenez, there were others in the colonial period including Diego 
García de Palacio, Father Avendano y Loyola and Antonio de Remesal 
who knew of aboriginal documents. The impetus toward a detailed in 
vestigation of these sources, however, awaited the republican era. 
In 1746 the Mayan ruins at Palenque in Chiapas were discovered 
accidentally. The importance of this find abroad, however, was not 
felt until 1822 when Antonio del Rio's book about the discovery at Palen-
7 
que was translated into English. This seemed to trigger an interest 
in things Mayan and it was not long before activity would be noted. In 
124 
1840 Frederick Catherwood, a British artist, visited the Mayan ruins 
at Quiriguá and executed a series of sketches. The following year his 
American traveling companion John Lloyd Stephens wrote a book on 
8 
their travels through Central America. By 1848 when Tikal was dis 
covered, the mysteries of the ancient Maya was a topic of conversation 
and debate in many literary and philosophical circles in both Europe 
o 
and in the United States. 
The first after 1840 to dedicate his energies to a systematic and 
scholarly study of the pre-conquest Indians of Guatemala was Charles 
Etienne Brasseur de Bourbourg. Born in the small city of Bourbourg 
in France, he was destined to become one of the most active scholars 
of the Indians of Guatemala. After completing his studies in Rome 
where he was ordained as a priest, Brasseur de Bourbourg was influ 
enced by Prescott's Conquest of Mexico, at least to the extent that he 
decided to embark upon a concentrated study of the Americas. ^ By 
1851 his first literary effort had been published and his interest in the 
Americas was firmly established. In 1854 he visited Guatemala for 
the first time, having been attracted by descriptions of Mayan antiqui 
ties he encountered in the United States. His considerable scholarly pro 
duction attracted several investigators to Guatemala in later years.11" 
Brasseur de Bourbourg* s studies of Mayan topics did not end with 
his translation of Ximenez's manuscript in 1861. While in Guatemala 
he was shown a document written in the Cakchiquel language which had 
125 
been uncovered by Juan Gavarrete in 1844 as he was rearranging the 
archives of the monastery of San Francisco in Guatemala City. After 
mastering the Quiche and Cakchiquel languages, Brasseur de Bourbourg 
translated this into French in 1855 and gave it the title Memoria de Tec-
pán Atitlán. He later translated and had published in 1862 Ximenez's 
study of the Quiche language. Other products of Brasseur de Bourbourg's 
active academic interests were Recherches sur les Ruines de Palenque, 
published in 1866, a translation of Diego de Landa's relaciones, his 
Quatre Lettres sur le Mexique which appeared in 1868, a study of the 
pictograph system used by the Mayas and a work in 1871 entitled Biblio-
the que Mexico -Guatemalienne, which not only enumerated many of the 
documents then available dealing- with the natives of the New World, 
but included the author's comments on some twenty-one years of study 
12 
and travel. His discovery of Diego de Landa's relaciones, which 
contained descriptions of the Mayan calendar, enabled others to begin 
deciphering the Mayan hieroglyphics. Also his work with the Quiche 
language was of such sound quality that it would be utilized in the twen 
tieth century as both a text and a reference source. 
During the last three decades of the nineteenth century several other 
scholars wrote important studies of various Guatemalan Indian topics. 
Writing in 1878, Adolph Bandelier added further knowledge to what ear 
lier had been available about native documents with the publication of 
his study entitled On the Sources of the Aboriginal History of Spanish 
126 
America. His Notes on the Bibliography of Yucatan and Central Amer 
ica and his study called On the Distribution and Tenure of Lands and 
the Customs With Respect to Inheritance Among the Ancient Indians, 
published in 1880 and 1881 respectively, brought the attentions of others 
to the aboriginal past of Guatemala. By 1887 Ernest Forstemann, as 
sociated with the Royal Library of Dresden in Germany, explained for 
the first time the Mayan number system and made an exhaustive study 
13 
of several Mayan manuscripts. At the same time Alfred Maudslay, 
an Englishman who had visited many of the Mayan monuments in Gua-
14 
témala, conducted the first scientific investigations of these. 
Beginning in 1881 Daniel G. Brinton entered the picture and through 
his studies brought to the English speaking world a considerable body 
of information on the Mayans. In 1885 Brinton published The Anna!s 
of the Cakchiquels, which contained extracts from the original manu-
15 
scripts. For the first time this document became known to English 
readers and was no doubt influential to a degree in bringing about the 
institutional studies of the Mayan area especially by Harvard Univer 
sity's Peabody Museum. The result was several important scholarly 
contributions including the discovery of new archeological sites. 
The studies by Carl Sapper, an accomplished scholar, appeared be 
fore the close of the century, as did several works by Otto Stoll on the 
17 
ethnography and ethnology of Guatemala's Indians. All served to pro 
vide the basis for further studies that would be undertaken in the twen-
127 
tieth century. 
These investigators, many of whom were to know Guatemala first 
hand, did not contribute directly to the body of indigenista literature 
and opinion in Guatemala. They did, however, bring to light the nature 
and the dynamics of the Indian past which would later be selected by 
several indigenista writers as topics for their works. In a word, they 
completed some of the preliminary spade work that was necessary for 
the development of an indigenista persuasion in Guatemala. 
Where the nineteenth century was a noticeable renaissance of in 
terest and dedication to things Mayan and Indian, no such persuasion 
or direction of interest on as large a scale was to be seen in Guatema 
lan letters. Certainly a major reason for this was the fact that the 
novel, which would become the chief medium for the artistic expres 
sion of indigenismo was not born until late in the nineteenth century in 
Guatemala. Although various literary tracts prior to this time had 
contained episodes similar to those of the novel, this literary form in 
18 
its true sense did not develop until after the fall of Estrada Calrera. 
Guatemala also did not possess the rich literary tradition that was in 
strumental in many European countries in leading to an earlier develop 
ment of the novel. 
The orientation in literature through much of the first half of the 
nineteenth century was romanticism which in many areas of Latin 
America was dedicated to the themes of progress, patriotism, and 
128 
the ideal of liberty. Given particular emphasis were themes of a his 
torical nature, a search for one's origins and a concern for man's ex 
istence and his development as an individual free from the corrosive 
influences of Europe. The Indian in the literature of this period, how 
ever, in countries like Peru, Bolivia, and Guatemala was recognized 
as an indispensable element in a narrative that was devoted to the his 
torical, the artistic, and the mythological. The Indian was idealized 
by the romantics to the point of being a mythological rather than a real 
being. 
The failure of the development of a rich literature of romanticism 
in Guatemala was due to the fact that much of the material that had 
been written and was being written was done by clerics whose orienta 
tion was didactic rather than practical. Also, in Guatemala the major 
ity of the population during the first half of the nineteenth century was 
illiterate and therefore unable to contribute to the development of a 
rich literary tradition. The separation from Spain had been accom 
plished with little or no fanfare, thus eliminating one of romanticism's 
major themes. Further, the repression of freedom of expression by 
many of the early republican governments was effective in limiting the 
urge for literary achievement. The idea of the Indian asa romantic 
19 
theme came from France, rather than Guatemala. 
In much of the literature produced in France during the seventeenth 
century, the Indian and his life style were given a Utopian interpreta-
129 
tion. The natives were visualized by Montaigne and others as having 
lived in a perfect state before the arrival of the Spaniards. That the 
Spaniards destroyed this environment of innocence by subjecting the 
20 
Indians to Civilization11 was accepted as a fact. Montaigne intro 
duced exoticism to French letters with his detailed descriptions of 
Indian customs, food, and religions and Voltaire followed in 173 6 with 
a philanthropic theme advocating assistance to the Indians in his Alzire 
which would not be encountered until years later in indigenista litera 
ture. By extolling the superior virtues of the Indian and degrading the 
Spaniards, Voltaire used the Indian asa thematic medium for anti 
clerical satire as well as satire of civilization in general. Jean Jacques 
Rousseau's writings, which established the intimate relationship between 
man and nature as well as theories of social contract, were to be impor 
tant contributions to the later development of an indigenista literature 
throughout Latin America. Chateaubriand's artistic expression of the 
theme of the noble savage, Marmontel's criticism of Spanish cruelties 
and abuses of the Indian in his work Les Incas, and Saint Pierre's ex 
altation of the state of naturalness along with the literary productions 
of Voltaire, Rousseau, and Montaigne all provided the initial frame 
work for the development of indigenismo in Guatemala and in Latin 
America. The romantic's nostalgic view of the Indian would be a ve 
hicle in later years that would lead to a more practical and realistic 
21 
consideration of the Indian and his state of being. 
13 0 
The first Guatemalan author of major consequence in the nineteenth 
century to pick up the romantic's concept and visualization of the Indian 
was José Milla Vidaurre, considered by many to be father of the Gua 
temalan novel. A Guatemalan by birth, Milla was inclined toward the 
literary at an early age and was markedly influenced by writers such 
as Dumas, Scott, Hugo, Dickens and others of the romantic period. 
His literary productions were composed in this vein. The atmosphere 
selected for many of his novels including La hija del adelantado, Los 
Nazarenos, and El visitador was the colonial period in Guatemala, the 
era of the peninsulares. In this historical backdrop the author deve-
22 
loped his subjects and themes. 
La hija del adelantado, written in 1866, dealt with a series of epi 
sodes in the life of Pedro de Alvarado and the love expressed by Alva 
rado !s daughter Leonor Alvarado y Jicotencal for Francisco Por tocar-
rero. After describing a series of Indian rebellions which took place, 
the author presented a view of the Guatemalan Indian. The influence 
of romanticism was evident throughout. Although a contrast was pre 
sented between two caciques, Sinacan and Sequechul, the romantics1 
tendency toward idealization was noteworthy. Sinacan, an elderly 
diieftain of the Cakchiquels, represented tradition and established cus 
tom as he methodically contemplated the possible fate of his people 
when they engaged the Spaniards. Sequechul, a cacique of the Quiche, 
reflected somewhat melancholically on his situation but exhibited a 
131 
youthful exuberance characteristic of his years. The two, however, 
were idealized stereotypes in the romantic tradition. Both were es 
sentially without personality or individual character. Sinacan remem 
bered the desperate attempt to defeat the Spanish and cried as he realized 
that all had been lost. Throughout the novel Milla relied upon many Indian 
words to lend authenticity .to the subject matter as did Chateaubriand and 
others. Also presented in the novel were views of the superstitious be 
liefs of the Indians. The general romanticized view of the Indian was 
that held by the dominant class, the Creole. 
In El visitador, his best novel, Milla took his readers to Antigua 
where the political intrigue and the melodramatic atmosphere of colo 
nial Guatemala was presented. In this work a colorful and picturesque 
Indian fiesta was depicted, the fiesta itself recalling the defeat of the 
Indians by the Spanish. Recaptured in detail, the fiesta became sym 
bolic of the Indian's state of being in the colonial world. Milla became 
the first author in Guatemala to pay particular attention to Indian cus 
toms, traditions, and superstitions and to attempt to explain them 
within an artistic framework. In a sense he nationalized these entities 
and in so doing initially developed a characteristic that would appear 
often in later indigenista novels, the emphasis upon the actuality of 
the Indian and his circumstances and the view that the Indian was to 
be identified as part of the Guatemalan reality. 
132 
With the liberal revolution of 1871, some of the former restrictions 
on freedom of expression were lifted thus allowing authors to widen 
their scope and selection of subjects. The curious blend of romanti 
cism with naturalism and realism that was to be found in José Milla1 s 
novels appeared more pronounced in some of the works of Augustin 
Meneos Franco, particularly in his novel Don Juan Nunez Garcia, 
23 
which appeared in 1898. In taking as his subject the rebellion of the 
Tzandal Indians in Chiapas in 1712, a topic which evoked the character 
istic sentimentalism and idealism common to the romantics, Meneos 
Franco presented the Indian characters as real, although their activi 
ties were fictitious. He began the novel with a story of the seduction 
of a young Indian girl related to the Quiche kings by a Spanish official. 
By this means he initiated a commentary on the abuses and injustices 
committed by the Spaniards against the Indians that would appear through 
out the novel. Among these he included the encomienda, the tribute, 
24 
forced work and the enslavement of the Indians. Meneos Franco, in 
addressing himself and his characters to the social injustice of the In 
dian throughout the novel, became the first novelist in Guatemala to 
discuss this theme in such a pronounced and decisive manner. He also 
discussed Indian customs and the syncretism of native paganism and 
Catholicism, two themes which repeatedly appear in later indigenista 
novels. 
Although Meneos Franc o1 s Don Juan Nunez Garcia and a few others 
133 
were concerned with the Indian, the indigenista persuasion in Guatema 
lan letters largely was to be a feature of the twentieth century. Where 
the cultural and political environment of the nineteenth century Guate 
mala was one of personalismo coupled with class or social divisions 
which reinforced at every turn the exclusion of the Indian, the twenti 
eth century would bring to the republic new ideas and ideologies that 
would tend to alter the past political, economic, social, and cultural 
patterns of life. Guatemala, through increased contact in world af 
fairs, would be brought more fully into the general stream of Western 
life and thought. 
Rapid population growth and economic development brought about 
significant social and political changes such as the 1944 Revolution 
which held the promise of a new experience. Coming with these chan 
ges was an intellectual and artistic renaissance including the new ap 
proaches to man's environment such as Marxism, socialism, human 
ism, univer salism, and relativism. A turning away from Europe in 
the arts and letters and facing toward the Americas was evident and 
from this a new orientation and direction. The Indian was considered 
anew and in a different light. Indeed, the Indian and his circumstances 
became not only the basic theme in a significant body of literature 
throughout the continent as well as in Guatemala, but became also the 
focal point for numerous international organizations and congresses 
dedicated to the study of and improvement of the Indian. From this 
134 
atmosphere modern indigenismo was born in many of the republics of 
the Americas. 
What was to constitute the indigenista theme in literature in the 
twentieth century and how would it differ from what had preceded it? 
Much of the literature dealing with some aspect of Guatemala's Indians 
prior to 1900 was either descriptive in nature or, as in the case of Las 
Casas and a few others, a tract of protest against the exploitation of 
the natives by the dominant class. Certainly with the romantics, the 
Indian was idealized often to the point that he appeared to be something 
other than an authentic being. By the twentieth century, however, the 
indigenista theme included not only the element of social protest, but 
was frequently influenced by economic and cultural issues as well. In 
deed, this new orientation in the novel made it less a novel of protest 
than of cultural analysis. 
Emphasizing the importance of the incorporation of the Indian popu 
lation, the new point of view attempted to understand the significance of 
the Indian in the national culture. The emphasis upon the glories of 
the Indian past was forgotten as realism's literary prescriptions dir 
ected the emphasis to the immediacies of the modern Indian's plight 
to convey a forceful message of social protest. Social protest was, 
more often than not, aimed at undoing immediate evils. The focus 
of the new indigenista tract became that of current economic reali 
ties punctuated generally by pessimism about the Indian's present 
13 5 
and future and by frequent editorial comments by the author. Indians 
were considered the underdogs and the Creoles the exploiters. Al 
though the indigenista novel particularly after 1930 was little con 
cerned with literary style or character development, it brought the 
attention of the reading public to the fact that there existed a serious 
and unsolved human problem. 
One of the first writers in twentieth century Guatemala to attempt 
through his novels a detailed and comprehensive under standing of Gua 
temalan society and the life of the Guatemalan Indian was Carlos Wyld 
Ospina. This orientation was to be observed in his first two novels, 
El solar de los gonzagas and La gringa. In La gringa the Indian ap 
peared as a character having depth and life-like characteristics. As 
the story of the two lovers Eduardo Barcos and Magada Pena Meich 
unfolded, Wyld Ospina successfully created the environment experienced 
by the Indian, including descriptions of his physical surroundings, his 
use of domesticated animals, his crops, his moral orientation, his mu 
sical instruments including the marimba and the guitar, his dances, his 
language, and numerous other characteristics. With El solar de las 
gonzagas, which treated numerous native customs and realistically 
described Indian villages, but more particularly with La gringa, the 
Indian in Guatemala appeared asa real human being with human de-
25 
sires and motivations and one affected by his environment. 
La tierra de los nahuyacas, or the land of the serpents, written in 
13 6 
1933, was one of the first literary works in Guatemala to deal in detail 
with the subject of the Indian and have an Indian character as its pro-
26 
tagonist. Through a series of short stories the very soul of the In-
? 7 
dian was presented to the reader. Sebastián Ax, the protagonist, 
represented the epitome of the Kecchi Indian, a curious combination 
of myth and legend counterbalanced by the forces of reality, rejection, 
and exclusions often imposed upon him by a basically hostile Ladino 
society. Sebastián Ax at least in one point of the work was the cry of 
protest of the Indian against his exploitation and subjugation since the 
28 
conquest. 
In effect, Sebastián Ax was the personification of the Kecchi Indian. 
Through him the reader was able to visualize the Indian of Guatemala, 
a person with little sustenance, living in the solitude of the altiplano, 
constantly being threatened by an often unfriendly environment and 
operating as an individual with little or no tendency to things social, 
but deeply religious and quite meek and timid. Throughout the stories, 
the Indian1 s villages, his homes and his customs were discussed in 
detail. Wyld Ospina also portrayed in La tierra de las nahuyacas and 
other works the negative influence of the coastal plain where the ama 
zingly self-sufficient and capable native of the altiplano suffered in the 
tropical environment. The Indian on the coastal plain was depicted as 
ridden with malaria, yellow fever, and dysentery, and devoted to the 
29 consumption of alcohol and moral decay. 
13 7 
Throughout the stories in La tierra de las nahuyacas the reader's 
attention was frequently channeled to the most important element in 
the Kecchi's daily life, his religion. His love as well as his dread 
of a considerable number of deities who frequently controlled various 
aspects of his daily life were enumerated in detail. His religious syn 
cretism, which involved a devotion to both Christian saints and native 
supernaturals, was treated in considerable detail. The use of Indian 
laborers by the Dominican friars in the construction of churches was 
presented in the framework of a protest. With El solar de las gonza 
gas, La gringa, and later La tierra de las nahuyacas, Carlos Wyld 
Ospina portrayed the Indian as a human being for the first time in Gua 
temalan literature and discussed and analyzed his world of superstition 
30 
and myth as well as the more tangible elements in his life style. 
Yet a more pronounced form of indigenismo emerged at this time 
with another author. Writing during the 1930's in the early years of 
the administration of Jorge Ubico, Flavio Herrera soon became known 
as an accomplished novelist and story teller as well as a poet of appre 
ciable talent. His chief aim in many of his works was to capture the 
essence of Guatemalan life in its various aspects and characteristics, 
both Indian and otherwise. In attempting to present the authenticity 
that was Guatemala, Herrera became an indigenista. His portrayal 
of the Indian was not limited only to an interest in his external culture 
but included a concern for his social struggle against a Creole culture 
138 
and society which excluded him from membership and exploited him in 
innumerable ways. In some of his works Herrera argued that the In 
dian race should be preserved and not be allowed to lose its cultural 
identity. In others he concentrated upon the misery of the Indian and 
advocated a correction of this set of circumstances. His knowledge 
of the Indians was first-hand as he became acquainted with the native 
workers on his fincas in Escuintla. 
With the works of Flavio Herrera, a sophisticated and artistic 
style of expression was given to the indigenista orientation. The emo 
tions and the passions of the modern novel were clearly evident as he 
set his characters in environments often best described as violent, 
sensual, passionate, and cruel. The plight of the Indian was not sim 
ply described, but felt. Of the opinion that one's environment was 
most important in determining one's character, Herrera made his 
protagonists operate in surroundings that frequently served to explain 
their inner thoughts and operate as a catalyst in the development of 
the plot. The external circumstances of the Indian, often metaphori 
cally and poetically presented, became as important as the Indian him 
self and in effect brought into focus a new indigenista element. 
With El tigre, which appeared in 1934, Flavio Herrera presented 
31 
the essence of the Indian in the tropical lowlands of Guatemala. The 
moral and physical decay of the Indian in the often morbid, violent, and 
repressive atmosphere of the tropics emphasized uniquely the unquali-
139 
fied tragedy of his experience. The Indian both as a person and as a 
race in El tigre was ultimately motivated and controlled by his unfriendly 
surroundings with its repressive heat and humidity and its violence, sup 
pressing and stagnating any efforts or desires for achievement and deve 
lopment. As Luis, the protagonist in El tigre, melancholically contem 
plated his circumstances, the theme of human and social revindication 
for the Indian became evident as did the utter tragedy of his entire his 
tory. 
A solution to the problem of the Indian, his social integration and 
his liberation, was not to be found in El tigre. The novel, more than 
anything else, portrayed the Indian in the tropics. Nevertheless, Her 
rera affirmed that the Indian constituted the basis of the social and cul 
tural strife of Spanish America and the failure of the Mestizo and Indian 
32 
sectors to relate with one another was at the base of this disaster. 
In his novel La tempestad, written in 1935, the Indian appeared 
throughout the work which took place in the coffee-producing coastal 
plains. In La tempestad the Indian's negative characteristics were 
treated extensively. Herrera criticized the Indian's failure to respond 
to government programs which gave the natives small parcels of land, 
seeds and implements. He explained that the Indian would not work un 
less compelled-to do so and through this failing subjected himself to 
dependence upon the possibilities of employment as a finca worker. 
The conclusion throughout was that the Indian, although occasionally 
140 
noble of character, was basically lazy and unwilling to work unless 
forced to do so. Also criticized to a considerable extent in the novel 
was the finca owner's approach to the Indian. His lack of concern and 
the abandonment of his Indian workers and the circumstances surround 
ing them to the extent that security from accidents was non-existent 
was discussed at length. The means utilized to trigger a review of the 
tragedy of the Indians was the serpent's bite of an Indian worker and 
the resulting hopelessness that surrounded the affair. 
With the appearance of Caos in 1949, Herrera went a step beyond 
the descriptions of the Guatemalan Indian and the social, moral, and 
economic pressures which confronted him. In Caos the physical sur 
roundings of the characters had a direct impact upon their intellectual 
conceptions of themselves and the things about them as well as their 
moral and ethical viewpoints. In the Indian this resulted in a spiritual 
crisis. Caos contained a synthesis of Flavio Herrera's feelings about 
the Indian situation. The Indian was seen as moving in an atmosphere 
of shadows where his life and its sufferings passed unnoticed by the 
non-Indian sector of Guatemalan society as if a wall existed between 
the two cultures and societies. This wall Herrera visualized as an 
opaque membrane which, regardless of what transpired, remained im 
permeable. The fact that the Indian was the basic economic element 
of Guatemala's existence remained unconsidered by the Ladino and 
Creole minority as he continued to be exploited by virtually every ele-
141 
ment of society including the cacique, the hacendado, the doctor, the 
lawyer, the writer, the artist, and the tourist. Although the Indian 
might cry out against his misery, he was kept in these circumstances 
by the impenetrable wall. 
Wyld Ospina helped initiate the indigenista movement in Guatemalan 
letters in the twentieth century and Flavio Herrera affirmed it. By plac 
ing his characters in an environment of vivid and often dramatic action, 
Herrera emphasized the conflicting situations and circumstances in the 
lives of Guatemalans. His treatment of the social problems and ills 
facing Guatemalan Creoles and Indians and his discussion of topics 
such as political expression and the economic difficulties facing the 
small finquero pointed out in an artistic yet in a very real manner, the 
34 
lot that was the Indian1 s. By condemning the abuses of the Indian and 
describing his real or actual circumstances, Flavio Herrera1 s novels 
served to stimulate others such as Mario Monteforte Toledo and Miguel 
Angel Asturias to direct their attentions to the Indian. Although the In 
dian in Herrera's novels was somewhat stereotyped, he nevertheless 
operated in the realm of the shadow which was, indeed, the substance 
of his existence, distant from the main developments and experiences 
of the non-Indian sector of Guatemala. 
Prior to the 1944 Revolution, after which indigenismo in Guatemala 
became considerably more than a literary persuasion, the most consis 
tent exponent of the Indian and indigenismo was Carlos Samayoa Chin-
142 
chilla. A journalist by profession and at various times during the 
1920ls an editor or reporter for El Imparcial and the Diario de Centro 
America, Samayoa Chinchilla during the 1930!s dedicated his literary 
interests and talents to studying, reviewing and commenting upon var 
ious facets of the Indian population of Guatemala. His desire to link 
the Indian with the modern experience of Guatemala was to be at least 
indirectly present in the majority of his literary productions as was 
his aim to present and promote the rich legendary and mythological 
facets of the Indian's culture, both past and present, and, among other 
things, to emphasize the importance of these in the life of the Guate 
malan Indian. 
The first substantial literary efforts of his indigenista point of view 
came in 1934 with the publication of Madre milpa, a diverse collection 
of Indian stories and legends in which a wide range of Indian life-
35 
styles and characteristics were presented. ^ One of the better-known 
of these was nMaría Candelaria. n 
"María Candelaria" was the story of a humble Indian woman who 
left her child unattended while she washed her laundry in a nearby 
river. Li her absence the child climbed a tree and fell, sustaining a 
serious blow. The cur and er o who was called in to render his services 
related to Maria that he would need a small sum of money to prepare 
another recipe that would cure her dying son, his initial treatment hav 
ing been without results. In an effort to secure the money to purchase 
143 
the needed materials for the curandero María left her son to sell her 
pet birds. When she returned home after being unable to conclude even 
3 6 
one sale, she found her son dead. The author's description of the 
mother who expressed her anguish and disdain for the Ladinos who 
would not buy her birds and for the perpetual misery of the Indian, 
destined to be born and to die in the shadows of social exclusion, pre 
judice and rejection was as convincing as it was dramatic. 
In the story 11 El zchicolaj" the fundamental importance of ceremony 
and tradition to the life of the Indian was made evident. Miguel Sanjay, 
a young and poor Indian boy tried to propose marriage to María Josefa, 
whose father was wealthy by Indian standards and one of the principales 
in their village of Chichicastenango. The social inequality between 
their respective backgrounds, however, prohibited any marital arrange 
ment. When Miguel gained a position of considerable prestige in the 
coming village fiesta, he decided to ask for Maria's hand in marriage. 
Miguel's quest, however, was denied. Disappointed, Miguel went to 
the coast for two years and upon his return learned that Maria had died 
after marriage to one of her own class. With "El zchicolaj 11 Samayoa 
Chinchilla not only presented a detailed description of a principal native 
fiesta but exposed the degree to which tradition and custom often regu-
37 
lated the daily life of the Guatemalan Indian. 
Madre milpa's stories presented numerous aspects of the lives of 
Guatemala's Indians. "El enemigo" revealed the importance of the 
144 
fiesta of the patron saint not only for a given Indian village as a whole 
but particularly for the person who would become cofrade or the chief 
sponsor. The effects of this prestigious position as well as the finan 
cial ruin which might accompany it were presented in explicit detail. 
The Indian's intimate contact with the land, supported by supernatural 
and religious ties and overtones was presented on several occasions 
as Samayoa Chinchilla's characters were seen offering corn to the vir 
gin and openly speaking with her on occasions and asking for her assis 
tance in planting and harvesting. With this and numerous other exam 
ples the emphasis given by the Indians to the supernatural became truly 
explicit. The author's use of Indian words and phrases and his examina 
tion of the Indian's psychological orientation made his stories more au 
thentic. 
Throughout Madre milpa, Samayoa Chinchilla's Indian characters 
exhibited a sense of indifference to developments around them. They 
avoided any overt displays of emotion and rigorously followed the dic 
tates of customs on the one hand, but on the other were deeply religious 
and superstitious, exuberant at religious fiestas and processions, and 
garish in their dress when this was financially feasible. A marked syn 
cretism was observed in their religious practices and in business deal 
ings with their peers they were astute. With Ladinos they lacked con 
fidence. 
Cuatro suertes, another collection of short stories by Samayoa Chin-
145 
chilla which appeared in 1936, treated more extensively than Madre 
milpa the influence of myth and legend upon the lives of the Indians, 
particularly those which have been handed down from one generation 
to another. The entire Indian world of animals with souls and super 
natural powers, witches, ghosts, demons and assorted beings with 
supernatural assets, all passed in review for the reader. Presented 
also were stories of individuals with common afflictions such as per 
petual drunkenness and other social maladies. The Indian's reliance 
upon the supernatural was fundamental. His difficulties and anxieties 
as well as his state of misery he explained by use of the supernatural. 
The pain of his daily reality was alleviated by an extensive superna 
tural world which comprised in a sense an interior world. By con 
cerning himself with some of the ancient tales found in the Popol Vuh, 
Samayoa Chinchilla touched upon one of the chief characteristics of 
the modern Indian in Guatemala, his reliance upon the past asa means 
of forgetting the present and as a guide for his actions in the present 
and in the future. 
Many of the stories of Samayoa Chinchilla were patterned directly 
upon or taken from the Popol Vuh. The legend "Siguan Tinamit11 was 
essentially the story of the creation to be found in the Popol Vuh. The 
legend fTEl maíz blanco" where a Pipil Indian out of desperation after 
recurrent crop failures pulled out his teeth and planted them and by 
some supernatural power found that his milpa was filled with white 
146 
corn some time later was presented in detail, as were a host of other 
stories and legends coming from the Popol Vuh. With his works Madre 
milpa, Cuatro suertes, and Estampas de la costa grande, Carlos Sama 
yoa Chinchilla stepped beyond the mere presentation of the Indian in 
his environment and discussed him as a person with psychological and 
3 8 
supernatural constructs that one would not encounter in Ladino society." 
The Indian appeared for the first time as a being who was not only addic 
ted to the ceremonious and the religious or superstitious, but was fre 
quently controlled by them. 
Miguel Angel Asturias, today considered as one of the greatest wri 
ters in Spanish America and one who was able in his works to capture 
the very key to the Indian's soul and mind, was at an early age intro 
duced to the social, political and economic ills of Guatemala. His mo-
39 
ther was a school teacher and his father a lawyer. From Miguel's 
birth in 1889, the utter misery and suffering endured by the common 
people under a regime such as Estrada Cabrera's and the rich and yet 
uncontaminated spiritual qualities of the poor were to leave an indelible 
impression upon Asturias. By 1920 he had finished his thesis for a de 
gree in law, "El problema social del indio, " in which he presented a 
denunciation of the treatment of the Indian. 
In the early 1920's Asturias, while studying political economy at 
the Sorbonne in Paris, became interested in the ancient civilizations 
of Central America. With the guidance and encouragement of the Ameri-
147 
canist Georges Raynaud, Asturias fs studies at this point left an imprint 
and influence upon him that would be evident for the rest of his life. 
While in Paris, with the collaboration of a friend, J. M. González, he 
translated the Popol Vuh and the Annals of the Xahil. He also wrote 
a considerable portion of one of his novels which would be published 
* 40 
at a later date, El señor presidente. During this period he also 
wrote numerous essays, some poetry, and a few short stories, moti 
vated in part by associations with such individuals as Antonio Caso, 
R. Midel, Valle Inclan, Miguel de Unamuno and Pablo Picasso. 
42 
In 1930 Asturias published his first major work. The Leyendas 
de Guatemala not only brought the attention of other writers and critics 
to Asturias, but introduced in a somewhat different fashion the mytho 
logical and legendary past of the Indians of Guatemala to the reading 
43 
public in Europe. Often poetic in its orientation and in its vocabulary 
the Leyendas presented the mythological and often exotic complexity of 
the Indian past in Guatemala to a Europe which knew little of the subject. 
The nostalgic sentiment, the mystery and the spirit of the Popol Vuh 
appeared throughout the work to the extent that the real and unreal 
seemed completely merged in a surrealistic construct, a dream world 
which had been punctured and altered and ultimately influenced by the 
Spanish conquest centuries earlier. 
In presenting a series of Indian legends and stories, Asturias was 
able to capture in effect the supernatural world that was the mind of 
148 
the Indian. Portrayed was his psychological orientation which glori 
fied the ancient accomplishments and sought to preserve the ancient 
values and ideas before a more modern civilization which threatened 
to erase all that had been Indian Guatemala before the conquest. With 
the Leyendas, Miguel Angel Asturias launched his career as one of the 
most consistent exponents of the indigenista persuasion in Guatemalan 
letters, a career which would on numerous occasions utilize the exotic 
environment of the Mayas as the means of pointing out a multitude of 
modern social ills. 
The first novel of Miguel Angel Asturias, El señor presidente, al 
though not appearing until 1946, has been considered by many to be his 
best novel. Although the novel treated a country under the repression 
of a cruel dictatorship rather than the Indian, the Indian, nevertheless, 
appeared in the novel and was affected by the circumstances in this en 
vironment. In the atmosphere of the dictatorship, one of moral decay, 
violence, and fear, the Indian appeared as the traditionally dispossessed 
being, cheated and robbed by Ladino officials of not only his meager pos 
sessions, but of his dignity as well. In the novel General Canales, who 
has fallen from the dictator's favor, encountered an Indian on a highway 
trying to conceal several kernals of corn which he robbed from someone 
else. When asked the reason for this, the Indian replied that he was not 
a thief out "of desire but out of necessity as a local functionary had taken 
for no apparent reason many of his personal possessions including farm 
149 
animals and part of his crop yield. 
The Indian, without a name in the novel, was a person banished in 
every sense of the word from the environment to which he belonged. 
He was the object of the Ladino's disdain. The Ladino did not under 
stand the Indian nor did he wish to. He was simply regarded as an ob 
ject to be exploited and utilized by the Ladino to benefit in some way 
his personal desires which had been utterly corrupted by the dictator 
ship. Throughout the novel the atmosphere of violence, anguish, hate, 
hypocrisy, and unlimited misery affected everyone including the Indian 
who, being at the bottom of the social scale, suffered more severely 
than the others. The only advantage the Indian had over non-Indians 
was that he, through prior conditioning, was at least better able to 
cope with the situation psychologically and emotionally. He could at 
least escape mentally and psychologically into the world of his ances 
tors. 
With El señor presidente, which would later bring the Nobel Prize 
in literature to Asturias, the message seemed to be that only through 
violence leading to social change can one achieve liberty from the 
oppression of dictatorships like those of Manuel Estrada Cabrera in 
Guatemala. Passivity cannot and does not alter one's set of circum-
stances in such surroundings. Although El señor presidente was not 
devoted exclusively to an indigenista theme, the portrayal of a regime 
whose every facet was controlled by one man and his favorites, served 
150 
to explain at least one reason why the Indian was still not an effective 
and complete part of national Guatemala. The decades of personalismo 
and caudillismo in Guatemala had prevented this. 
The nameless Indian of El señor presidente, however, was to be 
given an extensive treatment in Asturias ls second novel, Hombres de 
44 
maíz, which appeared in 1949. With this work Asturias presented 
the perennial battle in Guatemala between civilization and that which 
is distant from modern civilization or more specifically the battle be 
tween the Indians and those who represent the modern world, the mai 
ceros whose dedication-was the profit motive. Convinced that they had 
descended from corn, considered a sacred entity, the Indians plant 
only enough to satisfy their hunger while the maiceros plant vast quan 
tities of the grain in order to enrich themselves and gain a handsome 
profit. 
The conflict between the practical world of the maicero and the 
mythological and legendary world of the Guatemalan Indian was the 
thread around which the stories of Hombres de maíz were woven. As 
with Leyendas de Guatemala, except to a much more appreciable de 
gree, the reader of Hombres de maíz becomes completely immersed 
in the real yet unreal world of the Indian with its parade of mythological 
beings with supernatural powers. Gaspar Hon, cacique of Pisiguilito 
and symbolic of the Indian orientation, opposed the advance of the mai 
ceros who threatened not only to ruin the traditions of his ancestors 
151 
but destroy the environment of the Indians. This he was to accomplish 
with the assistance of his wife Piojosa Grande, the deity of rain. 
With the arrival of the fiesta to celebrate the coming of summer, 
the Indians prepared in minute detail all that was necessary for the ce 
lebration, drinks, special foods, dances and various ceremonies. The 
entire affair, however, ended in tragedy when Gaspar was betrayed and 
poisoned. Although he recovered, Gaspar's eventual death by drowning 
in a river temporarily rendered ineffective the struggles of the Indians. 
Nevertheless, Gaspar Horn's fight against the maiceros continued as he 
returned to the story as a legendary hero able to utilize the forces of 
the supernatural and the mysterious in the efforts to limit the influen 
ces and the expansion of the Indian's enemies. 
In the second section of Hombres de maíz the Indian's witches ex 
erted their vengeance upon those responsible for Gaspar's death. To 
mas Machojon's son who had lived with Vaca Manuela and who was in 
strumental in the plot against Gaspar, disappeared mysteriously and 
was damned to a hell similar to that described in Dante's Inferno. 
Throughout the first two chapters daily incidents were intermixed by 
Asturias with the extraordinary and the fantastic and in so doing he 
portrayed the emotional and psychological constructs of the Indian per 
sonality and mentality in Guatemala. 
A similar combination of the real and the magical was evident in 
the third and fourth sections of the novel. When the Tecun family's 
152 
efforts and those of a curandero were unable to cure the hiccups of the 
grandmother, Calisto Tecun and his brothers decided to hunt the "vena-
do de las siete rosas. " This mythical being, whose extensive powers 
would have cured the ailing grandmother, and the curandero, as it de 
veloped, were the same creature. With a similar marriage of the su 
pernatural and the real, Chalo Godoy met his death in the fourth sec 
tion of the novel. Results were obtained by the Indians in their fight 
against the maiceros when they cooperated with the supernatural ele 
ments in their environment. 
The legend of Maria Tecun, who deserted her blind husband Goyo 
Vic, was presented in considerable detail by Asturias in Hombres de 
maíz. Through use of the magical and the supernatural, Goyo Vic!s 
blindness was cured as he vowed to search for his wife by attending 
the various village fairs and fiestas. These Asturias described in all 
their picturesqueness with fireworks, dances, disguises of feathers, 
brilliantly colored costumes and the pandemonium of glee that sur 
rounded them. The legend, popular throughout Guatemala, ended with 
Goyo Vic and his friend Revolorio unsuccessful in their search and in 
jail for illegally selling aguardiente. 
In the last part of the novel entitled "Correo-coyote, " the mystical 
sector of the Indian's personality was again presented, but this time 
explained. Nicho Aguine, the individual charged by his village of San 
Migual Acatan to carry the mail to the capital, returned home to find 
154 
which best and most accurately explained the Indian and distinguished 
him from the Ladino who was equated with the maiceros. The entire 
life of the Indian was seen as being surrounded by myth and legend to 
the extent that it pervaded his acts and thoughts and affected his acti 
vities and decisions. The various personalities in the supernatural 
world of the Indian had direct cause and effect capabilities on the course 
of his daily life and were ultimately influential in the outcome of his var 
ious endeavors. The Indian1 s unique ability to create legend, hinted As 
turias, was the result of the rigor he encountered in his real life, myth 
often serving to elucidate his otherwise inexplicable misery. 
The tone of Hombres de maíz as well as the focal point of the In 
dian1 s life-style was the shadowy and image-filled world of the super 
natural, the world of the Popol Vuh. Through the literary usage of the 
metaphor, the simile, allegory, and the repetition of phrases and words, 
the basic description of the world beyond and its power as envisioned by 
the Indian became most explicit throughout his work. The correlation 
between Hombres de maíz and the Popol Vuh was, indeed, a positive 
one as Asturias's novel on occasions took on an epic tone similar to 
that of the Popol Vuh. The similarities between the adventures and 
legends in the two works were striking. For the indigenista movement 
in Guatemala, however, the important contribution of Hombres de maíz 
was the fact that the Indian of Guatemala was presented in detail as an 
individual whose outward activities were and are, more often than not, 
155 
influenced and controlled by persuasions of the mind and a mystical and 
supernatural orientation which recalled the philosophical and psycholo 
gical constructs of a former ego. The world of the Popol Vuh was a 
definite part of the world of the modern Guatemalan Indian. ^ 
Miguel Angel Asturias's quest to understand and portray the funda 
mental root of the Guatemalan Indian did not stop with Hombres de 
maíz. By 1965 with the appearance of Mulata de tal, again the mysti 
cal world of the Indian with its fantasies, witches, human plants and 
supernatural beings, was presented including the "mulata de tal, 11 a 
creature which laughed like a dog showing its teeth and had eyes which 
47 
burned like candles. The novel was replete with exotic metamorphic 
changes, devils and gods with extensive and often frightening ppwers 
like Cal Cuj, the devil that ate human heads and Zipacnac, the earth 
devil. The novel was terminated with a great cataclysm which des 
troyed this mystical and evil world through which Asturias's charac 
ters Yumi and Nini had been forced to traverse. 
Mulata de tal like Hombres de maíz provided another window through 
which the mentality of the Guatemalan Indian could be observed. Through 
out the novel the forces of evil, the army of devils, sought to disrupt and 
ultimately to destroy the harmonious order of the universe that had been 
created by the gods, the forces of good. Asturias described the Indian1 s 
concept of his existence where everything had been influenced by cosmic 
forces and events controlled by these supernatural beings. The setting 
156 
of Mulata de tal was the inferior level of the planes of existence, the 
Xibalba of the Popol Vuh where the forces of evil, the devils, resided. 
With this world Asturias expressed his disdain and disgust for those 
elements which have adulterated the Indian1 s religion, his civilization, 
and his mentality, particularly the Christian religion and the mestizaje 
as represented by ,TLa mulata. 11 The resulting syncretism Asturias 
saw as having accepted the evils of both and having resulted in a pro 
duct far worse than the lowest level of either of the two contributing 
factors. The Mulata de tal represented the symbol of this hybrid men 
tality which was without name, without personality, and degenerate. 
The dynamics of this condition, said Asturias, have resulted in an In 
dian whose soul and whose mentality is a constant battleground of mu 
tually antagonistic forces, an acceptable and harmonious outcome being 
virtually impossible. 
In comparing the Indian1 s religion with that of Christianity, Asturias 
felt that the style of Catholicism introduced by the Spaniards was not genu 
ine as the Indian through devious means was compelled to accept the new 
48 
faith. It was around the issue of religion and the Indian's refusal 
to accept Catholicism entirely that Asturias in Mulata de tal and in 
other works expounded his contention that the Indian in observing 
•tenets from both religions had become an individual between two camps, 
a being without a clearly defined religious or spiritual personality, a 
syncretic confusion. Christianity demanded an understanding of con-
15 7 
cepts and an intellectual orientation unfamiliar to the Indian's exper 
ience. The result was the Indian's reliance upon his own religious con 
cepts and the preservation of these in the presence of another's religion 
which did not render supernatural explanations for things that could not 
be rationally explained. For Asturias this religious syncretion was one 
of the disasters in the historical experience of Hispanic America. 
In many of the works of Asturias the contrast between reality and 
fantasy as well as their often unique blending was a consistent theme. 
Many of his characters, although living in a real world, seemed to be 
motivated by unreal forces, often to the extent that their major deci-
40 
sions and their lives were directly affected and influenced. 7 The pro 
tagonists were frequently a product of a distant past and a hard and 
threatening present demanding the intellectual and spiritual energies 
of the characters often to the extent that they were unable to control 
their own destinies. 
Asturias, in a series of novels, also addressed himself to another 
factor which adversely affected the lives of the Indians of Guatemala. 
With the novels Viento fuerte, El papa verde, and Los ojos de los en 
terados, Asturias presented the evils of foreign economic domination 
upon Guatemala, particularly that of the United Fruit Company. 50 The 
effects of such a domination were, of course, felt by the Indian popu 
lace. Although not to be included as indigenista novels, these three 
works presented the Indian agriculturalist who in his effort to over-
15 8 
come the political and economic power wielded by the gigantic Tropical 
Platanera S. A. became influenced by and eventually engulfed in the vacuum 
of corruption and moral decay that was the world of this company. The 
force of imperialism left the Indian a degenerate being, devoid of his 
land, dependent upon the miserable salary and living conditions of the 
banana plantation worker and subjected to an empty life-style punctua 
ted by a perpetual state of drunkenness and moral depravity. 
The Indian of the Popol Vuh and the Maya-Quiche past became a 
mechanical entity and a number in a cruel and mechanistic environment 
lacking any impetus toward humanism and serving to destroy the Guate 
mala of past eras. The world of El papa verde and the world in Viento 
fuerte with its capital in Chicago represented Xibalba, the hell of the 
Quichés, and was ultimately destroyed, at least as far as some of its 
protagonists were concerned, by the intervention of the supernatural 
forces of the Quiche's ancient world. With these works Asturias was 
able to capture and cast masterfully in a literary framework the mys 
tically oriented Indian mentality, an effort that has caused him to be 
considered as one of the greatest writers in Hispanic America and 
certainly a leader among indigenistas. 
Prior to the 1944 Revolution much of the literature of indigenismo 
had been either romantic in nature or tied to the historical. Direct 
and forceful protest was infrequent. Following the fall of Ubico, how 
ever, there emerged several authors, including Miguel Angel Asturias 
159 
and Mario Monteforte Toledo, whose dissatisfaction with the experience 
of Guatemala was expressed in their literature. Asturias !s novels had 
stimulated the sentiments of social protest among his readers. Monte 
forte Toledo, rather than emphasizing the mythical and supernatural 
facets of the Indian, preferred to concentrate upon the real and the psy 
chological. The Indian in his daily life was his forte as he took the in 
digenista theme in Guatemalan literature to its greatest height. 
Mario Monteforte Toledo's first novel Ana it e which appeared in 1948 
revealed an author intensely interested in the Indian and his environ-
51 
ment. The Indian of El Peten and his customs and general psycholo 
gical composition were presented but the force of the author's argu 
ment was the basic injustice and the abandoning by society of the native 
in this area of Guatemala. The ferocity of the Peten jungles as des 
cribed in the novel reduced the Indian to a life where his reactions to 
his most basic instincts were the main factors in his life-style. The 
theme of Anaite was that of the protagonist's struggle against the sa 
vagery of the jungle, its intense heat, serpents, its unfriendly geogra 
phy and the violence of the Usumacinta River. Jorge, the protagonist, 
went to El Peten in search of wealth, encountered the full force of 
these surroundings and was forced to adapt to what was described as 
a green hell. 
Although the principal part of Anaite was devoted to descriptions 
of El Peten, the fourth portion of the novel dealt with the Lacandón In-
160 
dians. The rudimentary life-style of this group was discussed in some 
detail. Their existence was, in the author1 s description, an exotic and 
53 
mysterious one. Using essentially the approach familiar to the mod 
ern cultural anthropologist, Monteforte Toledo studied the religion of 
the Lacandones, replete with several deities, one for planting, another 
for water and others. The religious hierarchy included evil deities as 
well as those dedicated to good. Offerings of food were frequent. Al 
though the ferocity of the jungle brought about the demoralization of 
many characters such as the gringo Dr. Wood, the Indian lived a happy 
and tranquil life. When Jorge returned to the city, he found that his 
intended had married someone else. Interpreting this as merely one 
of the numerous examples of civilization filled with untruths and decep 
tions, Jorge returned to El Peten to live with the Lacandones. This 
description of the Lacandones was the first dedicated toward unraveling 
to some extent the mysteries surrounding this obscure Indian group. 
With the appearance of Mario Monteforte Toledo's Entre la piedra 
y la cruz in 1948, the indigenista persuasion in Guatemalan letters was 
given its most exacting and its most complete explanation within the 
confines of an art form. ^ With this novel the epitome of modern Gua 
temalan indigenismo was expressed. Basing this novel around the 
theme of social revindication, the entire life of the Indian in Guatemala 
was expressed as it had not been before. 
Entre la piedra y la cruz, among other things, depicted the frustrat-
161 
ing and complex situation in which the modern Guatemalan Indian often 
found himself, caught between the cultural values of his Indian birth 
which he had known from childhood and the world of the Ladino which he 
acquired through education, experience and direct exposure. Entrapped 
between these two worlds, the protagonist, Lu Matzar, ended in being 
alienated from both camps. Matzar, who symbolized the Guatemalan 
Indian, wished to incorporate part of the civilization of the Ladino into 
his experience but could only do so by discarding his Indian existence 
or a considerable portion of it and in effect becoming a traitor to his 
Indian past. The piedra of the title represented the Indian belief and 
life-style, its traditions and its religion replete with supernatural be 
ings and mystical constructs. The cross represented Christianity, the 
world of the Ladino, the syndrome of the conquest, modern civilization 
and the advantaged race. The cross in another respect signified the 
destruction of the Indian and his particular world. Throughout the 
novel, the state, both mental or psychological and spiritual, of the In 
dian was, indeed, a precarious one. "El debía tener el alma entre la 
piedra aborigen y la cruz del blanco. Entre la piedra y la cruz; así" 
había vivido siempre. Por eso era doblemente malo y doblemente 
bueno. n^ 
In the first section of the novel Lu Matzar was a child living in San 
Pedro La Laguna in the altiplano with his sisters La Pit and La Trey. 
Here the Indian environment of this area of Guatemala was magnificently 
162 
portrayed by Monteforte Toledo, a world of solitude disrupted only by 
the necessity of survival at the material level. The land and the sacred-
ness of corn were interwoven with the world beyond. Monteforte Toledo 
described the daily life and routine of the Indian agriculturalist in the 
highlands, a life of arduous labor and meager material returns,and cus 
toms of marriage and the cofradía. When Tol Matzar, La's father, was 
offered the most prestigious position of the cofradía, he had to decline 
because he lacked the funds needed to sustain the honor. When the 
principales became angry over Tol's decision, he decided to migrate 
to the coast in order to earn money and better the precarious economic 
situation facing him and his family. 
The dilemma in the highlands was essentially that Matzar's neigh 
bor had filed false claims to part of his lands, but as Cutuc, his neigh 
bor, was wealthy in comparison to him, the local authorities tended to 
side with him. Matzar, in an effort to solve the problem, traveled to 
Solóla, the cabecera of the district, and hired a lawyer. The litigation 
had not been terminated and the lawyer was seeking his fee of 2, 000 
pesos. To make matters worse, Matzar and many of the other Indians 
in his immediate area were indebted to Tacho Zeledón, who had pur 
chased much of their corn at a very low price and now that times were 
hard was reselling it to them at exorbinant prices. Facing this uncer 
tain set of circumstances Matzar contracted to work on the finca "Las 
Dalias. " 
163 
With the second part of the novel entitled TICosta, 11 the rigorous ex 
ploitation of the Indian migrant worker was exposed at length by Monte 
forte Toledo. In the surroundings of the coastal plains, the Indian cof 
fee worker reached a low not encountered in the highlands. Here, sur 
rounded by intense heat and disease, alcohol became the only means 
available for easing the pain of an unfriendly atmosphere. The Indian 
degenerated as an individual and as a human being, as he was unmerci 
fully exploited by the White and Ladino plantation owners. Tol Matzar, 
constantly subjected to criticism and the disdain of his superiors and 
reminded that he was barely above the level of the beast, was worked 
like an animal and seldom paid as he was maintained essentially as a 
slave through a perpetual state of indebtedness to the German owner. 
While in this environment Lu's sister La Tray was attacked and 
sexually abused by the finca owner's son. The indignation of the Indi 
ans over such an act, however, remained only indignation as the local . 
authorities through various subtleties failed to bring the son to account 
for this crime. At this point the gulf between the Ladinos and the Indi 
ans became apparent as the Indian in the Ladino world was, indeed, 
without rights or resources of any legal sort. Lu's father was assis 
ted in this ugly affair by Don Teófilo Castellanos, characterized in the 
novel as a good Ladino who not only resented the incident but used this 
event as an opportunity to lead the fight against the exploitation of Gua 
temala and its Indians by foreign plantation owners. 
164 
Using the brutalization of La Tray as a focal point, Monteforte 
Toledo centered an attack upon the foreign plantation owners who con 
sidered the Indians as beasts inclined toward laziness, robbery and an 
immoral life. ^ In such an environment Lu as a child learned to ac 
cept the fact that the future would be difficult for him while it would be 
easy and full of advantages for the White and the Ladino. He also 
learned racial prejudice and that the most basic ability to be acquired 
was simply how to protect oneself from the foreigner and Ladino. 
In the third section of the novel Lu Matzar was taken into the house 
hold of Teófilo Castellanos where he experienced the Ladino world and 
was educated in the Ladino fashion. In describing Lu's relationship 
with Margarita Castellanos, a girl the same age as he, the author 
dealt with the psychological approach of the Indian toward the Ladino, 
the symbol of his exploitation. Lu consistently felt inferior and uneasy 
around Margarita yet was willing to do various things for her just to 
hear her thanks. The perpetual inferiority syndrome, conditioned by 
400 years of conquest, abuse and exploitation was explained in detail 
as were many of the effects of this treatment upon the emotional and 
psychological make-up of the Indian. 
Lu's experiences in school, where he was to be trained as an Indian 
teacher, were taken advantage of by Monteforte Toledo to expose the 
ills of Guatemalan education at least as far as the Indian was concerned. 
During his experiences in school Lu was constantly reminded that he 
165 
was an Indian and not a Ladino and, therefore, inferior before the La 
dino as was the native before the conquistador. His range of activity 
and his bounds of freedom of expression and activity were limited be 
cause of this while in school and after. Although on many occasions 
he wanted to cry out against restriction, he was expected to continue 
in the traditional pose of resignation before the superior Ladino. The 
methods of education were largely useless to Lu and the other Indian 
students. Repetition and memorization rather than comprehension and 
understanding prevailed. The mental constructs and the values of the 
Indian rather than being utilized as avenues toward education were 
flatly ignored as the students were required to memorize the texts pre 
pared by the Ministry of Education. The author used the experiences 
of Lu to criticize the incompetence of Guatemalan school teachers and 
their obsolete texts and antiquated methods. 
With Lu's return to San Pedro La Laguna, the author explained the 
immeasurable gap between the Indian and Ladino worlds. The one, 
with shoes, automobiles, electricity, and innumerable material advan 
tages could not be easily combined with the rudimentary life-style of 
the highlands. Lu at this point in the novel was caught in ail respects 
between nla piedra1' and "la cruz" as he grasped on the one hand his 
Indian past yet looked to the civilization of the Ladino with all of its 
technological complexities. He became alienated from both and even 
tually disillusioned with both. 
166 
In the fourth section of the novel Lu began a career as a school 
teacher in Solóla and encountered disillusionment. After leaving his 
school convinced that he could do great things for his fellow Indians, 
he discovered quite the reverse. He could do nothing. With few edu 
cational materials, infrequent pay checks of only eighteen dollars a 
month, a crude school house and countless other obstacles, he became 
discouraged and rebelled against the entire educational system. Dis 
gusted with the life of a rural educator and not willing to become an 
impotent agriculturalist, Lu, now Pedro Matzar, decided upon a mili 
tary career. The Indian world of Lu Matzar had died. 
In the final section of the novel Pedro Matzar was a captain in the 
army and hated and feared by all for his cruelties and bloody reprisals. 
As he proceeded with his duties he was required to go to the finca Las 
Dalias. After a sequence of events the story found Pedro facing jail 
and death for having allowed the escape of two young boys whom he was 
ordered to apprehend. In reviewing his life he announced the indigen 
ista message of Entre la piedra y la cruz and concluded that all Ladinos 
were not bad. There had been Castellanos and his daughters and Don 
Lino, maestro of the schools in Chichicaste nango. He also concluded 
that not all Indians were good as he recalled Tacho Zeledón and Cutuc. 
He decided that one must look to a man's soul rather than to the 
color of his skin or to his material abundance or lack of it. In life 
there was neither good or bad, neither stone or cross but only man. 
167 
A man's life between "la piedra" and "la cruz" was material only. The 
novel ended on the optimistic note that Guatemala could become integra 
ted and that this cannot be accomplished by Ladinos and Indians but only 
by Guatemalans. The novel ended when Pedro was released from jail 
during a revolt and reunited with Margarita Castellanos to begin the 
task of establishing an integrated country where both Ladinos and Indi 
ans would have a common identity. 
Throughout Entre la piedra y la cruz Mario Monteforte Toledo not 
only pointed out and denounced the injustices and miseries facing the 
Guatemalan Indian, but proposed remedies and solutions. Monteforte 
Toledo knew the Indian first hand and sought to portray the essence of 
what it was to be an Indian. He both praised the Indian for his insensi-
tiveness and his intuitive abilities and criticized him for his blind ac 
ceptance of custom and tradition and his constant rejection of the mod 
ern and the Ladino, his passive resistance. 
Monteforte Toledo's contention was that the Indian must be taught 
to overcome the precariousness of his life and achieve a more secure 
economic pattern of life. "The Indian is not lazy. He must be taught 
to work more effectively, that is all. " If this could be done, integration 
can be achieved if, in conjunction with an effective program of educa 
tion, the land problem can be solved. The government should protect 
the ejido and make known the fact that Indian agriculturalists may use 
the tierras nacionales. The author concluded the novel by urging the 
168 
development of a Guatemala that would include both Indian and Ladino 
as equal factors in the identity and in the progress of the nation. The 
Indian problem may be solved by educating him in order to integrate 
57 
him into the nation. 
Entre la piedra y la cruz, considered by some to be the greatest 
indigenista novel in Guatemalan letters, was not the only work by Mario 
Monteforte Toledo which dealt with the Indian. Donde acaban los cami 
nos which appeared in 1953 concerned the experience and frustrations 
c o 
of a medical doctor practicing in an Indian community. As Dr. Za 
mora began his practice he encountered the mistrust and deepseated 
suspicion of his clients, a situation which he was never to overcome 
fully. As a local druggist explained to Zamora, the power of the local 
curandero was often extensive and the Indians felt the tools used by the 
physician and the medicines dispensed by him were detrimental to them 
59 
and designed by the Ladinos to harm them. Calling upon a doctor to 
cure a sickness was breaking tradition and denying the abilities of the 
curandero or witches who had cured the ill for generations. 
The denigration of the Indians by the local military chieftain who 
thought of them as beasts represented the traditional Ladino point of 
view as the local jefe urged Zamora to return to Guatemala City. As 
he stated, the Indians were too ignorant to avail themselves of his ser 
vices. When Zamora spoke to the military commandant of his region 
about the presence of typhus among the Indians, the commander de-
169 
nied that it existed and affirmed that the Indians were sick because 
they were ignorant and did not bathe regularly. ^ The Ladino's dis 
dain for the Indian included a local priest who explained to Zamora that 
the Indian and his cult was infinitely inferior to Ladino or European cul 
ture. Because of this the Indian was kept in his state of ill health, in 
fected with parasites and prime for acquiring such diseases as gangrene, 
infections of all sorts, malaria, typhus, yellow fever, and chronic dys 
entery. With the help of Antonio Xahil, Zamora came to understand 
the Indians and recognize the problems confronting them and in so do 
ing became the means by which Monteforte Toledo expressed the misery 
of the natives and-attacked those unwilling to do something toward solv 
ing this, the primary problem of Guatemala. 
Through his novels and short stories, Mario Monteforte Toledo be 
came known for his ability in presenting an introspective analysis of his 
characters, particularly his Indian characters. In 1949 he published La 
cueva sin quietud, a collection of short stories containing several deal 
ing with Indians - ^ With his story "El joven pájaro, " the fiesta of San 
Pedro in Chichicastenango was presented in considerable detail as was 
the custom of the Palo Volador. The two principal characters Diego 
Cox and Tona Izxcaya were analyzed and presented another picture of 
the workings of the Indian mind. In the story "Dos caminos salen del 
pueblo" the theme of the impossible love of a young Ladino physician 
for an Indian girl presented the multitude of problems to be encountered 
170 
by the two given the separateness of the Ladino and the Indian worlds. 
In this tale the psychology of the Zutuhil Indian was presented at length. 
With these as well as other short stories such as "El hombre y un muro, 
the interior life of the Indian was viewed in substantial detail. 
Besides Miguel Angel Asturias and Mario Monteforte Toledo, who 
represent the major thrust of the indigenista orientation in Guatemalan 
literature, several other authors must be included for their contribu 
tions, either directly or indirectly, to this movement. 
Although Virgilio Rodriguez Macal cannot be included as an indi 
genista writer as Asturias or Monteforte Toledo, his works Carazamba 
and J una j a exposed the violence and the repressive character of the tro-
s 62 
pics and particularly the region of El Peten. The Indian appeared in 
these novels but not as a major character. In his last novel, Guayacan, 
the protagonist Valentín O cha eta spent some time among the Lacandones 
whose life of simplicity and purity was viewed as a favorable and ideal 
63 s 
life-style. Valentin's experience with the Lacandones served as the 
means of a commentary upon the customs and traditions of these pri 
mitive peoples, a group whom he felt had been forgotten by the Guate 
malan government, which made no effort to protect them or undertake 
64 
any program whatever to improve their economic well-being. The 
Indian thus remained in a disadvantaged state and in the environment 
of the tropics turned to alcohol like Pacaja in MAh, malaya don Annrico" 
as the means of forgetting his present and unpromising future. For Pa-
171 
caja, aguardiente became an elixir, an escape mechanism, a means 
which made his life tolerable. 
Using essentially a slice of life technique in many of his short stor 
ies, Rafael Zea Ruano in Cactos presented a series of rural scenes of 
the Indians in the region of Chiquimula. ^ Their language usage was 
authentically portrayed as were their customs and folklore. nLa cita11 
was concerned with Chico Palma1 s love for Jacinta, this love being 
opposed by Don Berva, her father. Although a humorous story, nLa 
citaM portrayed a rural scene typical of Guatemala's eastern zone. nLa 
cosa agena" presented a view of the Indian as a naturally moral person, 
often at the expense of his desires and a person who maintained his mor 
ality as prescribed by custom. Regionalistic in its orientation, the 
stories in Cactos presented the Indians and their environment in the re 
gion of Chiquimula as well as their folklore. It described beliefs in ar 
tificial fires, witches, the evil eye, and numerous other characteristics 
common to the region. 
Where Cactos was more a study in folklore, Zea Ruano's last novel 
Tierra nuestra was essentially a social tract wherein the author attacked 
the Guatemalan government's constant abuse of the Indians and the theft 
of their lands. He criticized extensively the Ladino's treatment of 
the Indian. Throughout the work Zea Ruano concentrated upon several 
popular reforms insisted upon by modern indigenistas. The lands which 
had been expropriated or stolen from the Indians should be returned. 
172 
The juridical system should be reworked to include the Indian and the 
penal system should be reformed to allow for a fair treatment of the 
Indian. The governments should dedicate a substantial portion of their 
energies and capabilities toward alleviating the miseries of the Indians 
and incorporating them into the nation as a whole. In this work Zea 
Ruano expressed the goals held by most indigenistas. 
In the arena of folklore, other than Asturias, the most accomplished 
indigenista writer has been Francisco Barnoya Gálvez. His Han de estar 
y estarán, published in 1938 in Chile, contained a wealth of Maya legends 
as well as a concerted effort on the part of the author to reconstruct the 
67 
Guatemalan Indian world prior to the conquest. Through stories such 
as "La siguanaba" and "La leyenda del Xocomil" the polytheistic and 
ideally beautiful world of the Quiche and Cakchiquel, unadulterated by 
the Spaniard, was presented to the reader. Many of the pre-Columbian 
customs observable in Guatemala today as well as the Indian's real-
supernatural surroundings were placed in an ideal atmosphere devoid 
of the social and economic complexities of modern society. Recalling 
and recounting the glories of this indigenous past, Han de estar y estarán 
cannot be included, strictly speaking, among the literary products of in 
digenismo. Nevertheless, this work helped bring the attention of the 
reading public in Guatemala to the depth and genuine worth of the Indian's 
cultural heritage. 
An understanding of the Maya culture was assisted by investigations 
173 
that were conducted during the 1920's and 193O's, During this period 
a series of field studies by the Carnegie Institution of Washington were 
begun which resulted in part in the discovery of new archeological sites 
at Uaxactun and Xultun and a detailed study of the monuments of Copan 
by Sylvanus G. Morley which was published in 1920. A later work by 
Morley entitled The Ancient Maya which was published in 1946 became 
a reference text for Maya studies. Efforts also by expeditions of scho 
lars from Tulane University and studies by Manuel Gamio, Jorge Larde, 
and Samuel K. Lothrop brought Maya studies into high gear at a time 
when indigenista literature was beginning to gain prominence. J. Eric 
Thompson's study The History of the Maya which was designed for popu 
lar reading and appeared in 1931 served to popularize the entire topic of 
the Mayas and generate interest in the modern-day Indians of Guatemala. 
Rosendo Santa Cruz, known more as a regionalist in Guatemala than 
as an indigenista author, concentrated upon the Vera Paz area where he 
was reared for the setting of many of his short stories. The Indian in 
his works constituted a distinct part of the settings he created. In dir 
ect contact with the natives during his childhood, his stories abounded 
with Indian cultural characteristics, their legends and tales, their 
superstitions, and their general orientation to life. For Rosendo Santa 
Cruz the nostalgic and melancholic Vera Paz would not be genuine with 
out the presence of the Indian. For him the Indian was Vera Paz. 
The author affirmed in his works that his artistic mentality and 
174 
point of view had been conditioned by Indian stories and legends he had 
learned as a boy. Throughout Tierras de lumbre, written in 1938, 
the mystical and magical creatures of the Indian world including ,TLos 
patojitos del monte" and "El machum, " and numerous others appeared 
and reappeared. ^ Santa Cruz, like Carlos Samayoa Chinchilla and 
Miguel Angel Asturias, discussed and depicted the rejection and scorn 
an Indian who had become a Ladino felt from among his own people. 
"Ramon Cantoral is a bad Indian, he rides horses and speaks Spanish 
70 
like any Ladino. " 
In Cuando cae la no che and other works, the Indian was presented 
in a sympathetic and friendly light asa being whose love of the land 
was boundless and whose dedication to the supernatural was extensive. 
This dedication was a basic factor in the social thought of all Guatemala 
in the author's opinion. As Santa Cruz maintained, the Indian and his 
influences had permeated the entire gamut of Guatemalan life and cus 
toms . 
One writer certainly belonging to the indigenista camp in Guatemala 
was Adalberto Jiménez. Following the path of Mario Monteforte Toledo, 
Jiménez concentrated his attention in many of his literary works upon 
the Indian mentality, his psychological composition and orientation. 
Beyond this, however, Jiménez in stories such as "De regreso a la 
montana" commented upon the injustices forced upon the Indian, par 
ticularly his entrapment into and his exploitation by the Guatemalan 
175 
Army without legal recourse of any kind. 71 When Antonio, the pro 
tagonist in nDe regreso a la montana, " was exploited by the Military, 
the psychological effects of this experience were discussed at length. 
Antonio made frequent comparisons of his experiences with those of 
his ancestors. Faced with utilizing new clothing, consuming new foods, 
and forced to endure the brutal insults of his superiors, Antonio was 
found slowly to lose his characteristics and his personality as an Indian 
and to adopt the rude and base characteristics of the soldier and the en 
vironment of capital city politics which he neither understood nor wanted 
to. Caught in a revolution, Antonio took an active part not knowing what 
he was doing or why. After undergoing the horrors of a slaughter during 
the revolution, simply discharging his rifle randomly, Antonio fled.from 
the capital and returned to the altiplano to live once again in the physical 
and spiritual beauty of the campo. The story was concluded with the 
statement by Jimenez that the patria of the Indian would always be his 
village as it had been for centuries. With this story Jiménez explains 
what many indigenistas considered to be the main problem in Guatemala, 
a problem of dual identities, one Indian and one Ladino. As long as this 
dual identity continues to exist, said Jiménez, the Indian, as symbolized 
by Antonio, will always return to his highland village and attempt to live 
apart from the world of the Ladino. 
Essentially from the time of the conquest, the Indian in Guatemala 
as well as in most of Latin America was the subject of various com-
176 
mentaries and literary works. The native populations in their natural 
environment were often a focal point for writers, explorers, clerics 
and scientists alike. However, much of this body of literature pro 
duced prior to the twentieth century had not rendered an accurate ac 
count of the Indian. He was romanticized and subjected to European 
norms and values to the extent that the overview of him and his culture 
was at best superficial. It was only with the emergence of indigenismo 
that a genuine focus upon the Indian was obtained. To become aware of 
the Indian problem and its various characteristics and manifestations 
has been the overall goal of a variety of indigenista literature in Guate 
mala. Indeed, a survey of the indigenista literature of Guatemala pre 
sents an informative and often quite accurate picture of the Guatemalan 
Indian as provided by such writers as Miguel Angel Asturias, Mario 
Monteforte Toledo, Adalberto Jiménez, Rosendo Santa Cruz, Virgilio 
Rodríguez Macal, and the others who comprise this body of literary 
persuasion. 
Throughout the indigenista literature of Guatemala the Indian ap 
pears as a person motivated and influenced extensively in his daily 
life by an often complex metaphysical and mystical system of values 
constantly interwoven with his physical and real life. Generally dis 
playing a characteristic resignation, the Indian has been described as 
normally courteous, devoted to the ceremonial, disdainful of things 
Ladino, tied by tradition and custom to the land and the village level 
177 
of society, syncretic in his Catholicism, in his economic outlook a 
penny capitalist, and the most fundamental element in the national ex 
perience of Guatemala. 
Certainly a major focal point in Guatemalan indigenismo has been 
to present in narrative and descriptive fashion the various Indian groups 
within the national boundaries. Beyond this, however, another theme 
had emerged during the twentieth century which would ultimately have 
profound effects beginning in 1944. This was basically the point of 
view that the Indian was Guatemala's greatest social and economic 
problem. Ravaged by disease, frequently experiencing malnutrition, 
poorly educated if at all, seldom receiving a living wage for his labor, 
and the object of innumerable prejudices and means of exploitation as 
well as living under governments not inclined to a concern for the In 
dians, the majority of Guatemala's population was in most senses not 
a part of Guatemala. These ills were not only discussed at length in 
the literature of indigenismo, but were presented collectively as Gua 
temala's greatest domestic problem and one in need of correction as 
soon as possible. 
Guatemalan letters gave to the indigenista movement an understand 
ing of the Indian subconscious and an understanding of the psychological, 
sociological and religious aspects of the Indian mind and culture. It 
also provided an updated explanation of Indian customs and life-styles 
Above all, it brought to attention the fact that the Indian possessed an 
178 
identity that was an important and integral part of the Guatemalan 
national identity. That the reality of the Indian would remain unchanged 
for centuries until 1944 when a new orientation was to be noted is basic 
to an understanding of the entire issue. To a considerable extent it was 
the realm of the written word in the form of stories and novels that 
served as a catalyst for a new approach to the entire issue under two 
presidential regimes that would dedicate a substantial share of their 
energies toward altering this centuries old situation. 
NOTES 
CHAPTER in 
"Delia Goetz and Sylvanus G. Morley (ed. ), Popol Vuh; The 
Sacred Book of the Ancient Quiche Maya (Norman; University of Okla-
2 
Antonio Díaz Vasconcelos, Apuntes para la historia de la litera 
tura guatemalteca (Guatemala; Tipografía Nacional, 1950), pp. 80-81. 
3 
Demetrio Sodi M. , La literatura de las Mayas (Mexico; Joaquín 
Mortiz S.A., 1964), p. 89. 
4 
Goetz and Morley (ed. ), Popol Vuh: The Sacred Book of the 
Ancient Quiche Maya, pp. 4-5. 
5 
G. Porras Troconis, !,La creación del mondo según el Popol 
Vuh, 11 Anales de la sociedad de geografía e historia (septiembre, 1938), 
pp. 21-31; Julia Meléndez de Peleón, "El Popol Vuh, " El maestro 
(marzo, 1968), pp. 51-53. 
^Delia Goetz and Adrían Recinos (ed. ), The Annals of the Cak 
chiquels (Norman; University of Oklahoma Press, 1953), p. 5. 
7 
Franklin D. Parker, The Central American Republics (New 
York: Oxford University Press, 1964), pp. 26-27. 
g 
Rafael Heliodoro Valle, "John Lloyd Stephens y su libro extra 
ordinario, " Anales de la sociedad de geografía e historia (septiembre, 
1951), p. 266~ 
9 
Parker, The Central American Republics, p. 27. 
^Adrian Recinos, "Cien anos de la llegada del Abate Brasseur 
de Bourbourg de Guatemala, " Anales de la sociedad de geografía e 
historia (enero-diciembre, 1956), p. 13. 
^Goetz and Morley (ed. ), Popol Vuh: The Sacred Book of the 
Ancient Quiche Maya, pp. 53-55; Robert L. Brunhouse, In Search of 
the Maya (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1973), 
pp. 113-35. 
179 
180 
12 , v 
Recinos, ,fCien anos de la llegada del Abate Brasseur de Bour 
bourg de Guatemala, " pp. 12-14. 
13 
Parker, The Central American Republics, pp. 27-28. 
14Ibid. , pp. 28, 52-53. 
15 
Goetz and Morley (ed. ), Popol Vuh: The Sacred Book of the 
Quiche Maya, pp. 44-45. ~ 
^Parker, The Central American Republics, p, 29. 
17 
Franz Termer, "Carlos Sapper: Explorador de Centro América 
(1866-1945), 11 Anales de la sociedad de geografía e historia (enero-diciem 
bre, 1956), pp. 55-101. 
18 
Seymour Mentón, Historia de la novela guatemalteca (Guatemala: 
Editorial Univer sitaria, I960), pp. 7-8. 
19 
George K, Anderson and Robert Warnock, The World of Litera 
ture, Vol. II (Chicago: Scott, Foresman and Company, 1951), pp. 280-81. 
20 
Concha Meléndez, La novela indianista en hispanoamerica, 1832-
1889 (Madrid: Imprenta de la Libreria y Casa Editorial Hernando, 1934), 
p. 33. 
Vladimero Bermejo, "El indio, problema del indio, " America 
indígena (enero, 1952), p. 78; Concha Meléndez, La novela indianista 
en hispanoamérica, 1832-1889« pp. 8-48. 
22 
José Milla V. , El visitador (Guatemala: Tipografía Nacional, 
1935); José Milla V. , La hija del adelantado (Guatemala: Centro Edi 
torial "José de Pineda Ibarra, " 1963); José Milla V. , Las Nazarenos 
(Guatemala: Tipografía Nacional, 1935). 
23 
Augustín Meneos Franco, Don Juan Nunez García (Guatemala: 
Tipografía Nacional, 1939).-
24Ibid., p. 72. 
Carlos Wyld Ospina, La gringa (Guatemala: Tipografía Nacio 
nal, 1935); Carlos Wyld Ospina, El solar de las gonzagas (Guatemala: 
Tipografía Nacional, 1924). 
26 
Carlos Wyld Ospina, La tierra de las nahuyacas (Guatemala: 
Editorial del Ministerio de Educación Publica, 1957), 
181 
27 Alberto Ordonez Arguello, "Guatemala y Wyld Ospina,
 11 El 
maestro (septiembre, 1946), p. 109. 
28iMd. 
29 
Adelaida Lorand de Olazagasti, El indio en la narrativa guatemal 
teca (Puerto Rico: Editorial Universitaria, 1968), p"p^ 53-57. 
Ibid. 
31 
Flavio Herrera, El tigre (Guatemala: Editorial Popol Vuh, 
S. Ltda. , 1934). 
32 
Ibid., p. 38. 
33 
Flavio Herrera, La tempestad (Guatemala: Biblioteca Guatemal 
teca de Cultura Popular, Ministerio de Educación Pública, 1963). 
34 
Ricardo Estrada H. , Flavio Herrera, su novela (Guatemala: 
Imprenta Hispania, I960), pp. 145-46. 
35 
Carlos Samayoa Chinchilla, Madre milpa (Guatemala: Tipo 
grafía Nacional, 1934), 
36Ibid. , pp. 66-74. 
37 
Ibid. , pp. 52-59-
3 8 
Carlos Samayoa Chinchilla, Estampas de la costa grande 
(Guatemala: Editorial del Ministerio de Educación Pública, 1957). 
39 
Giuseppe Bellini, La Narrativa de Miguel Ángel Asturias 
(Buenos Aires: Editorial Losada, 1969), pp. 15-16; Roberto Paz y 
Paz, "Miguel Ángel Asturias: Un guatemalteco universal, " NEU: 
Revista de la Asociación de Estudiante s U niver sitar io s, I (junio, 1968), 
pp. 11-17. 
40 
Miguel Ángel Asturias, El señor presidente (Buenos Aires: 
Editorial Losada, 1952). 
41 
Bellini, La narrativa de Miguel Ángel Asturias, p. 20. 
42 
Ibid. , pp. 1-20. 
43 
Miguel Angel Asturias y González de Mendoza, Leyendas de Guatemala (Paris: Editorial Paris-América, 1927), p. 147. 
182 
44 • 
Miguel Angel Asturias, Hombres de maíz (Buenos Aires: Edi 
torial Losada, 1949). 
45 
Bellini, La narrativa de Miguel Ángel Asturias, pp. 63-88, 
46 
Olazagasti, El Indio en la Narrativa Guatemalteca, p. 109. 
47 s 
Miguel Ángel Asturias, Mulata de tal, edición tercera (Buenos 
Aires: Editorial Losada, 1968). 
48 
Olazagasti, El Indio en la Narrativa Guatemalteca, p. 116. 
49 • 
Alaide Foppa, "Realidad e irrealidad, " Cuadernos americanos 
(enero-febrero, 1968), p. 53. 
50 
Miguel Ángel Asturias, Viento fuerte (Buenos Aires: Editorial 
Losada, 1950); Miguel Ángel Asturias, El papa verde, edición segunda 
(Buenos Aires: Editorial Losada, 1957)T"Miguel Ángel Asturias, Los 
ojos de los enterrados (Buenos Aires: Editorial Losada, 1961). 
51 
Mario Monteforte Toledo, Anaite (Guatemala: Editorial El 
Libro de Guatemala, 1948). 
52 
Olazagasti, El Indio en la Narrativa Guatemalteca, pp. 124-25. 
53Ibid., p. 126. 
54 
Mario Monteforte Toledo, Entre la piedra y las cruz (Guate 
mala: Editorial El Libro de Guatemala, 1948). 
55Ibid., p. 292. 
56Ibid., pp. 9, 78, 98. 
57 
Olazagasti, El Indio en la Narrativa Guatemalteca, p. 166. 
CO 
Mario Monteforte Toledo, Donde acaban los caminos (Guate 
mala: Tipografía Nacional, 1953). 
59Ibid., pp. 20-21. 
Ibid., p. 45. 
61 
Mario Monteforte Toledo, La cueva sin quietud (Guatemala: 
Ministerio de Educación Publica, Í9497Í 
Virgilio Rodríguez Macal, Carazamba (Guatemala: Norte, 1953); 
Virgilio Rodríguez Macal, Jinaja (Guatemala: Centro Editorial, 1956). 
63 y 
Virgilio Rodríguez Macal, Guaya can (Guatemala: Centro Edi 
torial, 1956). Ibid., p. 253. 64 
183 
65 ^ Rafael Zea Ruano, Cactos (Guatemala: Ministerio de Educación 
Publica, 1952). 
^Rafael Zea Ruano, Tierra nuestra (Guatemala: Tipografía 
Nacional, 1952). 
67 y 
Francisco Barnoya Galvez, Han de estar y estaran (Santiago, 
Chile: Zig Zag, 1938). 
68 
Sylvanus G. Morley, The Ancient Maya (Palo Alto: Stanford 
University Press, 1946); Samuel K. Lothrop, ,!A Modern Survival of 
the Ancient Maya Calendar, ,! Proceedings of the XXIII International 
Congress of Americanists, 1928 (1930), pp. 652-55; Samuel K. Lothrop, 
"Christian and Pagan in Guatemala, 11 The Nation, CXXVIII (1929), pp. 74-
75; Samuel K. Lothrop, "A Quiche Altar, rrTOnT XXVI (1926), pp. J39-90; 
Manuel Gamio, ME1 material folklórico y el progreso social,ff America 
indígena, V (July, 1945), pp. 20 7-10; Manuel Gamio, "Las necesidades 
y aspiraciones indígenas y los medios de satisfacerlas, " America 
indígena, IX (April, 1949), pp. 105-12. 
69 
^Rosendo Santa Cruz, Tierras de lumbre (Guatemala: Tipo 
grafía Nacional, 1938). 
70 
Lorand de Olazagasti, El Indio en la Narrativa Guatemalteca, 
pp. 205-206. 71 •
 u Adalberto Jimenez, "De regreso a la montana," in Ruth Lamb, 
Antología del cuento guatemalteco (Mexico: Ediciones Andrea, 1959). 
CHAPTER IV 
THE AVENUE TOWARD NATIONAL 
INDIGENISMO IN GUATEMALA 
The unexpected exit of Lázaro Chacon from the presidency near 
the end of 1930 left the republic in a state of political limbo. With the 
helmsman of social and political reform gone, the energy and drive 
for reform seemed suddenly suspended in an atmosphere of question 
ing and uncertainty. What was to happen with the numerous economic 
and social programs that he had initiated? The government of the 
second designate who succeeded Chacon gave every indication that 
its chief intent would be to follow his policies. - However, a coup 
dfetat suspended this speculation. When the new government was 
not recognized by the United States, the republic was again plunged 
into the morass of political uncertainty. The confusion of the situation, 
however, was soon settled when Jorge Ubico Castañeda who had achieved 
a majority in the elections of 1931 was proclaimed president by the legis 
lative assembly on February 14, 1931.^ 
A national administration headed by Jorge Ubico indicated to many 
that the advances achieved during the regimes of Orellana and Chacon 
in the areas of public health, education and economic and social pro 
gress would be continued and there was little in the background of the 
184 
185 
new president to indicate otherwise. A Guatemalan by birth, Ubico 
was a product of the Polytechnic School in Guatemala City. Well 
trained and energetic, his advances through the military ranks had 
been rapid and his various responsibilities and assignments had been 
executed promptly and effectively. As jefe político of Alta Verapaz 
beginning in 1907 he initiated several public works projects including 
the improving of the streets in the Department capital, the construc 
tion of roads, bridges, and highways, the building of schools and hos 
pitals, and the undertaking of various measures to protect the public 
2 
health. 
Having gained national attention as an energetic and unquestionably 
honest public official, Ubico was sent to the coastal department of 
Retalhuleu in 1911. Within a few months he had restored order to the 
area which had been disrupted by local bandit groups and had improved 
the nearly defunct educational system in the department. Literacy 
training programs were begun, teachers1 salaries were increased, 
and Boy Scout troops were organized. By 1918 his campaign against 
yellow fever in Retalhuleu was a notable success and Ubico!s prestige 
o 
as a national political figure was considerable. Having served be 
tween 1918 and 1931 as Minister of War, as Deputy of Amatitlan, and 
in several other posts, Ubico came to the presidency with an impres 
sive range of experience and accomplishment. ^ 
Jorge Ubico in many respects represents one of the enigmas of 
186 
the Guatemalan political experience in this century. On the one hand 
there was the Ubico who was a stern and demanding official and who 
in the course of some fourteen years took his nation down the path 
leading to a firm dictatorship. Yet on the other hand there was the 
Ubico dedicated to economic progress, advance, and improvement 
but often at the expense of social progress. The accomplishments 
during his tenure as chief of state were several. Economy in govern 
ment affairs was imposed by the strictly regulated administration and 
expenditure of treasury funds. By rigidly enforcing revenue and tax 
laws and implementing periodic reductions in the national budget, what 
had been a deficit of several million dollars in 1930 was a budget sur 
plus by 1934 to the extent that his government was able to operate on a 
cash basis. This had been made possible by a revamping of the Guate 
malan currency system and preventing the export of gold out of the 
5 
country. During the Ubico period public income on a year by year 
basis was generally greater than public expenditures. In an effort to 
prevent the graft that had been common in Guatemalan political circles 
for years, Ubico raised the salaries of government officials and initia 
ted a law whereby the wealth and property holdings of all public officials 
was subject to government audit both before and after a term of office. 
In the area of public works, Ubico's record was impressive. Pota 
ble water, new market centers and electrical power were brought to 
many rural areas of Guatemala for the first time. Road and highway 
18 7 
construction reached an all time high as projects were begun through 
out the republic, including Guatemala City, where an extensive paving 
program of the city's streets was implemented. The Guatemalan sec 
tion of the Pan American Highway was completed and cooperation with 
the United States resulted in the completion of the International Pacific 
Highway. Approximately one-half million dollars was spent each year 
on highway construction, the money being obtained by a direct tax, or 
a forced work period of two weeks for those unable to pay the tax. Ad 
vances in transportation and communication were evident as La Aurora 
airport was completed and telephone and telegraph services were ex 
panded. Travel means were considerably expanded as bus service be 
came a reality for the first time to many rural areas of the republic. 
The railway system was also enlarged. By 1939 radio communication 
had come to many areas of the republic with "La voz de Guatemala11 
bringing special broadcasts to many remote areas for the first time. 
The dictator's efforts to improve health conditions in Guatemala 
were many and included a national sanitary code. In conjunction with 
the office of the President, a newly created Public Health Council, the 
Army, the Ministries of Interior and Justice, and rural sanitation and 
public health officials were all encouraged to follow an integrative pro 
gram dedicated to improving health standards throughout the republic. 
By 1942 health services had extended to many areas of rural Guatemala 
where none had previously existed. Cholera, yellow fever and malaria 
188 
were largely conquered. 
Jorge Ubicors view of progress extended to areas other than public 
finances and public health. As others before him, he sought to improve 
and diversify agriculture. He encouraged the cultivation of new crops 
and attempted to increase the production levels of existing crops. Free 
seeds and fertilizers were made available, swamp areas were drained, 
and numerous irrigation projects were begun. An Agricultural Credit 
Bank was established in 1934 to provide loans to agriculturalists for 
the purchase of farm machinery and to defray the costs of such things 
as land preparation, harvesting and construction. Cooperation with 
the United States during the war brought further advantage to Guatemala, 
particularly in the form of technological assistance. Some advances 
were made in education during Ubico!s tenure as president such as the 
establishment of a Dental School and a School of Economics and Social 
Sciences. Yet this and many of Ubicors innovations were offset by 1943 
by what constituted the other side of the dictator. ^ 
From 1930 until 1943 Guatemala had experienced another type of 
change separate from the advances achieved in public health and other 
areas of concern to Ubico. The republic that was to be dedicated to 
progressive reform in 1930 had become a stern dictatorship by the 
1940*s and one not unlike those of Manuel Estrada Cabrera and Rafael 
Carrera. Political power generated only from Ubico who exercised a 
personalismo certainly equal in its ramifications and range of influ-
189 
7 ence to that of some of his predecessors. Ubico kept himself per 
sonally informed about the nationrs business and demanded unimpeach 
able honesty from his public officials. Periodic unannounced audits 
of local receipts and expenditures often by the president himself and 
inspections of schools, power plants, roads, and other facilities often 
resulted in the firing of one official and the appointment of another, 
sometimes without reason. Court would be held on the occasions of 
his visits, petitions heard, and settlements and decisions rendered 
quickly and efficiently. Opposition was not tolerated. Dissenters to 
the all-pervading uubiquismon and those advocating social reform 
often found themselves in jail without juridical recourse or hustled in 
to exile • ^ 
The Indian majority, like the dictator's opponents, felt the sting of 
ubiquismo. Although Indians were received at the National Palace for 
the first time during the Ubico years and although justice was occasion 
ally in their favor, their position in Guatemalan society as the laboring 
class was locked in as never before. Vagrancy laws of earlier periods 
were revitalized and Indians were required to work a minimum of 150 
days per year on the fincas. Those failing in this regard were punished 
9 
as vagrants. Under this system the plantation owners reigned supreme 
and in conjunction with accepted government policies ignored social pro 
gress. The Indians, often through various means of debt peonage, were 
paid inadequate wages, subjected to a substandard diet, and seldom re-
190 
ceived medical aid or vacations if at all. Work on Sundays was done 
without pay. In addition to this all Indian males were obliged to work 
for a minimum of two weeks per year as laborers on highway construc 
tion projects. As a group they could be inducted into the Guatemalan 
army at any time. With the plantation owners setting their wages often 
at only a few cents a day and with the country's judicial system favoring 
at every turn the finqueros, the Indian experienced conditions not sub 
stantially different from those of his ancestors under the conquistadores 
The plantation owner, the primary authority figure at the local level in 
Ubico's Guatemala supported the government and the government sup 
ported the finqueros. The Indian was left out. Exploitation of the In 
dian majority again became the means to achieve economic advance at 
10 
the expense of social progress. 
As the repressive nature of uubiquismorr became more and more 
apparent, it also became evident that only a revolution could alter the 
domestic situation for the Indians. Although Guatemalan indigenismo 
in many respects would be reborn in the ensuing revolution of 1944, its 
impetus for rebirth necessarily was to come from abroad. 
Interest in the indigenous groups in Latin America did not suddenly 
experience a renaissance in the 1940ls which led to the beginnings of 
an effective and viable indigenismo in Guatemala and elsewhere. Such 
an interest had been germinated some time earlier on the international 
scene with some practical application in Mexico years before such an 
191 
orientation was to be noted in Guatemala. Several Americanists of 
French nationality were the first to take the initiative and create an 
international organization through which they could exchange ideas 
and viewpoints on the Americas and their indigenous inhabitants. Pri 
or to 1858 when the Societé Americaine de France was created, Amer 
icanists such as Charles Etienne Bourboury de Bourbourg, Jules Cre-
vaux, Eugene Boban, Henri Coudreau and others had simply corres 
ponded with one another in keeping abreast of current research and 
ideas relating to the Americas. The Society provided thus an institu 
tional framework for Americanist scholars in France and by 1875 the 
Society members could claim some achievement in the fact that the 
Revue oriental et americanne had presented scholarly articles to the 
interested public by many of its members.^ 
In an effort to consolidate further the increasing interest in the 
Americas, the first international congress of Americanists was orga-
12 
nized by the Society and held in Nancy, France in 1875. This first 
congress and those which were to follow prior to the turn of the cen 
tury corresponded with an increasing interest in Europe in the origins 
of the ancient peoples of the Americas including the Mayas. Two par 
ticipants, J. M. Torres Caicedo of El Salvador and Ernesto Quesada 
of Argentina were quick to recommend a detailed consideration of the 
13 
post-Columbian indigenous groups. Once the first congress had been 
concluded, numerous others were to follow and although the academic 
192 
orientation of these congresses through the years would change from 
archeology to linguistics and later in the twentieth century to applied 
and cultural anthropology, they continued to remain a focal point from 
which interest in the Indian cultures of the Americas was stimulated 
and developed. 
It was in part a resolution passed by the nineteenth congress held 
in Washington in 1915 that stimulated scholarly interest in Guatemala. 
It was resolved that the republics of the Americas should institute laws 
that would protect their national monuments and archeological sites as 
these were deemed valuable sources of information on American ab 
original past. The delegates further agreed to stimulate and encour 
age research on Indian topics whenever possible in their respective 
14 
countries. Although these early congresses accomplished little 
that would directly benefit the Guatemalan Indian population in a real 
sense, it was from such a framework and especially from a neighbor 
ing republic that indigenismo would eventually come to Guatemala. 
Mexico, like its southern neighbor, contained a sizable Indian 
percentage in its total population which had attracted the concerns of 
interested parties since the colonial period. This interest, however, 
to the extent that it resembled modern indigenismo, developed decades 
earlier in Mexico than in Guatemala. It was during the Porfiriato from 
1876 to 1910 that modern indigenismo in Mexico first appeared. Many 
of the intellectuals of the Diaz period, advocates of Spencerian social 
193 
thought, accepted the fusion of the two faces, Indian and Spanish, as 
the essence of the Mexican personality. They also believed in the edu-
15 
cability of the disadvantaged Indian. Justo Sierra asserted the funda 
mental importance of the mestizo in his works and claimed that the 
mestizo was the dynamic factor in Mexico's history.^ Francisco 
Pimentel, an historian and a student of Indian languages, felt the mes 
tizo to be the future of Mexico while Andrés Molina Enriquez, an his 
torian and sociologist, felt the mestizo to be dominant over the Euro 
pean because of a biologically determined process. Others such as 
Ignacio Manuel Altamirano, Gabino Berreda, and Rafael de Zeyas En 
riquez felt that educating the Indian would bring real social progress 
17 
to Mexico. These intellectuals prompted the early growth of an in 
digenismo that would flower later in the twentieth century. 
Indigenismo, however, was not strictly speaking only a point of 
view favored by the intellectuals. Porfirio Diaz, an archetype of the 
Latin American national caudillo who had exercised a powerful and 
complete control over Mexico since 1876, was becoming slightly more 
liberal near the end of his tenure in allowing some social reforms to 
be presented. During this period it was the governor of the northern 
state of Chihuahua, Enrique Creel, who first sponsored and then adop 
ted an indigenista program and made it operative, one of the first 
such moves since the era of Benito Juarez. On November 3, 1906 Creel 
promulgated a law which put into operation a junta dedicated to the im-
194 
18 provement and protection of the Tarahumara Indians of Chihuahua. 
It was hoped the junta would be effective in limiting the exploitation 
of this Indian group by unscrupulous whites. The Indians were given 
tracts of land wherein they could pursue whatever agricultural endea 
vors they wished or raise livestock. It was stipulated that this land 
could not be sold for any reason or obtained by fraud. Creel called 
for the establishment of an Indian school in the area which would teach 
the Tarahumaras practical subjects. A commission of ten members 
was created entitled the Junta central protectora de indígenas to see 
to the protection and betterment of this group. The commission, as 
the law of 1906 expressed it, was to be responsible for the social, edu-
19 
cational and economic improvement of the Indians. They were also 
to make available to the Indians seeds and implements for the planting 
and cultivation of their lands. They were to set up rural schools for 
elementary education and to encourage a philanthropic program where 
by Indian children could be sent to the capital to live with white fami 
lies. Creel's program for the Tarahumaras, however, was never im-
20 
planted fully. In the violence which swept Chihuahuha during the 
Mexican Revolution such reform programs were engulfed and forgot 
ten. 
In 1910 in a letter to Porfirio Díaz, Francisco Belmar, a justice 
of the Mexican Supreme Court and secretary to the Sociedad Mexicana 
de Geografía y Estadística as well as its founder, recommended the 
195 
formation of a Sociedad Indigenista Mexicana that would have as its ex 
clusive object the study of the Indian races in Mexico. The official 
response to this suggestion, however, was far different from what had 
been characteristic for many years. Don Porfirio, in answering Bel-
mar's letter in 1910, was in favor of his suggestion as was Ramón Cor 
ral, the vice-president. Diaz applauded the idea and promised his sup 
port. With official approval confirmed, the Sociedad Indigenista Mexi 
cana began operations with the support of a variety of lawyers, writers, 
21 
and members of Diaz's officialdom. 
The founding members of the Sociedad Indigenista Mexicana, through 
a series of publications, had indicated the dedication of their society to 
a number of goals. Foremost was to be the beginning of a general study 
of the Indian races in the Mexican republic from pre-Columbian times to 
the present. Also to be given considerable attention were the Indian lan 
guages and to what extent they compared to one another and the ethical 
constructs of the Indian groups. Also to be studied and sponsored were 
the archeological remains of these groups and methods by which the 
modern Indians could be educated, civilized, and incorporated into the 
national entity. The Society was to publish a bulletin and to sponsor a 
congress which would meet every two years to discuss various facets 
22 
of indigenismo and the Indian. The enthusiasm that had centered 
around the creation of the Sociedad Indigenista Mexicana in Mexico City 
had not been confined to the capital. It had been the intent of the foun-
196 
ders of the Society to organize satellite societies throughout Mexico. 
Several such organizations were founded, mostly in 1910, in the states 
of Jalisco, Morelos, Hidalgo, Guerrero and Oaxaca. The first con 
gress of the Sociedad Indigenista was scheduled to meet in Mexico 
23 
City in September of 1910. 
After several delays, the First Indianist Congress was convened 
on October 30, 1910 and was sponsored by Porfirio Díaz who for so 
many years had given only lip service in Indian education and indigen 
ismo. Delegates from locations throughout Mexico listened to scholar 
ly presentations on a wide variety of topics including education of Indi 
an youth, integration of the Indian race, Indian legends, the actual 
state of the Indians of Sonora and problems of sanitation and health 
among the Indians. Several government leaders including Federico 
Gamboa, Undersecretary of Foreign Relations, Pedro L. Rodriguez, 
Governor of Hidalgo, Carlos Flores of the Mexican Supreme Court, 
and Olegario Molina, Minister of Development, attended, denoting 
some high level political concern over the entire question. ^4 
Certainly one of the most advanced indigenista positions to be taken 
at the congress was that of José Diego Fernández. Considering the In 
dian to be one of the foundations of the Mexican nationality, he recom 
mended that extensive efforts be undertaken to integrate the Indian 
economically, morally, and socially. He proposed an educational pro 
gram that would have placed a specially trained school master in each 
197 
Indian village of the republic. His task was to teach the Indians to be 
come literate and to acquaint them with various technological advances 
and implements as well as processes that would not only raise their 
standard of living but would bring about economic integration. 
At approximately the same time, Dr. Jesus Diaz de Leon, president 
of the Sociedad Indigenista Mexicana, argued that the Indian, who had 
been the greatest factor to date in creating the national wealth of Mexi 
co, deserved certainly a right to share in the advantages brought about 
by his efforts. He related that Indian integration on a wide scale would 
not bring about the economic and social disaster predicted by some but 
would instead carry Mexico to new heights of progress and national 
greatness. D The Indian was the key to the future development of Mex 
ico. The congress adjourned on November 4, 1910, leaving those who 
had attended enthusiastic about the prospects of reform and the promise 
of meaningful change. 
Given the open and official support of the Mexican government, it 
appeared in 1910 that the society could and would accomplish a great 
deal. However, as Belmar and others suchas Jesus Diaz de Leon 
spoke of Indian integration, mass literacy programs for the Indians, 
guarantees of land titles and the creation of a truly productive Indian 
population, the government's enthusiasm and interest declined. The 
Porfirian formula of upper sector control of the lower sectors to which 
the Indian belonged simply could not be altered so quickly. The emer -
198 
gence of the revolution not only curtailed the activities of the state in 
digenista organizations but those of the Sociedad Indigenista Mexicana 
as well. Many of the thoughts expressed at the congress dealing with 
Indian integration and Indian rights were either temporarily discarded 
or incorporated into the Zapata revolt and other popular movements 
during the turbulent period of the revolution. The scene, nevertheless, 
had been set for later developments and indigenismo had reached a 
stage in maturation not to be observed anywhere else in Latin America. 
Surviving the revolution, this interest in indigenismo was manifested 
in the form of an organization in 1917 called La Dirección de Antropolo 
gía. Headed by Manuel Gamio, an energetic and enthusiastic scholar, 
this organization sought to amass as much information as was possible 
27 
about the Indians of Mexico. It was not long before Gamio!s group 
began publishing a journal entitled Ethnos dedicated to anthropological 
themes. Although only in circulation for four years, the articles in 
Ethnos were on a wide variety of topics and kept alive the academic 
interest in Mexico's indigenous groups as did another journal, El Mex 
ico antiguo, which dealt with subjects in Indian archaeology, ethnology, 
28 
folklore, linguistics, and pre-history. Although later individuals 
such as Moisés Saenz and Alfonso Caso would contribute greatly to 
Mexico's natal indigenismo, .no national programs aimed toward the 
Indian specifically were implemented prior to the administration of 
• 2Q Lázaro Cardenas. Indian themes were expressed largely in the arts 
199 
through the paintings of Diego Rivera and others. The leaders of Mex 
ico were still sweeping away the ashes and rubble left by the revolution. 
Yet through the political turmoil of the 1920*5 and the retrenchment of 
3 0 
the Calles period, indigenismo continued to develop. 
At the seventh Pan American conference held in Montevideo in 1933 
it was urged that a gathering of experts on Indians be called to consider 
in substantial detail the myriad of problems facing the indigenous groups 
of the hemisphere. The two delegates from Mexico, Dr. J. Manuel 
Puig Casauranc, Secretary of Foreign Relations, and Gerardo Vas 
quez, head of the Office of Labor, had made the proposal and recom 
mended that the entire matter be handled by the Pan American Union. 
By 1934 Mexico had in operation a Department of Indian Economy and 
several other nations were showing signs of a genuine interest in the 
question. 
In 1935 at the Pan American Institute of Geography and History 
meeting in Washington, it was suggested that scientific institutions 
should be established in the republics of the hemisphere for studying 
the Indian situation in the Americas. This concern had expanded in 
its scope sufficiently until by the eighth Pan American Conference held 
at Lima, Peru in 1938, one of its resolutions was essentially that the 
Indian populations of the Americas should not only be protected by pub 
lic laws but should be effectively integrated into the lives of their res 
pective nations. It was decided that with the assistance of the Pan 
200 
American Union, the first Inter-American Indian-ist Congress should 
be held in La Paz, Bolivia in 1939 and that an Instituto Indigenista Inter-
americano should be established. Subsequent political turmoil in Boli 
via 'prevented the meeting of the scheduled congress. It was resche-
duled to convene in Pátzcuaro, Mexico in April of 1940. 
Indigenismo, certainly in the current sense of the term and assured 
ly in the sense of what it would become in its subsequent institutionali 
zation in several Latin American nations, was given birth at this con 
gress. Meeting in a building adjacent to the church of San Agustín in 
Pátzcuro, representatives from all of the republics in the Americas 
except Paraguay attended the congress. Representing Guatemala at 
the conference was Carlos Girón Cerna, the Guatemalan Consul in Mex 
ico, and the only official delegate. His instructions were simply to ob 
serve and report to his government. Present in an unofficial capacity 
was David Vela, a well-known Guatemalan journalist, newspaper edi 
tor and scholar who had been invited by the Instituto de Antropología 
e Historia de Mexico. Others who would play important roles in the 
congress were Luis Chavez Orozco of Mexico, John Collier of the 
United States, Moisés Saenz of Mexico, José Muniz Vergara of Cuba, 
Manuel Hidalgo, Chilean Ambassador to Mexico, Hector Escobar Ser 
rano, Secretary of Public Education in El Salvador, and Lázaro Car-
32 
denas, President of Mexico. 
The two representatives from Guatemala were far from being pas-
201 
sive spectators in the proceedings of the congress. Girón Cerna, in 
effect, disobeyed his instructions by assuming an active role in the 
congress. He chaired the committee organized to discuss juridical 
questions pertaining to the Indians in the republics represented. A 
point debated by this committee was whether or not special legislation 
should be adopted throughout Latin America to deal adequately with the 
Indian populations. The coexistence of two or more distinct racial 
stocks in most of the republics and the commonly held contention that 
the Indians were economically and culturally inferior indicated to some 
that such legislation was needed. 
Girón Cerna disagreed with this premise and maintained that what 
was needed were changes in the existing juridical systems which would 
33 
recognize the social, cultural and economic conditions of the Indians. 
If such could be developed, he affirmed, the presence of a dual judicial 
system could be avoided which he insisted would encourage separate-
ness and inhibit the development of a nationalism which would include 
the Indian. His point of view carried and in the recommendations posed 
by the committee, all American nations were encouraged to take into 
consideration Indian customs and circumstances in arriving at judicial 
34 
decisions concerning them. David Vela's role at the congress was 
likewise an active one as he functioned as a member of the executive 
committee of the congress. In this capacity he was active in formula 
ting the constitution of the Instituto Indigenista Inter americano and see-
202 
ing to the publication of the recommendations of the congress in El 
Imparcial in Guatemala. He also cooperated with his friends Collier 
and Chavez Orozco, president of the congress, and several Mexican 
indigenistas in many of the debates and presentations. Through this 
experience and these associations, David Vela would later bring to 
Guatemala several of the fundamentals and contentions of indigenismo 
as they were being expressed in Mexico. 
An address by Lázaro Cárdenas opened the congress. President 
Cárdenas enunciated many of the basics of indigenismo and pointed out 
that Mexico's Indian problems were similar to those encountered through 
out the hemisphere. He stressed that the Indian should receive equal 
consideration as a worker, a man, and a citizen as his mestizo counter 
part, but should be considered also as the major factor in any effort, 
international or domestic, aimed toward progress of any kind. The aim, 
felt Cardenas, was not to indigenizar Mexico or Latin America or to 
mexicanizer the Indian, but rather to integrate this group into the na 
tional scheme of things utilizing their sound qualities and character is -
35 
tics and diminishing their vices and disadvantageous characteristics. 
Cárdenas repeated a contention he had expressed in 1936 when he rela 
ted that the government of the Revolution considered it an obligation to 
give preferential treatment to the Indian race of the republic more than 
any other. He stressed that one of the basic obligations of public ad 
ministration was the care of the Indian groups. Electrified by Carde-
203 
nas' opening remarks, the delegates began their debates and delibera 
tions which would eventually result in an impressive list of recommen-
dations. 
One factor, among other things, which seemed to be clearly under 
stood by many of the delegates to the congress was that the Indian was 
an exploited being and had been so treated since the conquest. Threa 
tened indeed by the rapid course of events was the very basis of this 
culture with its rich heritage and its wealth of artifacts and artistic 
productions. Fearing that this could well be lost in the hustle of the 
twentieth century, the delegates adopted a series of resolutions de 
signed to protect and promote this cultural heritage. The congress 
urged all nations.to adopt legislation designed to protect Indian arti 
facts and organize institutions which would see to the improvement of 
the production and distribution of Indian crafts, textiles and other ar 
tistic productions. 
One who strongly urged the adoption of this type of legislation was 
David Vela, who felt the protection as well as the encouragement of the 
production of authentic Indian textiles and crafts to be a basic step 
toward achieving the goal of economic integration of the Indians in Gua 
temala. Artes populares produced by Indians, he felt, should be authen 
ticated and protected from unscrupulous duplication and encouraged to 
develop further by national governmental institutions. To aid in this it 
was decided that Indian items, particularly textiles, should be sent to 
204 
a central location in the hemisphere such as Panama whereby hope 
fully they would become known and the demand for them would eventu 
ally increase. Such items, it was urged, should be allowed to circu-
37 
late throughout the continent duty free. 
Gamio, speaking before the congress on the failures of many indi 
genistas throughout Latin America to devise and put into operation a 
program that could integrate the Indians into modern civilization, fo 
cused upon one of the major difficulties facing those so dedicated. Ex 
actly how is an Indian group to be identified and differentiated from one 
which is Mestizo or Ladino? Although any number of standards could 
be used, what Gamio was interested in achieving were guidelines where 
by most Indian groups could be correctly and accurately classified. Call 
ing upon his extensive training and experience in anthropology, he pro 
posed three distinct categories for classification: linguistics, ethics, 
and culture. 
Those who spoke only an aboriginal language were to be classified 
as Indian. The ethical and overall cultural orientation and cultural 
practices of a group should be used to classify them as Indian or non-
Indian. By using these guidelines, such factors as tradition, food, 
dress, domestic implements, customs, conceptual patterns and gen 
eral development and orientation, as well as racial or physical charac 
teristics could be considered to render a more effective result. A simi 
lar approach would be used a few years later in Guatemala by the Aré-
205 
valo government. ^° It was eventually resolved that cultural character 
istics should be considered in determining whether or not a given group 
should be considered Indian. 
A question which was frequently debated during the congress was 
what one considered to be the primary element in the Indian problem. 
What was the very basis of this problem? For many education appeared 
to be the fundamental issue. With the tools that an adequate education 
could provide, integration or incorporation of the Indian into western 
39 
society could be achieved. 7 Quite differently from many sectors in 
Latin America, these indigenistas at Pátzcuaro thought the Indian to 
be considerably more than a being barely above the level of the beasts. 
The section of the congress devoted to education concluded that the 
Indian had an aptitude equal to either the Mestizos or the Whites and 
that this could be applied in favor of contemporary progress. Many, 
including David Vela, felt that the Indians possessed a vigorous per 
sonality, a positive sense of personal dignity and the abilities for a 
positive collective association and social organization. ^ 
A majority of the delegates attending the congress, including David 
Vela and Luis Chavez Orozco, felt that these abilities and attributes 
should be utilized in some practical manner to educate the Indian. They 
concluded that the Indian language was the avenue to the Indian mentality 
and his rich cultural heritage, and that this language would be the best 
media for teaching literacy. 
206 
A series of postulates were presented for adoption by the delegates 
which, when taken asa whole, reflected accurately the indigenista views 
on education. One of the postulates stated that regardless of the system 
of education to be utilized for the Indians, their dignity, sensibility, 
moral interests, and cultural and social organizations were to be pre 
served. In both vocational as well as in other educational programs, the 
Indian's language was to be utilized whenever possible. This language 
was to be taught to Indian children in rural schools and Indians were 
also to be made literate in the national language. School programs, it 
was argued, should be commensurate with the Indian life styles and 
should operate concurrently with a literacy program for adults, the lat 
ter being deemed most fundamental to the entire question of Indian edu 
cation. To facilitate such an educational program, the production of 
textbooks for both children and adults was encouraged. Schools were 
to be established as quickly as possible in Indian communities and com 
petent Indians were to be utilized as teachers whenever and wherever 
possible. As a supplement to this, cultural missions were to be or-
41 
ganized in support of this educational effort. 
Much of this, however, only expressed aims and goals that would 
42 
be desirable. More specific recommendations were also presented. 
William W. Beatty, in relating to the delegates the experience of the 
United States in Indian education, touched upon many factors that were 
43 
later adopted officially by the congress. It was resolved that any 
207 
educational program should include the following in order to guarantee 
the health, sanitation, and continuing productive capacity of the com 
munity: potable water should be introduced into the community as 
quickly as possible and its continued use guaranteed; medical person--
nel should be readily available to those in each rural community who 
might need medical treatment; plots of land near the schools should be 
set aside for instruction in agricultural methods; instruction in live 
stock care should be made available, as well as a library and recrea 
tional facilities. Whenever possible, emphasis was to be given to 
sanitation, household economy, facilities for bathing and washing 
clothes, and other daily habits and tasks. To man these rural schools 
the committee recommended the selection and'training of promising 
students as teachers, these individuals to oversee the general im-
44 
provement of their own people in a particular area. 
With the aim in mind of protecting native cultures, particularly 
from the threat of extinction or adulteration, the history of the Indians 
was to be taught in the schools as well as their customs. Methods of 
producing Indian textiles more efficiently and more rapidly and methods 
for their efficient marketing and distribution were to be emphasized. 
To be given particular attention was instruction on the legal rights 
the Indians could expect and instruction on civic rights and responsibi 
lities. Lastly, the establishment of institutes of investigation was to 
be encouraged. 45 Basic to the role of this new type of school for the 
208 
Indians was to be the social and economic improvement of the rural 
Indian and his surroundings. Only with this accomplished, the delega 
tion concluded, could integration be considered a distinct possibility. 
Education for the various Indian groups in even one Latin American 
republic such as Guatemala was replete with obstacles that would have 
to be overcome if an indigenista inspired educational program was to 
46 
become effective. Certainly one of the greatest difficulties to be 
faced was that of language and, in particular, obtaining educational 
materials in the various Indian languages. Detailed studies and gram 
mars as well as learning materials were needed. To promote such in 
vestigation the delegates recommended the calling together of the first 
congress of linguists, particularly those whose concentrations were 
American Indian languages. Such an organization or meeting which 
would be called the Congreso Inter americano de Lingüística Indígena 
Aplicada was to encourage the scientific study of Indian languages, en 
courage the study of social problems of Indian groups relating to lin 
guistics, stimulate publication of monographs and other materials 
about Indian languages, study the problems inherent in the use of an 
Indian language as an instructional tool, study the methodology and 
history of teaching in the Indian languages, and stimulate the use of the 
native languages in ethnological, social and psychological investiga 
tions. The first congress of linguists met in Costa Rica in December 
of 1940. 47 
209 
Another factor deemed quite important by the delegates to the Inter -
american Indianist Congress was the general health of the Indian and 
his physical environment. Such infectious diseases as yellow fever, 
malaria, cholera and dysentery would have to be brought under con 
trol and the Indians instructed in measures to prevent acquiring them. 
It was recommended that medical personnel trained in tropical medi 
cine would be of tremendous assistance. Indian concepts and beliefs 
centering around sicknesses would have to be studied and corrective 
measures undertaken where necessary. To improve the general level 
of health, it was urged that health centers be established in the Indian 
zones of Latin America. It was recommended that a commission be 
appointed in each country to study the Indian's diet and make appro 
priate recommendations. In papers presented to the congress it was 
emphasized that the diet was considerably deficient in vegetables, pro 
teins, vitamins and minerals. Another factor which would later re 
ceive attention was caloric and vitamin loss because of the consump 
tion of alcohol. ^ The delegates emphasized the need of massive ef 
forts toward improvement in both quality and quantity of Indian housing 
as well. 
For centuries a constant problem facing the Indian was the poor 
distribution of usable land. At the bottom of the social and economic 
scale the Indian traditionally was required to scratch out a living from 
the poorest land available. The delegates suggested that in those court-
210 
tries where this was a serious problem the governments should dic 
tate equitable means to alleviate the situation, such as land redistribu 
tion, resettlement or internal colonization, road construction, and 
49 
agricultural credit. 
After consideration of the many problems facing the Indians of 
Latin America, it was decided by the delegates that an International 
Indian Institute for the discussion, debate and study of the Indian should 
be established. The tasks of the Institute included the collection and 
distribution of information to member governments on a variety of 
topics relating to the Indian problem and the compilation of informa 
tion on programs throughout the hemisphere to integrate the Indians. 
The Institute was also to initiate, direct and coordinate investigations 
that had immediate application to the Indian problem in the Americas. 
The Institute was to function as an advisory agency to the member 
governments and was to edit publications relating to indigenista topics. 
Thus charged, the Instituto Indigenista Interamericano began operation 
in Mexico City. ^ 
Indigenismo for some was born in Pátzcuaro, Mexico in 1940. For 
the first time the dynamics of indigenismo and the problems of the In 
dian had been given detailed consideration at an international confer 
ence. Although the congress decided very little that was to have any 
immediate effects upon the Indians of the hemisphere, the important 
fact about the Pátzcuaro Congress was that it brought to light not only 
211 
through its resolutions but also through the debates and discussions 
that took place, a reasonably accurate concept of what indigenismo 
would entail in future years. It would be a persuasion dedicated to 
the improvement and integration of the Indian groups of Latin America 
and would involve an orientation toward the idea that this could be ac 
complished through governmental programs in such areas as sanitation, 
51 
education, public health, and through various cultural programs. The 
Pátzcuaro Congress brought into focus the belief many had held through 
the years since the colonial period that the Indian was a positive ele 
ment in the American experience and should be assisted in order that 
he might develop rather than disappear. The Indian was seen as the 
52 
basic human cultural factor of the Americas. 
The influence that this conference had was in part a result of the 
prestige it had acquired from the people who attended it. Lázaro Cár 
denas, who had addressed the convention and extolled the aims of indi 
genismo, was known throughout the Americas as the Mexican president 
of the masses and one dedicated to economic as well as social reform. 
Others who had attended the convention represented the elites in their 
particular disciplines such as David Vela and Carlos Girón Cerna from 
Guatemala, Luís Chávez Orozco, Moisés Sáenz, J. Manuel P. Cassu-
ranc, Manuel Gamio and Alfonso Caso from Mexico, John Collier from 
the United States, and numerous others. 
The indigenista conference provided Mexico with a stimulant as 
212 
far as indigenismo was concerned. The country's most reknowned 
scholars came to associate themselves with this new favorable view 
of the Indian. Given official recognition and encouragement by Car 
denas, all seemed to favor the development of a vibrant and active in 
digenismo which offered the promise of better things to come for Mexi 
co's Indians. But what of Guatemala? 
The year 1940 was not an auspicious time in Guatemala for the 
development of an active indigenists program. The country appeared 
to be completely controlled by Jorge Ubico and "ubiquismo. lf The cau 
dillo directed a firm dictatorship which resisted most efforts toward 
social reform. Legislators either opposing Ubico or suggesting change 
often found themselves on a train bound for Mexico and forced exile. 
The atmosphere of Ubico1 s Guatemala was not one conducive to even 
a limited reform program let alone one as potentially far-reaching as 
indigenismo. 
Where Guatemalans such as David Vela, Girón Cerna and others 
would have experienced difficulties in developing an indigenismo in 
Guatemala prior to 1944, the concept was yet very much alive. To a 
considerable extent it was the activities of North American scholars 
during this period prior to the Guatemalan revolution that kept interest 
in the Indian from being extinguished. Using as a point of departure 
many of the archeological studies that had been completed in the I920's 
and 1930's, several North American anthropologists studied in Guate-
213 
to the bank of knowledge of Guatemala's indigenous groups. 54 
mala during the Ubico years. Morris Siegel of the University of Chi 
cago published a series of studies in the early 1940,s dealing with Gua 
temala's Indians. These included a study of cultural concepts in 1942 
and four pioneer studies on education, religion, and cultural change. 
All were published between 1941 and 1944. Robert Redfield, known as 
an accomplished anthropologist, made several trips to Guatemala dur 
ing the Ubico period and wrote in 1938 a study entitled "Primitive Mer 
chants of Guatemala. 11 His "Culture and Education in the Midwestern 
Highlands of Guatemala" appeared in 1943 and became a model for 
53 
future anthropological studies of Indian cultures. 
Another anthropologist active in Guatemala at this time and one who 
later became active in the Instituto Indigenista Inter americano was Sol 
Tax. Along with Redfield and Siegel, his studies in Guatemala became 
models for anthropological investigation. Perhaps his greatest study, 
El capitalismo del centavo, completed largely during the closing years 
of the Ubico regime, pointed out the fundamental tenets of the Indian 
village oriented economy and how it operated in rural Guatemala. His 
study was timely in that it pointed out indirectly the need for economic 
integration. His other works in Guatemala including "Culture and Civi 
lization in Guatemalan Societies, n "Ethnic Relations in Guatemala, 11 
"The Municipios of the Midwestern Highlands of Guatemala,11 and "Town 
and Country in Chichicastenango" constituted fundamental contributions 
214 
The cooperation between Ubico1 s officialdom and North American 
scholars was certainly evident with Felix Webster McBryde. His epic 
study Geografía cultural e^ histórica del suroeste de Guatemala was the 
result of several years of investigation in Guatemala where he was as 
sisted by several governmental officials including Miguel Ydigoras 
Fuentes, Director General of Caminos in 1940 and earlier as jefe polí 
tico of San Marcos, Manuel Tejada Lierena, Director of Aduanas for 
Guatemala, Delfino Sánchez Latour of the Department of Foreign Rela 
tions and Erwin Deger of the Instituto Químico Agrícola Nacional. In 
the preface to his study, McBryde expressed his thanks to the jefes 
políticos of the departments of Guatemala and to many of the local 
governmental authorities who provided assistance in many capacities. 
Besides McBryde, the list of scholars active in Guatemala during 
Ubico's tenure was impressive. Norman Wright in 1944 wrote a work 
entitled Los Indios de Guatemala and in the same year George M. Fos 
ter studied nagualism in the republic. John Gillin began a long and 
productive career in anthropology with a study in 1943 entitled "Houses, 
Food and the Contact of Cultures in a Guatemalan Town. " These stu 
dies plus those of Lilly de Jongh Osborne and others published in the 
1930's and various research projects that were begun during the Ubico 
period, in effect kept alive an interest in the Indians of Guatemala at 
a time when a domestic indigenismo could not develop because of the 
56 
unfavorable views of it by the government. The fact that many of 
215 
these studies were the result of cooperation between Ubico!s govern 
ment and the Carnegie Institute in Washington posed a curious contra 
diction. President Ubico seemed open to North American scholarly 
endeavors in Guatemala but was apparently unaware that their studies 
exposed the environmental neglect surrounding the Guatemalan Indians 
and would help to provide the basis from which indigenismo would later 
develop. Ubico and his officials no doubt felt that the government's 
patronage of scholarly studies of Indians fostered the country's inter 
national image but implied no practical implementation of suggested 
impr ove me nt s. 
Where Ubico's government had cooperated with North American 
scholars in their efforts to study the Indian groups of Guatemala, it 
had not been cooperative or favorable toward those wishing to instigate 
reforms, particularly those that would benefit the Indians. For nearly 
fourteen years Ubico ruled Guatemala: during this time no major social 
legislation designed to benefit the Indian majority was passed. 
Tired of over a decade of personalismo and repression, university 
students and professionals in 1944, by voicing their opposition to an 
ubiquista judge, initiated a chain of events that would unseat the cau 
dillo. Threatened by a general strike and opposed by numerous sec 
tors in the electorate including students, teachers, professional men 
and several groups of workers, Ubico resigned on July 29, 1944, just 
three days after the beginning of a nationwide general strike. 3 For 
216 
the first time in years the political barometer in Guatemala was re 
cording open discontent on many fronts including the issue of the Indi 
ans of the republic. On July 13, 1944, Guillermo Grajed Mena, writing 
in El Imparcial, delivered one of the first editorials in years condemn 
ing Ubico's handling of the Indian problem and the status of the Indian 
throughout the country: 
The Indian in our land is not clean, does not know of sanitation, 
does not defend his rights because he is unfamiliar with what 
they are and he lives on the margin of the national life-style. 
For this the Indian is considered as unreliable, lazy, lacking 
in ambition, sad and sick and destined only to a life of manual 
servitude. To call a white or mestizo an Indian is to insult 
him. However, in works of art the Indian appears happy, 
clean, strong and knowledgeable. Forgotten is the sickness, 
illiteracy, and misery of the Indian . . . . 
In the tumult of discontent in July, new political parties were formed 
which called for reforms that would affect and benefit the Indians. The 
Partido de Acción Nacional in its platform as well as in the pronounce 
ments of its leading member Clemente Marroquin Rojas, a well-known 
journalist and political commentator, called for "pan, instrucción, 
libertad y justicia11 for all Guatemalans and social security measures 
and a vast public health program that would include Guatemalan rural 
Indian population. ^ The Partido Democrático which advanced the 
candidacy of Adrián Recinos, besides demanding an agrarian policy, 
medical service and an educational system that would affect the nation's 
rural Indians, called for the formation of an Indian Institute. ^° 
217 
To be organized along the guidelines established at Pátzcuaro in 
1940, this Institute was to act as the coordinating agency for the numer 
ous reforms that would be instituted that could affect the Indians. The 
Institute's task would be to study as well as to administer to the needs 
of the republicls Indian population and see to the integration of the In 
dians. In publicizing their platforms, the Frente Popular and the Van 
guardia Nacional, among the extensive list of reforms recommended, 
advocated as a goal of fundamental importance the conscious incorpora 
tion of the Indian population and the development of a system of educa 
tion for Indians utilizing their ethnic and cultural values. ^ For most 
of the newly formed political parties, the Indian situation and the In 
dian problem were discussed in the sense of what could be done to im 
prove the circumstances surrounding this sector of the republic's popu 
lation. 
With the flurry of political activity during July and August the Indian 
had become a point of considerable attention not only among those of the 
newly formed political parties, but for many writers as well. The In 
dian and his condition became a central issue in the numerous expres 
sions of social and political discontent. José Guillermo Salazar, in a 
series of articles in El Imparcial in September, expressed the view 
held by many that the primary function of the next government in Gua 
temala should be to give life to those institutions which could lead to 
an improvement in the Indian situation and see to his incorporation into 
218 
Guatemalan life. 
Throughout the period from Ubico!s resignation until the middle of 
October, the political atmosphere in Guatemala began showing signs 
of a violent breakdown. Opposition to General Juan Federico Ponce, 
appointed by Ubico to succeed him, was mounting at all levels of society 
and by October 20, 1944, a revolution was in progress. Led by univer 
sity students, civilians and a clique of anti-Ponce army officers, the 
revolutionaries began hostilities by capturing a cache of Lend Lease 
weapons. After several days of violent street fighting in Guatemala 
City and elsewhere throughout the republic, the opposition emerged 
victorious with political power concentrated in the hands of a three-
man military junta. 
NOTES 
CHAPTER IV 
'"Amy Elizabeth Jensen, Guatemala: A Historical Survey (New 
York: Exposition Press, 1955), p. 121. 
2 
Chester Lloyd Jones, Guatemala: Past and Present (New York: 
Russell and Russell, 1966), p. 70. 
3 
Jensen, Guatemala: A Historical Survey, p. 124; Jones, Guate 
mala: Past and Present, p. 70. 
4 
Jones, Guatemala: Past and Present, p. 70. 
5 
Jensen, Guatemala: A Historical Survey, p. 126. 
^Vera Kelsey and Lilly de Jongh Osborne, Four Keys to Guate 
mala (New York: Funk and Wagnalls Co. , Inc. , 1961), p. 212; Richard 
N, Adams, Crucifixion by Power (Austin: University of Texas Press, 
1970), pp. 174-75, 179, 273; Jensen, Guatemala: A Historical Survey, 
pp. 121-35. 
7 
Manuel Galich, nLa juventud contra las déspotas, " El maestro 
(abril-junio, 1947), pp. 5-7. 
Adams, Crucifixion by Power, pp. 174-83; Kalman H. Silvert, 
Un estudio de gobierno: Guatemala (Guatemala: Editorial "José de 
Pineda Ibarra, M Ministerio de Educación Pública, 1969), pp. 19-28. 
9 
Julio Hernández Sifontes, Realidad jurídica del indígena guate -
malteca (Guatemala: Editorial "José de Pineda Ibarra, " Ministerio de 
Educación Pública, 1965), p. 257. 
10 
Adams, Crucifixion by Power, pp. 174-83. 
^Juan Comas, Los congresos internacionales de americanistas: 
Síntesis histórica e índice bibliográfica general, 1875-1952 (Mexico: 
Instituto Indigenista Interamericano, 1953), p. xiii. 
Ibid. 
Ibid, , pp. xxi-xxii. 
219 
220 
Ibid. 
Martin S. Stabb, "Indiginism and Racism in Mexican Thought, 
1857-1911, "Journal of Inter-American Studies, I (October, 1959), p. 406. 
16IMd. 
1?Ibid. , pp. 409, 414, 416, 417. 
18 
Juan Comas, "Algunos datos para la historia del indigenismo 
en Mexico, " Ensayos sobre indigenismo (Mexico: Instituto Indigenista 
Interamericano, 1953), p. 63. 
19 
Ibid. , pp. 65-70. 
Ibid. 
21Ibid. , pp. 72-74. 
22 
T. G. Powell, "Mexican Intellectuals and the Indian Question, 
1876-1911, " Hispanic American Historical Review (February, 1968), 
p. 25. 
23Ibid. 
24Ibid. 
25 
David Vela, Orientación y recomendaciones del primer con 
greso indigenista interamericano (Guatemala: Publicaciones del Comité 
Organizador del IV Congreso Indigenista Interamericano, 1959), pp. 6-21. 
26 
Comas, nAlgunos datos para la historia del indigenismo en 
Mexico, 11 pp. 72-73. 
27 
Ignacio Mar quina, nLa obra de Manuel Gamio, " América indí 
gena, XX (octubre, I960), pp. 277-78. 
28 • 
Comas, "Algunos datos para la historia del indigenismo en 
Mexico, 11 p. 99-
^ Lucio Mendieta y Nunez, "El tratamiento del indio, n América indí 
gena, IV (abril, 1944), pp. 113-22. 
30 
Aida Cometía Mazoni, "Realidad actual del indio, M América indí 
gena, VIII (julio, 1948), pp. 155-64; Juan Comas, "La realidad del trato 
dado a los indígenas de América entre los siglos XV y XX, 11 América 
indígenas, XI (octubre, 1951), pp. 323-70. 
15 
221 
JlComas, "Algunos datos para la historia del indigenismo en 
Mexico, " p. 251, 
32 
Vela, Orientación y recomendaciones del primer congreso indi 
genista inter americano, pp. 6-21. 
33 
Carlos Girón Cerna, "La nueva paz del indio, " Typewritten 
manuscript (Guatemala: Archivo del Instituto Indigenista Nacional Gua 
temalteca, no date), p. 2. 
34 
Vela, Orientación y recomendaciones del primer congreso indí-
genista interamericano, pp. 44-45. 
35 
Guillermo Townsend, "Lázaro Cárdenas, el indigenista," Peru 
indígena, III (diciembre, 1952), pp. 193-203. 
36Ibid. , p. 196. 
Guatemala, Ac tas finales de los tres primeros congresos indi 
genistas inter americanos (Guatemala: Editorial del Ministerio de Edu 
cación Publica, 1959), p. 23. 
Vela, Orientación y recomendaciones del primer congreso indi 
genista interamericano, pp.48-49. 
39 
Norma Baldizon de Castro Conde, "Los problemas educativos 
nacionales: su prioridad, importancia y posibles soluciones, " El 
maestro, ano XIX, época III, No. 7 (septiembre, 1964), pp. 144-48; 
Emilio Barrentes, "Conceptos fundamentales sobre la educación del 
indio, " América indígena, IV (enero, 1944), pp. 49-54; Willard W. 
Beatty, "Educación: Necesidad primordial del indio, " América indí 
gena, IV (julio, 1944), pp. 183-89; Oswaldo Cifuentes Pérez, "Los 
problemas educativos nacionales, su prioridad, importancia y posible 
soluciones," El maestro, No. 7 (septiembre, 1964), pp. 139-43; Jorge 
A. Vivo, "Acerca del problema indígena en Hispanoamérica, " América 
indígena, IV (enero, 1944), pp. 31-36. 
40 
David Vela, "Address Before Instituto Indigenista Nacional 
Guatemalteca," Guatemala City, Guatemala, December 22, 1970. 
41 Gonzalo Aguirre Beltrán, "Politica indigenista en América 
Latina, " Anuario indigenista-, XXIX (diciembre, 1969), pp. 17-28; 
Gregorio Hernández de Alba, "Lo indígena como expresión Ameri 
cana, " América indígena, IV (julio, 1944), pp. 223-25; Carlos Girón 
Cerna, "El indigenismo y el indio, " América indígena, I (octubre, 
1941), pp. 17-20; Adolfo de Hostos, MValor de la cultura indígena, 11 
América indígena, III (enero, 1943), pp. 49-55. 
222 
42^ Guatemala, Actas finales de los tres primeros congresos indí-
genistas interamericanos, pp. 36-40. 
43 
James E. Officer, "The Role of the United States Government 
in Indian Acculturation and Assimilation, 11 Anuario indigenista, XXV 
(diciembre, 1965), pp. 73-86. ~ 
44 
Vela, Orientación y recomendaciones del primer congreso indí-
genista interamericano, pp. 195-98. 
45 
Guatemala, Actas finales de los tres primeros congresos indi 
genistas inter americanos, pp. 40-41. 
46 
Aníbal Buitrón, "Problemas económico-sociales de la educa 
ción en América Latin," América indígena, XX (julio, I960), pp. 167-72. 
47 
Guatemala, Actas finales de las tres primeros congresos indi 
genistas inter americanos, pp. 18-19 
48 
Ibid. , pp. 48-49, 32-33, 29, 30. 
49 
Richard F. Behrendt, f,Factores que efectan el actual estado 
económico de los indios en Latinoamérica, " América indígena, X (julio, 
1950), pp. 195-214; Manuel Gamío, "Las necesidades y aspiraciones 
indigenas y los medios de satisfacerlos, " América indígena, IX (abril, 
1949)» pp. 105-12; Alejandro D. Marroquin, "Economía indígena y 
desarrollo, " América indígena, XXVIH (octubre, 1968), pp. 929-40; 
Jorge A. Vivó, "Aspectos económicos fundamentales del problema 
indígena, " América indígena, III (enero, 1943), pp. 67-73. 
5^Guatemala, Actas finales de las tres primeros congresos indi 
genistas inter americano s, pp. 64-65. 
51 * Gonzalo Aguirre Beltrán, "El indigenismo y su contribución al 
desarrollo de la idea de nacionalidad, " América indígena, XXIX (abril, 
1969), pp. 397-405; Heinrich Berlin, "El indígena frente al estado, " 
América indígena, IV (octubre, 1944), pp. 275-80; Antonio García, 
"Bases de una política indigenista, " América indígena, V (abril, 1945), 
pp. 171-76; Miguel Leon Portilla, "Teoría y practica del indigenismo 
inter americano, " América indígena, XXIX (octubre, 1964), pp. 333-48. 
52Ana Biro de Stern "The Re-evaluation of the American Abori-
gine, " América indígena, XXIII (julio, 1958), pp. 237-46; Adolfo de 
Hostos, "Valor de la cultura indigena, n América indígena, III (enero, 
1943), pp. 49-55. 
223 
53 
El Imparcial, 4 agusto 1944, pp. 2-3. 60 
Robert Redfield, "Culture and Education in the Midwestern 
Highlands of Guatemala, n The American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 
VI, No. 48 (1943), pp. 640^48^ Robert Redfield, "Primitive Merchants 
of Guatemala, " Quarterly Journal of Inter-American Relations, Vol. 
I, No. 4 (1938), pp. 42-56; Robert Redfield, "Ethnic Groups and Natio 
nality, " Boletín indigenista, V (septiembre, 1945), pp. 235-45; Morris 
Siegel, "Effects of Culture Contact on the Form of the Family in a Gua 
temalan Village, " Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, Vol. 
LXXII (1942), pp. 55-68; Morris Siegel, "Problems of Education in 
Western Guatemala, A Product of Acculturation, " American Anthro 
pologist, XLIH (January-March, 1941), pp. 62-76; Morris Siegel, 
"Resistance to Cultural Change in Western Guatemala, " Sociology and 
Social Research, Vol. XXV, No. 5 (1941), pp. 414-30. 
54 
Sol Tax, El capitalismo del centavo; una economía indígena de 
Guatemala (Guatemala: Editorial del Ministerio de Educación Publica, 
1964); Sol Tax, "Culture and Civilization in Guatemalan Societies, " 
Scientific Monthly, XLVIII, No. 5 (1939), pp. 463-67; Sol Tax, nEthnic 
Relations in Guatemala," América indígena, II (1942), pp. 43-48; Sol 
Tax, "The Municipios of the Midwestern Highlands of Guatemala, 11 
American Anthropologist, XXXIX (July-September, 1937). pp. 423-44; 
Sol Tax, "Town and Country and Chichicastenango, " Three Americas, 
Vol. I, No. 6 (1935), pp. 11-16. 
55 * 
Felix Webster McBryde, Geografía cultural e histórica del 
suroeste de Guatemala (Guatemala: Editorial del Ministerio de Edu 
cación Pública, 1969), pp. 19-24. 
56 
William Kirk, "Social Change Among the Highland Indians of 
Guatemala, " Sociology and Social Research, XXIII (1939), pp. 321-33; 
Oliver Ricketson, "Municipal Organization of an Indian Township in 
Guatemala," Geographical Review, No. 29 (1939), pp. 643-47; Raymond 
Stadelman, "Maize Cultivation in Northwestern Guatemala, " Carnegie 
Institute of Washington: Contributions to American Anthropology and 
History, XXX (1940), pp. 83-266; Charles Wisdom, The Chorti Indians 
of Guatemala (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1940). 
57 
Silvert, Un estudio de gobierno, pp. 19-28. 
5 8 
El Imparcial, 13 julio 1944, p. 3. 
59 
El Imparcial, 9 julio 1944, p. 3. 
CHAPTER V 
THE BEGINNINGS OF A NATIONALISTIC 
INDIGENISMO IN GUATEMALA 
1945-1946 
The turbulent summer months of 1944 which resulted in the ejection 
of Jorge Ubico and his successor Federico Ponce from political power 
by October 20, 1944 left Guatemala in a state of considerable uncertain 
ty. What was to happen after fourteen years of the mano duro of Ubico 
and his associates? Had the revolution simply provided the means 
whereby a new national caudillo could gain power or was something 
new in store for the nation as a whole? Although on the one hand the 
politically active sector of the populace seemed suspended in a state of 
wonderment and uneasiness, on the other hand people seemed collective 
ly to exhale a breath of relief at the prospects of an end to repression 
that had characterized ubiquismo.* 
This was particularly evident in the Department of Guatemala. The 
last days of Ubico and the brief tenure of Ponce had witnessed the for 
mation of various political organizations and associations whose mem 
bers risked possible exile and imprisonment in order to express their 
opposition to those in power. The word and indeed the demand of the 
hour among these groups was change, the desire to bring about funda-
224 
225 
mental and basic social and political change that would affect all Guate 
malans. The task of channeling all of this into some meaningful direc 
tion fell to the revolutionary junta of the revolution. 
The three leaders of the junta who were to assume the initial task 
of restructuring Guatemala were those who had led the forces of oppo 
sition against Ubico and Ponce, Major Francisco Arana, Captain Jaco-
bo Arbenz, and Gabriel Toriello. Their foremost responsibility was 
to rule the republic until such time that a democratically elected presi 
dent could take office and organize his own government for the conduct 
of the affairs of state. The junta!s political support came from a con 
glomerate of civilian and military groups that had opposed Ubico, many 
of which were supporting the candidacy of Juan José Arévalo. 
The junta's chief task as its three members envisioned it was not 
only to return order to the country but to erase all vestiges of ubiquis-
mo and lay the foundations for a new regime. A political house-clean 
ing, they felt, was in order. Hours after the change in government it 
was announced by radio that one of the first steps would be to dissolve 
the National Assembly which for over a decade had been nothing but a 
rubber stamp to approve the actions of the dictator. Many of the offi 
cials who had been appointed by Ubico and who had vigorously suppor 
ted him were dismissed from office. General elections for legislative 
representatives were then set for November 3, 4, and 5. These first 
acts of the new government were enthusiastically received as popular 
226 
demonstrations in Guatemala City and Quezaltenango expressed support 
4 
of the junta. 
To fill the various posts of responsibility in the interim government, 
the junta named several individuals accomplished in their vocations in 
cluding Jorge Luís Arrióla. Francisco Javier Arana was to serve as 
Minister of War. Active also in the new government were Julio César 
Méndez Montenegro and Eduardo E. Cáceres Lehnhoff, both destined 
5 
to achieve political fame in later years. Once the revolutionary junta 
had taken these initial steps, numerous others were to follow which 
would lay the foundation for a departure from the political experiences 
of the Ubico year s and would promise a future political atmosphere de 
dicated, among other things, to the democratic process and constitu-
6 
tionality. 
Through a series of executive decrees dealing with a wide range of 
topics, many of which would later be approved by a democratically elec 
ted congress, the junta set the scene for the emergence of Juan José 
Arévalo. Indeed, many of the decisions reached and policies formula 
ted by the junta would become integral parts of arevalismo. The seven 
teenth decree passed by the junta revealed more than any other single 
decree the general political point of view of the junta and the context 
of its desires for Guatemala. Declared as fundamental principles of 
the revolution of October 20 were the following: the decentralization 
of the executive wing of government and the separation of powers of 
227 
the executive, legislative and judicial branches; the abolition of the 
system of designates to the presidency and its substitution by the of 
fice of vice president; the prohibition of reelection; the right of the 
people to rebel against injustice imposed by an arbitrary government; 
the formulation of a new constitution; the complete reorganization of 
the military forces so that they might appropriately defend the national 
liberty and integrity of the constitution instead of the vested interests 
of a national caudillo; the pr ofessionalization of the military; and the 
democratic organization of local government. 
It was the intention of the junta to encourage participation of Indians 
in all sectors of local government. This could only be achieved in the 
opinion of the junta if public institutions could be made accessible to 
the Indian sector as well as the Ladino population of the republic. Pop 
ular election of public officials, the autonomy of the University of San 
Carlos, obligatory suffrage, constitutional recognition of all democra 
tically organized political parties and the basic need for administrative 
honesty and integrity in government circles were also considered pri-
mary principles of the new government. With the popular election of 
local officials, the placing of restrictions upon the executive branch 
of government and legislation designed to separate the different bran 
ches of government, it was felt that the Indian could not be excluded. 
Although a popularly elected congress would not be operative until 
December of 1945, the junta, nevertheless, passed several decrees of 
228 
paramount importance to all Guatemalans and some which, referred 
particularly to Guatemala's Indian population. The seventh decree of 
the revolutionary junta sought to abolish one of the dictator's frequently 
used means of exploiting the Indians. In March of 1936 Ubico had forced 
into law a decree which made obligatory for a given period of time the 
use of Indian laborers in highway construction and as day laborers on 
fincas producing major crops such as coffee, sugar cane and bananas. 
Wishing to end this form of personal service, the junta abolished these 
decrees as being prejudicial, cruel, and ineffective. No longer would 
the finca owner favored by the government or the construction chief be 
able to appeal to the government for laborers and receive an army of 
Indian workers who would be harshly treated and only occasionally 
8 
paid a just salary for their efforts. 
The revolutionary junta expressed a genuine concern for the tradi 
tionally disenfranchised Indian when it turned its attentions to the prob 
lem of illiteracy in decree 20. Considering illiteracy to be a basic con 
tributing factor in the continuation of a repressive dictator and the sep-
arateness of the Indian, the junta called for the creation of a National 
Committee on Illiteracy. This agency would have a nationwide juris 
diction and would be charged with initiating and supervising programs 
9 
designed to make as many Guatemalans as possible literate. Only 
an informed and literate populace could bring democracy to Guatemala, 
related the decree, and only a literate Indian sector could be completely 
229 
and effectively incorporated. This point of view reflected what had 
been expressed at Pátzcuaro a few years earlier.^ 
The junta further directed its attentions to the Guatemalan agricul 
tural worker who for centuries had not experienced the privilege of be 
ing able to negotiate effectively with his patron for a just salary or had 
been turned away from possible employment because of the importation 
of foreign workers. Decree 60 explicitly stated that all employers 
must employ a minimum of seventy-five per cent Guatemalans in their 
operation and that salaries received should be freely contracted for 
and should be reasonable to all parties concerned.^ This would force 
landowners in regions near the Salvadorean border to hire Indian la 
borers rather than import mestizo workers from El Salvador. This 
decree would later be used as the legal precedent for abolishing the 
practice of continuing indebtedness, a means used since the colonial 
12 
period for keeping a low salaried Indian work force. 
Decree seventy five specifically guaranteed to Guatemalan agricul 
tural workers the right of protection from the national government 
against unfair or unjust exploitation from their employers. All labor 
contracts henceforth were to be made much more specific than in for 
mer years. They were to contain exact names, dates and places, an 
accurate description of the type of work to be involved, the salary to 
be received and the obligations of both parties concerned. No labor 
contract was to be valid for more than one year and it could be freely 
230 
terminated if such was the desire of the laborer. 
With these decrees, the junta was making an effort to provide for 
a work contract that would not be weighed entirely in favor of the 
patron as had previously been the case. These decrees essentially 
provided the taking off point for a comprehensive Labor Code which 
would become operative during the Arévalo period. By insisting upon 
names, dates, and other specific information the junta hoped to end 
the irregular practices utilized by landowners in the past to maintain 
Indian workers in their labor force. 
While the junta was turning out numerous decrees which in later 
years would be incorporated into major pieces of legislation, events 
of the moment turned public attention to another problem. During the 
last three months of 1944 the chief topic of public discussion relating 
to the Indians of Guatemala was the tragic event that had taken place 
in the small town of Patzicia during the last hours of the revolution. 
In an effort to gain some rural political support, Ponce's agents had 
promised to the Indians of Patzicia their own lands and freedom from 
the Ladinos in exchange for their active support. When Ponce!s regime 
crumbled and the promises were not kept, the angered Indians openly 
attacked and murdered several Ladinos residing in the area. Only 
with the arrival of the police and military assistance from an adjacent 
14 
municipality was the violence halted. 
When a judicial tribunal on November 30, 1944 sentenced eleven 
231 
Indians to death and twenty-three others to sentences of ten years in 
prison, a possible rural blood bath had become a matter of discussion 
in the press. A similar event had occurred in San Andrés Iztapa on 
October 21 which resulted in the death of Vincente Zamora, the aging 
jefe militar of the area. During November the junta entertained numer 
ous requests from terrified citizens in these two areas for protection 
and economic assistance, the Indians in several adjacent localities re 
fusing to work. They appeared to be waiting for the land that had been 
15 
promised to them by Ponce's officials. If nothing else, these events 
indicated that Ponce's tactics had failed miserably and that the road to 
integration would be a difficult one to traverse. 
Writing some weeks later in El Imparcial, Rufino Guerra Corta ve 
summarized the junta's feelings on the matter. He related that what 
was needed in Guatemala was an enlightened body of legislation de 
signed to assist, educate and incorporate the Indian. With a program 
of this nature events such as those in Patzicia and San Andrés Iztapa 
would be avoided and the Indian could eventually be incorporated. Writ 
ing essentially along the same lines, Octavio Aguilar explained that the 
Indian must not continue to be the abandoned entity in Guatemala, but 
must be made part of the Guatemalan national experience.^ Although 
Guerra Corta ve, Octavio Aguilar, David Vela, and others were asking 
for immediate action by the junta in solving the problem of the Indian 
majority in Guatemala, the junta, it must be said, was forced by cir-
232 
cumstances to avoid any extensive or wide-range programs for domes 
tic social change. With presidential and congressional elections com 
ing up in December and the fact that the junta was legally only a tem 
porary governing body, no immediate or extensive action could be un 
dertaken. This would await the person selected by the electorate to 
control the political destiny of the republic. 
On December 8 the junta declared that December 17, 18 and 19 
would be the dates set aside for the presidential elections while the 
legislative assembly set elections for deputies for December 28, 29 
and 30. In the elections, which were honest for the first time in over 
a decade, Juan José Arévalo emerged with an easy victory with an 
early count giving him 25 0, 260 votes to 20, 749 for Adrian Recinos 
17 
and some 20, 000 votes for the other candidates. 
In his successful bid for the presidency, Arévalo had been suppor 
ted by a number of political parties. Two of these, the Partido de la 
Revolución Guatemalteca and the Partido de Acción Revolucionaria 
would be. utilized in later years to assist in carrying out and defining 
the new government's programs in the Departments and in the larger 
municipalities throughout the republic. His greatest support, however, 
came from the conglomerate of small political parties which had first 
become active prior to the revolution and, according to some, would 
later be absorbed into the Frente Popular Libertador and the Partido 
* 18 
Renovación Nacional. In having won over seventy-five per cent of 
233 
the popular vote and given the breadth of support that he had experienced 
from these various political parties, he appeared to have a mandate for 
change. 
Who was Juan José Arévalo and what were his personal and political 
convictions? To the casual observer, these questions did not reflect 
any lack of sophistication in regard to Guatemalan politics. Arévalo 
seemed to have emerged from obscurity. He was born in September 
of 1904 in Taxisco, a village located on the southern portion of the Pa 
cific coast. Although members of his family were relatively success 
ful agriculturalists, his interests and talents took him to other fields. 
At an early age he demonstrated in school that he was an above average 
student. Encouraged to follow his intellectual interests, Arévalo con 
tinued his studies until he received a doctorate in education years la 
ter from the Universidad de la Plata in Argentina. Before going to 
Argentina he gained some fame in Guatemala as a professor in the 
19 
Normal School system and later in the Ministry of Education. 
His constant appeals and suggestions for wide-sweeping reform of 
the Guatemalan educational system, however, were not well received 
by Ubico and his officials. By 1944 Arévalo had written several books 
on methods of teaching children how to read and was well known in 
educational circles not only in Guatemala but throughout Latin Amer 
ica as an accomplished author, thinker and educator. In his Escritos 
políticos he revealed a mild socialist outlook unfavorable to fascism 
234 
and the styles of caudillismo and personalismo that had plagued his 
native Guatemala for deca des.20 Wh en Arevalo returned to Guatemala 
he was thus not completely an unknown. Prior to his election there had 
been substantial evidence to indicate that an Arévalo government would 
constitute a marked change from the stagnant waters of ubiquismo. 
Speaking by radio on February 15, 1945, Arévalo indicated that some 
basic changes would be undertaken, particularly in the areas of educa 
tion, agriculture, public health, the land problem, personal rights and 
liberties, labor legislation, and Guatemalan life in general. He im 
plied that the new government would dedicate a considerable portion 
of its efforts toward constructing a new Guatemala for all Guatemalans 
21 
including the Indian majority. 
With his inauguration on March 15, 1945, Arévalo noted that he 
would not have to experience the initial frustration of putting many of 
his ideals and ideas into an operative political framework as this had 
been done already by the revolutionary junta which had ruled Guatemala 
from October 20, 1944. 
Upon assuming power in October of 1944, the revolutionary junta 
and the range of political parties, groupings and organizations that had 
supported the revolution all seemed united in the desire to provide Gua 
temala with a new experience in participatory democracy and capitalism. 
But what of the domestic or internal hurdles and problems that must be 
resolved to realize such an ideal? The often impenetrable cultural 
235 
wall by which the Indian sought to preserve his heritage and his iden 
tity would have to be breached, at least in part, and the positive ele 
ments of the Indian past encouraged. 
The Arevalistas soon discovered that the Indian-Ladino division in 
Guatemala did not constitute the only problem to be faced. The Indian's 
orientation was toward his particular village, his patria chica, rather 
than a nation about which he knew nothing. The Indian population of a 
given village or municipality could often be distinguished from another 
adjacent to it through its clothing, its dialect, and the membership and 
22 
participation in a religious and political structure entirely its own. 
With over twenty major Indian languages and dialects spoken through 
out the republic and hundreds of villages, the challenge of integration 
23 
was a very real one. 
Had Guatemala been primarily an urban republic, the new reforms 
intended by the revolutionary junta and later sometimes painfully im 
plemented during the two revolutionary regimes to follow, could have 
been more successful. Guatemala in 1944, however, was a rural re 
public with eighty-seven per cent of its Indian population and sixty per 
24 
cent of its Ladino population being engaged in agricultural pursuits. 
To a large extent this involved subsistence farming, production of 
barely enough to exist and seldom a surplus. The agrarian question 
in Guatemala which would be vigorously attacked by the revolutionary 
governments lay at the very basis of the question of integration and 
236 
the aim of participatory democracy and an adjusted capitalism for all. 
Involved also in the question was the fact that the majority of the 
farmers owned only a small percentage of the total arable land. Nearly 
seventy-five per cent of the population operated at a subsistance level 
in 1944 and the bulk of the arable land was owned by less than fifteen 
25 
per cent of the population. Latifundismo had developed in the nine 
teenth century and had expanded in the twentieth century to the extent 
that the Indian agriculturalist was relegated to farming plots of often 
poor quality and not large enough to support those depending on him. 
The government of the revolution was confronted with the difficulty of 
building an economic base upon which a new democracy could be foun 
ded. 
The presence of a reasonably good system of transportation and 
communication would have been a vital advantage to the revolutionary 
governments in their desire to integrate Guatemala. However, no 
such system was available. In 1944 the highways in the republic were 
inadequate. This situation isolated many areas from any sustained 
contact with the rest of the republic, particularly during the rainy sea 
son. Poor telephone and telegraph systems further contributed to the 
dilemma, particularly in Indian areas such as Totonicapán, portions 
of El Quiche, and especially in El Peten. Guatemala's rugged physical 
geography discouraged interregional communication. The rigorous 
terrain of the central highlands made travel difficult under the best of 
237 
conditions but to travel from the highlands to the coastal areas was 
nearly impossible except by only a few routes because of the sharp 
drop in altitude from the central highlands to the Pacific coastal plain. 
In 1944 rural Guatemala, particularly rural Indian Guatemala, 
seemed hopelessly caught in a syndrome of poverty and disadvantage. 
Medical facilities were virtually unknown in many areas of the repub 
lic as nearly ninety per cent of the nation's hospitals and physicians 
were located in the capital. Such facilities when available were gen 
erally understaffed, unsupplied, and inadequate to handle the medical 
needs of the surrounding area. Although facilities had been built dur 
ing the Ubico years, few were completely operative. A range of infec 
tious diseases continued to take their toll, the situation being compli 
cated by the absence of systems of potable water and waste disposal. 
The problems of sanitation and public health were basic. The rural 
Indian population of Guatemala in 1944 was underfed, more often than 
not victimized by disease and tied to a system of subsistence agrarian-
26 
ism. The Indian was also confronted with such factors as a high in 
fant mortality rate, a low life expectancy and little chance of altering 
his circumstances. 
Rural Guatemala was also illiterate. Indeed, a substantial portion 
of the republic's Indian population did not speak Spanish. Over one-
half of the nation's population in 1944 could neither read nor write. In 
the predominantly Indian areas of the republic, illiteracy rates ran as 
238 
high as ninety per cent. In addition, over twenty major Indian languages 
27 
and dialects were in current usage. 
The need of change and the cry for reform, however, were not limi 
ted to political circles only. After experiencing censorship and repres 
sion for over a decade, the newspapers began to urge change and point 
to the many inadequacies of the Guatemalan political and social reality. 
An editorial in January of 1945 pointed to what its author felt was the 
major economic difficulty facing rural Guatemala, the absence or lack 
of a technical orientation in agricultural production and the lack of funds 
to implement change. The editorialist recommended the development of 
a rural credit system whereby agricultural collectivism could be financed 
and the time-honored techniques employed by Indian agriculturalists al-
28 
tered to a more efficient and a more productive system. This editor 
ial appeared at a time when the junta had already begun a nationwide 
campaign aimed toward increasing the production levels of corn and 
beans and served to emphasize the real need for rural technology and 
29 
the need to raise the standard of living of the rural Guatemalan Indian. 
A topic which received considerable attention in the press during the 
last months of 1944 and early in 1945 was that of illiteracy. Cognizant 
of the fact that illiteracy constituted a hurdle to be surpassed, David 
Vela and other journalists in this period expressed their views and plans 
for overcoming this problem. Early in 1945 Salvador R. Merios, writ 
ing in El Imparcial, explained his contention that the rural Guatemalan 
239 
Indian, unable to read or write Spanish, must be educated to do so 
without any sacrifice of his own cultural beliefs, customs or his aspira 
tions. He recommended the establishment of a center of Indian studies 
where the differences between Ladinos and Indians could be minimized 
and the Guatemalan nationality maximized. 
He urged also the establishment of special rural schools to teach 
agricultural methods to selected Indian young people. When these stu 
dents returned to their villages, they would serve as catalysts for de 
velopment. Rufino Guerra Cortave affirmed in June of 1945 that once 
the Indian sector of Guatemala became literate, the dreams of demo 
's r\ 
cratic institutions of the revolution would become a reality. JU Daniel 
Tello affirmed also in June of 1945 what he felt would be the result of 
a literate Indian proletariat. The workers would be more capable of 
entering into the economic life of the country and making a positive 
contribution. This, he felt, would bring economic improvement to 
Guatemala as a whole and would be of benefit to all Guatemalans. 
The desire for reform finally resulted in the writing and promulga 
tion of a new constitution in late 1945. The largest share of the labor 
in formulating the constitution was accomplished by a committee of 
fifteen delegates headed by the president of the assembly, Jorge Garcia 
Granados, grandson of the liberal hero Miguel García Granados of the 
1871 revolution. His committee hammered out a good proportion of the 
major points of the constitution. Certainly the most important influ-
Z40 
ence during the meetings of the committee was Jorge García Granados. 
As a law student he had been active as a member of the Unionist Party 
which unseated Manuel Estrada Cabrera and later had served as a de 
puty during Chacon's administration. During Ubico's tenure in office 
he was first imprisoned and later permitted to leave his country in ex 
ile. His political persuasion was most nearly akin to that of the British 
Labor Party, this point of view being expressed on numerous occasions 
3? 
during the committee's often long deliberations. 
The influence of García Granados was such that several of his points 
of view appeared in the constitution. Feeling that the government should 
be the principal financial source for reform in the agricultural and indus 
trial sectors of the economy, several articles in the constitution were 
formulated from this premise. Article ninety-three allowed the state to 
establish agricultural cooperatives fashioned after the "kibbutzim" in 
33 
Israel. 
The constitution contained the fundamental expression and the legal 
precedence from which some of the most far-reaching reforms yet to 
appear in the Guatemalan political experience as a republic were to be 
formulated. The first article, seen by many arevalistas as the most 
fundamental issue coming out of the 1944 revolution, explained the 
principle that the state was a free and independent republic whose ba 
sic aim was to assure both Indians and non-Indians the enjoyment of 
liberty, culture, economic well-being and social justice. Around this 
241 
premise much of the legislation of the Arévalo years, often indigenista 
in character and direction, would be formulated- As in previous con 
stitutions the basic rights of freedom of assembly, press, expression 
and association were guaranteed in the Constitution of 1945 but this 
time there appeared to be a genuine concern to extend these rights to 
Indians as well as Ladinos. The promise for the Indian of article one 
and the rights that were guaranteed was essentially that of citizenship 
equal to that of the Ladino for the first time. 
More than any former constitution, the 1945 Constitution was con 
cerned with individual rights. Conforming to the arevalista views 
toward the individual, particularly the worker, some thirty-four arti 
cles in the constitution restricted possible action by the state against 
the individual and enumerated the resources available in cases of gov 
ernment excesses or abuses. Discrimination based upon considera 
tions of sex, group affiliation, race, color, religious beliefs or politi 
cal ideas were prohibited. The Indian was to receive equal treatment be 
fore the law. Work was considered as both an individual right and a so 
cial obligation. The government was to assure each individual the right 
of an economically dignified pattern of existence with minimum wage 
laws, the right to ask for a labor contract, paid vacations, social secur 
ity, and the allowance of government sponsored indemnization payments 
under certain circumstances. Forced work was to be disallowed. Va 
grancy laws were not to be enforced. No longer would Indians be picked 
242 
up by local authorities on the often false charge that they were vagrants 
and then forced to work on fincas. 
The constitution, besides dealing with the regulation of working 
conditions for women and children, promoted the thesis of equal pay 
for equal work. Indians were not to be paid less for doing the same 
34 
task than Ladino workers. Although much of the commentary in 
the constitution regarding workers would later be formulated and 
expanded into a comprehensive work code in 1947, the Código de Tra 
baje^, the constitution established the legal precedence for this con 
cern as well as affirming that a new responsibility of the government 
would be to end the economic misery of the Indian. 
By explicitly as well as implicitly defining the role of the state in 
numerous arenas of activity, the 1945 Constitution paved the way for a 
marked departure from tradition. With the final promulgation of the 
constitution, the state became an active participant and, indeed, the 
focal point with its constitutional guarantees and statements of purpose 
for an entire body of indigenista legislation in such areas as labor, pub 
lic health, rent, housing, education, national culture, literacy, the 
agrarian situation, and individual rights. Article seventy-nine declared 
the development of a national culture to be of fundamental interest to the 
state and a basic obligation of the state. 
In the area of education, the role of the state, as defined in article 
80, was to conserve and enrich the nation's culture, to improve, en-
243 
large and supplement the educational facilities of the nation and to see 
to the nation's civic and moral development. Article 82 declared the 
illiteracy problem, largely an Indian one in Guatemala, to be an urgent 
social dilemma and one in need of quick and complete solution. The 
state was to dedicate itself to providing for teachers, literacy training 
and instruction for all in the fields of agriculture, industry and techni 
cal specialization. Of paramount interest to indigenistas was article 
83 which declared the integration and the economic, social, and cul 
tural improvement and development of Guatemala's Indians to be in 
the national interest and a national goal. Special laws, rules and dis 
positions were to be formulated to achieve this aim, such regulations 
at all times to reflect the special needs and cultural values of the spe 
cific Indian groups concerned. 
Several specific articles also revealed the extent of indigenista in 
fluence in the Constituent Assembly. Article 67 specified that the gov 
ernment would initiate a construction program whereby inexpensive 
housing would be made available to Indian worker s. Article 91 provi 
ded for the abolition of all non-productive latifundias regardless of 
size, and article 96 stipulated that at no time were Indian ejidal lands 
to be expropriated, sold, or divided by public or private authority. 
With these articles and many others, the 1945 Constitution, as no 
other similar official document before it, expressed a social concern 
for all Guatemalans and a commitment for action that was a sharp de-
244 
35 par ture from the past. 
Those who had been engaged in formulating the 1945 Constitution 
were essentially attempting to create the basis for a national law which 
would be operative for all Guatemalans regardless of their circumstan 
ces, whether Indian or Ladino, whether urban or rural, educated or 
illiterate. This primarily was the point of departure in 1945 from the 
political experiences of the past. The real task that confronted those 
writing the constitution and later those in the administrations of Aré 
valo and Arbenz was to define and implement a legal system, a work 
code, a cultural and educational program, and various legislative pro 
grams designed to integrate the Indian in terms and conditions broad 
enough to attract the support of all sectors of Guatemala's population. 
Thus with the 1945 Constitution and the arevalista programs which 
were to follow, the Indian was to be protected from discrimination, 
fraud, and exploitation and was to be given assistance and encourage 
ment so that he might develop and eventually be integrated. 
Although a National Indian Institute would be created which later in 
Arévalo's term of office would begin to provide a direction to national 
indigenista programs and although subsequent experiences would lend 
themselves to the formulation of wiser policies and procedures, such 
information and first-hand experience was not available at the begin 
ning of Arévalo1 s presidency. The first few months of arevalismo 
amounted to a flurry of legislative activity designed to initiate a move-
245 
ment toward change. In one respect the scene was being set for later 
developments. A portion of this early legislation sought to alter the 
administrative and legislative foundations that had been utilized under 
Jorge Ubico. For example, decree 58 passed by the new assembly 
ended the military's supervision of the country's rural water, electri 
cal and sanitary services as well as its control over the railway sys 
tem, these tasks being assumed by civilian authorities and organiza-
3 6 
tions within the government. 
Passed at approximately the same time was the law of economic 
emergency which established a basis for price controls in certain sec 
tors of the economy. Reform, it was felt, could not long proceed with 
inflationary conditions prevailing. Prices on items of necessity and on 
numerous consumer goods such as clothing, shoes, drugs, medicines, 
construction materials, machinery, school supplies, books, agricul-
37 
tural supplies and public utilities were to be regulated. Prices for 
livestock and groceries were to remain at fixed rates as were items 
needed for irrigation and fertilization of crops. It was hoped that with 
the stabilization of prices, improvements in production levels in the 
various phases of agriculture could be achieved and inflation halted. 
Within the context of this same law, the arevalistas expressed 
their goals for Guatemalan agriculture, these being the encouragement 
of the construction of silos, granaries, and seed dispensaries, the re 
porting of climatological information, the support of studies of animal 
246 
pathology, the establishment of experimental stations, the organiza 
tion of agricultural expositions and regional fairs, the promotion of 
associations of farmers and ranchers, and the organization of a corps 
of sanitation officials to inspect livestock. The law also urged the 
formation of agricultural committees which, if operative, could be 
the instrument for making accessible to rural agriculturalists infor 
mation on crop rotation, harvesting, new fertilizers, and the like. 
Decree number 90 not only contained specific guidelines to be fol 
lowed in the control of prices but further expressed several goals of 
38 
the new government. 
It was hoped that by controlling prices on groceries in particular 
that the meager income of Guatemala's Indian population would not be 
further reduced as they purchased foodstuffs they could not raise them 
selves. With the new price controls the Indian agriculturalists were 
to be guaranteed a minimum for their agricultural products. This 
section of the legislation, however, never became effective as Indian 
vendors continued to sell portions of their crops to Ladino business-
39 
men and large Ladino landowners at reduced prices. 
Evidence that the Arévalo regime would undertake a new orientation 
toward government and its responsibilities could be seen with the new 
duties allocated to the Minister of Economy and Labor and the Minister 
of Education. As on former occasions, the Minister of Economy and 
Labor was charged with the development and expansion of the national 
247 
wealth in its various facets and, in general, modernization. Beyond 
this, however, the minister was to see to the expansion of credit faci 
lities for the specific development of agriculture, industry, and small 
businesses. Credit facilities for cooperative ventures were to receive 
special consideration, especially those Indian farmers wishing to form 
cooperatives. The minister was further charged with the regulation 
of prices, the registration and control of large industries, the dis 
couragement and suppression of monopolies, the regulation and devel 
opment of potable water systems, and the supervision of all labor laws, 
particularly those dealing with relationships between patrones and In 
dian employees. The minister was further to supervise the operation 
and improvement of all nationally owned fincas, the so-called fincas 
40 
nacionales. These were to be improved in both the quality and quan 
tity of goods produced. The Minister of Economy and Labor was thus 
a key position in the government's plans to develop rural Guatemala 
and would become a position that would focus upon the needs of the re 
public's Indian laborers. 
To the Minister of Public Education fell the responsibilities that 
would be of fundamental importance in Arevalo's overall approach to 
the nationalization and democratization of Guatemala. In addition to 
the supervision of all public primary and secondary schools, the min 
ister was also to direct a national campaign against illiteracy and be 
responsible for the expansion of the nation's school system with parti-
248 
cular attention to normal schools, vocational and trade schools and 
evening schools. Indians particularly were to be encouraged to at 
tend the vocational and trade schools. The incorporation of the Indian 
population into the national framework at least to the extent that this 
would involve education was to be his direct responsibility. The na 
tion's school systems were to be geared to the acceptance of Indian 
students, both children and adults. Rural schools were to be organized 
by the minister in which Spanish, agricultural technology, rural econ 
omics, public health, and personal hygiene would be the subjects em 
phasized. Libraries were to be expanded and created throughout the 
republic and literary clubs and associations, so long disallowed by 
Ubico, were encouraged to reform themselves and become active a-
gain. 
The ideal of a national culture which would embrace all Guatema 
lans, whether Indian or Ladino, was to be promoted through the use of 
movies, the theatre, radio, the organization of conferences and con 
gresses, and whatever other means deemed advantageous by the minis 
ter. The de-emphasizing of diversity and the promotion of a concept 
of nationality for all were to be fundamental goals in this program. 
Extensive in their ranges of responsibilities, the Minister of Public 
Education and the Minister of Economy and Labor were to be two cen 
tral figures in Arevalo's plans to incorporate and integrate the Indians 
41 
of Guatemala. 
249 
The revolutionary junta, while engaging in a whirlwind of political 
activity and legislative commitments, addressed its attention to the 
deplorable conditions and circumstances facing the Guatemalan work 
er. The junta had considered the plight of the worker to be one of the 
most serious problems facing Guatemala as a nation. The new assem 
bly was quick to appreciate this concern and respond with positive ac 
tion, particularly in reference to the Indian worker. Although within 
two years a comprehensive labor code would be passed as one of the 
cornerstones of arevalismo, the new assembly rapidly committed it 
self to an active labor policy, the early decrees of which would influ 
ence to a considerable extent the Labor Code of 1947. 
Considering that labor contracts in Guatemala during the Ubico era 
were more often than not disadvantageous to the workers and indeed 
exploitative, the assembly in passing decree 102 took a step toward 
completely altering this situation. The assembly hoped to open the 
path to a new era in laborer-employee relationships. Contracts could 
be either individual or collective with copies to be filled or presented 
to the worker or workers concerned, to the nearest municipality and 
to the Dirección General del Trabajo. The contracts were to be spe 
cific in naming the date that they were concluded and the place where 
the work was to be completed. 
Required in the contracts was the complete identification of all 
parties involved, a precise determination of the type of work to be 
250 
performed, the salary to be paid, an exact determination of the work 
period, and if the laborers were to be employed on a finca, such finca 
was to be named with substitutions being disallowed. This was de 
signed to halt the exploitative practice of extending the obligations of 
Indian workers and transporting them from one finca to another with 
out their formal consent. Should a worker not complete the stipulated 
number of hours, he was to satisfy this obligation in the next work 
period, generally the next harvesting or planting time. For those who 
needed to travel to the work site, the employer was to pay the laborer 
a specified amount for each day spent on the road. The contract could 
be terminated by either party if the other failed in his obligations. 
This provided the Indian finca worker with a latitude of choice not pre 
viously experienced. Although these stipulations in themselves were 
inadequate, given the state of the labor situation in Guatemala, they at 
least indicated the direction the Arévalo government would take toward 
protecting the workers and their rights in the formulation of labor agree 
ments. The labor contracts of the Ubico period which seldom made dir-
42 
ect mention of workers' rights were declared void. 
Prior to the implementation of the Work Code in 1947, the assem 
bly saw fit with decree 200 to protect further the laborer from unfair 
exploitation. The decree made the employer liable for payment of 
all wages agreed upon and liable for indemnization payments if he 
was guilty of mistreatment of his employees. Under this decree all 
251 
labor contracts could be terminated by an eight-day notice under given 
circumstances such as the laborer not showing up for work, activity 
amounting to a breach of morality on either signee's part, the poor 
treatment of the worker by the employer or his representatives, dis 
obedience to the extent that obligations were not fulfilled, and reasons 
which might be judged by a judicial official as being unfair or imprudent 
as far as the worker was concerned. Laborers under decree 200 could 
receive indemnization payments from their employers if the latter failed 
to pay the agreed upon salary, subjected his workers to cruel punishment, 
or forced his workers to complete tasks not enumerated in the contract. 
Any means utilized by the employer to implant a system of debt peonage 
was illegal. Employers deciding to mechanize their agricultural work 
ers were to pay such individuals a sum equivalent to three months sal 
ary to cover the costs of relocation. 
Decree 200 also enumerated the conditions under which a worker 
might be immediately relieved of his duties, these being gross negli 
gence, acts of violence against the patron or his property, or more 
than three absences in a month without just cause or the permission 
of the employer. A laborer reporting to work under the influence of 
alcohol or drugs could be immediately terminated. Decree 200 also 
stipulated that for every six days of work, a day of rest with full pay 
was to be authorized. Decrees 102 and 200 sought to regulate the rela 
tionships between employers and workers and bring to an end a long 
252 
list of unfair practices so long experienced by the workers of Guate 
mala. 
Decree 146 created the Department of Cooperative Development 
whose responsibilities were to be extensive. Fundamental to the crea 
tion of this department were several assumptions, these being that the 
government had the responsibility of encouraging the development of 
rural credit, seeing to the organization of cooperative enterprises 
which would stimulate the development of unused and unoccupied lands 
and ejidal holdings, and providing the financial support necessary for 
the success of such cooperative undertakings. Antonio Goubaud Carrera 
and others who would later.become active in the Instituto Indigenista 
Guatemalteca believed that such cooperatives would be the mechanism 
for incorporating the Indian village economy into the national economy. 
The department, which administratively would be a part of the Cré 
dito Hipotecario Nacional, was to create and promote the establishment 
of cooperatives, especially those of production, consumption and credit. 
One of the main aims was the organized exploitation of vacant or uncul 
tivated lands. The department was to provide economic and technical 
assistance to these cooperatives once established and to diffuse techni 
cal information and techniques designed to improve the standard of 
living throughout the republic. It was scheduled to begin operation 
with a budget of 200, 000 quetzales and was to function apart from other 
253 
credit facilities. The new department was to be directed by an admin 
istrative body with one of its three members being the Minister of Econ 
omy and Labor. 
The department, because of the range of needs in the republic and 
the scarcity of funds, was to make available more than twenty per cent 
of the total capital needed to bring into being and operate a cooperative. 
The balance was to be submitted by the membership. Beyond this the 
department was to provide individual cooperatives with loans of equip 
ment, seeds, agricultural machinery, and technical assistance when 
ever possible, guarantee the financial base of the cooperatives and the 
obligations of them toward their members, and operate as a b$.nk of 
deposit for all such cooperatives. To facilitate the cooperative move 
ment, decree 173 made it unlawful for public officials to purchase or 
lease untilled public lands for private gain, a practice that had been 
widespread during the Ubico era. This would leave such land open 
for use by landless Indian farmers. 
With the Department of Cooperative Development launched asa 
fully constituted legal entity, it was felt by the junta and many arevalis-
tas that the chance for the development of rural Guatemala was at hand. 
No longer would the Indian agriculturalists be forced to sacrifice what 
ever minor profit they had hoped for because of the necessity to accept 
poor market prices; to pay high transport costs and to agree to exhor-
bitant rents payable in kind. By group effort it was felt that the rural 
2 54 
44 economic picture could be altered to the benefit of all. 
Although several decrees passed by the revolutionary junta had 
sought to regulate labor conditions in Guatemala, it was obvious about 
the time of Arevalo's inauguration that further provisional legislation 
was needed to regulate this phase of the nation's economic picture be 
fore a comprehensive labor code could be adopted. A temporary labor 
law or, more specifically, the nLey provisional de sindicatizacion, " 
decree 223, attempted to provide directions and guidelines for the sol 
ution of problems and conflicts arising between workers and their em 
ployers. This decree allowed the formation of sindicatos which were 
defined as organizations or unions of laborers engaged in a given trade 
or related activities who had banded together in an effort to better 
represent and protect their interests in labor-management negotiations. 
Recognized as a basic right in decree 223 was the right of workers 
to form a union freely without overt opposition or repression from the 
employer. Under this decree sindicatos could be formed by twenty or 
more members engaged in either industry or agriculture at the same 
or related tasks, the organization so formed having the power and le 
gal position to negotiate matters with the employer of mutual interest 
to members of the sindicato involved. Only Guatemalan citizens could 
become officers in the sindicatos and all such organizations were to 
submit their charters and membership lists to the Department of 
255 
Economy and Labor for approval. ^ 
Decree 223 specified that all policy decisions must be decided upon 
by a majority vote of its members, and its conduct of affairs must be 
accomplished by a junta whose members would be democratically voted 
upon every two year s. It was not to intervene in any way in religious 
questions and it must keep the Department of Economy and Labor in 
formed at all times of its decisions and any change in status. Any sin 
dicato which opted to utilize unfairly its juridic character to the dis 
advantage of an employer would be fined or suspended or both. With 
governmental encouragement and support of the formation of sindicatos 
as well as its encouragement of cooperatives, a new era in labor!s re 
lationships with employers seemed to promise a brighter future for 
Indians. However, it was not until the close of the Arévalo adminis 
tration that any significant unionization of Indian agriculturalists was 
to be noted. 
An impressive number of decrees, both legislative and executive 
in character, that had been passed by the revolutionary junta were ap 
proved by the new assembly and supported by Arévalo even prior to his 
official assumption of the presidency. Late in 1945 under Arévalo's 
urgings, the Ministry of Agriculture was completely reorganized and 
expanded in the belief that increased governmental activity in this sec 
tor would encourage and facilitate development as well as integration 
of the Indians at the rural level. Within this expansion program the 
Instituto Apropecuario Nacional was created to operate in conjunction 
25 6 
with the United States Department of Agriculture in the conduct of in 
vestigations and experiments of various types aimed toward bringing 
47 
modern techniques to Guatemalan agriculture. 
The Institute's first official act was to organize an agricultural 
fair in Guatemala City where agricultural products throughout the re 
public were displayed and new techniques demonstrated and explained. 
48 
The Instituto also began a series of experiments on the finca Chocóla. 
Intended to be an integral part of this expansion program was the De 
partamento de Extensión Agrícola. The task of this organization was 
to send to the various regions of the republic agricultural agents or ex 
perts who were to report to the Ministry of Agriculture any particular 
problems commonly found in their respective areas of activity such as 
diseases affecting crop yields, problems encountered in the harvesting 
and planting of crops, climatic difficulties and domestic animal disea 
ses. They were to make recommendations that if undertaken would 
hopefully result in higher production rates for Indian farmers particu 
larly. These agents were asked to encourage cooperativism wherever 
such a movement could be of benefit to the agriculturalists in a given 
area. The agents were also to encourage the use of fertilizers, the 
construction of irrigation systems, the establishment of credit facili 
ties, and assist in improving the marketing of agricultural products. 
The departments which received the most attention were the Indian 
49 departments. 
257 
In an effort to provide technical information whenever possible, 
several administrative sections were created within the Department 
of Agricultural Extension which corresponded to the major crops pro 
duced in the republic such as the coffee group and the sugar cane group. 
Besides those devoted to coffee and sugar cane, other sections would 
be concerned with cereals, fruit production, products used in industry 
and agricultural mechanization. 
Beyond this, however, Arévalo urged and eventually completed the 
reorganization of virtually every section of the Ministry of Agriculture. 
Several new sections were implemented including those of rural engin 
eering, irrigation, water supplies and grains. Every effort was made 
to contact the rural agriculturalist with the first major effort being a 
50 
regional meeting held in Escuintla from May 27 to June 2, 1945. The 
organization of agricultural clubs which would operate in conjunction 
with the rural school system were planned. The renovation of Guate 
malan agriculture as well as the incorporation of the distressed rural 
agriculturalist was Arévalo!s motive. Through these agricultural 
clubs operating in cooperation with rural schools, it was felt that the 
needs of the Indian agriculturalist could be identified and dealt with in 
such a way that integration could eventually become a reality. 
The revolutionary junta had no sooner tasted the sweetness of suc 
cess over ubiquismo in October of 1944 when it initiated a wide range 
of activities dedicated largely toward changing Guatemala and elements 
258 
in the life-style of many of its inhabitants. To a large extent these 
legislative pronouncements and decrees were incorporated into Aré 
valo1 s programs for the development of Guatemala. The accomplish 
ments of these first months and, indeed, the first year after the defeat 
of Ubico were impressive. A new constitution had been formulated, 
new labor legislation was compiled, official support of cooperatives 
and sindicatos could be noted, a new approach to education had been 
expressed, and it appeared that an attempt would be made to tackle 
the ever existing problems of poor housing, disease, low agricultural 
production, unpotable water, poor systems of transportation and com 
munication, agrarian reform, and the social crisis facing the republic. 
To deal with these problems and create a Guatemala that would embrace 
all of its citizens and be responsible to the needs of all of its citizens 
was Arevalo's goal and he would take decisive steps, nationwide in 
their scope, which would have marked effects in the years to follow. 
NOTES 
CHAPTER V 
El Imparcial (octubre 22-noviembre 12, 1944); Interview, Fran 
cisco Rodríguez Rouanet, November 12, 1970, Instituto Indigenista 
Nacional Guatemalteca. 
Ka Imán H. Silver t, Un estudio de gobierno: Guatemala (Guate 
mala: Editorial ,!José de Pineda Ibarra, 11 Ministerio de Educación 
Publica, 1969), p. 39. 
3 
Ibid. 
4 
El Imparcial (octubre 27, 1944), p. 3. 
5 
Ramón Anzueta Pelegrín, nEl indígena y el desarrollo econó 
mica y social, 11 Peru indígena, No. 26 (1967), pp. 35, 41. 
^El Imparcial (noviembre 1, 1944). 
7 
Silvert, Un estudio de gobierno: Guatemala, pp. 41-42; Guate-
mala, Decretos de la junta revolucionaría. 8
 v • Julio Hernández Sifontes, Realidad jurídica del indígena guate -
malteca (Guatemala: Editorial frJosé de Pineda Ibarra, 11 Ministerio de 
Educación Publica, 1965), pp. 260-62. 
9 
Guatemala, Decretos de la junta revolucionaría, No. 20. 
^Gonzalo Aguírre Beltrán, TITeoría y practica de la educación 
indígena, 11 Revista mexicana de sociología, XVI (marzo-agosto, 1954), 
pp. 223-34; Antonid"García, "Bases de una política indigenista, !r Amér 
ica indígena, XXV (abril, 1965), pp. 174-95. 
^Guatemala, Decretos de la junta revolucionaria, No. 60. 
12 
Interview, Carlos Leonardo Loyo, February 2, 1971, Instituto 
Indigenista Nacional Guatemalteca. 
13 
Guatemala, Decretos de la junta revolucionaria, No. 75. 
259 
260 
64. 
14 
^El Imparcial (enero 16, 1945). 
17 
El Imparcial (diciembre 19, 1944). 
18 
Silvert, Un estudio de gobierno: Guatemalapp. 162-65. 
19 
Amy Elizabeth Jensen, Guatemala: A Historical Survey (New 
York: Exposition Press, 1955), p. 140. 
20 
J. Victor Soto de Avila, Quien es quien en Centro America y 
Panamá (Guatemala: Imprenta Hispania, 1954), p. 54; Pedro Alvarez 
Elizondo, El presidente Arévalo (Guatemala: Editorial del Ministerio 
de Educación Pública, 1953), pp. 59-65. 
21 
El Imparcial, nEl informe del presidente de la república" 
(febreroTó, 1945). 
22 
Emilio Willems, "Asimilación y aculturación, t( Revista Mexi 
cana de sociología, VI (septiembre-diciembre, 1944), pp. 293-95; 
Francis Gall, "El diccionario geográfico de Guatemala, " Anales de 
la sociedad de geografía e historia, XXXIII (enero-diciembre, I960), 
pp. 146-88; Jorge Arias B. , "Aspectos demográficos de la población 
indígena de Guatemala,11 Guatemala indígena, I (abril-junio, 1961), 
pp, 5-39; Antonio Goubaud Carrera, "Distribución de las lenguas in 
dígenas actuales de Guatemala, " Boletín del Instituto Indigenista 
Nacional Guatemalteca, 1 (1946), pp. 63-76. 
23 
Goubaud Carrera, "Distribución de las lenguas indígenas 
actuales de Guatemala," p. 65; Rodolfo Stavenhagen, "Classes, Colo 
nialism and Acculturation"; Irving Louis Horowitz (ed. ), Masses in 
Latin America (New York: Oxford University Press, 1970), p. 236. 
24 
José Luís Paredes Moreíra, Reforma agraria: una experiencia 
en Guatemala (Guatemala: Imprenta Universitaria, 1963), pp. 35-45. 
25 
Richard N. Adams, Crucifixion by Power (Austin: University of 
Texas Press, 1970), pp. 397-40.7; J. P. Cole, Latin America: An Econo 
mic and Social Geography (New York: Plenum Press, 1965), pp. 128-53; 
Victor L. Urquidi, The Challenge of Development in Latin America (New 
(New York: Frederick A. Praeger, 1965), pp. 84-85. 
Sifontes. Realidad jurídica del indígena guatemalteca, pp. 262-
15 
El Imparcial (noviembre 30, 1944). 
261 
26 
Guatemala, Decreto 200 del congreso de la república. 43 
Jorge del Valle Matheu, Guia sociogeográfica de Guatemala 
(Guatemala: Tipografía Nacional, 1950). 
27 
Nathan L. Whetten, Guatemala: The Land and the People (New-
Haven: Yale University Press, 1961), p. 370. 
28 
El Imparcial (enero 16, 1945). 
29 
El Imparcial (enero 3-5, 1945). 
30 
Rufino Guerra Corta ve, "Alfabetización del indio, ,! El Impar 
cial (junio 19, 1945). 
31 
Silvert, Un estudio de gobierno: Guatemala, pp. 51-53. 
32 
Ibid., p. 54. 
33 
Ibid. 
34 
Guatemala, Constitución de la república de Guatemala decre 
tada por la asamblea constituyente (marzo, 1945). 
35 
Ibid. ; Silvert, Un estudio de gobierno: Guatemala, pp. 49-63. 
36 
Guatemala, Decretos del congreso de la república (Guatemala: 
Tipografía Nacional, 1950), pp~"32-33. 
37Ibid. , pp. 47-48. 
38 
Ibid. , pp. 55-57. 
39 
Interview, Carlos Leonardo Loyo, December 14, 1970, Insti 
tuto Indigenista Nacional Guatemalteca. 
40 
Guatemala, Decretos del congreso de la república, pp. 55-57. 
41 , , 
Ernesto Bienvenido Jimenez G. La educación rural en Guate -
mala (Guatemala: Editorial "José de Pineda Ibarra, " 1967), pp. 59-
191. 
42 
Guatemala, Decretos de la junta revolucionaria (Guatemala: 
Archivo del Instituto Indigenista Nacional Guatemalteca), 65-68; Guate 
mala, Decreto 200 del congreso de la república. 
262 
44 
Guatemala, Decretos del congreso de la república, pp. 123-29 
45 
Ibid. 
46Ibid. , pp. 234-38. 
^Guatemala, Síntesis del ano, 1945, p. 27. 
48 
Ibid., p. 29. 
49 
Ibid., p. 32. 
50 
Ibid. , p. 41. 
CHAPTER VI 
THE INSTITUTIONALIZATION OF 
GUATEMALAN INDIGENISMO 
In addition to the birth of the Interamerican Indianist Institute, an 
important result of the Pátzcuaro convention was the proposition that 
in each Latin American republic an Indian Institute should be created. 
The delegates from Guatemala who had attended the convention in an 
unofficial capacity were not in a position to commit their country to 
such an agreement. Jorge Ubico was not inclined to such a commit 
ment. The dictator of a country whose population was over fifty per 
cent Indian only offered a statement which concluded that the convention 
had satisfied humanitarian aspirations and that the creation of the In 
stitute would be beneficial to the moral and cultural elevation of the 
Indian masses throughout the hemisphere. The ubiquista position on 
the entire Indian question was best expressed by the Minister of Edu 
cation while attending a conference of educators in Panama City. He 
reiterated that Guatemala did not have an Indian problem. * 
In 1944 the Society of Geography and History in Guatemala City met 
and suggested to officials in the Ministry of Education that an Indian 
institute should be organized with the aim of studying the Indian prob 
lem in the country and cooperating with the Instituto Indigenista Inter-
263 
264 
americano and other agencies to arrive at solutions to the Indian prob 
lem. The political uncertainties of the moment, however, precluded 
2 
any serious consideration of this proposal. 
Under the revolutionary regime, a different attitude toward the In 
dians and the problems confronting them was to be noted at the outset. 
The proposal of the Society of Geography and History was treated ser 
iously by the new Minister of Education, Manuel Galich. In an effort 
to acquire a more exact insight into the entire problem, Manuel Galich 
by means of the newly created Technical Council on National Education 
convened a conference of Indian school teachers in Cobán in April of 
1945. Invited to the conference were some seventy-five Indian school 
teachers from over twenty-one different municipalities throughout the 
republic. 
In addition to Galich, officials from several governmental agencies 
were in attendance including the Ministry of Public Health, the Minis 
try of Public Works and Communication, the Ministry of Economy and 
Labor, and the Ministry of Agriculture. Also attending were Antonio 
Goubaud Carrera, David Vela and William J. Griffith representing the 
4 
Interamerican Educational Foundation. Teachers were present from 
the predominantly Indian areas of Guatemala including the Departments 
of Chimaltenango, Totonicapán, Solóla, Suchitepéquez, and Alta Vera 
paz. The conference, which lasted three days, considered a variety 
of topics relating to the Indian problem such as public services, pub-
265 
lie health, rural economy, the future rural school, the reform of the 
Guatemalan educational system, and the problem of illiteracy. Com 
ing out of the convention were a series of resolutions, proposals and 
recommendations for the Arévalo government to consider.^ 
In the sphere of economic considerations, the convention recom 
mended that the state take an active and decisive role in the solution 
of the many problems confronting the Indians. As a group they should 
be made aware of improved agricultural techniques and encouraged to 
adopt such procedures through educational programs. As urged by one 
of the resolutions of the convention, the Indian should be encouraged 
and taught to conserve his particular life style. The responsibilities 
of the government as far as the Indian was concerned were seen ideal 
ly as being extensive as they were deemed fundamental to the entire 
Guatemalan experience. One resolution urged the government to for 
mulate a model nutritional diet for each region of the republic that 
would be adaptable to local customs and needs. Especially recommen 
ded was the establishment of agricultural experimental stations in the 
Indian zones of the republic and the free distribution of seeds to Indian 
agriculturalists. The inadequacy of rural housing in Guatemala was 
apparently recognized by the majority of those attending the gathering. 
They suggested a government study in each climatic zone of the repub 
lic to determine which type of housing unit would best suit the needs of 
the locality. ^ 
266 
In the area of public health numerous recommendations were forth 
coming. Recognizing that rural Guatemala was in many senses of the 
word unhealthy, the convention resolved that the government should 
first review the problem of disease throughout the republic and deter 
mine the factors that facilitated the spread of disease. The conference 
participants urged the construction of aqueducts for flood control, pub 
lic baths, public laundry facilities, sewage and waste disposal systems 
and, particularly, potable water systems. One of the proposals argued 
that personal health should be a topic given primary emphasis in the 
public schools and that rest rooms should be made available in public 
areas, particularly in markets as well as in private homes. The dele-
•7 
gates advised also a nationwide campaign against alcoholism. 
The topic receiving the greatest degree of attention at the convention 
was the state of education in rural Guatemala. Essentially what the dele 
gates felt was needed was a rebirth of rural education. As the material 
condition of the country1 s schools could not be considered adequate by 
any standard of evaluation, the maestros indfgenas proposed that the 
Arevalo government undertake an extensive rebuilding program, the 
repair of schools where this was feasible, or the construction of new 
schools. Better educational materials were needed, the conferees noted. 
To be established were evening schools for adults and a normal school 
designed to prepare those wishing to become rural school teachers. 
Schools located on fincas which traditionally had been poor in quality 
267 
and often not functional were to be upgraded and placed under the strict 
supervision of the Ministry of Public Education. It was recommended 
that each school have its own plot of land for the purpose of teaching 
agriculture and that all rural schools should channel their instructional 
programs to fit the needs of the area in which they were located, this 
recalling recommendations made at the Pátzcuaro convention. Lastly, 
scholarships should be granted to those of proven ability who wished to 
further their education or those wishing to become school teachers, par-
8 
ticularly rural school teachers. 
The conference of Indian school teachers did not adjourn until one of 
the most serious difficulties facing Guatemala's Indians had been consi 
dered. Illiteracy for decades had been a major obstacle to social and 
economic development in Guatemala. The inability of over seventy-
five per cent of the population to either read or write Spanish was seen 
as a major factor in explaining the backwardness of this Central Amer 
ce 
ican republic. The conferees advised the development of a national 
campaign to teach illiterates how to read, write, and speak Spanish as 
well as to read and write whatever native language they commonly used. 
Instruction in the native tongue was to take place prior to any literacy 
training in Spanish. It was recommended that a congress of linguists 
be summoned to adopt alphabets using Spanish sounds for the major In 
dian languages in Guatemala.1^* These recommendations which were 
presented to the government for consideration constituted the first at-
268 
tempt in many decades to visualize and enunciate in detail the plight 
of the Indian in Guatemala. These recommendations and proposals 
came at a time when the Arévalo government favored a new and revo 
lutionary approach to the Indian problem. 
Feeling that the Indian problem should receive a detailed and sus 
tained consideration by a governmental body designed solely for that 
purpose, it was urged at Cobán that an Indian Institute be organized. 
The Arévalo government responded by creating the Instituto Indigenista 
Guatemalteca by executive decree on August 28, 1945.^ The Institute 
was authorized to conserve and protect the Indian cultures of Guatemala 
and to raise the economic, social and cultural levels of these groups. 
Article 137 of the 1945 Constitution which allowed for the creation of in 
stitutions to be devoted to the Indian problem was the constitutional 
base for the founding of the Institute. The Guatemalan ambassador in 
Mexico City was instructed by his government to sign the act of Pátz 
cuaro and affiliate the Instituto Indigenista Nacional with the Instituto 
Indigenista Interamericano. This was completed and the action was 
ratified by the Guatemalan Assembly on August 10, 1946. 
Although the Instituto Indigenista Nacional was given official status 
by the Guatemalan Assembly in August of 1946, its formal inauguration 
did not occur until September 26. In ceremonies held at the University 
of San Carlos, Manuel Galich, the Minister of Public Education, des 
cribed the future role of the Instituto Indigenista. Galich affirmed that 
269 
the creation of the Instituto Indigenista was a direct result of the 1944 
Revolution. The Instituto, he explained, was humanistic in its orienta 
tion and, as an official organ of the government, would provide yet an 
other avenue to review national politics and national values and in this 
case Guatemala's number one social problem. As Galich discussed the 
approach of disdain and negation so long shown to the Indians by earlier 
governments, he emphasized that this would be replaced by a technical, 
scientific and investigative approach which was basically oriented toward 
reform and was above all sincere. The repression and negligence of the 
Ubico years would be replaced by a democratic and responsible govern 
ment fully dedicated to indigenismo. The Institute, among its assign 
ments, was to operate in the upcoming literacy campaigns, illiteracy 
being considered by Galich as the country's most serious social prob-
lem. 
Appointed as director of the newly created Instituto, Lic. Antonio 
Goubaud Carrera then addressed the gathering at the inauguration cere 
monies and indicated the path the new Instituto would follow in its future 
activities. He began by explaining that the meaning of indigenismo had 
changed since the colonial period. In the Spanish era indigenismo 
would have meant protection of the Indians in the manner demanded so 
often by Bartolomé de Las Casas and in the nineteenth century it would 
only have meant indianismo or an intellectual interest in the Indian 
question, particularly theoretical considerations. Indigenismo in the 
270 
twentieth century, said Goubaud Carrera, meant a scholarly interest 
in the Indians but not as they were, but rather as they are or may be 
and how they relate to western culture and western civilization. ^ For 
others as well as Goubaud Carrera, indigenismo reflected and embodied 
the entire social and economic problem of the Indian. 
Goubaud Carrera affirmed that one of the chief goals of the Instituto 
Indigenista Nacional Guatemalteca would be to work toward establishing 
a sense of national unity among the native groups of the republic. This, 
he asserted, would not be achieved without major difficulties. Some 
twenty-one major Indian languages and dialects were spoken throughout 
the republic. The various Indian groups often possessed quite different 
social constructs, value systems, economic orientations, family systems, 
political and religious organizations, and social practices. These differ 
ences, explained Goubaud Carrera, have created through generations a 
feeling of local solidarity or a patria chica point of view which becomes 
manifested in every sector of the Indian's pattern of iife.^ 
In addressing himself to the question as well as the problem of the 
cultural diversity of Guatemala, Goubaud Carrera explained that in order 
to synthesize this diversity, one must formulate a series of questions 
such as how many Guatemalans speak the national language, how many 
exhibit Ladino rather than Indian customs, who is an Indian and who is 
not, and numerous others. These are questions, he affirmed, which 
need to be answered before any progress toward solving the problems 
271 
of the Indian can be recorded. In closing Goubaud Carrera said that 
the Institute's primary goals would be that of studying the problems 
facing the Indians and making recommendations to appropriate govern 
mental officials and carrying out practical programs designed to create 
a cultural homogeneity in Guatemala and to integrate the Indian sectors.^ 
Given this enthusiastic launching, the Instituto Indigenista Nacional 
Guatemalteca began its activities with three very talented individuals: 
Antonio Goubaud Carrera as director, Alberto Arreaga as secretary 
and Francisco Rodriguez Rouanet as a technical investigator. Quite 
active in his dedication to indigenismo was Antonio Goubaud Carrera. 
Trained in anthropology at the University of Chicago, he developed an 
interest in the Indian populations of the Americas early in his academic 
career. His master's thesis, which concerned nutrition in two Spanish-
American communities in New Mexico, attracted the financial support 
of the Carnegie. Institute and launched his career as an anthropologist. 
A subsequent study of nutrition in Guatemala, conducted between 1943 
and 1945, firmly established him as an anthropologist as well as cement 
ing the support of the Carnegie Institute in efforts to improve the nutri-
17 .» tion of Guatemala's Indians. Francisco Rodriguez Rouanet joined the 
Institute after having served for a time as a rural school teacher. 
On the Advisory Council of the Institute were some individuals whose 
dedication to indigenismo had been affirmed prior to the 1944 Revolution. 
David Vela, who had represented Guatemala unofficially at the Pátzcuaro 
2 72 
Convention, was one of the more articulate spokesmen of indigenismo 
in Guatemala. As a member of the Society of Geography and History as 
well as being a respected journalist and newspaper editor, he was con 
vinced that indigenismo was fundamentally a just cause. Under his dir 
ection the newspaper El Imparcial during the Poncista regime had active 
ly promoted indigenismo through its editorials and had supported the aims 
of the Interamerican Indianist Institute. Prior to the emergence of Aré 
valo, the Society of Geography and History with his encouragement had 
become interested in the Indian problem and in-time became a center for 
the exchange of ideas on the topic. Francisco Quintana, representing the 
Asociación General de Agricultura, was interested in improving the pro 
ductive capabilities of the Indian agriculturalists and had voiced this con 
tention on several occasions. Luciano Tahay of the Ministry of Public 
Education had urged for some time the complete restructuring of ubiquis-
ta educational policies and programs and was especially interested in the 
reform of rural education. 
Taken as a group the Advisory Council represented a body of indivi 
duals interested in improving the lot of the Indian and working to achieve 
his integration. The emphasis upon integration was reflective of the in 
fluence of the Pátzcuaro convention where Lázaro Cárdenas, Luís Chávez 
Orozco, and other Mexican indigenistas particularly had emphasized the 
need for the integration of the Indian sector. This point of view was en 
couraged by the Interamerican Indigenista Institute in its communications 
2 73 
with the Instituto Indigenista Guatemalteca and by David Vela who was 
18 
an influencial exponent of this point of view. 
To acquaint the general public both in Guatemala and abroad with the 
Institute's activities and to publicize the urgency of the Indian problem 
in Guatemala, a journal was established that would be published three 
times yearly and entitled the Boletín del Instituto Indigenista Nacional 
GuatemaIteco. The editor of the journal was to be the director of the 
Institute. The goal of the journal as far as Antonio Goubaud Carrera 
was concerned was to publish first a listing of activities and accomplish 
ments of the Institute, publish letters from prominent Indianists but pri 
marily to publish scholarly articles on Guatemala's Indians, particularly 
those that would point to a particular facet of the Indian problem. Inten 
ded to be diverse in its approach, the new journal sought to treat as many 
facets of the Indian problem as possible and maintain a high scholarly 
19 
professional standard. 
On October 23, 1946 the aims of the Instituto Indigenista were official 
ly recognized and legislatively approved by the Arevalo government. Its 
chief function was to be the initiating and supervising of scientific inves 
tigations which would have a direct relationship or correlation with the 
Indian problem. The Instituto was to operate as a consultative body for 
other branches of the Guatemalan government and was to cooperate with 
international organizations whose aims or interests were similar, par 
ticularly the Instituto Indigenista Interamericano.^ It was to collect 
274 
and prepare bibliographical material relating to the Indian problem and 
to organize a special library to house documents and source materials 
dealing with the Indians of the Americas. One of the most important 
duties of the Institute was that of proposing to the Guatemalan govern 
ment means of improving the cultural, social and economic life of the 
Guatemalan Indian and incorporating him into the Guatemalan nation as 
a whole. At this point the government authorized the Instituto to hire 
five more field investigators and some office personnel. The budget 
assigned for the Instituto's first year of operation was $13,332 quetzales, 
21 
this sum to include all salaries and expenditures. 
Where was the Instituto to begin its operations? What would their 
first assignment be? An organization had been created to assist in the 
goal of integrating the Guatemalan Indians, but before such a program 
could be begun, numerous plans of action had to be formulated. Cer 
tainly a major difficulty facing the newly created Institute was the lack 
of technical data and information about the Indians themselves. In 1946 
few indeed were the studies that had attempted any scientific or at best 
an in-depth consideration of this sector of Guatemala's population. Very 
little was known of the customs, habits, traditions, religious beliefs and 
social organizations of the various Indian groups in Guatemala. Beyond 
this, the Institute, before it could begin meaningful studies, had to de-
22 
velop a working definition of indigenismo. 
An initial problem was that of distinguishing between an Indian and 
2 75 
a non-Indian. The formulation of a set of standards by which Indians 
could be identified was essential in that one of the Institute's first tasks 
was to be a statistical compilation of the Indian population of the repub 
lic. In countries such as the United States the Indian constituted a small 
minority and could easily be identified by his physical characteristics 
from the rest of the population. In Guatemala, however, one's physical 
characteristics could not be used as a guide for classification as many 
23 
Ladinos exhibited the same physical traits as Indians. A new means 
of classification, therefore, was needed. 
The guidelines adopted eventually by the Instituto Indigenista in Gua 
temala were basically those that had been proposed by the Instituto In 
digenista Interamericano. Rather than considerations of race or cul 
tural characteristics, scholars such as Oscar Lewis and Ernest Maes 
and others recommended a system which would reflect the actual state 
of the Indian. For consideration, they suggested such factors as econo 
mic deficiency, the lack of social and economic necessities, the lack of 
sophisticated techniques to solve particular problems, and the presence 
of certain social and cultural adaptations were fundamental. Those ex 
hibiting the greatest lack of basic necessities and showing the most pro 
nounced deficiencies would generally be the Indians. ^4 The Instituto 
later adopted several of the propositions posed by Lewis and Maes. A 
working definition of the Indian would also have to take into account the 
factor of language. Important also would be whether or not a given in-
276 
dividual belonged to a community where the material and spiritual as 
pects of the cultural whole in the community were predominantly native 
rather than European. 
Although a governmental Instituto might impose a set of rules from 
which one could arrive at a definition, what was of primary importance 
was public opinion in rural Guatemala on this topic. Would an Indian in 
Solóla be so classified in another community or area of the republic? To 
determine local feelings on this matter, the Instituto sent out a question 
naire to the directors of both urban and rural schools throughout the re 
public. It asked a variety of questions such as whether or not a person 
was necessarily an Indian if he wore Indian clothing and spoke an Indian 
language. 
The results obtained from the questionnaires indicated that out of 
881 responses analyzed from 223 municipios throughout the republic, 
an Indian was so considered first, if he spoke an Indian language and 
secondly if he exhibited Indian customs, and lastly if he spoke Spanish 
with a marked accent. The results obtained indicated that some of the 
criteria were more important in one department than in another. How 
ever, the primary consideration in all departments was the ability to 
speak an Indian language fluently. The most important find from this 
study was simply that there was not a single nation-wide criteria for 
determining one's identity as an Indian. What was adopted finally by 
the Instituto Indigenista Nacional Guatemalteca reflected several of 
277 
25 these characteristics. The criteria to be used were language, one's 
last name., dress, general customs and cultural practices, and general 
physical aspects. 
Using the information gained from the questionnaire and applying it 
to the 1940 census, it was determined that out of a total population of 
3, 283, 000 persons, fifty-five per cent were Indians. Of the total Indian 
population, 24. 2 per cent spoke the Quiche language, 10. 7 per cent spoke 
Mam, 9. 6 per cent Pocomam, 1. 0 per cent Choi, and 0. 3 per cent spoke 
a scattering of other Indian languages and linguistic variants. Of the 
group 9. 6 per cent were considered acculturated by the census standards 
26 
but were counted as Indians by the new criteria. The statistics ob 
tained from the Institute's efforts represented the first reasonably ac 
curate assessment of the republic's Indian population linguistically speak 
ing. Based upon these findings the Arévalo government would begin the 
literacy programs with the Quiche speaking Indian groups. 
During the first two years of activity, the Instituto Indigenista Nacio 
nal began several programs and accomplished a variety of tasks, one of 
which was a project concerning the Indian languages of the republic. The 
Ministry of Education, wishing to establish a nationwide literacy program 
based upon solid foundations, assigned to the Instituto Indigenista the task 
of reviewing and identifying the various Indian languages utilized in the 
republic. It was intended that the Indian languages would be used to 
teach literacy, that is the Indians would become literate in their own 
278 
language before becoming literate in Spanish, Without a reasonably ac 
curate idea of the geographical distribution of these various languages, 
any national literacy program would be cursory and ineffective at best. 
The goal of the Institute's undertaking was to establish which languages 
were in use in the many municipios of the republic and determine whe 
ther or not there were linguistic zones in the nation. 
In this effort the Instituto Indigenista was aided to some degree by 
earlier studies of a similar nature. Otto Stoll in 1884 had prepared a 
linguistic map of the republic with a detailed study of the languages and 
dialects evident in the northern sector of the Department of Huehuetenan-
go. Other scholars had been active in the twentieth century. Linguistic 
studies had been undertaken by Cyrus Thomas and John R. Swanson in 
1911 and later by William Gates in 1920, both of these efforts having been 
published in Spanish in 1932 by J. Antonio Villacorta C. in his edition of 
Memorial de Tecpan-Atitlan. Karl Sapper had also published a linguistic 
map of the Verapaz region and had suggested the use of Spanish vowels 
and consonants in creating alphabets for the Indian languages. Beyone 
these studies there was available to the Institute the scholarly works of 
the colonial period such as those by García de Palacios in 1576, Fuentes 
y Guzman in 1690, Jimenez in 1720 and Juarros in 1808.. 
In formulating its list and classification of the languages and dialects 
in current usage, the Institute relied heavily upon the basic classifica 
tion system of Jimenez Moreno y Mendizabal which had been completed 
279 
in 1937. The native tongues encountered were divided eventually into 
five main groups according to their similarities and differences. To 
the Quiche groups belonged the Quiche, Cakchiquel, Tzutujil and Uspan-
teca languages. To the Mam group belonged Aguateca, Jacalteca, Kan-
jobal, Chuj, and IxiL Comprising the Pocomam group were Kekchi, 
Pocomchi, Pocomam Oriental, and Pocomam Central. The other two 
groups, Choi and Caribe were less well known and found only in a few 
scattered villages in the republic. 
Once these divisions had been established, investigations were under 
taken in most of the major municipios in each department of the republic 
to determine more precisely the distribution geographically of these lan 
guages and whatever dialects that might be encountered. In the Depart 
ments of Chimaltenango, Sacatepéquez, and Guatemala, the predominant 
native tongue was Cakchiquel with the exceptions of Mixco and Chinantla 
in the department of Guatemala where Pocomam Central was dominant. 
In the Department of Escuintla the chief languages in evidence were Cak 
chiquel and Pocomam Central while in the Department of Solóla several 
languages were to be noted, the main ones being Cakchiquel, Quiche, and 
Tzutuhil. In the Departments of Totonicapán, El Quiche, Retalhuleu and 
Suchitepéquez, Quiche was the dominant tongue with Ixil being spoken in 
the municipios of Chajul, San Juan Cotzal, and Santa Maria Nebaj in the 
Department of El Quiche. Mam was exclusive in the Department of San 
Marcos, Pocomam Oriental in the Department of Jalapa and Chorti in 
280 
the Departments of Zacapa and Chiquimula. In the Departments of Alta 
Verapaz, Baja Verapaz and Huehuetenango, a variety of languages were 
spoken in each with Quiche and Pocomchi being dominant in Alta Verapaz, 
Quiche in Baja Verapaz, and Mam and Kanjobal in Huehuetenango. 
The results of the Institute's study revealed that 95. 8 per cent of the 
Indian population of Guatemala spoke only one Indian tongue. The percen 
tage figures indicated that 26. 8 per cent of the Indian population spoke 
Quiche, 20. 0 per cent Cakchiquel, 1. 4 per cent Tzutuhil, 0. 2 per cent 
Uspanteca, 16. 2 per cent Mam, 0. 4 per cent Kanjobal, 0. 6 per cent 
Chuj, 1. 0 per cent Ixil, 15. 0 per cent Kekchi, 3. 0 per cent Pocomchi, 
28 
0. 4 per cent Pocomam Oriental, and 0. 8 per cent Pocomam Central. 
After these statistical findings had been analyzed and reviewed, they 
were utilized in preparing a linguistic map of the entire republic by An 
tonio Goubaud Carrera and Alberto Arreaga. 
Within the entire program of determining the distribution of the native 
languages in Guatemala, an in-depth study was begun of the Pocomam 
Oriental language in the Department of Jalapa and the Cakchiquel language 
as spoken in the Departments of Chimaltenango, Sacatepéquez, and parts 
of Solóla. Working on the assumption that Cakchiquel was the most wide 
spread geographically of any of the Indian languages, the Institute began 
a detailed study of the language with the aim of devising an alphabet. 
Once this was achieved, educational materials for the literacy programs 
could be produced. The American linguist Mark Watkins was called to 
281 
29 
Arriving in Guatemala in September of 1946, Watkins proved to be 
extremely helpful to the Institute. After some careful research, Wat-
kins, an authority on linguistic systems, was able to render an alphabet 
using Spanish sounds for the Cakchiquel language after some two weeks 
of travel through the Departments of Alta Verapaz, Chimaltenango and 
Sacatepéquez and several weeks of detailed field work in Patzun. The 
investigation involved lengthy considerations of the morphology, syntax 
and phonetics of the language. The new alphabet took into account some 
30 
of the dialects of the Cakchiquel language. The Ministry of Education, 
delighted over the result of Watkin's research, decided to begin using his 
alphabet as the basis for literacy training in the public schools in 1948. 
Watkins did not limit his activities to this single project. In conjunc 
tion with investigators from the Instituto Indigenista and at the request 
of the Maryknoll missionary contingent in Guatemala, he prepared and 
formulated an alphabet based upon Spanish sounds for the Kanjobal lan 
guage encountered in the northeastern sector of the Department of Hue 
huetenango. The Maryknolls were engaged in missionary work in several 
of the municipios in the area. After some intensive field work, the same 
was accomplished for the Mam language. With the assistance of Watkins, 
alphabets using Spanish vowels* and consonants were prepared for the Cak 
chiquel, Mam, and Kanjobal languages, these accomplishments aiding to 
31 
a great degree the efforts of the Maryknolls in Huehuetenango. These 
aid in this endeavor. 
282 
studies formed the basis for the development of cartillas or texts for 
literacy training for those speaking these three native tongues and would 
be used later by staff members at the Instituto Indigenista for teaching 
Spanish speaking Guatemalans the native languages. 
In producing cartillas for later use by the Ministry of Education, the 
Instituto Indigenista was aided by another North American scholar, Nor 
man McQuown, a linguist from the University of Chicago. After an in 
tensive study of several of the Indian languages in Guatemala, McQuown 
established the fundamental phonemes for the Quiche, Kekchi, Kanjobal, 
Tzutuhil and Xiaca languages. With this information the sounds in the 
various tongues were symbolized by use of Spanish vowels and conson 
ants and set down in an analytical format to be used in the cartillas then 
being developed. Using this information plus the material presented by 
Mark Watkins, the Instituto Indigenista began to design in detail several 
cartillas. Each was to be separated into two parts on a bilingual basis. 
The first part was designed to teach literacy in the Indian language while 
the second part contained lessons to teach one to be literate in Spanish. 
The Instituto also began to set up systems of grammar and punctuation 
32 
for these languages. Thus by the close of 1946 the Instituto, with the 
assistance of two linguists, had accomplished a great deal in preparing 
for a national literacy campaign that would soon be in full swing. 
Before becoming director of the Instituto Indigenista, Antonio Gou 
baud Carrera had become interested in the dietary conditions of the Gua-
283 
temalan Indian. Long aware that one of the primary difficulties facing 
under-developed countries throughout the world was the problem of die 
tetic deficiencies, the Carnegie Institute in Washington decided to fund 
3 3 
Goubaud Carrera's intended study which he commenced in 1943. 
Prior to considering the dietary situation in Guatemala in detail, 
Goubaud Carrera had to determine the basic reality of the Guatemalan 
Indian, particularly his nutritional reality. His cursory investigations 
revealed a rural Indian laboring class which more often than not worked 
for differing periods of time as laborers on fincas. The Indians were 
seen largely to be self-sufficient, growing most of their food and making 
34 
most of their own clothing, implements, utensils and other effects. 
In 1942 one in every six laborers in the republic worked as a colono on 
a coffee plantation. The Indian communities, he concluded, were effec 
tively separated from other socio-economic groups around them, having 
their own systems of social administration, customs and traditions. 
Their overall orientation was local rather than national. 
Goubaud Carrera was seeking to arrive at a general statement of 
the Guatemalan Indian. In the area of general health, he asserted that 
infant mortality was quite high and a sizable percentage of the Indian 
population had been adversely affected by malaria, particularly in the 
coastal regions. Although malaria in 1943 was the greatest source of 
death, respiratory infections ran a close second followed by intestinal 
infections of various types. Degenerative diseases such as heart dis-
284 
ease, cancer, and arterio-sclerosis were found to be rare in Guatemala. 
Probably to the surprise of Goubaud Carrera and others, dietary diseases 
were moderate rather than severe and thiamine deficiencies common in 
other under-developed countries were seldom observed. Only three per 
cent of the total population exhibited signs of anemia not associated with 
malaria or intestinal diseases. 
In reviewing the economic situation of the Guatemalan Indian, Goubaud 
Carrera concluded that the Indian's plot of land which was privately owned 
by him was the rule rather than the exception. The size of this plot, how 
ever, was quite small. The bulk of the best arable land was owned in the 
form of latifundias devoted to the raising of export crops. Modern methods 
of farming when encountered were on the latifundias, the great majority of 
the Indian agriculturalists employing the farming methods used by their 
ancestors prior to the conquest. The crops generally grown by Indians in 
the tropical areas were rice, bananas, yuca and squash while in the high 
lands potatoes and wheat were grown. Throughout the republic tomatoes, 
onions, garlic, corn and a wide variety of fruits and vegetables were grown. 
Goubaud Carrera concluded finally that meat was not often consumed by the 
Indian. Beef was often sold and pigs were valued for their lard rather than 
for their potential as a source of meat. The only meat consumed periodi 
cally was chicken. Milk was consumed irregularly if at all. 
Once these generalities had been established, Goubaud Carrera direc 
ted his attention to the corpus of his topic He selected for intensive an-
285 
alysis some 148 families in twelve different rural communities whose 
geographic, cultural and economic conditions were quite different. Ap 
proximately half of the families selected were Indian. These families 
represented the different economic levels given local standards. He 
studied each family for a period of one week noting the foods consumed, 
the amounts ingested by each family member, the manner in which the 
food was prepared, and its caloric value. Other data obtained reflected 
income levels, mode of living, property holdings, domestic animals, 
weekly expenditures on food and general family characteristics. This 
data was used in classifying families as rich, intermediate, or poor ac-
cording to local standards. ° 
Of the Indian families studied, the man was the party charged with 
assuming the burden of supporting his family. Less than one-third of 
the Indians considered were literate and nearly all were agriculturalists 
with about half of these individuals having worked for given periods of 
time on fincas. Most of the Indian families kept chickens while only one 
in eight had a cow and most grew and consumed their own vegetables. 
Nearly all of the foods prepared by the families in the study were 
analyzed from the point of view of the destruction or loss of nutrients 
in cooking. Daily caloric intake was carefully recorded. The results 
of this study, however, were different than what was initially suspected. 
Corn amounted to 98 per cent of the cereals diet of the Indian and 95 per 
cent of that of the Ladino. Corn was consumed in the form of tortillas 
286 
and a solution variously called atole. Rice and wheat were less impor 
tant. Meat was the principal element of the dinner meal and was observed 
more frequently among Ladino families than among Indian families. Eggs, 
when available, were generally sold. Egg consumption was considerably 
higher among Ladinos than among Indians, the same being true of milk 
and cheese. Beans were often the main plate at a meal with one pound 
of intake per person per week being normal. Fats and oils were seldom 
used among the Indian populace. 
For the intake of protein nearly half of the Indian families were be 
low normal standards. Thiamine intake was inadequate as was vitamin 
A consumption. The principal dietetic deficiency, according to Goubaud 
Carrera, was riboflavin, this being lost directly in the treatment of corn 
37 
in making tortillas. The carbohydrate intake was judged to be high. 
In concluding his study in 1945, Antonio Goubaud Carrera emphasized 
that the greatest deficiency in the Guatemalan diet included the lack of 
foods containing vitamin A and riboflavin and the low intake of animal 
proteins and thiamine. The total volume of intake would have to be 
raised in these areas, he concluded, and this, if it was to be realized, 
would necessitate an increased availability of land for the production of 
the needed foods as well as an increase in the level of agricultural pro-
duction. ^ 
Sponsored by the Carnegie Institute in Washington, D. C. , Goubaud 
Carrera's study on nutrition in Guatemala was to complement studies 
287 
of a similar nature that had been conducted in Europe, the United States 
and South America. Their aim in an humanitarian respect was to deter 
mine how health could be improved by the implementation of nutritionally 
sound diets. As far as Guatemala was concerned, the Instituto Indigenista 
needed to know what was consumed and the quantity consumed, With this 
information cooperative efforts with the Guatemalan government were later 
undertaken to improve the nutritional base of the republic's Indian popula 
tion. Goubaud Carrera's study provided the corpus of data needed for the 
Instituto de Nutrición de Centro America y Panama (INCAP) in cooperation 
with the United Nations to develop in Guatemala in particular a protein 
supplement for use by children. 
The main objective was to produce a low-cost substitute for milk. 
To avoid dependency upon imports, the emphasis was placed upon the 
use of ingredients that were or could be produced locally. In this vein 
Nevin Scrimshaw and a group of scientists working at INCAP in Guate 
mala developed a mixture of corn and cottonseed flour that could be pro 
duced at a low cost, substantially less than milk. They demonstrated 
not only that such foods were good nutritionally but that children ill 
with the worst kinds of nutritional disorders could be restored to health 
by a regular diet of such a supplement. The research efforts of Scrim 
shaw's group resulted in a powdered product called Incaparina. By 1973 
over one hundred million pounds of Incaparina had been produced and 
distributed throughout Guatemala and Central America and had provided 
288 
needed nutritional assistance to the Indian children of Guatemala. ^9 
A topic of major concern in both public and private circles for the 
Arévalo regime was the fundamental preservation of the Indian's culture 
in Guatemala. A rich and colorful sector of this culture was the native 
dress which many felt should be protected and preserved, an idea com 
ing from the Pátzcuaro convention and argued in Guatemala by David 
Vela, Antonio Goubaud Carrera, and others. As each Indian community 
used a particular style and color scheme in clothing that was quite dif 
ferent from other Indian communities, the desire was widespread to pre 
serve in some way this colorful tradition. Proposed by several organs 
in the Guatemalan government, including the Instituto Indigenista and the 
Department of Public Education as well as the Society of Geography and 
History and the Carnegie Institute, was an organized effort to formulate 
a collection of native dress for the Indian municipios of Guatemala, one 
for women and one for men. The responsibility for initially classifying 
clothing items was to be assigned to the municipios. According to the 
nationwide census of 1934, some 354 municipios were named with ap 
proximately 2 75 having distinctly characteristic Indian garments. In 
order to collect these items, the alcaldes of each municipio were asked 
to send samples to the Instituto Indigenista. Once collected, the cloth 
ing would be displayed on mannequins at the Instituto Indigenista and 
classified. It was hoped that this effort would not only encourage in 
terest in the Indian textile crafts but would indirectly stimulate the con-
289 
tinuation of the manufacture and the use of these native items of cloth 
ing by the Indians themselves. ^ 
In conjunction with this project and following the Arevalista dedica 
tion to the formation of cooperatives as a means of alleviating the econo 
mic ills facing Guatemala's Indians, it was recommended by the Instituto 
Indigenista and other organizations that cooperatives for the production 
of tejidos or textiles be formed throughout the republic. These coopera 
tives could protect the tejido producers from unfair exploitation on the 
open market. The middle man who had traditionally gained so handsome 
ly from sales to tourists would be eliminated. In forming the cooperatives 
the Instituto Indigenista worked in conjunction with the Council on Coopera 
tives and Jorge del Pinal, a noted Guatemalan economist. Through these 
cooperatives, tejidos could be sold at prices which would yield a fair and 
just profit for those producing them. As the demand for tejidos was 
greatest in areas geographically adjacent to Guatemala City, the Instituto 
Indigenista opted to begin its efforts in the municipio of San Antonio Aguas 
Calientes and Santa Maria de Jesus in the Department of Suchitepéquez 
and in Palin in the Department of Escuintla, these municipios being well 
known for their production of tejidos. All families or groups producing 
tejidos and wishing to belong to the intended program received official 
authorization from the Guatemalan government after it had been deter 
mined that they indeed produced authentic Indian textiles. Such organiza 
tions, once approved, would be able to purchase raw materials at re-
290 
duced rates and receive official assistance in the marketing of their 
41 
finished goods. 
Each cooperative was to have a president, a council, a secretary 
and a treasurer and was to operate in its respective municipal capital 
by established rules and procedures that had been set down by the De 
partment of Cooperatives. The task of the Instituto Indigenista was to 
assure the authenticity of all such garments and affirm that they were 
indeed the type, style and color of those worn in the locality concerned. 
To be authentic the tejidos had to be produced by hand and had to reflect 
in every detail the design and color of those items worn by the Indian 
resident in the particular area. The idea behind the formation of co 
operatives and the institution of control was basically the protection of 
the process of manufacturing tejidos as an art form and possibly as a 
source of economic advantage for the Indians, In realizing the impor 
tance of this program, the Instituto Indigenista began in late 1945 to urge 
the Department of Public Education to declare the protection of Indian 
tejidos to be in the national interest. Such a declaration was made in 
42 
1945. 
To explore the economic possibilities of an enlarged tourist industry 
and how this would possibly benefit the Guatemalan Indian, the govern 
ment called upon a recognized authority on the development of tourism. 
J. Stanton Robins arrived in Guatemala in 1946 and after a careful re 
view of the Guatemalan situation advised that to develop its tourist in-
291 
dustry the government must protect all Indian manual industries and es 
pecially the production of tejidos. Robins urged that Indian communities 
should be discouraged from spending large proportions of their aggre 
gate income upon fiestas. This money, he urged, should be spent on the 
purchase of raw materials for industries such as the manufacture of tex 
tiles. The Instituto Indigenista, he advised, should pay the costs or a 
part of the costs of these fiestas with government funds and encourage 
the Indians to use any surplus funds in the development of their manual 
industries. Special efforts, he felt, should be undertaken to bring these 
products to market, this to be sponsored and funded by the government. ^ 
To begin a program designed to acquaint others abroad with the Guate 
malan textile industry, the Instituto Indigenista began to encourage the 
export to foreign nations of Guatemalan Indian textiles. One of the first 
foreign visitors to be contacted and taken to Palin and Santa Maria de 
Jesus to observe the manufacture of textile goods by Indian craftsmen 
44 
was Leslie Hore-Belisha, former Minister of War for Great Britain. 
Besides its studies of the Indian diet, the production of tejidos and 
Indian languages, the Instituto Indigenista in 1946 also began to focus 
upon its most extensive and demanding challenge. Little was known 
about rural Guatemala, particularly rural Indian Guatemala in 1946. 
Although several scholars and indigenistas including Otto Stoll, Franz 
Termer, Carl Sapper, Adrian Recinos and others had published studies 
of the Indians prior to 1946, there were many Indian municipalities in 
292 
the republic about which little was known. Knowledge of rural customs 
and traditions in many areas of the republic was cursory at best. Yet 
before any intensive national program of integration could be undertaken, 
this knowledge gap would have to be filled. 
How was such an investigation to be conducted? The range of infor 
mation needed was broad and few in Guatemala and in the Instituto Indi 
genista had prior experience with the techniques of anthropological in 
vestigation with the notable exception of Goubaud Carrera. The staff 
of the Instituto began its investigatory activities carefully supervised 
by Goubaud Carrera and financed by a budget allotted to the Instituto by 
the government.* Goubaud Carrera considered the investigatory role of 
the Instituto to be of fundamental importance. Considerable care was 
thus exercised to assure that the information obtained would be as ac 
curate as possible. 
Coming to the aid of the Instituto Indigenista was Benjamin D. Paul, 
a noted anthropologist from Harvard University. In 1945 he proposed a 
guía sociológica or a field investigator's guide to be used by personnel 
of the Instituto. The guide established a set of topics to be considered 
by field workers. These included the economy of the municipio, housing, 
household furniture, dress, agricultural practices, local industries, oc 
cupations, social organizations, socio-political and religious structures, 
45 
health, the world of the supernatural and the average life cycle. Util 
izing this guide, investigations were carried out in detail in San Martin 
293 
Jilotepeque and Patzun in the Department of Chimaltenango, Santiago 
Atitlán, San Pedro La Laguna, Santa Catarina Palopo, San Andres Seme-
tabaj, and Concepción San Jose Chacaya in the Department of Solóla and 
San Antonio Aguas Calientes and San Bartolo Milpas Altas in the Depart 
ment of Sacatepéquez. Using Paul's guide for both general as well as 
detailed investigations, numerous Indian communities were contacted in 
46 
1945 and early 1946. Although the goal of preparing a monograph on 
every Indian community in the republic would not be near completion 
until years later, the task had been begun and an appreciable volume of 
information on the Cakchiquel region was compiled. 
The Instituto Indigenista during 1945 and 1946 was indeed busy. Its 
personnel translated many government communiques and laws into the 
Indian languages and produced pamphlets dealing with the use of seeds 
in agriculture, a pamphlet which extolled the work ethic, and numerous 
other items, many of which were translated into Quiche, Cakchiquel, 
47 
Tzutuhil, Mam, Ixil, Aguateca, Kakchi, and Pocomchi- During 1946 
Antonio Goubaud Carrera traveled extensively throughout the republic 
with President Arévalo reviewing the actual condition of rural Guatemala. 
It was decided that one community should be selected to receive an inten 
sification of programs designed to elevate the standard of living of the 
Indian inhabitants and attempt to integrate them. The community selec 
ted was San José Chacaya in the Department of Solóla, the Instituto Indi 
genista being asked to initiate and direct the investigations and part of 
294 
48 
the programs. 
In concluding the investigations in San José Chacaya and numerous 
other Indian communities, the Instituto Indigenista concluded in a report 
to the Ministry of Education and to President Arévalo that one of the 
greatest difficulties facing the Guatemalan Indian was a lack of knowledge 
on how to improve his standard of living. The Indians, for one thing, 
needed to produce more in order to live better. The introduction of new 
systems of agricultural production and land preparation was recommended. 
49 
A national educational program was also urged. 7 It would be in this lat 
ter field of endeavor that the Instituto Indigenista would become an impor 
tant tool in Arévalo fs designs for the educational reform of Guatemala 
and the integration of its Indians. 
NOTES 
CHAPTER VI 
^Instituto Indigenista Nacional Guatemalteca, "Como nació el 
Instituto, " Boletín del Instituto Indigenista Nacional, I (octubre-diciem 
bre, 1945), p. 8. 
Instituto Indigenista Nacional Guatemalteca, 11 El Instituto Indi 
genista Nacional a través del tiempo, n Boletín del Instituto Indigenista 
Nacional, Vol. I, No. 1-4 (1957), p. 7. 
3 
Instituto Indigenista Nacional Guatemalteca, "Como nació el 
Instituto, íf p. 8; Rubén E. Reina, Continuidad de la cultura indígena en 
una comunidad guatemalteca (Guatemala: Editorial nJosé de Pineda 
Ibarra, 11 Ministerio de Educación Publica, 1959), pp. 10-11. 
4 
Instituto Indigenista Nacional Guatemalteca, ''Trabajos y activi 
dades, n Boletín del In^titi^ Vol. I, No. 1-4 (1957), 
pp. 41-43. 
5 
Ibid. , pp. 44-45. 
^Archivo del Instituto Indigenista Nacional Guatemalteca, nNotas 
del primer congreso nacional de maestros indígenas1' (abril 10, 1945), 
pp. 2-3. (unpublished manuscript. ) 
7 
Ibid, 
8 .» 
Ibid. , pp. 4-6; Interviews, Francisco Rodriguez Rouanet, J. Mar 
tin Ordoííez Ch. , Rosalio Saquic C. , diciembre, 1970, Instituto Indigenista 
Nacional Guatemalteca. 
9 
Jorge Arias B. , "Aspectos demográficos de la población indígena 
de Guatemala, 11 Guatemala indígena, I (abril-junio, 1961), pp. 14-16. 
^Instituto Indigenista Nacional Guatemalteca, "Trabajos y activi 
dades del Instituto, H p. 10. 
^El Imparcial, agosto 28, 1945. 
295 
296 
12 Archivo del Instituto Indigenista Nacional Guatemalteca, "Los 
primeros anos del Instituto" (Report prepared for the Boletín del Insti-
tuto Indigenista Nacional, January, 1955 edition, typewritten), p. 2. 
13 
Instituto Indigenista Nacional Guatemalteca, "Trabajos y activi 
dades del Instituto, " p. 12. 
^Archivo del Instituto Indigenista Nacional Guatemalteca, "Infor 
me por Lic. Antonio Goubaud Carrera" (septiembre 26, 1946), p. 1. 
(typewritten manuscript. ) 
15 
Ibid; Antonio Goubaud Carrera, "Del conocimiento del indio gua 
temalteco, ,f Revista d_e Guatemala, Ano I, No. 1 (septiembre, 1945), 
pp. 86-93. 
^Antonio Goubaud Carrera, "Indigenismo guatemalteco, " Indigen 
ismo en Guatemala, ed. Antonio Goubaud Carrera (Guatemala: Centro 
Editorial "José de Pineda Ibarra," 1946), pp. 17-50. 
17 
David Vela, "Prólogo, " Indigenismo en Guatemala, ed. Antonio 
Goubaud Carrera, pp. 7-15. 
18 • 
Instituto Indigenista Nacional Guatemalteca, "Del consejo con 
sultivo, " Boletín del Instituto Indigenista Nacional, I (octubre-diciembre, 
1945), p. 48. 
19 
Eastburn Smith, "El problema de las suelos en Guatemala, 11 
Boletín del Instituto Indigenista Nacional, 1-11 (1945-1947), pp. 71-75; 
Alberto Arreaga, "Los Pocomames orientales, su frontera lingüística, 11 
Boletín del Instituto Indigenista Nacional, 1-11 (1945-1947), pp. 45-49; 
Antonio Goubaud Carrera, "Estudio de la alimentación en Guatemala, " 
Boletín del Instituto Indigenista Nacional, 1-11 (1945-1947), pp. 27-43; 
David Vela, "Importancia de la antropología aplicada, " Boletín del In 
stituto Indigenista Nacional, 1-11 (1945-1947), pp. 66-69; Sol Tax, "La 
economía regional de las indígenas de Guatemala, 11 Boletín del Instituto 
Indigenista Nacional, I-II (1945-1947), pp. 75-87; George W. Crile and 
Daniel P. Quiring, "Estudio del metabolismo del indígena maya-quiche,11 
Boletín del Instituto Indigenista Nacional, I-II (1945-1947), pp. 57-61. 
20 
Archivo del Instituto Indigenista Nacional Guatemalteca, "Regla 
mento para el Instituto Indigenista Nacional Guatemalteca" (octubre 13, 
1945). (unpublished manuscript with notes. ) 
21 • 
Archivo del Instituto Indigenista Nacional Guatemalteca, "Asig 
naciones presupuéstales destinadas al Instituto Indigenista Nacional Gua 
temalteca, 1945-1946. (typewritten document, no date. ) 
297 
22 Angel Reyes, "Una conciencia indigenista,
 11 América indígena, 
ni (julio, 1948), p. 177. 
23 
Alfonso Caso, "Definición del indio y lo indio, " América indí 
gena, VIII (octubre, 1948), p. 240. 
24 
Oscar Lewis and Ernest E. Maes, "Base para una definición 
práctica del indio, " América indígena, V (abril, 1945), pp. 107-18. 
25 
Instituto Indigenista Nacional Guatemalteca, "El grupo étnico 
indígena: criterios para su definición, " Boletín del Instituto Indigenista 
Nacional, I-H (1945-1947), p. 182. 
26 
Ibid. , p. 205; Jorge Arias B. , "Aspectos demográficos de la 
población indígena de Guatemala," pp. 8, 10, 12; Adrían Recinos,"Len 
guas indígenas de Guatemala, " Proceedings of the Second Pan Ameri 
can Scientific Congress, Anthropology (Washington, D. C. : U. S. Gov 
ernment Publication, 1917), pp. 207-10. 
27 
Antonio Goubaud Carrera, "Distribución de las lenguas indígenas 
actuales en Guatemala, " Antonio Goubaud Carrera (ed. ), Indigenismo en 
Guatemala (Guatemala: Centro Editorial "José de Pineda Ibarra," 1964), 
pp. 250-55. 
28 
Ibid. 
29 
Archivo del Instituto Indigenista Nacional Guatemalteca, "Memo 
ria del Instituto Indigenista Nacional" (octubre, 1950), p. 5. (unpublished 
manuscript. ) 
30 
Archivo del Instituto Indigenista Nacional Guatemalteca, "Infor 
me de las actividades del Instituto" (diciembre, 1946), pp. 3-4. (unpub 
lished manuscript. ) 
Ibid. 
32 
Archivo del Instituto Indigenista Nacional Guatemalteca, "Infor 
me de las actividades del Instituto" (diciembre, 1946), pp. 7-9. (unpub 
lished manuscript. ) 
33David Vela, "Prólogo," p. 13. 
34 
E. S. Benítez and M. Flores, "Estudio de la dieta en Centro 
América, 11 Indigenismo en Guatemala, ed. Antonio Goubaud Carrera, 
p. 85. 
298 
35 , 
David Vela, "Prologo, " p. 13; Benitez and Flores, "Estudio 
de la dieta en Centro América, " p. 86. 
36 
Benitez and Flores, "Estudio de la dieta en Centro América, " 
p. 92. 
37 
Ibid. , pp. 97-99. 
38 
Ibid., pp. 102-108. 
39 
'Alan Berg, The Nutrition Factor (Washington, D. C.r The 
Brookings Institution, 1973), pp. 118-19. 
40 
Instituto Indigenista Nacional Guatemalteca, "Proyecto para la 
formación de una colección de trajes indígenas, " Indigenismo en Guate 
mala, ed. Antonio Goubaud Carrera, pp. 47-50. 
41 
Archivo del Instituto Indigenista Nacional Guatemalteca, "Proyec 
tos y actividades, 1946-1947" (noviembre, 1947), pp. 6-10. (unpublished 
document. ) 
42Ibid. 
43 
Instituto Indigenista Nacional Guatemalteca, "Trayectoria del 
Instituto Indigenista Nacional Guatemalteca," Boletín del Instituto Indi 
genista Nacional (marzo-junio, 1946), pp. 5-6. 
44Ibid. 
45 • v • Archivo del Instituto Indigenista Nacional Guatemalteca, "Guia 
de investigaciones. " (unpublished document, no date. ) 
46 
Instituto Indigenista Nacional Guatemalteca, "Trayectoria del 
Instituto Indigenista Nacional Guatemalteca, " Boletín del Instituto Indi-
genista Nacional Guatemalteca (septiembre, 1946), p. 12. 
47 
Ibid. , p. 14. 
48ibid. 
49 
7Ibid. , pp. 7-8. 
CHAPTER VII 
THE REVOLUTIONARY APPLICATION OF 
THE INDIGENISTA ORIENTATION TO 
EDUCATIONAL REFORM 
Whether an active and impassioned participant in the 1944 Revolution 
or a cautious observer, it could be concluded that Guatemalan education 
was, indeed, in dire circumstances and had been so for some time. The 
quest for wealth and position as well as spiritual conversion which had 
so characterized the colonial period had left little time for considerations 
of things educational. The continuation of Spanish domination in Guatema 
la was dependent upon manipulation and control of the Indian masses. An 
educated Indian laborer could well have posed a threat to this domination. 
It was, therefore, advantageous, or so thought the conquistadores and 
their counterparts in later generations, to maintain the ignorance of the 
Indian masses, particularly as they outnumbered the Spanish population 
and in later years the Creole and Ladino population. Yet the educational 
opportunities for even the sons and daughters of privileged parents was 
utterly lamentable throughout the colonial period and in 1593 reflected 
the stagnation characteristic of the colony's economy, school children 
being required to perform various tasks to gain what little education 
there was available. Education was at best inadequate and incomplete.* 
299 
300 
With possible exceptions of a school in San Juan Sacatepéquez for Indian 
girls which operated for a time in the 15 90's and two others in Antigua 
and Santa Catarina Pinula, educational training for Indian children was 
2 
rarely available. 
Even by the close of the colonial period in the first years of the 
nineteenth century, there were few schools in Guatemala. In 1800 only 
three primary schools in the entire Reino de Guatemala were to be no 
ted, the San Cisiano and San José Calasanz schools founded by Arch 
bishop Francos y Monroy and a school at the Convento de Belén. Efforts 
by the ayuntamiento in Antigua in 1811 to set up the modern equivalent of 
3 
vocational schools resulted in failure. As Spanish artisans did not 
make a practice of instructing Indian laborers in their crafts, the only 
contact the Indian had with anything that might be loosely classified as 
education was whatever evangelistic attempts he may have experienced 
by way of a local priest or monk. 
Although independence from Spain in 1821 brought an end to foreign 
domination in Guatemala, this event did not signal any abrupt change in 
Guatemalan education. The peninsulares had been replaced by the cri 
ollos as the advantaged group. Education for even the children of the 
elite was cursory at best with little emphasis upon practicality. Even 
the energetic and dedicated Mariano Gálvez in the end was unable to 
alter this situation. The English traveler Henry Dunn who visited Gua 
temala in the 1820's noted that there were no more than two schools in 
301 
the capital, both of which were grossly inadequate with improperly pre 
pared teachers and a curriculum based upon outdated religious mater 
ials. 4 A viable educational system, Indian or otherwise, did not develop 
in nineteenth-century Guatemala for several reasons, some being per 
sonalismo, constant political intrigue, the maintenance of a rigid class 
structure, frequent wars, the lack of economic resources, the minimal 
application of laws, and the failure to sustain an educational system 
from one political regime to the next. Needless to say, educational 
facilities that would deal with topics of interest to the Indians such as 
agriculture were non-existent. 
Nevertheless, it was in the nineteenth century that the first positive 
steps were taken in Guatemalan Indian education. With the declaration 
of lay rather than church sponsored education in 1872, and Marco Aure 
lio Soto's establishment of the first extensive primary school, the com 
mitment of the state to public education was affirmed. Indeed, the first 
extensive national law of education which attempted to define the roles 
and responsibilities of the state toward education was passed in January 
of 1875. Education, it was declared, would, henceforth, be free and 
civil, rather than religious in nature. A director of public education 
was to be named for each department and the curriculum for primary 
schools was to be enumerated. ^ These steps paved the way for the 
development of the contention held during the revolutionary decade in 
the twentieth century that the state's obligation was to educate the In-
302 
dians. Under the regime of Justo Rufino Barrios, schools for Indian 
children were established in Quezaltenango, Cobán, and Jacotenango. 
These and other accomplishments, however, seldom were carried 
to the rural areas of Guatemala. The programs in education and rela 
ted areas did not endure long enough to reach beyond the major munici 
pal centers of the republic. The aldeas, cantones, and caseríos of the 
nation would remain without schools for years to come. For those 
areas that did have educational facilities, they were understaffed and 
in most cases the curriculum offered was theoretical and abstract. 
That this would not be substantially altered until 1944 could be explained 
in part by the dictatorial regimes of Manuel Estrada Cabrera and Jorge 
Ubico. 
While Manuel Estrada Cabrera's interest in the antiquities and his 
salones de Minerva did little to advance education in Guatemala and ac 
tually brought about a retrogression, education reached a record low 
under the Ubico regime. Although educational facilities existed in some 
rural areas, they were often not operative. To be a teacher under the 
mano duro meant a life of near poverty and denial as salaries were sel 
dom more than eight quetzales a month. Compounding this was the fact 
that the teacher was frequently the recipient of the disdain of local poli 
tical figures including alcaldes and other municipal officials. With tech 
nical and administrative support unavailable to him, he was expected to 
operate under unfavorable circumstances and remain loyal to ubiquismo. 
3 03 
The repression of Ubico's Guatemala could only offer a program that 
called for the militarization of the nation's schools and the personnel 
teaching in them. This was felt to be particularly important in the pre 
dominantly Indian areas of the republic. Ubico had forced some Indians 
to accept education to some extent in the Guatemalan army by the draft 
ing of young Indian men as soldiers and training them as recruits. He 
apparently felt that this stern approach would be beneficial to education 
as a whole. Subsequently a decree passed in March of 1939 stipulated 
that the purpose of the Escuela Normal was to prepare primary school 
teachers and personnel for the Guatemalan army. All potential teachers 
were to receive military training. Decree 2412 passed on July 25, 1940 
completed this trend in education by declaring that the curriculum for 
secondary schools was to be the same as the cur so militar given army 
q 
personnel. 7 
Under such a system the teacher was not allowed any latitude in his 
teaching methods or curriculum. The teaching methods utilized were 
as rigid in their structure as was the discipline in the schools. Recita 
tion and memorization were the techniques employed while the subject 
matter was so abstract and theoretical that its successful application to 
practical matters would have been difficult under ideal circumstances. 
During the Ubico period there was little attempt to attract qualified and 
professional teachers. Many in the rural areas were barely literate 
yet were expected to offer a curriculum well beyond their meager capa-
3 04 
bilities. The fourteen year tenure of Jorge Ubico resulted in the cancel 
lation of many educational advances that had been recorded under his 
predecessor Chacon and earlier under Barrios. At its best, the educa 
tion available to Guatemalans under Ubico was not adequate, being an 
cient in its context, impractical in its overall operation and urban in its 
orientation. The emphasis upon memorization at the expense of thought 
or creativity and the rigid discipline imposed served to deter interest or 
initiative on the part of the students. The Ubico period saw no serious 
attempt to gear any educational programs to the interests and needs of 
Guatemala's Indians. By 1944 what was left was an unstructured educa 
tional system as stagnant as it had been in earlier eras with a dropout 
rate exceeding thirty per cent in the rural schools."^ 
Given an educational system which discouraged individual develop 
ment and one which was run by often corrupt officials who were rarely 
literate themselves, the situation facing the new revolutionary govern 
ment was one demanding prompt and effective action. Yet, what was to 
be done? Nearly three-fourths of the republic's population were illiter 
ate and the nation's school systems for nearly two decades had been 
grossly neglected in nearly every respect. The educational systems 
prior to 1944 and particularly under Ubico had failed first in the trans 
mission of the nation's collective cultural heritage and secondly in the 
preparation of students for responsible adulthood. Manuel Galich, writ 
ing in December of 1945, related that virtually nothing had been done 
305 
12 during the Ubico period to combat Indian illiteracy. In the wave of 
dissatisfaction and discontent which swept Ubico out of office in 1944, 
it was felt by many that the educational system was in need of several 
fundamental changes. A new direction and a new respectability could 
raise the republic from its morass of ignorance to a plain of educational 
commitment and a promise for all. Soon after October 20, 1944 such a 
change began to materialize. 
In reviewing the domestic situation in Guatemala shortly after Octo 
ber 20, 1944, the revolutionary junta surveyed the state of Guatemalan 
education and decided upon taking firm steps which hopefully would al 
ter its deplorable state. Feeling that its approach needed to be ex 
plained in a legal context, the junta adopted a series of policy state 
ments which were later incorporated into the 1945 Constitution. Article 
seventy-nine of the new constitution declared the development of a cul 
ture in all of its manifestations to be a primordial obligation of the 
state. Article eighty affirmed that the new government would consider 
as one of its fundamental functions the protection and expansion of edu 
cation throughout the republic. The educational system would be re 
structured to provide training in personal health, ethic and moral im 
provement, and civics, or, in other words, would serve in promoting 
responsible citizens. Article eighty-one provided for free and lay pri 
mary education that would be supported and directed by the state. The 
training of teachers was to become, in particular, a task to be assumed 
306 
14 by the state. 
Although the junta had taken measures to legalize what would be its 
approach to education, the problems to be overcome in this field were 
15 16 monumental. Illiteracy was foremost. The reasons for the seventy 
per cent level of illiteracy in Guatemala were numerous. In those coun 
tries having large Indian majorities, at least one author claimed that 
the high illiteracy rates were due to the lack of a national spirit in many 
educational programs, the continued neglect of the Indian and the popu 
larly held conception of him as an inferior being belonging to a disadvan 
taged race. These, coupled with political systems which purposefully 
ignored social progress for the Indian and economic advancement for the 
17 
Indian agriculturalist were fundamental causes of illiteracy. Poor fa 
cilities, the necessity to travel great distances in order to attend school, 
educational programs which did not meet the needs of the students or 
their communities, agricultural necessities which demanded the ener 
gies of children as well as adults, the cultural passivism of the rural 
Indian, and the high incidence of migration among rural Indian laborers 
18 
all served to encourage Indian illiteracy. 
As reported in the census of 1940, there were 714,049 children in 
the republic between seven and fourteen years of age. During the 1944-
1945 school year only 130, 546 or less than twenty per cent of the school 
age population were enrolled in any school. Of this number only 59, 046 
or approximately forty-three per cent of the total were enrolled in rural 
307 
19 schools. The conditions in the rural schools were primitive. Many 
of the structures said to be school buildings were scarcely more than 
unsanitary hovels devoid of proper light or air. The minimum amount 
of furniture and equipment to operate a school was seldom present or 
even available. Not even one public rural school in the republic offered 
20 
more than three years of elementary education. The fact that educa 
tional programs in Guatemala prior to 1944 had seldom stirred the in 
terest of the Indian represented the fundamental void in Guatemalan edu 
cation. 
Illiteracy was everywhere to be noted in 1944 according to prelimin 
ary field investigations of the problem conducted by the Instituto Indigen 
ista. In the barrios of La Reformita and Santa Elisa near Guatemala 
City, nearly forty-one per cent of the population was illiterate. Even 
in the center of Guatemala City where newspapers were easily obtainable 
and where there were numerous theaters, hotels, and commercial es 
tablishments, the illiteracy rate exceeded twenty per cent. These rates, 
however, were far exceeded by the illiteracy levels in rural Guatemala. 
Retalhuleu, El Asintai, Santa Cruz Mulua, and San Sebastian in the De 
partment of Retalhuleu all recorded rates in excess of sixty-five per 
cent while areas in the predominantly Indian departments of Solóla, To 
tonicapán, Alta Verapaz, and Baja Verapaz reported rates of eighty-
five per cent and higher. 21 Even in the fairly prosperous zone of Maza-
tenango, over sixty-five per cent of the populace was illiterate, with 
308 
nearly- ninety-eight per cent in some areas. 22 Facing the junta and the 
two revolutionary governments to follow was overturning this tradition 
of ignorance which had persisted since the colonial period. 
To educate the Indian or at least make him literate would require 
method used to educate the Indians of Guatemala, the task would be 
doomed from its first day of operation if it did not offer to the Indian 
something of value or interest. Why learn the alphabet or why learn to 
speak Spanish if such knowledge would not at least promise material 
improvement? Accepting this point of view placed the junta squarely in 
the indigenista camp and recalled the views on education that had been 
advocated earlier by Gálvez, Barrios to some extent, Reina Barrios, 
and more contemporary indigenistas such as Vela and Goubaud Carrera. 
Recognizing that the massive problem of illiteracy had received scant 
attention in decades, the junta decided to combat it. On November 29, 
1944 decree number twenty created the National Committee on Illiteracy 
(Comité Nacional de Alfabetización) which would have jurisdiction through 
out the republic and would be functional as a division within the Ministry 
of Public Education. The decree itself recognized illiteracy as the pri 
mary cause of the failure of any development leading toward an authen 
tic democracy in the republic. The decree implied that the aim of the 
National Committee on Illiteracy would be to help convert Guatemala into 
a nation known for its culture, its liberty, and its civic orientation.^^ 
special programs for both adults and children. 23 Regardless of the 
3 09 
Although the junta took the step initially to create a National Illiter 
acy Committee, and approval of this was forthcoming by the National 
Assembly, it was not until March 8, 1945 that a comprehensive law on 
illiteracy was passed. The Ley de Alfabetización declared the illiteracy 
problem to be a national emergency and defined literacy as the ability to 
read and write well enough to allow the Indian and Ladino illiterates to 
be fully incorporated into Guatemalan society. The first phase of the 
literacy campaign was to center in Guatemala City where various teach 
ing techniques and programs could be tested and evaluated and the per 
sonnel recruited and trained for a campaign that would be extended later 
to all sections of the republic. Training was to be integrative in charac 
ter. 
The junta and later the president of the republic assumed the ultimate 
responsibility for the direction of the literacy campaigns. The Secretary 
of Public Education was named as the executive director of the upcoming 
literacy campaigns. Various organs of the national government were to 
cooperate with the committee as well as local governmental officials. 
The Ley de Alfabetización also stipulated that such officials were to help 
active members of the committee to establish centers and regional liter 
acy organizations in the small towns of the republic. The committee 
was to devise means of financing its activities including the sale of 
stamps. Signed by Francisco Arana, Jorge Toriello, Jacobo Arbenz, 
and Jorge Luís Arriólo, the Ley de Alfabetización firmly committed the 
310 
25 revolutionary governments to making literacy a reality. 
Although the organization of the committee for the first and subse 
quent literacy campaigns was altered on several occasions, a number 
of associations and agencies were called upon to participate in the first 
literacy campaigns. Those that would be active in these first campaigns 
included a number of notables such as Lilly de Jongh Osborne, Luis Car-
doza y Aragón, Elisa Hall de Asturias, Carlos Samayoa Aguilar, Gerar 
do Gordillo Barrios, M, T. Alfonso Fortuny, Alaide Foppa de Solórzano, 
David Vela, Antonio Goubaud Carrera, and others. ^° 
Although having to operate with a budget of only one thousand quet 
zales, the first literacy campaign received a great deal of popular and 
spontaneous support. Far more critical than the insufficient budget was 
the lack of facilities and materials. This lack had prompted official en 
couragement from government circles of all who were literate to teach 
someone else how to read and write. Perhaps in no other epoch did "any 
government encounter such interested and dedicated support as did the 
junta with this initial literacy effort. By the end of the first literacy 
campaign in which 16, 784 Guatemalans enrolled, 5,143 were declared 
27 
to be literate. Although administrative disorganization had resulted 
in part in this low yield, this first campaign, nevertheless, was impor 
tant in that it acquainted many with the potential and real problems to 
be encountered in a literacy campaign. Discovered particularly were 
techniques which were effective and a basic realization of the entire 
311 
problem. 
Collecting and digesting what information it had gleaned from the 
first campaign, the committee launched its second literacy campaign on 
February 2, 1946. The campaign lasted until June 30, 1946, with one 
thrust in Guatemala City and another in rural Guatemala, specifically 
in the cities of Retalhuleu and Mazatenango and the various population 
centers around Malacatán, El Rodeo, Tumbador, Coatepeque, Calomba, 
Asintal, San Sebastian, Santa Cruz Mulua and Cuyotenango. The goal of 
2 
the second campaign was to bring literacy to ten thousand Guatemalans. 
To carry out this tremendous task, titled school teachers were used 
with an average salary of fifteen quetzales a month. The collective ap 
proach, it was decided, would be far more effective than the person to 
person approach and would involve considerably fewer people. 
The campaign, however, was not confined solely to literacy training. 
It included lessons in civics, recreation, personal health, sanitation, 
and agriculture, or the so-called fundamental block of education. It was 
estimated that in the Mazatenango region alone some 75,000 persons 
could benefit from the general lessons. Some three hundred evening 
schools were set up for use by adults and one hundred day schools for 
children were scheduled for operation in areas where there were no 
schools. Although these goals were not met, many new schools were 
established. Whenever possible, rural school teachers were hired, 
particularly in cases where the teacher could instruct both children 
312 
and adults. 
For the administration of the program in the Mazatenango area, five 
sections were created with an office in each geographical section. The 
first section consisted of Malacatán and El Rodeo; the second, Tumbador 
and Coatepeque; the third, Colomba and Asintal; the fourth, Retalhuleu, 
San Sebastian and Santa Maria; and the fifth, Cuyotenango and Mazaten 
ango. Activities in this second campaign, however, extended beyond 
the confines of Guatemala City and the Mazatenango area. Spontaneous 
movement was observed during the course of the campaign in some six 
teen departments of the republic as various associations and organiza 
tions such as Rotary Clubs, the Ministry of Agriculture and others lent 
their support and in some cases began their own programs. In the capi 
tal alone the results of this second campaign were rewarding with over 
3,202 persons passing their literacy examinations. Some 2, 718 persons 
were declared to be literate in the departments. Counting school chil 
dren, the second campaign brought 10, 718 Guatemalans into the literate 
29 
world. This had been achieved with the employment of 208 teachers. 
By the conclusion of the second literacy campaign, it had become 
obvious to many that if the problem of literacy was to be given the at 
tention the extent of the problem indicated, larger budgets would have 
to be allocated. After exhaustive study it was decided to employ a lot 
tery to gain the needed funds. By virtue of decree number 361 which 
was passed on April 14, 1947 the lotería chica proalfabetización was 
313 
created- The lottery tickets would be sold in amounts between ten cen 
tavos and one quetzal and occasionally larger amounts. The lottery 
was to be directed and administered by the National Literacy Commit 
tee which in turn would be supervised and periodically inspected by the 
Ministry of Public Education and the Ministry of the Treasury and Pub 
lic Credit. The expenditures of the lottery were to constitute only the 
payment of premiums and salaries of employees, the printing fees, 
sales commissions, advertising and general operating expenses. 
All funds received from the sale of a particular group of tickets 
were to be transferred to the Ministry of Public Education whose re-
30 
sponsibility it would be to allocate all funds. The first drawing of 
tickets took place on June 20, 1947. Depending on the amounts of funds 
received, the earnings were to be channeled first to the literacy cam 
paigns and then to the primary school programs, rural education pro 
grams and the universidad popular. At least-twenty-five per cent of 
the total funds received were to be devoted to literacy programs. Al 
though this legislation would not directly benefit the third literacy cam 
paign, it was an important factor for later campaigns. Created in 1947, 
the lottery was destined to be used for many years to come asa means 
31 
of financing educational programs. 
The third national literacy campaign which followed on the heels of 
a reorganization of the National Illiteracy Committee began in June of 
1946 and ended in February of 1947. With a budget this time of slightly 
314 
more than 2,500 quetzales per month, the committee was hopeful of a 
widespread program. With the increase in funds the campaign went to 
ninety-six municipalities throughout the republic and enrolled 24, 961 
students. Some 657 literacy training centers were established and 741 
teachers were hired. With this campaign teachers were not to be paid 
strictly a monthly salary but were to be reimbursed upon the results ob 
tained by their students. This approach was adopted to ensure that teach 
ers would remain in their classrooms and be attentive to the task at hand. 
Of the nearly 25,000 students enrolled, 17, 756 were declared to be 
literate by the end of the campaign. Although the goal had been 25, 000, 
the lack of trained personnel and learning materials made the achieve 
ment of this goal impossible. During the campaign the Guatemalan Army 
was active in training its enlisted personnel and several communities 
began programs of various types to finance the campaign in their respec 
tive localities. The campaign for the first time benefited from the active 
contributions and participation of the Instituto Indigenista and several 
32 
other organs of the national government. The idea that literacy was 
a desirable and beneficial goal was explained publicly and given consi-
33 
derable emphasis in political circles. 
With the beginning of the fourth literacy campaign in June of 1947, 
expectations were inflated as never before. The campaign was to be 
the first funded with profits from the lottery and the materials to be 
presented were wider in scope and included an educational program 
315 
rather than just the literacy blocks on reading, writing, and arithmetic. 
With this campaign there were to be some 1,800 literacy centers and 
some 114 new schools which would serve both as rural schools and liter 
acy training centers. Teachers working in the literacy campaigns were 
to receive salaries equivalent to those of their counterparts in other sec 
tions of the educational system. In as many cases as possible, regular 
rural school teachers were hired. They were to operate in their regular 
locality, working with children during the days and whenever possible 
with adults in the evenings. For thirty-eight of the new schools 4,300 
34 
students were enrolled. Sustaining a good deal of popular support as 
well as financial aid from the lottery, the fourth campaign by December 
of 1947 had taught 24, 021 persons to be literate out of the 36, 234 who 
35 
had enrolled. 
Throughout the first four literacy campaigns several agencies includ 
ing the Instituto Indigenista cooperated in the attack on illiteracy and its 
many related aspects. The Instituto Indigenista spent a considerable 
portion of its efforts in compiling materials for literacy training in the 
Indian languages. Beyond the actual formulation of cartillas or primers 
in the Indian tongues, the Instituto had been cooperating with the Departa 
mento de Alfabetización in gathering information on such topics as muni 
cipalities where Indian languages were spoken exclusively, locations 
where there were no schools, indices of illiteracy, recruitment pro 
grams to attract bilingual teachers, investigations throughout the re-
316 
public to discover zones of linguistic unity, Indian customs and psycho 
logical points of view that may or may not affect literacy programs, tech 
nical approaches to be used in instruction in the Indian languages, the use 
of phonetic systems based upon the Spanish alphabet, the organizing of 
reading passages that would interest the rural Indian, and, in a sense, 
advertising techniques that would attract Indian adults to the literacy cen 
ters. Much of this research was concluded and evaluated in time for the 
opening of the fifth literacy campaign. 
Unlike the first four literacy campaigns which attempted to reach as 
many people as possible with fundamental programs, the fifth campaign 
attempted a different approach. What had prompted a change was the 
concern by many that what had been learned in the former literacy ex 
periences would soon be forgotten because of the lack of practice and 
the absence of reinforcement learning. Few, indeed, were the materi 
als to maintain literacy once it had been achieved. To offset this the 
government began publication of a periodical called Nuevo Lector which 
contained articles in Spanish and in several of the major Indian languages 
on topics and situations of interest to the Indian agriculturalist. Although 
the absence of printing machinery delayed this project for a time, it fi 
nally was put into operation. The fifth campaign, which lasted from 
April to November of 1948, attempted to include a basic program in the 
social sciences to be given in conjunction with the teaching of reading 
and writing. The campaign reported success for 13, 210 out of 21,244 
317 
students who had been initially enrolled. ^ 
In 1948 Hector Guerra Martínez, then head of the Departamento de 
Alfabetización, made a study of the problems encountered in literacy 
training by potential adult students. He concluded, as had others, that 
a number of factors were operating to keep adults away from their liter 
acy classes. These included the necessities of seasonal migrations in 
search of work, particularly migrations to the coastal fincas, sickness, 
the scarcity of appropriate and interest inspiring material, the lack of 
interest in general in education, community opposition on occasions, the 
short duration of time spent in instruction, the diversity of Indian dia 
lects, occasionally a pronounced Ladino-Indian prejudice* the low level 
of preparation of teachers, and cultural separateness. 
Guerra Martínez felt that a regional approach would take into ac 
count these problems. A regional campaign well grounded in prepara 
tory lessons, he felt, would achieve far better results than the nation 
wide campaigns previously utilized. An area of Guatemala would have 
to be selected where illiteracy was high yet where there was not an abun 
dance of Indian languages in current usage. The area selected for the 
implementation of such a program was the Department of Jalapa. Prior 
to beginning the campaign each prospective teacher was briefed on the 
social history of the area as well as on new instructional techniques to 
be employed. Over fifty per cent of the aldeas in Jalapa were without 
schools, public or private, a statistic shared by the other departments 
318 
of the republic. ^ 
The sixth campaign operated from January until December of 1949 
and included some new satellite programs. Medicine was dispensed 
whenever possible to battle common diseases. In this effort the Direc 
ción General de Sanidad cooperated. Also a reforestation program was 
begun with the assistance of the Ministry of Agriculture. In the educa 
tional programs new attention was given to the constitution, the work 
code, and the development of civic consciousness. The success in Ja 
lapa was nearly immediate and officials were soon calling for the inau 
guration of similar programs in Baja Verapaz and other regions of the 
republic. In Jalapa alone 7, 000 people had become literate while in the 
rest of the republic a total of 9,119 were declared to be literate out of 
the 15,233 who had enrolled. The campaign in Jalapa was a definite suc-
39 
cess. 
With the seventh literacy campaign which opened in January of 195 0 
and which was scheduled to operate until December of the same year, 
numerous problems were encountered. The last year in Arévalo's 
term of office was also an election year and to a large extent the politi 
cal circumstances of the period* rendered impossible the attainment of 
the campaign's goals. A project that was begun at this time and one 
that would have important effects in later years was the preparation of 
the entire literacy programs and primary school curricula in the twenty 
Indian languages commonly encountered in Guatemala. Lie Juan de 
319 
Dios Rosales of the Instituto Indigenista, an individual dedicated to the 
proposition of the integration of the Indians, was given the responsibility 
for carrying out this program. By the close of 1950 the Instituto Indigen 
ista had produced several cartillas, some having been used to advantage 
40 
in the fifth literacy campaign two years earlier. As over eighty-five 
per cent of Guatemala's Indians spoke Kekchi, Quiche, Cakchiquel, or 
Mam, it was agreed that these four languages would be utilized in for-
41 
mulating literacy materials. Although the campaign was interrupted 
on several occasions by political activities, it did result in providing 
literate Guatemala with 5,433 more members. ^ 
With this literacy campaign an innovation was included which was 
termed a program of cultural extension. Educational films were shown 
at various locations throughout the republic, pertinent books were sent 
to libraries in Quezaltenango and Mazatenango, and exhibitions of art 
works by national artists were organized whenever possible- The first 
Guatemalan painter to benefit from this was Juan Pedro Aroch. His 
paintings were put on display in the salon of the Escuela Nacional de 
Artes Plásticas in November of 1950. Other artists whose works were 
shown in this program were Dagoberto Vásquez and Juan Antonio Fran 
co. What was intended with these showings of Guatemalan art was the 
development of a consciousness in one collective artistic and cultural 
43 
experience which included the work of Indian artists. Reflected in 
this program was President Arevalo's often stated goal of an integrated 
320 
national culture which included in all respects the Indian element in Gua 
temala. 
The seven literacy campaigns in operation during Arévalo's term of 
office covered a large geographical area and achieved amazing results 
given the difficulties to be overcome. Many areas of the republic came 
into direct contact for the first time in decades with an educational pro 
gram whose goals were other than those of instilling a sense of militar 
istic discipline. Working on the belief that literacy was an important 
key to integration and civic development, nearly 83, 000 Guatemalans 
were taught to read and write and at least another 55, 000 came into con 
tact with the programs offered. Operating in conjunction with the Insti 
tuto Indigenista, some 22,000 school children, many of whom were In 
dian, were taught to read and write in Spanish through the programs or 
ganized by the Comité Nacional Pro-Alfabetización and the Ministry of 
44 
Public Education. 
Throughout the period the Instituto Indigenista was active in field 
investigations of various types in dozens of rural communities in order 
to obtain the cultural and statistical information needed to assure a last 
ing success of these efforts. Although the first literacy campaigns co 
pied those utilized in other Latin American countries in teaching just 
the rudiments that would make one literate, by the third campaign var 
ious subjects normally encountered in the primary schools were taught 
as well. By the sixth and seventh campaigns, history, geography, civics, 
321 
agriculture, and other courses corresponding to the first three years 
of primary school were included. 
The first bilingual texts used in the literacy campaigns near the end 
of the Arévalo period attempted to provide learning material that would 
attract the interests of the campesinos in a given area. Once the basic 
sounds of language had been mastered and simple sentences had been 
learned, the lessons utilized attempted to emphasize moral, spiritual, 
and physical topics pertinent to the rural environment of the immediate 
area. Materials in the later campaigns were frequently concerned with 
topics in agriculture such as systems of cultivation and irrigation, phy 
sical health, social activities and occasionally lessons centered around 
45 
Indian legends and traditions. 
To assure the chances of success in the campaigns, the National 
Illiteracy Committee and the Ministry of Public Education made more 
extensive the requirements and training necessary to be a rural school 
teacher or a literacy instructor. Some experience in rural education 
was deemed necessary as was the ability to speak fluently one of the 
major Indian languages of Guatemala. An adequate educational prepara 
tion was expected. Prior to assignment, the prospective literacy instruc 
tors were to be knowledgeable of the region to which they would be assigned, 
this to include information on the agriculture, health standards, rural econ 
omy, rural sociology, and the geography and history of the region. ^ They 
were also to be well grounded in the various approaches to teaching liter-
322 
acy and were to have received training in the methods of presenting les 
sons on the phonetics of the Indian languages. That many of these expec 
tations would not be met was reasonable given the circumstances in Gua 
temala, but at least the standards had been established. 
Between 1944 and 1950 the approach taken by the Guatemalan govern 
ment to the problem of illiteracy had changed from a post-revolution 
statement of intent to a dedicated national program both practical and 
theoretical in nature. The budgets had been altered from a meager 
10, 000 quetzales to one of nearly 74, 000 quetzales in 1950. From 1948 
through 195 0 over 210, 000 dollars had been spent directly on literacy 
47 
campaigns. Concurrent with this accelerated financial commitment, 
there developed in Guatemala a political point of view centering around 
the illiteracy issue. Recognizing this the later literacy campaigns sought 
to stimulate and maintain the interest of the campesino. 
After the experience of three literacy campaigns, officials of the Na 
tional Illiteracy Committee observed that the really important effects of 
literacy were those that affected the community. Thus by the seventh 
campaign, the programs sought to make as large an impression upon 
the community as possible by addressing themselves to topics of imme 
diate interest to their pupils. Literacy was viewed by many arevalistas 
as intimately related to the many social problems present in Guatemala. 
It was seen to represent social justice and integration and remained a 
basic point of emphasis for the revolutionary goal of integration and in 
corporation of all Guatemalans. Indeed, literacy became the central is-
323 
sue in the politics of education during the Arévalo years. 
For President Arévalo, however, illiteracy and the lack of educa 
tion spelled more than just a traditionally poor educational system. The 
failure of Guatemala over the decades to create a viable and effective 
educational system was to the president and many others the fundamen 
tal cause of the failure of economic and social development throughout 
the republic. One of the first acts to be undertaken by Arévalo was to 
make teaching as a vocation more attractive financially or at the mini 
mum to pay teachers sufficiently to allow them to survive economically. 
The Ley de escalafón magisterio nacional, passed in November of 1947, 
49 
doubled in most cases the salaries of school teachers. 
As far as Arévalo was concerned, education in Guatemala in 1944 
was impractical, outdated and stagnant as a system and as a collection 
of institutions. His aim was to make the educational systems of the re 
public functional and active and then to use it to integrate the illiterate 
and untrained into Guatemalan society. To assist in this task, outside 
assistance was needed. 
In order to maintain friendly relations with the republics of Latin 
America during World War II, the United States began a phase of coop 
eration with and assistance to these countries in the areas of public 
health, education and agriculture. These programs involved the send 
ing of selected Latin American officials to the United States for training 
and the development and expansion of educational systems. ^1 In the 
324 
agreement of assistance and cooperation that Guatemala through Manuel 
Galich formulated with the United States in July of 1945, attention focused 
on the rural school. Regional rural normal schools were to be developed 
as well as a new style rural school. Special attention was to be given to 
the Indian and to technical studies. The program in Guatemala was one 
of sixteen such programs conducted by the Inter-American Educational 
Foundation, a corporation of the Office of the Coordinator of Inter-Ameri-
52 
can Affairs acting for the United States government. 
The aim of this cooperative program reflected the contention espoused 
by President Arévalo that no educational reform would achieve success in 
Guatemala without taking into consideration the attitudes, customs, and 
cultural practices of the republic's Indian groups. This cooperative ef 
fort would be established on the thesis that an educational program by its 
very nature presupposed organized training toward known objectives and 
that it must reflect and serve the needs of the environment in which it 
will operate. Unlike prior efforts which had failed because of a lack of 
technical knowledge and preparation, this program was to be firmly 
based upon empirical research findings before any extensive action was 
undertaken. The representative of the Inter-American Educational Foun 
dation, William J. Griffith, was active throughout Guatemala during the 
latter part of 1944 in gathering data on a variety of social, economic and 
53 
cultural topics. 
The conclusions of this investigation in 1944 indicated clearly that 
325 
Guatemala's greatest educational crisis was to be found in rural educa 
tion. Such education had seldom in past eras been adopted to rural needs 
and there was no department within the Ministry of Public Education for 
rural education. To fill this gap the Inter-American Cooperative Educa 
tional Service was established as an agency within the Ministry of Public 
Education. The representative of the Inter-American Educational Foun 
dation directed the Service on behalf of both governments and had the re-
54 
sponsibility of carrying out the programs mutually agreed upon. 
The 1944 study also revealed the poor preparation of rural school 
teachers and the lack of proper educational materials. To complement 
this aspect of the study the Inter-American Cooperative Educational Ser 
vice decided to review first hand the educational situation in the Cakchi-
quel region of Guatemala. Visits to the schools in this region were de 
signed to accumulate details on the number of grades in the school, the 
number of teachers, the number of courses offered in Spanish, the pre 
sence or absence of books and materials for use by the students, and 
the number of hours per day of instruction. In subsequent discussions 
with officials in the Ministry of Public Education, it was concluded that 
what Guatemala needed more than anything else in this sector of educa 
tion was a new type of rural school. Education, it was felt, should at 
tempt to improve the well-being of the campesino by assisting him on a 
daily basis and secondly to promote individual and collective action de 
signed to improve or alleviate these problems. To improve the nature 
326 
and the quality of family economy, personal health, and the educational 
and cultural levels in each rural Guatemalan community was to be the 
overall aim of the republic's rural schools. 
For purposes of administration and supervision, a particular region 
of Guatemala was chosen to begin operation. The area selected was the 
Cakchiquel region located in the Guatemalan highlands between Guatemala 
City and Lake Atitlán and including the departments of Chimaltenango and 
Sacatepéquez and portions of the departments of Guatemala, Solóla, Es-
cuintla, Suchitepéquez, and Baja Verapaz. Yet before any program 
could be undertaken, it had to be organized. To accomplish this some 
sixty-five rural school teachers from the Cakchiquel region were selec 
ted to attend a workshop that would be held on the national finca MLa Ala 
meda 11 near Chimaltenango in May and June of 1946. Lasting nearly six 
weeks, the workshop, which included the participation of members of 
the United States field staff, set up a new curriculum for the rural 
schools in the region which included reading, writing, arithmetic, so 
cial studies, physical education, health education, agriculture, and 
manual arts. 
The efficient collaboration of the group attending the workshop re 
sulted in a rather impressive list of suggestions and accomplishments. 
Courses of study were prepared for the three year rural schools in the 
subject areas discussed. A guide for the teaching of reading by the sen 
tence method was prepared which anticipated the Freiré method which 
327 
had been used in Chile and Brazil. This, it was hoped, would stress 
comprehension and promote practicality and would do away with the syl 
lable and word method traditionally utilized in Guatemalan education 
which often left the Indian student as ignorant after the course as before. 
A social studies course was developed which would begin by emphasizing 
the child's experiences at home and. in his country and proceed from this 
point. Language difficulties encountered by Indian pupils, it was felt, 
could thus be overcome by using familiar material. An integrated oral 
language and reading program was suggested as a means of making 
57 
meaningful the topics of reading and spelling. 
Agriculture, it was urged, should be given particular emphasis in 
the new curriculum. Although it had been authorized in previous rural 
curricula, it was taught only rarely, if at all. The workshop's recom 
mendation was that scientific principles of agriculture should be taught 
and reinforced by classroom demonstrations and practical applications 
of the techniques learned. With seeds and animals being provided by 
the schools, the practices were to be fostered and encouraged in the 
homes of the students. The manual arts program was to stress the pro 
duction of items from materials available in the immediate environment 
that would serve to improve the home and the health conditions in the 
homes of the students. The programs of health and physical education 
were designed to promote proper health habits that would be carried by 
the students to their homes and hopefully discourage the many unhealthy 
328 
habits and practices encountered in rural Guatemala. The curriculum 
and courses of study proposed during the workshop were adopted offi-
5 8 
cially by the Ministry of Public Education. 
The workshop attendants had discussed at some length the needs of 
rural Guatemalan education and had proposed fundamental changes in the 
curricula. The next step was to implement these programs. However, 
before this could be accomplished, personnel familiar with this newly 
authorized curriculum would need training and supervision. A Regional 
Rural Normal School for teachers in the Cakchiquel area was established. 
In a study conducted jointly with the Instituto Indigenista, it was con 
cluded that the aldea of Santa María Cauque of the municipality of Santia 
go Sacatepéquez would be the most promising site. Land was ceded by 
the municipality and arrangements were made for the construction of 
the new school. The school, as it was planned, would serve both as a 
school and a community center and would consist of classrooms and a 
series of single family dwellings where teachers and their families could 
reside while in attendance. Plots of land were to be made available for 
cultivation by both the family units and collectively by the students. The 
emphasis on the family was a result of conversations at the workshop 
which concluded that rural educational programs must satisfy the needs 
59 
of the family unit. 
To avoid costly delay while the facility at Santa María Cauque was 
being constructed, the Inter-American Educational Foundation and the 
329 
Guatemalan government decided to begin operation of this first Regional 
60 
Rural Normal School at the finca MLa Alameda11 in June of 1946. 
The student body of the new school consisted of thirty-five of the 
Guatemalan teachers who had attended the workshop. All were given 
scholarships to begin their two-year course which provided, in addition 
to educational costs, board and living quarters for their immediate fa 
milies and a monthly stipend generally equal to the salaries they had 
earned as active teachers. All agreed to accept an appointment as a 
rural school teacher upon the completion of their training. While the 
student of each family unit at HLa Alamedarr was attending classes, his 
or her children would receive training in a demonstration school set up 
by the workshop and the spouse would likewise receive instruction. Com 
munity activities were planned for the students and their families and 
residents in the immediate area. The school faculty was to be comprised 
of members of the United States field staff working in conjunction with 
61 
Guatemalan educators and technicians. 
llLa Alameda, 11 approximately two kilometers from the town of Chi-
maltenango, provided in many respects an ideal setting for the opera 
tion of a rural teacher training school. Rural in its physical location 
as well as its cultural surroundings, llLa Alameda" allowed the students 
and their families to be completely immersed for two years in what 
represented rural Guatemala in as many characteristics as possible. 
Although products themselves of the Cakchiquel area, the students and 
330 
their families were in a situation where their lessons could not only be 
mastered on familiar grounds but put to immediate practice in a known 
environment. ^2, 
The concept of the Regional Rural Normal School was, indeed, a de 
parture for Guatemalan education. It represented a new institution whose 
goals were quite specific, that of creating rural school teachers who would 
be morally, intellectually, and professionally capable of entering a rural 
community and functioning effectively as both a teacher and a member of 
the community. 
A wide variety of subjects were taught with the emphasis being upon 
practicality and the direct application of principles. In agriculture nu 
merous topics were presented, some of these being livestock care, ele 
ments of genetics, plant and animal diseases, crop yields as determined 
by climatic conditions, horticulture, soil conservation, irrigation, and 
the preparation of insecticides and fungicides. Classroom instruction 
was frequently supplemented by experiments in the school garden or in 
animal raising projects. Agricultural clubs were organized among the 
students and their families for the practical application of the principles 
63 
and techniques they had learned. 
The health course offered at 11 La Ala me daTt was extensive in the 
range of topics presented and intensive with respect to the principles 
it hoped to impart. The program stressed the formation and practice 
of health habits which would assist in eliminating the wide variety of 
331 
water and soil borne diseases commonly found in rural Guatemala. Sani 
tation practices were particularly emphasized. Wives of students were 
given training in proper nutrition and effective means of utilizing the ma 
terials in their environment for effective and healthy homemaking. Also 
stressed was personal health care, prenatal care, mental hygiene, and 
introductory courses in several of the biological sciences, including 
64 
zoology, botany, and plant genetics. 
In addition to their training in health and agriculture, the students 
received intensive training in the basic elementary school curriculum as 
developed by the workshop and in teaching methods. The future teachers 
were urged to employ various visual aids and teaching aids for use in 
reading and arithmetic lessons and were given the opportunity to employ 
what they had learned in the demonstration school and in local schools 
in the area. In all of their training at the Regional Rural Normal School 
under the supervision of William J. Griffith the foremost goal was to 
return the students to their home communities as teachers able to create 
schools capable of giving to their students the tools and the knowledge 
necessary to deal effectively with the problems and demands facing them. 
The first year of the Regional Rural Normal School was successfully com 
pleted with most of the original contingent proceeding onward to the second 
year. They were joined by a new first-year class in 1947, the enrollment 
65 
being full at this point for the first time. 
On February 22, 1948 some thirty-five students were graduated from 
332 
their two-year program at the Regional Rural Normal School. Filled 
with expectations of success in their new careers, many returned to ac 
tive teaching positions in the Cakchiquel region only to find that in many 
instances their monthly salaries were either the same as what they were 
when they began their studies at nLa Alameda" or they were less. This, 
however, was corrected on May 19, 1948 when Ricardo Paganini, the 
Minister of Public Education, arranged for an increase of ten quetzales 
66 
a month for those who had graduated from ltLa Alameda". 
The Regional Rural Normal School had been organized with the dis 
tinct purpose of taking untitled school teachers presently in service and 
training them to meet adequately the challenge of rural education. By 
this means it was felt that a viable rural educational system operated by 
properly prepared personnel could become an object of pride rather 
than something for which only excuses could be given. Although some 
of the aims and goals of this program would be forgotten in the post Aré 
valo years when urban oriented teachers would be assigned rural posts, 
the initial effort had been successful as Guatemala began to experience 
for the first time a genuine rural educational system which reflected the 
needs of rural Indian Guatemala and as well reflected what several indigen 
istas had been urging in respect to rural education. 
The initial results achieved by some of those who had been trained at 
uLa Alameda" were noteworthy. Oscar de León Palacios, who directed 
the rural school at El Tejar in Chimaltenango, completely reorganized 
333 
the school. In time it became a social focal point for the community as 
well as the local center of learning. Livestock projects conducted at 
the school attracted considerable local interest and support. Eduardo 
Prado Ponce, who directed the rural school at San Andrés Itzapa, also 
in Chimaltenango, revamped the school in this community with the em 
phasis in instructional programs on agriculture. 
Community interest and support as well as attendance of both children 
and adults increased many times over what it had been previously. Al 
though the school for Indians in Solóla, directed by Ernesto Bienvenido 
Jiménez was slow in developing, a new school building was constructed, 
a garden completed, a gymnasium organized, and an area for livestock 
completed by early 1949- Within a year nearly 180 students were in at 
tendance. This school plus those in El Tejar and San Andrés Itzapa 
were exemplary of what the Regional Rural Normal School had hoped 
to achieve, rural teachers and their schools responding to the needs 
and interests of their communities and gaining the direct support of the 
68 
residents in the community. In terms of what Antonio Goubaud Car 
rera and other indigenistas had been saying with respect to the needs of 
rural Indian Guatemala in education, these new rural schools were es 
tablished and appeared to be operating in a context that reflected the in 
digenista^ view of an educational system at the rural level that would 
teach relevant subjects and involve the entire Indian community. 
The new rural schools were not the only institutions implemented 
334 
by the Arévalo regime to combat rural ignorance in Guatemala. Intro 
duced into Guatemala in 1948 was the concept of rural school nuclei or 
los núcleos escolares campesinos. This format had been employed in 
Bolivia with noticeable success by the Inter-American Cooperative Edu 
cational Foundation. When Ernest E. Maes, who was instrumental in 
developing the system, was named director of the Inter-American Co 
operative Educational Service in Guatemala, he soon undertook measures 
69 
to bring this concept into Guatemalan education. 7 
The system of rural school nuclei consisted, as the name implied, of 
nuclear schools around which several other schools would be developed. 
The nuclear school was to be responsible for developing, directing, and 
coordinating the educational programs in the outlying institutions. Each 
nuclear school was to have a director whose responsibility was to over 
see the entire system with the central or nuclear school to serve as a 
model for the others. On February 16, 1948, by official decree, the rural 
schools of Guatemala were to be reorganized along the lines of the nuclear 
school concept. With this legislation a rural school was defined broadly 
as any school in a locality whose inhabitants made a living from cultivating 
the land. The subjects to be emphasized in the núcleos escolares campe 
sinos were civics, agriculture, per so nal hygiene, sanitation, and topics 
geared particularly to local needs, whatever these might be. Twenty such 
school systems were scheduled to begin operation and were to be the ulti-
70 
mate responsibility of the Minister of Public Education. The depart-
335 
ments in which these institutions were to be established were San Mar 
cos, Quezaltenango, Huehuetenango, Totonicapán, El Quiche, Solóla, 
Chimaltenango, Sacatepéquez, Guatemala, Jalapa, Baja Verapaz, El 
Progreso, Santa Rosa, and Jutiapa. All were to have systems in opera 
tion by 1949. Although the goal of twenty such systems was not met, 
this concept was effectively introduced in the Indian departments of To-
tonicapán and Chimaltenango. 
The objectives of this new system of rural education were several 
and generally reflected many of the aspirations of the 1944 revolution. 
The basic goal was the improvement and the presentation of Guatemala's 
national culture in a progressive manner in every pueblo and aldea of 
the republic. Adult education was to be given equality in importance 
with primary education for children. Practicality was to be the funda 
mental guideline in setting up curricula for the schools. This repre 
sented a radical departure from the previously theoretical orientation 
in education. The school was to become a functional unit in every res 
pect possible. It was to be an institution dedicated to solving the prob-
72 
lems facing those living in a rural community. To be given particular 
attention would be information on personal health, means of combating 
insects and disease prevention, improving the diet, and making better 
use of the agricultural products available. Both adults and children were 
to be cognizant of modern agricultural techniques, including the use of 
fertilizers, crop rotation, the use of new seeds, conservation, and ir -
336 
rigation. The campesinos were to be encouraged to improve their hous 
ing, develop social groups, expand native crafts and develop talents along 
those lines, and work together in arriving at solutions to the economic 
problems confronting them. The basic arevalista orientation toward co 
operative effort was to be encouraged in the schools as a means toward 
73 
eventual modernization and integration. 
The establishment of núcleos escolares campesinos was generally 
received favorably by most Guatemalans. There were exceptions, how 
ever. For the untitled rural teacher to whom any official body represen 
ted the possibility of exploitation, the new system was looked upon with 
suspicion and mistrust. Few indeed had been the efforts in the past to 
supervise rural schools. Rural teachers had been left largely to their 
own devises. The new system meant change and supervision, both of 
which, as they were viewed, could threaten the already precarious se 
curity of the rural teacher. This approach did not include any special 
ized training for the teachers in a given department either through the 
Regional Rural Normal School, the Instituto Indigenista, or another gov 
ernment organization or institution. 
In some Guatemalan communities the schools were seen with discon 
tent and alarm. In Sanar ate, El Progreso, two teachers intent upon 
bringing about rapid social change were physically threatened by the 
local populace and had to be removed from their posts. A similar situa 
tion occurred in San Lorenzo, Huehuetenango, forcing the temporary 
337 
74 closing of the school. Although the núcleos escolares campesinos were 
suspected in some cases of being communistic or for being some myster 
ious clandestine organization whose intent was to disrupt the nature of 
things, they were generally well received throughout the fourteen depart 
ments and 385 communities where they were active. Some of the first 
núcleos escolares were given enthusiastic support by local residents, in 
cluding those in Santa Cruz Balanya and San Andres Itzapa in Chimalten 
ango, and the aldeas of Chajbal, Piedra Parada and Ciénega Grande in 
the municipios of San Andrés Xecul, Santa Catarina Pinula and San José 
* 75 
Pinula respectively, all in the department of Totonicapán. 
The entire system of the nuclear schools was beset with difficulties 
from the day it was founded. It was often misunderstood by local author 
ities who failed to give it their support, often feeling that it represented 
a threat to local authority. Occasionally the spirit of cooperation that 
was evident in the program1 s initial stages was forgotten as school teach 
ers and inspectors from the Ministry of Public Education simply did not 
perform their duties. Many teachers were opposed to the idea of a reno 
vation of rural education. On numerous occasions the populace of rural 
communities were not properly informed about the new programs and 
hence were skeptical of them as were local authorities who for decades 
had interfered with the schools in their respective spheres of influence. 
The individual selected to be the director of a nuclear school system 
was faced with the supervision of a new type of school system which 
338 
would require considerable initiative and dedication on his part, facing, 
as he must, the probable opposition of various sectors in the local com 
munity. In nearly all of the núcleos escolares new methods and approaches 
to teaching were to be employed and subjects never before taught in rural 
76 
schools were to be offered. ' ° Beyond this, the entire program had to be 
absorbed by people who themselves were facing a myriad of difficulties 
77 
which would in the end make school attendance a sacrifice. Yet, given 
these obstacles, the system was initially successful as an institution 
whose aim was to integrate rural Guatemala. The núcleo escolar cam 
pesino was President Arévalo's chief educational institution for rural 
Guatemala and, as such, represented the first serious attempt to bring 
real education on a wide front to the predominantly Indian areas of Gua 
temala following the earlier efforts and successes of Griffith and the 
United States field staff and the Regional Rural Normal School at nLa 
Alameda11. 
The credit for the establishment and development of rural education 
in Guatemala to a large extent belonged to the Inter-American Coopera 
tive Educational Service. Its activities in Guatemala began with an ac 
tive role in the Indian teachers conference held in Cobán in June of 1945. 
It had sponsored orientation courses for rural teachers in 1946, 1947 and 
1948 and had played an important role in the operation of the Regional 
Rural Normal School at the finca "La Alameda" in Chimaltenango. It 
had also been active in the organization of the núcleos escolares cam-
niz 
10 
339 
pesinos. The concept as well as the system of nuclear schools was given 
official recognition on June 7, 1950 by government decree number 213, 
78 
thus placing the system entirely under Guatemalan control. 
Arévalo also undertook reform in other areas of education. Recog-
ing at the outset of his presidency that ignorance represented a ser-
us hurdle to integration, Arévalo, in May of 1946, recommended the 
use of cultural missions as a means of presenting a concept of national 
culture to rural Guatemalans. The task of these cultural missions 
which were to operate as a section within the executive branch of gov 
ernment, was to portray essentially a general concept of Guatemala as 
a national cultural entity to those in rural Guatemala who had not exper 
ienced any sustained exposure to education. 
To be presented were topics dealing with the historical values of the 
nation, rights to be enjoyed by all citizens under the 1944 Constitution, 
the aims and desires of the Arévalo government, the theory and practice 
of general sanitation, child care, the construction of comfortable and 
sanitary housing, the avoidance of common factors causing diseases, 
modern methods and techniques of agriculture, presentation of the con 
cept of intensive agriculture with the use of seeds, instruction in the 
methods of making toys, imparting general notions of Guatemalan his 
tory and geography, elementary arithmetic, vaccination for smallpox, 
introductory literacy training, and general information on economic im 
provement. Each cultural mission was to be composed of a titled school 
340 
teacher, an Army official, a last-year medical student, and an agricul 
tural expert or perito agrícola, ^ Each mission was in all cases to adapt 
itself and its methods of presenting material to the needs and demands of 
the locality in which it was to operate. Representing a unique approach, 
the cultural missions were enthusiastically received throughout Guate 
mala. 
The format that was pursued by the cultural missions and also in the 
literacy campaigns and in the núcleos escolares campesinos reflected 
President Arevalo's view and that of numerous indigenistas that the edu 
cational systems in Guatemala should be practical in their general orien 
tation. They should provide the rural Guatemalan, both Indian and Ladi 
no, with the ability to recognize the difficulties confronting him and the 
basic knowledge to cope with these difficulties and eventually overcome 
80 
them. Arévalo, however, felt a new design for Guatemalan schools 
would assist in meeting these goals. The escuela tipo federación, which 
was designed by Arevalo, was to be a school building constructed to 
serve not only the fundamental aims of education, but the needs of the 
community as well. 
Five types of escuelas tipo federación were proposed, the chief fac 
tor being the size of the surrounding population which could benefit from 
its use. Each was to have facilities for recreation and an area for in 
struction in agriculture. For rural areas the escuela minima was recom 
mended which would consist of three classrooms and living quarters for 
341 
the teacher. One hundred and five of these were to be constructed. For 
cabeceras municipales an escuela en cuadrante was proposed and would 
consist of an auditorium, four large classrooms, and an administrative 
office. These would be set up for use as adult education centers as well 
81 
as for children. The towns of Palencia, Villa Nueva, Mixco, and San 
ta Elena Barillas were the first areas to receive these facilities. For 
the cabeceras departamentales either an escuela en hemiciclo consist 
ing of six classrooms or an escuela circular of eight classrooms, both 
with supportive facilities, was to be recommended. These were to be 
first constructed in Escuintla, Jalapa, Pamplona, and sections of Gua 
temala City. The largest, a rectangular school in which each classroom 
would have an adjacent patio and other facilities was the style recommen 
ded for construction in San Benito, Peten, and Barbeceva. The Escuela 
82 
de Agricultura de Barcena was modeled on this format. 
The central idea behind the escuela tipo federación was the basic auto 
nomy of the learning experience where students could reach individually, 
effectively, and pragmatically to their instructor and to the materials pre 
sented. Arévalo felt that with a physical environment that would be provi 
ded by the escuela tipo federación the learning experience for all students 
would be enriched. The lack of funds prevented this system from being 
employed throughout the republic during the tenure of the revolutionary 
83 
governments on a large scale. 
During the Arévalo years education and educational facilities were 
342 
expanded considerably. In 1944 alone the capital city witnessed the es 
tablishment of the Instituto Centroamericano, the Instituto Normal Mixto 
Rafael Aqueche, and the Instituto Normal Mixto Nocturno. By the end of 
1944 there were thirteen centers of secondary education operating in Gua 
témala City in which 1, 861 students were enrolled. By 195 4 the number 
of secondary schools had been increased to twenty-two and the total en 
rollment had increased to 7, 098, an increase of 281 per cent. Although 
the number of Indian students attending secondary school were few in 
comparison to Ladino students, some did attend the Instituto Normal 
Mixto Nocturno during this period and the number would increase consi-
84 
derably in later years. 
To a considerable degree the increase in enrollment in secondary 
schools could be attributed to the success of evening schools such as 
the Instituto Normal Mixto Nocturno in Guatemala City and several vo 
cational schools which were begun during the Arévalo period, Arévalo 
feeling that vocational education was critical for the Indian sector of 
Guatemala. Both types of schools were designed essentially to provide 
an education for those working adults who wished to attend school in the 
evenings and those who wished to receive some particular type of prac 
tical training. 
While the Institutos that had been established in several areas of the 
republic including Quezaltenango and Retalhuleu besides Guatemala City 
offered a general secondary education, the vocational schools were de-
343 
signed to prepare students for careers as accountants, cashiers, com 
mercial secretaries, mechanics, carpenters, clerks, and other voca 
tions. The first vocational schools outside of the capital were estab 
lished in Quezaltenango and Retalhuleu where the attendance of Indian 
students was much greater than in the capital. With the assistance of 
UNESCO and the Inter-American Cooperative Educational Service, the 
vocational schools enjoyed a marked success. In 1944 ten such schools 
were in operation with a total enrollment of 2, 460 students. A decade 
later the number of schools had increased by seventy per cent and the 
85 
enrollment had increased by ninety-seven per cent. 
The problems facing the nationwide development of a vocational sys 
tem were several. The wide-spread poverty characteristic of much of 
the republic, the uncertain markets, low salaries, and the difficulties 
encountered in finding employment were factors which inhibited the de 
velopment of these schools trhoughout many areas of Guatemala. 
Begun also during the Arévalo years was a system of schools called 
centros industriales consolidados which were dedicated to providing 
training largely to school children and young adults in various manual 
activities suchas sewing, cooking, gardening, and numerous other ac 
tivities. Eighteen such centers were in operation in Guatemala City in 
1949 with others located in Alta Verapaz, Baja Verapaz, Santa Cruz del 
Quiche, San Pedro Sacatepéquez, Mazatenango, Suchitepéquez, and Za-
86 
capa. Indian women were seen attending these schools in record num-
344 
bers. Enthusiastically received, the centros industriales consolidados 
received the support of a variety of indigenistas including David Vela 
and Antonio Goubaud Carrera and others who collectively viewed the 
schools as centers wherein Indian students could be trained in subject 
areas that would benefit them most immediately, and afford them the 
* opportunity to learn how to better cope with their daily problems. 
Beyond the realms of rural, secondary and vocational education, 
higher education received attention during the Arévalo years. Released 
from the repression of the ubiquistas, the University of San Carlos again 
became a center of academic pursuits and was expanded. The School of 
Social Service which opened in May of 1949 was, indeed, a departure 
from the traditional in Guatemala. The concept of social service was 
new to the Guatemalan educational experience. The new curriculum in 
cluded courses in social dynamics, social assistance, anthropology, so 
ciology, medicine, psychology, community organization, and related 
8 7 
topics. Although the effects of the new school would not be felt until 
years later when its first graduate began to take an active part in the 
economy and the society of the republic, another institution had been 
created that would be concerned with the integration and the social de 
velopment of Guatemala's Indians. The problems facing the Indian 
groups and their culture in general were from the outset a basic part 
of the curriculum of the School of Social Service. In President Arévalo's 
view, the social worker trained at the School of Social Service would 
345 
the initial archeological investigations of Kaminal Juyu. 91 
have the potential of being able to function as an agent of integration as 
well as assistance to the Guatemalan Indians. 
To encourage and coordinate scholarly activity of an anthropological 
nature as well as to promote the Indian facet of Guatemala's culture, the 
Instituto de Antropología e Historia was created on February 23, 1946 
88 
and modeled after its sister organization in Mexico City. The basic 
organization of the Instituto and the role it would play in Guatemala dur 
ing the first few years of its operation were in a large sense because of 
the influence and efforts of David Vela. His long association with indi 
genista scholars in Mexico and with the Instituto de Antropología e His 
toria in Mexico provided the impetus, scholarly and otherwise, for its 
89 
initial organization. The Instituto was charged with the administration 
and the upgrading of the nation's museums, the classification of artifacts, 
the supervision and protection of monuments and the protection of the 
90 
nation's archeological and native cultural past. 
The Instituto!s first accomplishments of considerable importance 
were the reorganization of the Museum of Archeology and Ethnology in 
Guatemala City and the creation of the Museo Colonial in Antigua. In 
cooperative efforts with the Instituto Indigenista, the Instituto de Antro 
pología e Historia played an important role in classifying ethnological 
information on Guatemala's many Indian groups including clothing, lan 
guage variations, and customs. One of their chief efforts in 1950 was 
346 
The Instituto, throughout the Arévalo period, made available to Gua 
temalan students of all ages information on various facets of the rich 
Indian heritage of the republic through its publication of its journal, 
Antropología e Historia de Guatemala, and its displays of Mayan arti 
facts. As David Vela would comment years later, the Instituto de An 
tropología e Historia during this period operated as a center where in 
digenista thought could be exchanged and where, through various activi 
ties, indigenistas could do battle with the idea that the Indian culture of 
Guatemala as manifested in the republic^ Indian population was a detri 
ment to national development. The Instituto was instrumental during 
these years in presenting the Indian culture and heritage of Guatemala 
92 
as the republic's richest common denominator of human experience. 7 
The Instituto was basically supportive of indigenismo, as it was mani 
fested by the Instituto Indigenista and throughout the Arévalo and Arbenz 
periods remained dedicated to this persuasion. 
During Juan Jose Arévalo1 s presidential term many innovations and, 
in many respects, revolutionary approaches were undertaken in the field 
of education. For the first time in decades an attempt had been made to 
create an effective system of rural education. Through the literacy cam 
paigns, the Regional Rural Normal School at rtLa Alameda11 and copies 
of it elsewhere, the escolares campesinos and numerous changes in the 
nation's educational systems including the establishment of vocational 
schools, it was hoped that at least in this sector the Indians of Guatema-
347 
la could be integrated. Certainly indigenista in their orientation, the 
arevalista educational programs had as their foremost goal the incor 
poration of the Indians as well as providing them with a general educa 
tion. 
Through these educational systems the Indians could be placed in 
contact with other groups in the republic, particularly the Ladino, and 
eventually would be able to participate in the national economy by con 
suming more and producing more. They would also be in a position to 
understand the social and political goals and alternatives of the nation 
as a whole and to participate in and enjoy the national life. Concurrent 
with this point of view was the realization that once the Indian had been 
exposed effectively to national educational programs and once he had 
favorably responded, the net result would be a breaking down of the 
traditional cultural and social barriers that for generations had kept 
him apart from the Ladino. 
Hopefully, the Indian1 s passive resistance to Ladino dominance could 
be altered to participation at all levels economically and socially. In 
this sense economic and cultural development which were the ultimate 
goals behind many of Arévalo's programs were thus linked to education 
al development. The rural educational systems initiated by the Arévalo 
regime sought to erase the past dependence upon traditional forms of 
education and unrelated curricula and attempted to make the rural 
school and other schools reflect the elements in the Indian's life style 
348 
and the factors in his environment and culture about which he was con 
cerned. A substantial effort was made also in providing properly trained 
teachers to staff these institutions. 
The new educational programs and institutions of the Arévalo regime 
were initially quite successful given the fact that so many hurdles had to 
be overcome. Unlike more homogeneous nations where education could 
be described mainly as a function of imparting a national culture, Guate 
malan educators were faced with the necessity of overcoming cultural 
barriers that had been judiciously guarded for generations. The educa 
tion to be offered to the Indians had to be renovative in nature. The con 
cept of a national culture first had to be presented, a culture in which 
all Guatemalans belonged, both Indian and Ladino. 
Beyond this, however, numerous other difficulties had to be faced. 
The Indian's fears that a new experience might in some way upset his 
precarious existence economically and in other respects were very real 
indeed and this feeling had been reinforced for generations. The areva-
lista educational programs meant acculturation and social, political, 
and economic change. Yet this alteration had to be achieved in a demo 
cratic manner and in such a way that the totality of the Guatemalan ex 
perience would not be destroyed. Ladino resistance as well as Indian 
passivity were real factors that threatened the success of the new edu 
cational programs of the Arévalo regime. That notable advances were 
made was a credit to all who were concerned. Indigenismo had taken 
349 
the form of new educational institutions which were operating to eventually-
integrate the Indians of Guatemala and as subsequent years would indicate, 
the willingness of President Arévalo and many others to try new approaches 
to the Indian problem in Guatemala would have a lasting effect. 
NOTES 
CHAPTER VII 
"''Ramón A. Salazar, Historia del desenvolvimiento intelectual de 
Guatemala, Vol. I (Guatemala: Editorial del Ministerio de Educación 
Pública, 1950), pp. 32-40. 
2 
Miguel García Granados, Episodios nacionales (Guatemala: 
Tipografía Nacional, 1926), pp. 5-8. 
3 
Ernesto Bienvenido Jiménez G. , La educación rural en Guate 
mala (Guatemala: Editorial MJosé de Pineda Ibarra, ,r 1967), "pp. 20-21. 
^Ramón A. Salazar, Hombres de la independencia, Manuel José 
Arce (Guatemala: Ministerio de Educación Publica, 1952), p. 77. 
5 
Emilio Vasquez, nNuevo significado del maestro rural,ff 
América indígena, IV (enero, 1944), p. 73. 
6 
Jesús Carranza, Algunos datos o referencias para la bibliografía 
del benemérito general Justo Rufino Barrios (Guatemala: Tipografía 
Nacional, 1930), p. 38; Casimiro D. Rubio, Barrios a través de la his 
toria (Guatemala: Tipografía Nacional, 1935), pp. 154-56. 
7 
Guatemala, Decreto Gubernativo No. 241, septiembre 6, 1879; 
Guatemala, Acuerdo Gubernativo de febrero 9, 1880; Guatemala, Acuerdo 
Gubernativo de enero 4, 1881. 
8 
Bienvenido Jiménez G. , La educación rural en Guatemala, 
pp. 58-68. 
9 
Guatemala, Decreto Gubernativo No. 2412, julio 25, 1940. 
10 , r * • 
Bienvenido Jiménez G. , La educación rural en Guatemala, 
pp. 58-68; William J. Griffith, ,rA" Re cent Attempt at Educational Co 
operation Between the United States and Guatemala, 11 Middle American 
Research Records, Vol. I, No. 12 (May 15, 1949), p. 173. 
^Gonzalo Aguirre Beltrán, írTeoría y práctica de la educación 
indígena, 11 Revista mexicana de sociología (mayo-agosto, 1954), pp. 225-
30; Statistics compiled by Ovidio Soto in his work La educación en Centro 
350 
351 
América, as well as those available in the Archives of the Instituto 
Indiginista Nacional Guatemalteca, demonstrated that during the Aré 
valo years greater numbers of people received literacy training than 
ever before. Yet, during this same period, the percentage rates of 
illiteracy seldom showed any change or even an increase. This can 
be explained by the extremely high population increase recorded during 
these years which statistically indicated little or no advance in terms 
of percentages on the problem of illiteracy in Guatemala. 
12 
Instituto Indigenista Nacional Guatemalteca, tf Discurso del 
Señor Ministro de Educación, 11 Boletín del Instituto Indigenista Nacio 
nal Guatemalteca, I (octubre-diciembre, 1945), pp. 13-14. 
13 
Norma Baldizón de Castro Conde, ,rLos problemas ecucativas 
nacionales," El maestro (septiembre, 1964), pp. 144-48; Rubén E. Reina, 
"Continuidad de la cultura indígena en una comunidad guatemalteca," 
Cuadernos del seminario de integración social guatemalteca, No. 4 
(Guatemala: Editorial "José de Pineda Ibarra," 1959), pp. 7-11. 
14 , 
Carlos González Orellana, Historia de la educación en Guate 
mala (Mexico: B. Costa-Amic, I960), p. 338. 
15 
Roberto Escobar Sanín, "Los métodos educativos y el desarrollo 
de la comunidad, " Univer sidad de Antioquia, No. 175 (octubre-diciembre, 
1969), p. 715. 
^Cesar Godoy Urrutia, Analfabetismo en América (Guatemala: 
Editorial del Ministerio de Educación Pública, 1952), p. 31. 
José Carlos María Tegui, Siete ensayos de interpretación de la 
realidad peruana (Lima: Amanta, 1959), pp. 37-38; Martin S. Stabb, 
In Quest of Destiny (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 
1967), pp. 111-18. 
18 
Godoy Urrutia, Analfabetismo en América, p. 60. 
•^Archivo del Instituto Indigenista Nacional Guatemalteca, "Infor 
me del censo de la república de 1940, " (Typewritten statistical extracts 
with narrative), pp. 3-5. 
20 
Griffith, "A Recent Attempt at Educational Cooperation Between 
the United States and Guatemala," pp. 174-75. 
21 
Manuel Chavarría Flores, Política educacional de Guatemala 
(Guatemala: Imprenta Universitaria, 1951), pp. 1, 5, 6-52. 
352 
22Ibid. , pp. 9-11. 
23 
Alberto Arreaga, "Algunas notas en la educación del indígena, 11 
Archivo del Instituto Indigenista Nacional Guatemalteca (Typewritten 
report dated marzo 1, 1951). 
24 
Archivo del Instituto Indigenista Nacional Guatemalteca, "Decreto 
20 de la Junta Revolucionaria de la República, 11 pp. 1-2. 
"Manuel Chavarría Flores, nUn problema nacional, analfabetis 
mo" (Guatemala: Manuscrito presentada al Instituto Indigenista Nacio 
nal Guatemalteca, 1951), pp. 59-61. 
26 
Ibid. , p. 62; Organizations involved in the first literacy cam 
paigns included the University of San Carlos, the Sindicato de Trabaja 
dores de la Enseñanza, the Club Leones, the Boy Scouts Guatemalte-
coa, the Corporación de Contadores, the Club Rotario, the Gran Logia 
de Guatemala, the Sociedad Teosófica, the Asociación de Muchachas 
Guias, the Asociación General de Empleados del Estado, the Instituto 
Guatemalteco-Americano, the Cámara de Comercio, the Asociación 
de Estudiantes Universitarios, the Asociación de Maestros Católicos, 
the Club Guatemala, the Instituto Indigenista Nacional, the Confedera 
ción Nacional Campesina, the Asociación General de Agricultores, and 
the Confederación General de Trabajadores, to name a few. 
27 * 
Guatemala, "Informe del comité nacional del analfabetismo11 
(enero, 1946), Archivo del Instituto Indigenista Nacional Guatemalteca, 
pp. 1-2. 
Chavarría Flores, Un problema nacional, pp. 70, 90. 
^Guatemala, "Informe del comité nacional del analfabetismo" 
(julio 8, 1947), Archivo del Instituto Indigenista Nacional Guatemalteca, 
pp. 1-3. 
30 
Guatemala, Decreto Legislativo No. 361, abril 14, 1947. 
31 
Instituto Indigenista Nacional Guatemalteca, "Actividades de la 
loteria chica pro-alfabetización, " (Report sent to Instituto Indigenista 
from Ministerio de Educación Publica, no date noted), p. 1; El Imparcial, 
junio 22, 1947. 
^Instituto Indigenista Nacional Guatemalteca, "Informe del comité 
nacional del analfabetismo, la tercera campana" (Report sent to Instituto 
Indigenista Nacional Guatemalteca at conclusion of third illiteracy cam 
paign, no date noted); Chavarría Flores, Un problema nacional, p. 90. 
353 
33 Aníbal Buitrón, "Problemas económico-sociales de la educa 
ción en América latina, l! América indígena, XX (julio, I960), p. 166. 
34 
Chaverría Flores, Un problema nacional, p. 92. 
35 
Joaquín Noval, Juan de Dios Rosales, and Alberto Arreaga, 
"Alfabetización de lenguas indígenas guatemaltecas" (enero 25, 1951), 
Archivo del Instituto Indigenista Nacional Guatemalteca, (Typewritten 
manuscript), p. 3. 
36Ibid. 
37 
Chaverria Flores, Un problema nacional, p. 92. 
38 • 
Hector Guerra Martínez, "Un concepto nuevo de la alfabetiza 
ción de adultos: Ideas generales de un problema nacional, " Archivo 
del Instituto Indigenista Nacional Guatemalteca, (Handwritten manu 
script, no date noted), pp. 1-5. 
39 
Guatemala, "Informe del departamento de alfabetización" 
(enero 8, 1949), pp. 1-2. 
^ No-val, Dios Rosales, and Arreaga, "Alfabetización de lenguas 
indígenas guatemaltecas, " p. 4. 
41 
Instituto Indigenista Nacional Guatemalteca, "Informe del Insti 
tuto Indigenista Nacional Guatemalteca" (febrero, 1951), pp. 1-4. 
42 
Guatemala, Departamento de Alfabetización, "Informe del 
departamento de alfabetización, " Archivo del Instituto Indigenista 
Nacional Guatemalteca (no date noted), p. 2. 
Ibid. 
44 
Ibid. 
^Interview, April 1, 1971, Francisco Rodriguez Rouanet of Insti 
tuto Indigenista Nacional Guatemalteca. 
^Ballizón de Castro Conde, "Los problemas educativos nacio 
nales, " pp. 147-48. 
^Guatemala, Departamento de Alfabetización, "Gastos" (no 
date noted), p. 3. 
354 
48 ^Interview, April 1, 1971, Francisco Rodríguez Rouanet, Insti 
tuto Indigenista Nacional Guatemalteca. 
49 
Instituto Indigenista Nacional Guatemalteca, "Ley de escalafón 
del magistero nacional, " noviembre 29, 1947. 
5() 
Canuto Ocana, La carta política del ciudadano Juan José Arévalo 
(Guatemala: Editorial San Antonio, 1965), p. 103. 
51 
Amy Elizabeth Jensen, Guatemala: A Historical Survey, pp. 147-
55. 
52 
Bienvenido Jiménez G. , La educación rural en Guatemala, 
pp. 89-94. 
Ibid. 
54Ibid. , pp. 90-92. 
55Ibid. , pp. 92-96. 
56 
Griffith, "A Recent Attempt at Educational Cooperation Between 
the United States and Guatemala, "p. 180. 
57 r 
Bienvenido Jiménez G. , La educación rural en Guatemala, 
pp. 98-99. 
5 8 
Griffith, "A Recent Attempt at Educational Cooperation Between 
the United States and Guatemala, " p. 181. 
59 
Archivo del Instituto Indigenista Nacional Guatemalteca, "Inves 
tigaciones del campo: la región cakchiquel, " enero, 1947, (Typewritten 
report), pp. 1-2. 
60 
Bienvenido Jiménez G. , La educación rural en Guatemala, 
p. 98. 
6lGriffith, "A Recent Attempt at Educational Cooperation Between 
the United States and Guatemala," p. 186. 
62Archivo del Instituto Indigenista Nacional Guatemalteca, "Inves 
tigaciones del campo: Chimaltenango, " p. 19 (no date). 
63Interview, March 3, 1971, Carlos Leonardo Loyo, Instituto 
Indigenista Nacional Guatemalteca. 
355 
64 Griffith, "A Recent Attempt at Educational Cooperation Between 
the United States and Guatemala," pp. 118-22. 
65 
Bienvenido Jiménez G. , La educación rural en Guatemala, 
pp. 133-36. 
66Ibid. , p. 122. 
67 
Guatemala, Acuerdo Gubernativo No. 185, julio 27, 1945. 
68 
Bienvenido Jiménez G. , La educación rural en Guatemala, 
pp. 133-36. 
69 
Archivo del Instituto Indigenista Nacional Guatemalteca, "In 
forme oficial del departamento de educación publica: las núcleos es 
colares campesinos, n febrero 21, 1948. 
70 
Guatemala, Acuerdo del Presidente de la República, febrero 
16, 1948, Diario de Centro América, marzo 5, 1949. 
71 
Bienvenido Jiménez G. , La educación rural en Guatemala, 
pp. 148-49. 
72 
Guatemala, Acuerdo del Presidente de la República, febrero 16, 
1948, Diario de Centro América, marzo 5, 1949. 
73 
Guatemala, Acuerdo Gubernativo No. 233, noviembre 14, 1946. 
74 
Bienvenido Jiménez G. , La educación rural en Guatemala, 
pp. 163-68. 
75 
González Orellana, Historia de la educación en Guatemala, 
p. 360. 
76 
Interview, April 1, 1971, Francisco Rodríguez Rouanet, Insti 
tuto Indigenista Nacional Guatemalteca. 
77 
Instituto Indigenista Nacional Guatemalteca, "Informe a depar 
tamento de educación publica: Esbozo de los principales problemas que 
presenta el desarrollo económico-social de Guatemala, " febrero, 1950. 
78 
Guatemala, Decreto Gubernativo No. 213, junio 7, 1950. 
79 
Archivo del Instituto Indigenista Nacional Guatemalteca, "Las 
misiones culturales: método de integración y educación (no date). 
356 
80 Marie-Berthe Dion, Las ideas sociales y políticas de Arévalo 
(Santiago, Chile: Prensa Latinoamericano, 1958), pp. 10-I77"l89-91; 
Ocana, La carta política del ciudadano Juan José Arévalo, pp. 79-84. 
81 * 
Juan José Arévalo, ¿Qué significan las escuelas federación? 
(Guatemala: Tipografía Nacional, 1949), pp. 5-17. 
82 
Bienvenido Jiménez G. , La educación rural en Guatemala, 
pp. 204-30. 
83 .* 
Interview, April 1, 1971, Francisco Rodríguez Rouanet, Insti 
tuto Indigenista Nacional Guatemalteca. 
84 
González Orellana, Historia de educación en Guatemala, 
pp. 382-83, 349-50, 376. 
85Ibid. , pp. 382-83. 
86Ibid. , p. 388. 
87 • 
Archivo del Instituto Indigenista Nacional Guatemalteca, IfLa 
escuela del servicio social, " julio 7, 1949. 
88 
El Imparcial, febrero 24, 1946. 
89 r 
Interview, December 24, 1970, Francisco Rodríguez Rouanet, 
Carlos Leonardo Loyo, and Elsa Arévalo Martinez, Instituto Indigenista 
Nacional Guatemalteca. 
90 
7 Ibid. 
91 
Archivo del Instituto Indigenista Nacional Guatemalteca, "Tra 
bajos y actividades del Instituto Indigenista Nacional Guatemalteca, lf 
Boletín indigenista, XII (marzo, 1952), pp. 40-41. 
92 • 
David Vela, "Discurso al Instituto Indigenista Nacional Guate 
malteca, " diciembre 24, 1970. 
CHAPTER VIII 
OTHER ASPECTS OF INDIGENISMO 
DURING THE AREVALO YEARS 
From the cries of social reform which erupted with the successful 
outcome of the 1944 revolution in Guatemala until the departure of Juan 
Jose Arévalo from the presidency in 1951, indigenismo in Guatemala ex 
perienced a growth in content as well as achievement that would have im 
portant effects upon the republic as a whole for years to come. In this 
period indigenismo developed essentially from an attitude of protest 
against the injustice continually faced by the Indian to a complex move 
ment involving social, political, and economic programs of various types. 
Significantly, it had been given an institutional status with the creation of 
the Instituto Indigenista Nacional Guatemalteca. This institution, more 
than any other single factor, was responsible for this growth. 
Throughout the Arevalo years the Instituto Indigenista was a center 
of activity on many fronts. To complement decree number 426 which 
gave official recognition to Indian tejidos, the Instituto in 1947 continued 
and expanded its classifications of these textiles and was largely instru 
mental during this period in making the production of tejidos an industry 
of considerable importance to Indian families so engaged throughout the 
republic* For the first time in generations many Indians experienced 
the presence of an income beyond the point of a meager subsistence as 
357 
358 
prices were often guaranteed by either the government or by force of 
a cooperative encouraged by the government. Special labels applied 
to the textiles assured the prospective buyer of their authenticity and 
made it difficult for commercially made copies to appear under the 
guise of Indian tejidos. 
During this period the Instituto Indigenista, in cooperation with 
other government agencies, was able to end a religious and sociologi 
cal problem that had persisted for several generations. Decree 444 
recognized for the first time the validity before the law of Indian mar 
riages. Prior to this marriages not consummated by a priest or a 
civil judge were not legally recognized. Whether wishing to avoid the 
sometimes excessive fee demanded by a priest or a judge or whether 
wishing simply to remain apart from the Ladinos or whatever the 
reason, most Indian couples since colonial times did not legally con 
summate their marriages. Decree 444 recognized as valid a variety 
of Indian marriage ceremonies that had been performed since pre-
3 
Hispanic times. 
Throughout the Arévalo years a topic of concern to the Guatemalan 
government and particularly to the Instituto Indigenista was the general 
health of rural Guatemala. In 1947 the Instituto conducted an extensive 
analysis of dietary conditions and food consumption in eleven Indian 
communities. The results of this study which were presented to the 
United Nations indicated that rural Guatemala was in desperate need 
359 
of sanitation and medical facilities and medical personnel. On April 1, 
the Instituto founded a free medical clinic in Panajachel in cooperation 
with the Dirección General de Asistencia Social and the Ministry of 
Public Health. Also in the area of health and sanitation, the Instituto 
developed a program of practical instruction on methods of maintaining 
personal health and appropriate sanitary conditions in rural Indian com 
munities. Although this program was never developed along the exten 
sive lines recommended by the Instituto primarily because of the lack 
of funds, its findings and a good portion of its recommendations were 
incorporated into various educational programs including, eventually, 
4 
the rural school curricula. 
Responding to a variety of stimuli and painfully aware of the breadth 
of the task facing those dedicated to Indian integration, the Instituto in 
February of 1948 began a training course for those who would be going 
into rural Guatemala as members of mobile cultural missions. Those 
selected for this task, generally speaking, were rural school teachers. 
The course emphasized native languages and the sociological modes 
that would be encountered in rural Indian communities. The session 
lasted approximately six weeks with six hoars of instruction every 
other day. To assist the missionaries the Instituto prepared materials 
of various types, including four motion pictures dealing with sanitation 
and hygiene and the translation of the sound portions into several Indian 
languages. Personnel from the Instituto also revised and corrected the 
360 
Quiche version of the Rabinal Achi of Brasseur de Bourbourg for use 
by the missionaries. Intended as a preparatory and introductory course, 
5 
the training program was claimed a marked success. 
The Instituto Indigenista, as it was visualized by Goubaud Carrera 
while he was director, would devote a considerable portion of its ener 
gies to studying the Indians of rural Guatemala and their immediate 
circumstances. ^ Included as an essential part of this concept were 
the Indian languages. After several months of preparation and research 
in various rural areas, the Instituto in 1947 completed several studies 
of the Cakchiquel language. From these findings texts and a phonetic 
alphabet were prepared and used in one of the literacy campaigns con 
ducted by the government. Taken as a whole, the body of literature 
since colonial times which dealt with Indian languages in Guatemala 
was impressive in its scholarship and its range of information. 
The studies, however, were contradictory to the extent that by 
1949 considerable confusion had developed over the proposed alphabets 
for the various languages. Several scholars had been active in this 
area and their findings had differed enough to result in difficulties in 
7 
such areas as the preparation of educational materials. Which were 
the alphabets to be used? Were the sound patterns proposed by the 
colonial scholars correct or did the research findings of several 
modern-day scholars hold the keys to understanding these native 
languages? In an effort to bring some sense of order to this potential 
361 
chaos, the Instituto recommended to the Ministry of Public Education 
the convening of a meeting of linguists who could discuss the topic and 
after careful deliberations arrive at a standard official alphabet for 
each Indian language. Such a meeting was convened on November 21, 
1949. The result was the preparation of alphabets for the Quiche, 
Cakchiquel, Tzutuhil, Mam, Kanjobal, Jacalteca, Aguacateca, Chuj, 
Kekchi, Pocomchi, Chorti, and Pocomam languages, all using basical 
ly the same phonetic scheme. Ultimately several of these were to be 
approved by the Arévalo government as official alphabets. The Insti 
tuto then translated into Indian languages governmental decrees relating 
to Indians, the National Anthem, the Labor Code, and numerous lessons 
8 
for use in the nation's primary and secondary schools. It must be con 
cluded that the Instituto Indigenista performed an important service in 
the development of indigenismo. Now a level of communication which 
was acceptable and understandable to both Indian and non-Indian could 
be undertaken. With this development inter-cultural communication on 
the level of a common denominator was made possible. 
During the Arévalo years, however, the Instituto did not limit its 
activities solely to the production of language studies. By March of 
1947 it had either completed or was engaged in a study of Chichi -
castenango to determine the nature and scope of rural educational 
needs there, a socio-economic study of Momostenango to prepare a 
program for the encouragement of the manufacture of tejidos in the 
362 
area and a general study of the Mam linguistic region in the republic 
including specifically the community of San Antonio Sacatepéquez in 
the Department of San Marcos. ^ 
Beginning in 1948 the Instituto Indigenista cooperated in various ca 
pacities with other agencies of the Guatemalan government concerned 
with the Indian problem, including the Department of Rural Education, 
the Ministry of Public Education, and the Ministry of Public Health, as 
well as with numerous international organizations. The Instituto's 
role in many of these associations was that of providing socio-economic 
information about rural Indian populations. Largely a result of these 
cooperative efforts, studies were completed on some twenty communi 
ties during 1948 with particular attention given to rural needs and the 
steps that would need to be taken to satisfy these needs. ^ Also during 
the year several economic studies were undertaken such as ceramics 
in Chinautla, floriculture in San Juan Sacatepéquez, and bread produc 
tion in Comalapa as possible local industries to be developed.** Other 
Indian communities studied extensively by the Instituto were Choarran-
cho, Parramos, San Antonio Aguas Calientes, and Santa Catarina Bara-
hona. 
Also during this period the Instituto took an active role in advising 
the Census Commission on means of obtaining data from rural Indians. 
Goubaud Carrera suggested a rural canvas as the best means of ac 
quiring data rather than census forms to which few Guatemalans 
363 
could respond. Goubaud Carrera and the Instituto recommended a 
special course for census takers to acquaint them with the language 
spoken in their assigned areas and to avoid adversely affecting the 
native inhabitants or cause them to be fearful of the visitors. ^ 
By the close of 1949 the Instituto, continuing in the aim to provide 
some socio-economic information on the rural Indian communities of 
the republic, concluded studies in some thirty-seven communities. ^ 
Given special attention in these studies and in others to follow were 
Indian crafts, living standards, labor conditions, farm size, and crop 
distribution. Special studies were also concluded of pottery production 
in Totonicapán, egg production in San Juan Sacatepéquez, and credit 
available to Indians in Momostenango, Solóla, and Concepción Chiqui-
14 
richapa. Over one hundred rural areas were studied to determine 
which ones would benefit most from a local literacy campaign.^ 
The investigations completed by the Instituto Indigenista during 
1949 and 1950 were the results of extensive efforts undertaken by the 
technical staff of the Institute When the Instituto first began its ac 
tivities, the only member who had any appreciable background in an 
thropology and anthropological investigatory techniques was the direc 
tor, Antonio Goubaud Carrera. Through his dedication and persistence, 
the technical staff was transformed, collectively speaking, into an ef 
fective organ of investigation. Included on the staff were two Indians, 
J. Martin Ordónes Ch. and Rosalió Saquic C , Cakchiquel and Quiche 
364 
respectively, who directed investigations in these two linguistic regions, 
Lorenzo Castañeda, expert on the Kanjobal languages and Francisco 
Rodriguez Rouanet, the director of the investigatory staff and the super 
visor of all field projects. These individuals, through their close ties 
with the various Indian groups in Guatemala and the training they re 
ceived from Goubaud Carrera, were able to produce not only detailed 
studies of rural communities, but studies generally unaffected by such 
diverse factors as mistrust, fear, suspicion, and untruth often notice 
able in studies conducted by Ladinos.*^ 
The year 1951, which would witness a change in political power, also 
was a period of change and stress for Guatemalan indigenismo with the 
death of Goubaud Carrera, the first director of the Instituto Indigenista 
Nacional Guatemalteca and one of the republic's most profound and cori-
17 
sistent spokesmen of the indigenista cause. Probably no other indivi 
dual during the Arévalo years had worked as tirelessly for a solution to 
the Indian problem. Through his efforts, indigenismo was institution 
alized and the Indian problem was brought into focus as the republics 
main social and economic problem. Through his urgings and the in 
fluence of several others, including David Vela, the integration of the 
Indian became a focal point for arevalismo and for President Arévalo. 
Directing the Instituto until December of 1949 when he became the Gua 
temalan ambassador to the United States, he was the most vocal exposi 
tor and popularizer of indigenismo in Guatemala as well as abroad. An 
365 
example of efficiency and dedication to the indigenista cause, his death 
in March of 1951 was an unexpected blow to the progress and develop-
18 
ment of the indigenista persuasion. 
Although Goubaud Carrera's death was soberly received by the 
staff of the Instituto, his plans for future studies were completed. 
Based upon a series of field investigations conducted in San Pedro 
Soloma, Aguacatán, Zunil, San Gabriel, San Andrés Villa Seca, Agua 
Blanca, Alopa, Livingston, San Benito, and San Luís Jilotepeque, a 
comprehensive report on rural credit was submitted in 1951 to various 
19 
sectors of the Guatemalan government. The report concluded that 
rural credit could constitute an important step toward achieving the 
economic integration of the Indian agriculturalist in Guatemala. 
During this period the Archives and Library of the Instituto were 
reorganized with the assistance and direction of Richard Adams, a 
noted anthropologist with considerable research experience in Guate 
mala. Adams also conducted a series of seminars for the small staff 
of the Instituto on means of gathering information, the techniques that 
could be employed in anthropological field investigations, the evalua 
tion and interpretation of data, the use of informants and other perti 
nent topics. A result of this effort by Adams was a refinement in the 
20 
approach utilized by the technical staff in its field work. 
During this period the Instituto also cooperated with various agencies 
of the Guatemalan government in studying means of soil conservation in 
367 
of maintaining a work force and those who advocated stiffer punishments 
for offenses committed by Indians. Other contentions expressed by this 
declaration which spoke indirectly of some of the ills of Guatemalan 
society were: equal pay for equal work, the right of all citizens to 
receive social security, the right to join unions for the protection of 
their interests, the right to a fair and just wage, the right to leisure, 
the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well being 
of himself and his family, and the right to gain an education. ^ 
Elucidating directly many of the denials that had affected the Indians 
of Guatemala for decades, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 
indirectly brought international attention to the Indian problem by ex 
pressing the facets of the problem and urging that barriers to the funda 
mental rights of all human beings be discarded. Viewing the declara 
tion as an important statement which reflected many of their goals, the 
Instituto Indigenista and the Guatemalan government published the 
declaration in several Indian languages and undertook what amounted 
to a publicity campaign to make known this document throughout the 
republic. To the extent that indigenismo advocated that Indians be 
given the same rights of citizenship as Ladinos and Whites, the Uni 
versal Declaration of Human Rights in explaining these same rights 
brought attention internationally and in the United Nations to the Indian 
23 
problem and indigenismo. 
Throughout its tenure, the Arévalo government, often with near 
368 
herculean efforts, made notable advances in the field of education with 
the development of a rural school system and extensive literacy cam 
paigns. Its dedication to the indigenista movement had been nurtured 
and expanded, dynamically speaking, by the Instituto Indigenista Nacio 
nal Guatemalteca. Its efforts, however, were not confined only to these 
sectors of commitment. In the area of labor a most notable advance was 
to be recorded during the Arévalo years. 
During the administrations of Jorge Ubico, nearly all social and 
economic organizations had been either curtailed or severely restric 
ted. Labor organizations were discouraged and eventually disallowed. 
With the 1944 revolution, however, much of this human energy which had 
been dormant for over fourteen years finally germinated and blossomed 
into a level of activity that the republic had not witnessed in any previous 
era. The 1945 Constitution which defined labor as both an individual 
right and a social obligation and recognized the right of association for 
labor provided the juridic basis for this renaissance. Cooperativism 
as a fundamental belief of arevalismo and a prescription of many indi 
genistas was being encouraged in both public and private circles as a 
valid and promising approach to the solution of economic problems. 
24 
Labor followed in this wave of cooperativism. On December 15, 
1944, the Confederación de Trabajadores de Guatemala, (CTG), was 
founded with Gumercindo Tejada as its secretary-general. By 1945 
the Confederación de Trabajadores de America Latina, CTAL, had 
369 
representatives operating in Guatemala and the Federación Sindical de 
Guatemala, FSG, had been organized as well as numerous local unions 
and associations. One of the first labor associations to be formed was 
the Sindicato de Empresa de Trabajadores de la Compañía Agrícola de 
Guatemala, SET-CAG, comprised of employees working on the United 
7 S 
Fruit Company plantation at Tiquisate, Escuintla. With the post-
Ubico atmosphere of freedom, labor groups slowly began to form and 
organize in many sectors of economic activity and again become politi 
cally and economically active. 
Guatemala's greatest need, however, as far as labor in general was 
concerned, was a comprehensive labor code or a body of labor legisla 
tion. The advances made on behalf of labor during the 1920!s which had 
recognized the right of workers to form unions and had granted them the 
right to strike, had placed government in the position of being responsible 
for the general welfare of the worker. These rights and responsibilities 
had been promptly discarded by the Ubico regime. 
Although many of the exploitative laws and practices used against 
labor by Ubico were quickly abrogated by the revolutionary junta and 
some labor laws had been passed, there still remained a considerable 
gap in this sector of Guatemalan jurisprudence. There existed no 
legal framework wherein a worker's relations with his employer and 
any related legal implications was officially explained or denied. The 
political confusion of such a situation became evident by September of 
370 
1946 when President Arévalo was confronted with a series of strikes. 
Workers in ice cream and textile factories joined electrical workers 
in striking for higher wages. On September 27, 1946, laborers on the 
banana plantations at Tiquisate went out on strike. ^ Facing rapid in 
creases in the cost of living which was part of the post war inflationary 
spiral, and wishing to utilize their newly found freedom of collective 
expression, workers in the last months of 1946 and early in 1947 began 
to demand higher wages. On the heels of their demands was the fact 
that in Guatemala, commodity prices had increased over one hundred 
and five per cent from the levels recorded in 1936. As the workers had 
been tied to non-negotiable fixed salaries for some eight years, many 
earning what amounted to subsistence wages, their desire to exercise 
their reinstated rights was understandable. 
In the ensuing months, strikes were recorded by the railroad em 
ployees, soap factory workers in Mixco, and finca workers on the fin 
cas La Candelaria, El Pilar, and Montufar. By February of 1947, a 
sizable percentage of the Indian agricultural workers in the Department 
of Sacatepéquez, distressed by the inflationary conditions facing them, 
were loudly threatening a massive strike for higher wages and when 
applicable, lower rents. Indian workers from El Pilar explained to 
the secretary-general of the Partido Acción Revolucionario, José 
Manuel Fortuny, that they had been promised for several months a 
pay raise to fifteen centavos a day but had not received it. Their old 
371 
wage of five centavos a day, they explained, was simply not sufficient. 
In response to these worsening economic conditions and the urgings 
of President Arévalo, the Guatemalan legislature, after months of argu 
ment and debate, passed the long awaited Código de Trabajo on May 1, 
1947. Designed as a document to deal comprehensively with all ques 
tions involving labor in one form or another and related topics, the 
main thrust of the code was that of providing a juridic basis and a 
guide for relations between employers and their employees. The 
first section of the code, after defining in detail a patron and a laborer 
in the legal sense, went on to prohibit the sale of drugs and alcoholic 
beverages by commercial establishments at places of employment. In 
the communication of orders to employees, languages foreign to them 
were not to be used. All communication in work situations was to be 
conducted in either Spanish or one of the Indian tongues commonly spo-
2 8 
ken in Guatemala. These two stipulations sought to bring to an end 
two avenues or means which had been used by unscrupulous employers 
for decades in exploiting their workers 
In an effort to prevent an influx of foreign laborers, particularly 
from mestizo El Salvador, the code specified that native * Guatemalans 
were to constitute ninety per cent of every large work force and col 
lectively were to receive eighty-five per cent of the total wages paid 
to salaried employees or employees paid hourly in the course of a 
month. Any exceptions to this stipulation had to be authorized by the 
372 
Guatemalan government. Any discrimination because of race, reli 
gion, political persuasion, or economic circumstances was prohibited 
in all public agencies concerned with welfare, education, or labor. 
Particularly important in this section of the code was that a prospec-
29 
tive employee could not be denied employment because he was Indian. 
In the formulation of the Código de Trabajo, one of the goals sought 
by the legislators and many interested parties was an adequate defini 
tion of a labor contract and what it involved. The code explained that a 
labor contract had to be a mutual agreement whether between individuals 
or groups or a combination of the two. Contracts were to be spelled 
out in detail as to what types of tasks were to be performed by the em 
ployees and what wages were to be received over a given period of time. 
It affirmed that a labor contract could only be verbal when it involved 
agricultural labor, domestic service or temporary employment for a 
period not to exceed seventy days or where the wages earned would be 
less than one hundred quetzales. All other contracts were to be con 
cluded in writing and were to specify names, addresses, ages, civil 
status, nationalities, place, types of work, the work site, hours, sal 
ary, benefits, holidays, and the duration of the agreement. Any other 
information deemed pertinent by government officials was to be inclu-
30 
ded in the contract. Should a work agreement be reached between 
an employer and a laborer wherein the employee had to travel over 
fifteen kilometers to and from work daily, the cost of transportation 
373 
was to be borne by the employer. 
To facilitate labor negotiations involving large groups of people, the 
Código established a series of regulations regarding what was termed 
collective contracts, defining these as agreements between one or more 
sindicatos or unions and one or more employers. In cases where a con 
tract was to be included involving several sindicatos, the union having 
the largest representation was to become the bargaining agent for all 
the laborers. All collective pacts were to relate in detail the length of 
time of the agreement, the place, job classifications, vacations, hours, 
minimum salaries, as well as wage scales, rest periods, and any sup 
plementary information deemed pertinent to the normal operations of 
the laborers concerned. A collective contract could not be declared as 
valid unless approved by two-thirds of the work force. All contracts 
whether collective or not had to receive the approval of the Ministerio 
de Trabajo y Prevision Social and had to be made public. JA 
Under the Código de Trabajo all organizations or individuals employ 
ing ten or more employees were to be required to establish a series of 
work regulations. These were to be both general and technical in 
nature. These regulations were to provide at all times for safe work 
conditions as well as a sanitary and healthful environment. Given the 
fact that workmen's compensation had not been an important factor in 
the history of Guatemalan labor, these regulations were viewed as 
fundamental by officials of the Ministry of Labor. Besides rules in-
374 
volving safety, these regulations were to provide for rest periods, to 
explain in detail all salary schedules, provide for disciplinary dispo 
sitions and a classification of workers, and provide for a particular 
32 
time when and place where wages would be paid. 
Under the Código de Trabajo employers were obliged to function in 
a way quite new to the Guatemalan labor experience. In January of 
each year all employers were to be required to report to the Ministry 
of Labor the gross earnings of all employees, their job assignments, 
and other related information. The task of the Ministry, once this 
information had been received, was to determine that no worker was 
paid less for the same task as another and that fair treatment prevailed, 
the philosophy, briefly speaking, being equal pay for equal work. With 
the new code all work sites were to be regularly inspected by government 
officials and work schedules were to be altered with no loss in pay if the 
employee wished to attend school or participate in a literacy program. 
Overall, the patron was expected to treat his workers well, pay them a 
fair and equitable wage, and maintain an environment that would not be 
injurious to them. Always subject to government perusal, employers, 
for the first time in Guatemalan history, were to be subject to periodic 
inspections to guarantee to the workers that undue exploitation would 
not occur and that employers would remain aware of their responsibili-
33 
ties to their employees. 
The thrust of obligatory regulations and expressed responsibilities 
375 
was not entirely directed toward the employers. Employees had obli 
gations as well. They were expected to perform the tasks asked of 
them by the employer to the best of their abilities. Materials not uti 
lized by the laborers in the completion of their duties were to be re 
turned to the employer. Good behavior was to be observed at all times 
and technical secrets were to be guarded by all. Safety measures and 
work regulations were to be continually respected. Any infractions of 
these general rules and guidelines could result in disciplinary action. 
Workers would not be protected by the Ministry of Labor if they left a 
shift without just cause, appeared drugged or intoxicated while on the 
job, spread political propaganda during working hours or used illegal 
or illicit means to injure the employer or his property. ^ 
Prior to the formulation of the work code, it seemed that only an 
employer could terminate a work situation. Often laborers, particu 
larly finca workers, would be apprehended by local officials if they 
left their place of employment. With the Código de Trabajo, however, 
an entire set of regulations was established for the termination of labor 
contracts. Generally either party could suspend the contract if the 
other failed in observing or carrying out his responsibilities. If the 
employer decided to relocate, he could be held liable for indemnity 
payments to his workers if they could not relocate as well. In the 
event of a strike, the contract could be suspended if demands of the 
workers were considered to be unjust by the Ministry of Labor. 
376 
Any contract could be immediately suspended in the event that the em 
ployer failed to pay his employees or refused to observe other obliga 
tions called for in the contract. The employer could immediately ter 
minate a worker's contract with no obligations for indemnity payments 
if the employee was guilty of some immoral act or caused injury to the 
employer or any of his fellow workers. These regulations, more than 
any previous body or set of regulations or legislation, gave to the Gua 
temalan laborer a right of self-determination and control over his own 
destiny. 
To bring to an end one traditionally popular avenue of exploitation, 
the company store, the Código de Trabajo stipulated a series of regu 
lations regarding the payment of salaries and hiring policies. All 
salaries were to be paid fully in legal tender and not in kind. The only 
exception to this was to be campesinos who could receive up to thirty 
per cent of their salaries in supplies or items of necessity such as food. 
This regulation was designed to prevent workers from being paid with 
items they could not use or currencies they could not exchange. It 
was hoped that this regulation would forever end this corrosive prac 
tice which had been utilized for decades throughout rural Guatemala, 
especially in the payment of Indian colonos. 
Salaries were also to be paid directly to the worker or a member 
of his immediate family and only at the work site. Also under the 
Work Code scales were established for the garnishing of wages. Any-
377 
one earning less than thirty quetzales a month was not subject to this 
regulation except under circumstances declared fair by the Ministry 
of Labor. The worker's own tools could not be embargoed at any 
time. Designed to protect the worker from undue exploitation, this 
regulation, it was hoped, would sound the death knell for institutions 
such as debt peonage and involuntary indebtedness. A basic premise 
was the right of every Indian worker to a salary that would allow him 
to provide the necessities for his family. Every employer was to 
maintain minimum salary scales which were to be approved by the 
Ministry of Labor and any contract which failed to pay at least the 
3 6 
minimum wage for a given job was to be abrogated by the government. 
The Código de Trabajo, besides attempting to set general guide 
lines on salaries, sought to accomplish the same with vacations and 
general legislation regarding work periods. The work period was not 
to be more than eight hours per day or forty-eight hours per week. No 
laborer was to be expected to work more than sixteen hours without a 
substantial rest period or undertake any job that could be dangerous 
to his or her general health. For every six days of work each laborer 
was to be granted a day off with pay. All laborers were to be granted 
January 1, Holy Thursday and Friday, May 1, September 15, October 20, 
and December 25 as paid holidays. After one year of employment all 
workers in commercial establishments were to receive fifteen days of 
vacation. Those in industrial concerns were to receive ten days and 
378 
agricultural workers five days of vacation. The accumulation of vaca 
tion time was prohibited. With these propositions the right of the 
worker to free time without interference from his employer was guar-
antee d. 
The Código de Trabajo also attempted to protect women and child 
ren from exploitation by employers. As Indian workers had often been 
without free time because of the never ending demands of unscrupulous 
employers, particularly on fincas, women and children were to be like 
wise protected under the new code in this area and others. All tasks to 
be completed by minors or women were to be adjusted to correspond to 
their physical, intellectual and moral state of being. All workers under 
sixteen years of age and women were not to engage in activities con 
sidered to be dangerous by the Ministry of Labor. Evening work for 
women and minors was prohibited except for nurses and domestic ser 
vants and in cases so authorized by the Ministry of Labor. All estab 
lishments, whether industrial or commercial, employing minors and 
women were to be vigorously inspected by government officials. Child 
ren were not to work in the evenings or in cantinas unless their em 
ployment was deemed an economic necessity by the Inspección General 
de Trabajo or unless their activity was part of an apprenticeship pro 
gram or an educational requirement. Special compensation for preg 
nant women was established by the Código. Designed to prevent the 
exploitation of this sector of the labor force, these regulations consti-
3 79 
38 tuted a milestone in the history of Guatemalan labor legislation. 
Important to Indian women who worked in various domestic capaci 
ties as cooks, maids and baby sitters was the fact that they would also 
be protected under the code. They were to be paid in cash. Health cer 
tificates were to be regularly maintained. They were to be guaranteed 
daily eight hours of uninterrupted rest and two hours daily for personal 
care and meals. Although domestic workers would eventually be able 
to apply for complete medical coverage through the I. G. S, S. , Instituto 
Guatemalteco de Seguridad Social, the employer was liable for providing 
all medical care relating to short term illnesses and for providing medi 
cines to cure illnesses involving a recovery period of over one week. 
The Work Code also devoted some attention to sindicatos. In all 
instances they were to be democratic in their modus operandi and legal 
ly were to be considered as an individual capable of entering into agree 
ments and contracts and possessing rights. Twenty or more individuals 
were required to form a sindicato and all sindicatos were to be primarily 
concerned with the economic well-being of their members. All were to 
be approved by the Guatemalan government which was to be informed at 
all times of the group1 s membership and activities, intended or other 
wise, its general or ganization and policies, and its economic holdings, 
if any. Defining a strike by a sindicato as the peaceful suspension of 
work activities with the aim of economic improvement for the workers, 
the Código de Trabajo discouraged the use of violence in solving labor 
380 
disputes and disallowed any strike that would disrupt any public ser 
vices. 
To enforce the numerous provisions explained in the Código de Tra 
bajo and to assure that the laborers of Guatemala would be protected 
from discriminatory practices, the Inspección General de Trabajo was 
created and invested with the power to inspect periodically all work sites 
and industrial and commercial places of business and make recommenda 
tions if punitive actions or measures were deemed appropriate. All 
labor conflicts were to be reviewed by this agency and inspectors were 
empowered to render decisions that hopefully would solve the problems. 
Any labor contract requiring a specific judicial solution was to be referred 
to a Tribunal de Trabajo y Previsión Social which was to be staffed by one 
or more judges who would render the final decision in any labor disputes. 
To assist in solving collective labor disputes, a system of conciliation 
and arbitration tribunals were created whose basic aim was to maintain 
40 
harmonious conditions between labor and management. To operate 
in conjunction with the above agencies, a court of appeals, la sala de 
apelaciones de trabajo y previsión social, was established, with the 
decisions of this body to be final, whether legal or consultative in char 
acter. With this machinery the Arévalo government hoped to bring 
about some sense of order to the often confusing and uncertain area of 
labor relations. Most importantly, however, the Código provided a 
lengthy series of measures to protect the workers of Guatemala under 
381 
the auspices of law as no other previous legislation had been able to 
accomplish. 
Although the Código de Trabajo would be amended on several occa 
sions by the Guatemalan Congress before the end of the revolutionary 
decade, and although certain of its provisions may have been impracti 
cal for the extensive application to the Guatemalan experience, it repre 
sented, nevertheless, the first attempt to create a comprehensive body 
of labor legislation which would not only protect the long denied rights 
of the Guatemalan worker, but would also affirm the basic rights of the 
employers of the republic. For all Guatemalan workers, whether Indian 
or Ladino, it granted the right of self-determination and provided for 
agencies to protect this right and others. For the first time in decades, 
the Indian laborer, under the stipulations of the Código de Trabajo, was 
given a basis from which he could legally negotiate with his employer on 
issues such as wages, work conditions, safety standards and other con 
ditions that had been so completely disregarded and forgotten or never 
enforced under previous presidential administrations. The extent of 
the effect of the Código de Trabajo upon the rural Indian laborers of 
Guatemala depended upon the Arbenz regime. The precedent, however, 
had been established under the Arévalo administration. The Código de 
Trabajo had established as a matter of judicial record some of the basic 
rights of the Indian and Ladino laborers of Guatemala. 
Although the Indian might be granted judicial rights, more was 
382 
needed to alter his traditional pattern of denial. As many indigenista 
writers had argued, the Indian was in desperate need of financial and 
technical assistance whether it be channeled to him directly through the 
rapidly expanding system of cooperatives or indirectly through other 
means. Established in 1948 and beginning operations in February of 
1949, the Instituto Nacional de Fomento de la Producción, INFOP, was 
to provide assistance on a decentralized basis to agriculturalists, es 
pecially those who would agree to diversify their products or change to 
methods of intensive agriculture. To be given particular attention were 
those agriculturalists, small and large, who would undertake measures 
to increase their yield in food crops or initiate programs that would 
make available more jobs for the Guatemalan labor market. 
The administrators of INFOP were allowed a wide path of operation 
with few restrictions being placed upon them by the Congress. Included 
in the list of acceptable activities which could receive the assistance of 
INFOP were electrification projects, irrigation projects, internal colo 
nization schemes, and any program or proposal that could aid in eco 
nomic distribution. Also proposals for the construction of low income 
housing, the organization of labor colonies, and potable water projects 
were given favorable consideration. Municipalities wishing to expand 
the public services in a given area could apply for financial assistance 
from INFOP. 41 
INFOP's range of activity was, indeed, diversified during the 
383 
Arévalo years and would so continue under Jacobo Arbenz. In 1949 
INFOP devoted a good deal of effort toward encouraging the natal cot 
ton industry in Guatemala. In less than ten months it had generated 
nearly 132, 000 quetzales via loans for this industry. It had also sus 
pended the activities of the American Chicle Company and the Wrigley 
Import Company and had encouraged the formation of domestic chicle 
cooperatives. It also in 1949 began encouraging the development of a 
domestic sugar cane industry and before the close of the Arévalo period 
would be active in urging agriculturalists to convert their energies to 
the production of wheat, citronella, yuca, and medicinal plants. 
Although INFOP's operations would be expanded under the Arbenz 
regime and geared more toward the small producer, its record for its 
first two years of activity was impressive. In 1949 it had loaned nearly 
five million quetzales to Guatemalan businesses and industries including 
nearly one-half million each to agriculture and livestock raising, 1.3 
million to various industries, and over 60, 000 quetzales to low-income 
housing. These amounts would remain approximately the same during 
1950. Although INFOP during the Arévalo years benefited the Ladino 
businessmen more than the Indian, this would be altered to a degree 
during the Arbenz era. Although not of immediate benefit on any ap 
preciable level to the Indian laborer directly prior to 1951, the machin 
ery had been established, nevertheless, and such would be the result 
in later years. 
384 
To alter Guatemalan society and improve the lot of the masses, new 
institutions were needed. The issue of social security had long been a 
factor of concern in Guatemala. There was no system of workmen's 
compensation before 1944, the nation*s hospital system was inadequate 
at best, and social welfare in the institutionalized sense was unknown. 
Facing the rather frustrating fact that Guatemala was an underdeveloped 
country which did not possess the financial base for any extensive com 
mitment in this area, the Arevalo government, nevertheless, decided 
to embark upon a program of social security. In 1946 the Instituto 
Guatemalteco de Seguridad Social was created as an autonomous insti 
tution of the national government. 
The aims of the IGSS were to provide protection and assistance to 
Guatemalan workers in the areas of industrial accidents, illnesses, 
maternity, common illness, occupational illnesses, and old age. The 
Instituto aimed to provide protection to orphans, widows, and the phy 
sically handicapped. As the republic was without funds or extensive 
facilities during much of the Arévalo term, the programs of the IGSS 
by necessity had to be modest ones. By January of 1948 all workers 
were to be covered by a program of workmen1 s compensation and by 
August of 1949 they were to be given accident protection. This was to 
be funded by contributions and payments from employers engaging the 
services of five or more employees, the state and the workers them 
selves. After threats, cajolery, and publicity campaigns to encourage 
385 
employers to sign up for workmen's compensation, all of which was 
largely ineffective, a law was passed requiring employers to register 
for this program. 
In the area of workmen's compensation the IGSS by the close of the 
Arévalo period was operating in eleven of the republic's twenty-two 
departments. The Escuela Superior de Servicio Social at the Univer 
sity of San Carlos opened in May of 1949. It included a section concerned 
with the prevention of work-related diseases and accidents. Although the 
programs of the IGSS were at best cursory, given the depth of the prob 
lem in Guatemala, the IGSS, however, represented the undertaking for 
the first time in Guatemala of a nationwide commitment to the physical 
well-being of all Guatemalans where all could receive attention. The 
fundamental importance of the IGSS would become truly apparent in the 
years to follow. ^ 
During Arévalo's presidency the Instituto Indigenista had been active 
in many respects in making indigenismo a practical reality in Guatemala. 
Yet its contribution to the dynamics of the indigenista persuasion went 
beyond these limits. Thgough its relations with the Instituto Indigenista 
Inter americano and other international agencies, it was instrumental in 
redefining, solidifying, and clarifying indigenismo. Indeed, from 1945 
to 1951 indigenismo gained in stature to the point that it became both a 
social and cultural point of view of national importance and one which 
had been applied on a practical basis in many areas of the republic 
386 
through educational institutions, literacy campaigns, the development 
of local industries, and the cooperative movement. Also, the nature 
of the Indian problem, which was really a series of problems, came 
to be better understood. 
On the issue of what indigenismo should really be concerned about, 
opion was quite diverse and often contradictory. As one writer indica 
ted, legislative programs designed to remedy the misery facing the 
Indian were often not based upon any knowledge of the Indian or the 
world in which he lived. Unfortunately, legislators had thought to re 
deem the Indian by applying measures applicable only to themselves 
and their society. Guatemala prior to 1944, unlike Mexico, had not 
experienced a national revolution in which Indian rights and Indian par 
ticipation were issues. Indeed, in Mexico an aftermath of the revolu 
tion was the development of the Indian problem as a theme of national 
attention in government programs as well as in art, literature, and 
44 
folklore. An experience similar to this did not occur until 1944 in 
Guatemala. However, by 1950 it had become evident that the Indian 
problem in the republic could not be considered apart from other na-
45 
tional problems. At the least, it was an important problem if not 
the most serious one that could be found in many areas of the repub 
lic. 
Indigenismo in Guatemala during the Arévalo presidency developed 
as it did in other areas of Latin America to mean integration that 
388 
was a lack, a lack of health and sanitation, of education, of capital, 
of food, and a lack of wealth producing capacity, all closely inter-
49 
related. in his opinion, the Indian must be integrated into the na 
tional experience. Indigenismo was seen by him not as an anti-His 
panic attempt to obliterate or lessen the persistent effects of the con 
quest or to isolate the Indian from national society, but rather to inte 
grate him effectively into the national pattern of existence. The Indian 
was a definite part of the Guatemalan historical experience and was not 
to be considered inferior in any biological or physical sense. His cul 
ture was the most fundamental factor in the republic's past. ^ 
Although Juan Comas, long a publicist for the indigenista cause 
throughout Latin America, could argue that the Indian was the basis for 
future progress and advance in the Indian areas of the hemisphere, the 
CI 
question remained as to how such goals could be achieved. ^l How should 
the republics of Latin America treat the Indian problem? That the prob 
lem would not be solved in a single whirlwind effort was clearly evident 
and there were as many prescriptions as facets to the entire problem. 
An editorial in Del Liberal Progresista on February 9, 1944 suggested 
that the problem could only be eliminated by first winning the confidence 
of the Indian and then terminating the traditional avenues of exploitation. 
It recommended an educational campaign geared toward dispelling the 
52 
disdain and hostility of the Ladino toward the Indian. Others including 
Roberto MacLean Estenos and Alfonso Caso, both Mexicans, and 
389 
Epaminonda Quintana, a Guatemalan, seemed to concentrate their at 
tention upon the premise that the Indian problem was largely an econo 
mic one. 
Arévalo, however, was able to overcome many of these challenges 
and institute several fundamental changes in the republic's experience 
that, at the time, affected the nation's Indian population and would con 
tinue to do so in the years to follow. Through the 1945 Constitution and 
the Código de Trabajo, the Indian was granted legal rights he had never 
experienced before for any length of time. Through the establishment 
of a rural school system and a rigorous revamping of the nation's edu 
cational systems as well as the conduct of several nationwide literacy 
campaigns and the activities of several mobile cultural missions, the 
rural Indian was put into contact with educational experiences designed 
not only to interest him but be of ultimate benefit to him. 
The Indian problem was being given extensive consideration by an 
active and dedicated Instituto Indigenista. Localities assumed an active 
and participatory role, often for the first time, in politics as mayors of 
municipalities were selected by popular vote rather than by the national 
government and local revenues were fixed by the municipalities. In 
doing this many Indian communities began to experience political acti 
vity for the first time. In the areas of public health, low-income housing, 
child welfare, agricultural cooperatives, agricultural experimental sta 
tions which functioned, transportation and communication, programs 
390 
were undertaken which channeled assistance to the Indians and promised 
their eventual integration. The cause of indigenismo was given life 
during the Arévalo years and as subsequent events would indicate, this 
trend would continue in the second of the two revolutionary governments, 
that of Jacobo Arbenz. 
NOTES 
CHAPTER VIII 
* Guatemala, "Decreto No. 426 del Congreso de la República, 11 
September 19, 1947. 
2 •* 
David Vela, "Discurso al Instituto Indigenista Nacional Guate 
malteca, ir December 24, 1970. (Historian in attendance. ) 
3 
Guatemala, "Decreto No. 444 del Congreso de la República, 11 
Memorias del Instituto Indigenista Nacional Guatemalteca (1947), pp. 1-3. 
4Ibid. , p. 4. 
5 
Instituto Indigenista Nacional Guatemalteca, "Informe del Insti 
tuto Indigenista Nacional Guatemalteca, 1948, 11 Boletín indigenista (1949), 
p. 59-
^Interview, April 1, 1971, Francisco Rodríguez Rouanet, Instituto 
Indigenista Nacional Guatemalteca; 
7 
Ibid. 
Instituto Indigenista Nacional Guatemalteca, "Informe del Insti 
tuto Indigenista Nacional Guatemalteca, 1949,,f Boletín indigenista 
(March, 1950), p. 61. 
9 
Instituto Indigenista Nacional Guatemalteca, "Trabajos y activi 
dades del Instituto Indigenista Nacional Guatemalteca, 1947, " Informe 
al Ministro de Educación Publica (February, 1948), pp. 2-5. 
10 
These communities included the following: Santa Maria de Jesus 
(Sacatepéquez); San Raymundo (Guatemala); Santa Catarina Ixtahuacan, 
Santa Clara La Laguna, Santa María Visitación and Santa Lucía Utatlán 
(Solóla); Chimique and Chiche (El Quiche); San Miguel Chicaj (Baja Vera 
paz); Cabrican, Cajola, Huitan, Concepción Chiquirichapa, San Martin 
Sacatepéquez, Siquila, (Quezaltenango); San Mateo, Lctatan, San Sebas 
tian Coatau and San Miguel Acatan (Huehuetenango); and Palen (Escuint-
la). 
^Instituto Indigenista Nacional Guatemalteca, "Informe del Insti 
tuto Indigenista Nacional Guatemalteca, 1948, " Boletín indigenista (1949), 
p. 61. 
391 
392 
12 Antonio Goubaud Carrera, "Investigaciones del campo, " 
(unpublished report), Archivo del Instituto Indigenista Nacional Gua 
temalteca (1947). 
13 
The communities investigated for socio-economic information 
included the following: Quiche speaking region: Rabinal, Cubulco, 
Joyabaj, San Andres Sajcabaja, San Pedro Jocopilas, San Antonio Ilo-
tenango, Sacapulas, Totonicapán, Cantou, Panquix (Totonicapán), San 
Andrés Xecul, San Francisco El Alto, Santa Maria Chiquimula, Santa 
Lucía La Reforma, Almolonge, Cantel, Zanil and Olintepeque: Cakchi-
quel speaking region: Santa Maria Canque; Kekchi region: Cahabón; 
Mam region: San Francisco La Unión, Palestina, Comitancillo, San 
Cristóbal Cucho, Tejutla, Tajamulco, Bcchiquan, Concepción Tutuapa, 
Tacana, San Rafael Petzal and Todos Santos Cuchumatan; Xanjobal 
region: San Juan Lee oy, San Pedro So loma, San Rafael La Independen 
cia and Santa Cruz Barillas; Jacalteca region: Jacaltenango, Concep 
ción Huehuetenango and San Antonio Huista. 
14 
Instituto Indigenista Nacional Guatemalteca, "Informe del Insti 
tuto Indigenista Nacional Guatemalteca, 1949» " Boletín indigenista 
(marzo, 1950), p. 61. 
15 
Socio-economic studies were also completed in the following 
communities: Tectitau, San Ildefonso Iztahuacan, Colotenango, San 
Gaspar Lcchil, San Sebastián Huehuetenango, San Pablo Ostuncalco, 
San Pedro Necta, Sipacapa, Escuipulas, Palo Gordo, San Miguel Ixta-
huacan, San José Ojetenan, Sibinal and Malacatancilo. In the Quiche 
region: San Cristóbal Totonicapán, Nahuala, Cunen, San Mateo, Zacual-
pa; In the Cakchiquel region: Patzicía, San Andrés Itzapa; In the Ixil 
region: Cha jal, Nebaj and Cotzal; In the Uspanteca region: San Miguel 
Uspantau. 
l6Interview, April 1, 1970, Francisco Rodríguez Rouanet, Insti 
tuto Indigenista Nacional Guatemalteca. 
17David Vela, "Prólogo, " Antonio Goubaud Carrera (ed. ), Indi 
genismo en Guatemala, p. 15. 
18David Vela, "Discurso al Instituto Indigenista Nacional Guate 
malteca, December 24, 1970; Interview, April 1, 1970, Francisco 
Rodríguez Rouanet, Instituto Indigenista Nacional Guatemalteca. 
19Yearly and monthly family income tax was reviewed and studied 
in: San José, Chacaya, Santa Lucia Utatlan, San Pedro La Laguna 
(Solóla), San Antonio Aguas Calientes (Sacatepéquez); San Cristóbal 
Totonicapau and San Andrés Xecul (Totonicapán); Comalapa (Chimal-
393 
tenango); and Sibinal (San Marcos). During 1950 the Instituto Indigenista 
Nacional Guatemalteca, in cooperation with INFOP, completed economic 
studies in the following communities: San Andrés Xecul, San Raymundo, 
Chinautla, Santo Domingo Xenacoj, San Antonio Aguas Calientes, Palin, 
Joyabaj, Tejutla, Cahabon, Ixchiguan, Chinique, San Juan Cotzal, San 
Pedro Carcha, San Cabuleo, Santa Apolonia, San José Paquel, Chiquimu-
lilla, San Marcos La Laguna and Santa Lucía Utatlán. 
The communities studied to determine whether or not a local wool indus 
try could be developed included the following: Concepción San Andrés 
Semetabaj, Santo Tomas Chichicastenango, Lemoa, Santa Rosa Chuju-
yub, Santa Cruz del Quiche, Chimique, Chique, Zacualpa, Joyalbaj, 
San Martín Sacutepéquez, Palestina, San Mateo, San Miguel Siguila, 
Cajola, Sibilia, Huitan, Cacricau, San C ríos Sija, Nebaj, Cunen, Sa-
capulas, San Miguel Uspantan, San Francisco La Unión, Olintepeque, 
San Andrés Xecul, Santa María Chiquimula, San Francisco El Alto, San 
Antonio Ulotenango, Santa Lucía La Reforma, Cante!, Totonicapán, 
Zunil, Tecpau Guatemala and Patzan. 
20 
Instituto Indigenista Nacional Guatemalteca, "Informe del Insti 
tuto Indigenista Nacional Guatemalteca, 1950," Boletín indigenista 
(marzo, 1951), pp. 59-62; Interview, April 1, 1970, Francisco Rodrí 
guez Rouanet, Instituto Indigenista Nacional Guatemalteca. 
^Archivo del Instituto Indigenista Nacional Guatemalteca, "Tra 
bajos, actividades y estudios del Instituto Indigenista Nacional Guate 
malteca, 1949-1951" (diciembre, 1951). 
22 • • 
"Universal Declaration of Human Rights, " Boletín indigenista 
(diciembre, 1949), pp. 307-15. 
23 
Interview, April 1, 1971, Francisco Rodríguez Rouanet, Insti 
tuto Indigenista Nacional Guatemalteca. 
24 
Amy Elizabeth Jensen, Guatemala: A Historical Survey (New 
York: Exposition Press, 1955), pp. 131, 134-35, 140-41; Kalman H. 
Silvert, Un estudio de gobierno: Guatemala. 
7 S 
Brian Murphy, "The Stunted Growth of Campesino Organiza 
tions," Richard N. Adams, Crucifixion by Power (Austin: University 
of Texas Press, 1970), p. 443. 
26E1 Imparcial (septiembre 28-29, 1946). 
27 
El Imparcial (enero 2, 1947). 
394 
28 
43Carlos Gehlert Mata, "Salud y seguridad social," El reto del 
Ibid. , pp. 2-4. 
'Carlos Gehlert 
desarrollo en Guatemala (Guatemala: Editorial Financiera, 1970), ed. 
Nelson Amaro, p. 344. 
44 
Robert Redfield, "El indio en México, " Revista mexicana de 
sociología (1942), pp. 103-120. 
45 
Robert C. Jones, "El hemisferio occidental recuerda sus 
primeros colonos, " Anales de la sociedad de geografía e historia, 
XXIV (septiembre-diciembreT 1?49), pp. 302-303. 
Guatemala, Código de Trabajo y sus reformas, pp. 1-16. 
29ibid. 
3QIbid. , pp. 19-20. 
31 
Ibid. , pp. 16-26. 
32 
Interview, November 20, 1970, Carlos Leonardo Loyo, Daniel 
Aragón, Instituto Indigenista Nacional Guatemalteca. 
33 
Guatemala, Código de Trabajo y sus reformas, pp. 28-34. 
34Ibid., p. 44 
Ibid. 
36 
Ibid. 
Ibid. 
38 
Archivo del Instituto Indigenista Nacional Guatemalteca, "Notas 
del nuevo Código de Trabajo" (julio, 1947), pp. 2-4. 
39 
Interview, November 20, 1970, Carlos Leonardo Loyo, Daniel 
Aragón, Instituto Indigenista Nacional Guatemalteca. 
40 
Guatemala, Código de Trabajo y sus reformas, pp. 130-33. 
41 
Archivo del Instituto Indigenista Nacional Guatemalteca, "INFOP 
como entidad del desarrollo, M (Typewritten document with notations, no 
date), p. 3. 
42 
395 
^Julian H. Steward, "Acculturation and the Indian Problem, 11 
América indígena, III (octubre, 1943), p. 328. 
47 
Antonio Garcia, "Bases de una politic a indígena, " América 
indígena, V (abril, 1945), pp. 174-75; Laura Thompson, "Personality 
and Government, " América indígena, X (enero, 1950), pp. 7-11. 
48 
Fabian S. Ymeri, "Antropología, cultura autóctona de Guate 
mala y civilización maya, " América indígena (Reprint, Archivo del 
Instituto Indigenista Nacional Guatemalteca), p. 116. 
49 
Rolando Collado Ardon, "Salud publica e indigenismo," Paper 
presented to the IX Congreso Indigenista Interamericano. (Typewritten 
copy, Archivo del Instituto Indigenista Nacional Guatemalteca, no date). 
50 
Ana Biro de Stern, "The Reevaluation of the American Aborigine, " 
América indígena, XXIII (julio, 1958), p. 245; Adolfo de Hostos, "Valor 
de la cultura indígena, " América indígena, III (enero, 1943), pp. 49-53. 
51 
Juan Comas, "Revindicación del indio y lo indio, " America 
indígena, XI (abril, 1951), p. 129. 
52 
"El problema indígena, 11 Del Liberal Progresista, Guatemala 
City, Guatemala (febrero 9, 1944). 
CHAPTER IX 
THE RADIC ALIZ A TION AND DENOUEMENT 
OF INDIGENISMO IN GUATEMALA 
The last months of Juan José Arévalors tenure as president of Gua 
temala was a period replete with political and economic uncertainty. 
The programs and policies of the Arévalo government in the areas of 
education, labor and agriculture and those relating to other facets of 
the Indian problem promised to bring to Guatemala a new era in social 
and economic relationships which could alter considerably the tradition 
al structure of society throughout the republic. The Indian now could 
become an active participant on the national scene. Beyond this, how 
ever, increasingly unfriendly relations with the United States resulting 
in the recalling of ambassadors and a near clash of arms in 1949 over 
the hotly debated question of Belize further complicated the political 
scene in the republic. With these uncertainties, many Guatemalans 
were looking forward to the upcoming presidential elections as an ave 
nue of restoration of political stability in the republic* 
Toward the end of Arévalo's presidential term, two strong candidates 
for the presidency had emerged. Colonel Jacobo Arbenz Guzman, the 
Minister of Defense, and Colonel Francisco Javier Arana, the army 
chief of staff, were both attempting to establish bases of political and 
financial support. Both had been leaders in the revolutionary junta that 
had successfully deposed Ubico in 1944 and both had been active in domes-
396 
397 
tic politics since and were well known. As head of the junta and author 
of some of its early social legislation, Arana had a popular following 
and was being openly supported by the Guatemalan army. Having the 
reputation of being astute both as a military commander and as a 
political leader, Arana seemed most likely to succeed Arévalo. 2 
President Arévalo, however, began supporting his Minister of Defense 
when Arana withdrew his support of many of Arévalo1 s policies as 
3 
being too liberal. 
The rivalry of the two presidential candidates continued until July 18, 
1949, when Arana was killed near Lake Amatitlan. As Arbenz was being 
supported by leftists and communists and had prior knowledge of Aranals 
intention of going to Lake Amatitlan to locate an arms cache, public opin 
ion was quick to attach responsibility for this act of violence to Arbenz 
and Arévalo when subsequent investigation indicated that leftist elements 
4 
were responsible for Arana1 s death. An attempt by Arana supporters 
5 
to oust Arevalo on July 18, 1949 failed. The following day Arévalo 
closed all newspapers and radio stations and all government officials 
openly opposing him were jailed. Pro-Arana army officers were dis 
missed. These measures along with the suspension of constitutional 
guarantees, however, did not ease political tensions. By July of 1950 
a general strike ensued and in the series of riots which followed, 
several people were killed and leading members of the opposition were 
jailed. 6 Jorge García Granados and Miguel Ydígoras Fuentes, two 
398 
7 
opponents of Arbenz, went into seclusion. Arevalo had managed to 
remain in power and clear the field for Arbenz to succeed him. 
Jacobo Arbenz Guzman, born in Quezaltenango in 1913 of Swiss and 
Ladino parents, graduated from the National Polytecnic Institute during 
the Ubico era, having earned the highest academic marks in the school's 
history. Upon graduation, however, he faced few, if any, prospects for 
an active and rewarding career. Salaries for army officers were miser 
ably low and chances for rapid promotion were few. In 1939 he married 
María Cristina Villano va of a wealthy landowning family in El Salvador. ® 
Through this connection he had become wealthy himself by 1950, occa 
sionally utilizing his influence as Minister of Defense to add to his own 
financial interests. By virtue of his wealth, his leadership during the 
1944 revolution, and his tenure as Minister of Defense, he had achieved 
a position of political prominence. 
His campaign for the presidency was intense as he attempted to gain 
o 
support from all sectors of the Guatemalan electorate. The celebra 
tion in Guatemala City on October 20, 1950 to commenorate the revo 
lution was evidence of his ability as a campaigner. Over 300,000 In 
dians in their traditional clothing were brought by truck and other means 
to the capital by Arbenz supporters to participate in the proceedings. 
The celebration, however, rather than being the traditional outpouring 
of joy over the end of the Ubico period, became a cleverly engineered 
advertising presentation for the sometimes dogmatic and withdrawn can-
399 
didate. In an address before a record crowd of some 60, 000 people 
at the newly opened Olympic City Stadium, Arbenz promised that if 
elected he would diligently pursue and implement the many social, 
economic, and educational programs begun by Arévalo and would 
bring social and economic justice to the republic for all of its citizens 
In the elections which followed in November of 1950, Arbenz emerged 
easily as the victor, defeating his opponents by substantial margins.^ 
To the extent that he was able to do so given the unusual circum 
stances of his administration and the numerous.difficulties with which 
he was forced to deal, Jacobo Arbenz remained faithful to the indigenis 
ta orientation of his predecessor. Many of the educational programs 
begun by Arévalo were continued. Arbenz actively encouraged in par 
ticular Arevalo's views on the rural school. Existing rural schools were 
expanded and new ones constructed and staffed at record rates. By 1953 
adult educational facilities had been established and were in operation 
in some 286 locations throughout the republic including thirty-one in 
Quezaltenango, twenty-three in Totonicapán, forty-eight in Solóla, nine 
in El Quiche', and eleven in Huehuetenango, these dealing largely with 
Indian adults. They also operated as rural primary schools during 
daylight hours for Indian children. ^ Between 1951 and 1953, thirty-
five new rural schools were constructed and in operation, most of 
12 
these being located in predominantly Indian communities. LC* Besides 
emphasizing basic educational skills, these new schools dealt exten-
400 
sively with topics in sanitation and agriculture. The raising of live 
stock such as pigs, chickens, rabbits, and sheep, and the raising of 
food crops including corn, wheat, beans and potatoes formed the core 
13 
of the practical curricula in these new schools. This emphasis re 
flected the government's wish to expand the domestic production of 
livestock and basic foodstuffs. 
Arbenz gave particular encouragement to the Instituto Indigenista. 
During his presidency the Instituto translated into the major Indian 
languages of the republic nearly every piece of pertinent social legis 
lation relating to the Indians and their circumstances. Members of the 
technical staff of the Instituto continued in their studies of Indian lan 
guages and by 1952 produced detailed dictionaries for the Quiche, Mam, 
and Tzutuhil languages. Local speech variants were studied in a num 
ber of communities and areas including Cobán, Chisec, Languin, Car-
14 
cha, Cahabon, Chahal, Senahu, Panzos and El Estor. To comple 
ment Arbenz1 s emphasis upon rural education the Instituto Indigenista 
made available to prospective rural school teachers and local officials 
courses emphasizing oral communication in several of the Indian lan 
guages, particularly Quiche, Cakchiquel and Mam. Ethnographic in 
vestigations utilizing the community study approach of the Arévalo 
period were continued with several being completed.*^ 
The Instituto Indigenista1 s most important contributions during this 
period consisted of its efforts, together with other agencies of the Gua-
401 
temalan government, to complete numerous tasks begun during the 
Arévalo regime. The Instituto Indigenista cooperated with other 
agencies to conduct extensive surveys of the Indian village economy 
and suggested various means that could be employed in improving the 
situation economically for the Indian campesino. The surveys conclu 
ded that low interest personal loans, crop rotation, and programs of 
technical assistance would be most advantageous to the Indian agricul 
turalist. Programs encouraging agricultural diversification were put 
into operation. Working together with other government agencies the 
Instituto Indigenista was able to bring into being potable water systems 
in several dozen communities including Chamelco, Cobán and others 
in the departments of Chimaltenango, San Marcos, Alta Verapaz, Baja 
Verapaz and Huehuetenango.^ 
During the Arbenz period the government established the first 
firmly based credit system for Indian agriculturalists. Loans were 
administered through the Banco Agrícola which, as it was designed, 
was to function in a manner similar to the Mexican Agricultural Bank 
17 
established in 1915 Before initiating this credit system a study had 
been completed by the Instituto Indigenista and other agencies of the 
Guatemalan government to determine not only the obstacles such a 
program would be confronted with but how such a program could be 
effectively implemented on a nationwide basis. The report concluded 
that credit itself was virtually an unknown factor as far as the Indian 
402 
was concerned. It indicated that before any system of credit could be 
implemented successfully, the traditional passiveness of the Indian and 
his mistrust of Ladino institutions would have to be minimized. The 
Indian would have to be convinced that a loan was not simply another 
means of exploitation. 
The study recognized that the banking institutions in the republic 
would be required to alter their time-honored practice of reviewing 
closely one's collateral prior to the processing of a loan as the Indian 
was generally without sufficient collateral. Loans, therefore, would 
18 
have to be granted upon one's potential. The new credit systems, 
said Juan de Dios Rosales, must be cognizant enough of the actual 
reality of the Indian agriculturalist to be able to channel funds into 
those areas of the economy that could best and most quickly be of 
direct and immediate benefit to him,^ As Dios Rosales and others 
concluded, credit officials must consider such factors as land use, 
means of production, the use of seeds and fertilizers, means of trans 
portation of crops to market centers, and the effect of an impending 
loan on the Indian family unit. A report to President Arbenz in 1952 
concluded that an extensive credit system could be successful if the 
government expanded existing programs designed to improve the over-
20 
all rural situation. Yet the very nature of the agrarian situation it 
self made the institution of a credit system virtually impossible. 
What was the agrarian reality in Guatemala in 1950? Indigenistas 
403 
for decades had argued that the basic problem facing the Indian was 
land. Individuals such as Manuel Gamio, Miguel León Portilla, Car 
los Mariátegui and in Guatemala David Vela, Antonio Goubaud Carrera 
and others had suggested that the root of the Indian problem was the 
agrarian problem. Too much land was owned by too few. A landed 
oligarchy owned and controlled the bulk of the arable land in the repub 
lic Virtually every major sector of the republic's agricultural produc 
tion was raised on large fincas or granjas and coffee and bananas were 
2 
produced on large latifundias, generally owned by the landed oligarchy. 
During the Arbenz period the supplies of meat and dairy products were 
inadequate in volume as well as in quality as sick or diseased animals 
and the absence of modern technology reduced production potentials. 
Other crops including beans, corn and rice were not produced in quan 
tities sufficient to meet the demand. 
In addition to this situation which involved, generally speaking, a 
lack of both quantity and quality, the Indian's means of agricultural 
production was uneconomical. Because of his illiteracy and the minute 
size of his plot of land, technological innovation as it might be applied 
to this sector of the agricultural economy, was difficult if not impos 
sible. The Indian's constant cultivation of corn, his staple crop, and 
his use of poor agricultural techniques severely reduced the value of 
his land for future use. Because of this unchanging situation which had 
been unaffected by the liberal reforms of the nineteenth century or some 
404 
of the abortive attempts at modernization in the twentieth century, the 
Indian agriculturalist in Guatemala had developed a healthy mistrust 
22 
of the Ladino and remained unresponsive to overtures of assistance. 
Because of his meager economic circumstances, the Indian resorted 
to seasonal migrations from his highland milpa to the large coastal 
fincas and latifundias in order to earn enough cash to purchase what 
foodstuffs he was unable to produce himself and buy needed manufac 
tured items. This seasonal absence from his highland milpa plus 
other factors operating at this time made for an agrarian situation 
that would not be easily adaptable to technological changes or, in the 
case of the early Arbenz period, the establishment of a system of rural 
credit.23 
What was needed in Guatemala, said individuals such as Rafael 
Piedra Santa and Francisco Rubio, was a scientific and a technologi 
cally sound agrarian reform that would alter the republic's rural econ-
24 
omy and its systems of rural agriculture. Agrarian reform, however, 
was not something that could easily be accomplished by legislation. If 
accompanied by satellite programs in the areas of credit, technology 
and education, it could alter the entire economic and social structure 
of the republic. A sustained agrarian reform program could bring 
about a decrease in the vast gaps in consumption and income through-
25 
out the republic. Social integration would be encouraged. Needless 
to say, the prospect of a wide sweeping agrarian reform program which 
405 
would be designed particularly to benefit the small Indian agricultural 
ist, an aim of several Guatemalan indigenistas, was not to be enthu 
siastically embraced by the landed elite of the republic. The prospect 
of a successful agrarian reform program, however, was faced with 
what amounted to a geographical hurdle. Essentially three systems 
of agriculture had developed in Guatemala: the subsistence pattern 
practiced on the highland plateau; the semi-subsistence style utilized 
by agriculturalists in the East; and the large finca or latifundia opera-
2 6 
tion located in the coastal zones. Any intended agrarian reform pro 
gram would have to take into account each of these systems. 
In the altiplano region located to the north and east of Guatemala 
City and including sections of the Departments of Guatemala, Jalapa, 
and Chiquimula, the land holdings of any given family were often so 
small, properly described as minifundia, that the chance of an agri 
cultural surplus was only a dream. Subsistence forming was the pat 
tern generally practiced. With the exception of only a few areas where 
a particular crop was raised in sufficient quantity for sale in an adja 
cent market, most yields were consumed by the family unit concerned. 
Containing some sixty-five per cent of the agriculturally active popu 
lation of the country, the highlands had seldom received the attention 
of capitalists as the production levels were so low. Many families, 
being unable to produce enough from their own plots to survive, were 
forced to migrate to the coastal regions in hopes of finding seasonal 
employment on a large finca whereby enough cash could be saved to 
406 
purchase needed foodstuffs. 
This pattern of migration had further discouraged investment in 
the altiplano area. Corn, the major crop grown in the highlands, was 
rarely produced in quantities large enough to meet the demands for 
consumption. Deviations from this picture were infrequent indeed, 
except in a few areas where the raising of sheep provided the wool 
27 
for small textile producers. Utilizing an agricultural technology 
which was limited to the machete and the slash and burn method of 
clearing and fertilizing land, the Indian agriculturalist of the altiplano 
was tied to a system of production which was nearly an exact copy of 
that used by his pre-Hispanic ancestors and barely provided the mini 
ng 
mum necessities for survival of any given family unit. 
In the East, a region comprising the Departments of Jutiapa, Santa 
Rosa, Zacapa, El Progreso, Chiquimula, and portions of Guatemala, 
Jalapa, and Baja Verapaz, the agricultural production pattern was 
again basically subsistence farming. As in the altiplano, given family 
units seldom possessed enough land for their own needs and were 
forced to rent extra land or resort to seasonal migrations in search 
of employment. The Ladino agriculturalists in this region, however, 
were often able to raise some domestic animals which provided a 
29 
small surplus unlike most Indian farmers of the highlands. Their 
production pattern was, therefore, semi-subsistence in the sense 
that such products as eggs and milk could occasionally be sold. 
407 
Although the East was best suited for the production of grains, 
corn, and beans which could be produced on a large scale, an adjus 
ted subsistence style was still evident. A slightly greater tendency 
toward specialization could be seen as one crop would be sold so 
other foodstuffs could be purchased. Nearly two-thirds of the rice and 
beans produced in the republic came from this region. Although the 
production of pigs and cattle was scattered throughout the region, the 
area generally had little relation to the national economy except in a 
few areas of Chiquimula, Jalapa, and Santa Rosa where coffee was 
grown. Unlike the altiplano which exported virtually nothing to other 
areas of the republic, the East did export some beans, rice and corn 
to other regions. Some textiles were exported as well. Not as resis 
tant to technological change as the Indian altiplano, this Ladino domina 
ted area was considered by some officials in the Arbenz regime as an 
area which could benefit considerably from an application of modern 
Q A 
agricultural technology and programs of agrarian reform. JU 
The third major system of agriculture in Guatemala was that of 
the large finca or latifundia devoted to the raising of a single crop. 
Common to the coastal regions of the republic, this system depended 
upon the employment of a sizable labor force of colonos. In this sys 
tem the colonos were provided with small plots of land for their own 
use and were expected to work on the patron's land at specific times 
31 
during the year, particularly during planting and harvesting. L Ap-
408 
proximately ninety per cent of the export crops of the republic in 195 0 
were produced in this manner on land areas which were often immense. 
The fincas were often operated by an administrator, the owners seldom 
taking an active interest in day-to-day operations. As the fincas were 
seldom mechanized, a large labor force was necessary for the peak 
times of activity and Indian laborers who had migrated from the high 
lands were hired, especially for the harvesting of crops. Produced in 
this manner were the major crops of the republic, including coffee, 
bananas, sugar cane and oils with the bulk of the wealth gained from 
32 
the sale of these items going to the owner. With these three systems 
of agriculture, Guatemala has operated for nearly four centuries. Yet 
Jacobo Arbenz, as well as many indigenistas, felt that these traditional 
patterns should be changed. 
In the opinion of most indigenistas, if Guatemala was to integrate 
the Indians into the national framework by means of educational programs, 
then this integration, to be permanent, would have to provide for econo 
mic integration as well. An individual making no contribution through 
a combination of producer and consumer activities could not be said to 
be integrated in the complete sense of the word. He was apart from the 
national experience. For several, land tenure, as it operated as a sys 
tem in the republic in 1950, acted as a powerful restraint on the effec 
tive use of land as well as the introduction of new agricultural techniques 
33 
and means of production. The land tenure practices were seen as 
409 
holding back consumption patterns and growth into new fields of in 
vestment. Land tenure practices inhibited integration. Upon the 
various systems of land tenure rested the entire social structure. 
Indeed, thoughout rural Latin America it was often to be found that 
the role of the individual in the land tenure institution was one rigidly 
ascribed to him by his status in an estate system, in spite of hundreds 
of constitutions promulgated since the end of the colonial period which 
had been based upon principles of social equality. ^ 
The rural environment of Guatemala rested fundamentally upon the 
land tenure system. Any labor agreements which stepped outside the 
bounds of land tenure were generally exchange agreements, the right 
to use a given area of land in exchange for a particular privilege such 
as water rights. Only rarely did these agreements alter the traditional 
systems of land tenure. Indigenistas and Jacobo Arbenz knew that land 
tenure and the entire agrarian structure of Guatemala was such that 
any major effort toward economic integration of the Indian would be 
severely restricted by these structures and institutions. 
Another critical factor to be considered was the Indian's concept 
of land tenure. For centuries the Indian had lived in the closely woven 
society of the land holding agrarian village. These societies were, in 
a sense, regulated by an agricultural cycle and were given stability by 
particular patterns of land ase. In such an environment the Indian did 
not regard land as personal property in the European sense, but rather 
410 
as an entity belonging to the entire community. The right to work the 
land and to enjoy what was produced from it was often an inherited 
privilege. Land, like sunlight, was thus considered as belonging to 
every member of the community. The holder of land could often only 
benefit from it for a given period of time. Prior to the conquest agri 
cultural efforts seldom extended beyond those necessary for a given 
family to survive and to provide whatever excess might be necessary 
to pay a tribute or tax. To produce for profit was not a principle com-
35 
mon among the pre-Hispanic Indians of Guatemala. 
In Guatemala, in contrast to other areas of Latin America, the 
Indian forms of land tenure, although juxtaposed with Spanish forms, 
were not drastically altered by the conquest. Indeed, in many areas 
of the highlands the pre-Columbian forms remained virtually unchanged 
as the rugged terrain prevented frequent contact with the Spanish. The 
altiplano did not constitute an area of particular interest to the conquis 
tadores. In cases where attempts were made to construct models of 
the Castillian agricultural village, the similarities between the two 
types and the fact that the land site remained unchanged actually 
served to reinforce the pre-Columbian pattern of land use. The high 
land Indian villages often held their lands by common title throughout 
36 
the colonial period. During the nineteenth century, when serious 
efforts were undertaken under the aegis of liberalism to break up 
Indian communal lands, many were unaffected simply because there 
411 
were few inducements for Ladinos to step into the rigorous terrain of 
the altiplano to exploit such a political advantage. The Indian view of 
land tenure and the practices associated with it had thus persisted for 
generations and were nearly as evident in 1950 as they had been in the 
37 
sixteenth century. 
Since colonial times the hacienda system of agricultural production 
has continued in Guatemala. In 1950, as well as in earlier times, 
hacienda employees were provided with small plots of land to grow 
their own staples. Although Oliver La Farge and others have main 
tained that the coffee boom of the nineteenth century and the related 
migrations of the Indian laborers to the coastal regions tended to weaken 
their faith in native patterns of production as they came into contact with 
other groups, the basic thread survived. The Indian hacienda worker 
remained generally submissive even in the midst of the coffee boom of 
the lSóO's as reported by two French geologists visiting Guatemala at 
this time. The hacienda system and the basic techniques of Indian agri-
38 
cultural production survived. Although many changes and develop 
ments had affected the Indians of Guatemala, the basic pattern of the 
hacienda persisted and would have to be directly considered should any 
extensive effort at agrarian reform be undertaken. 3^ 
The prospect of a new agrarian law which would promise to alter 
the rural patterns of Guatemala was not new to the republic. Since 
independence from Spain various regimes including those of Reyna 
412 
Barrios and Lázaro Chacón had passed laws designed to control or 
regulate, in some respects, the agrarian situation. Even Jorge Ubico 
could claim that his administration had not entirely ignored the agrarian 
problem. He had only been in office for a short time when in July of 
1931 he agreed to the passage of a decree allowing for the distribution 
of ejidos to individual campesinos on a provisional basis. Those re 
ceiving the plots could sell their products on the open market. The 
recipients were obligated to keep their lands under cultivation. Those 
40 
failing in this were required to work on highway construction projects. 
All ejidos were to be administered by the Ministry of Agriculture and 
each ejido, although composed of separate farms, was to be operated 
by a junta. Those who benefited from this program, however, were 
not the Indians but rather the large landowners who purchased the crop 
yields at ridiculously low prices. For the Indian little had changed. 
Ubico's goal was to increase agricultural and livestock production. 
To accomplish this he undertook several programs. In August of 1931 
the government began giving free titles of unused land to those who would 
try to produce cereals or raise cattle. In 1934 Ubico began ceding public 
or national lands to individuals promising to develop them. In the same 
year a decree authorized the president to turn over Indian communal 
lands to municipalities for the purpose of raising grains and cereals. 
These decrees plus a series of decisions in 1935 which allowed for the 
parceling of public lands to individuals, however, did not benefit the 
413 
Indians. 
The Ladino agriculturalists and the large landholders were the 
ones who benefited most from Ubico's agrarian policies. Even the 
Ley Agraria passed in 1936 benefited only those who could demonstrate 
41 
a capability for land development without financial assistance. The 
Indian in the latter instance was effectively excluded. In 1935 a tract 
of land entitled uLas Majodas, rr owned by the Indian municipality of 
San Miguel Petapa, was divided up among the residents of the area 
and in 1942 the national finca "Montufar" which was largely populated 
by Indians was divided. In both cases army officers, government 
bureaucrats, and Ladinos favored by the Ubico government received 
42 
title to the parcels. The Indian agriculturalists were ignored. 
During the Arévalo years, although agrarian reform had not become 
the issue of political dedication that it became later, the period was, 
nevertheless, not one of utter inactivity. As early as December of 1945, 
arevalistas realized that something must be done to encourage agricul 
tural production in the republic and at the same time benefit the citizenry 
directly involved in agricultural pursuits. On December 27, 1945, the 
Dirección General de Colonización y Tierras was created with new 
powers to become operative as an official institution to be concerned 
with agrarian affairs. The organization was to review the agrarian 
situation of Guatemala and make recommendations on a number of 
topics including land areas which could be opened for colonization, 
414 
lands which could be parcelled out effectively to small agriculturalists, 
the increase of production on the national fincas, many of which had 
been expropriated from absentee German owners during the war, and 
uncultivated areas which could be parcelled. The agrarian reform pro 
gram of the Arbenz era received its start from the national fincas in 
that some of the land divisions were areas formerly owned by Germans. 
Other duties included investigation into the possibilities of imple 
menting rural electrification programs, the improvement of rural 
housing, the expansion of surface transportation and communication 
facilities that would aid in the distribution of agricultural products, the 
initiation of irrigation projects, and the study and encouragement of the 
44 ^ 
formation of collectives or agricultural cooperatives. The Dirección 
General de Colonización was to consist of an administrative body and a 
technical staff which would consider the practical prospects and poten 
tial problems of irrigation programs, potable water projects, and the 
expansion of rural production capabilities. Composed largely of en 
gineers and peritos agrónomos, the new agency was to serve in a con 
sultative capacity to those groups of individuals or communities wish 
ing to improve some aspect of their environment. During the Arévalo 
years it undertook many projects, often in cooperation with the Ministry 
45 
of Agriculture and other official organizations. 
Facing the Arévalo regime was a problem that had troubled earlier 
presidential administrations, that of finding a way to bring into active 
415 
production some of the untilled and unsettled areas of the republic. 
Colonization schemes in the past had not been successful and more 
often than not benefited foreign rather than domestic parties. The 
Arévalo government, nevertheless, decided to embark upon a coloni 
zation program. In October of 1945 a government decree authorized 
the formation of an agricultural colony at Poptun in the department of 
Peten.^ In contrast to earlier schemes, this was designed to attract 
Guatemalan farmer s only. The colony was to develop the area and 
raise crops. Various agencies of the national government were as 
signed responsibilities of providing for various services, including 
transportation, health, and sanitation facilities, labor regulations, 
defense, and technical assistance of various types. The technical 
staff of the Dirección General de Colonización y Tierras was to cooper 
ate in the organization and development of the colony with other govern 
ment agencies. 
Poptun was to be developed with adequate facilities of all these 
types, including medical facilities, proper irrigation canals, decent 
housing, and plots of land large enough to provide the families living 
on them with ample foodstuffs. To create in Poptun a healthy and pro 
ductive environment was the goal of the Arévala regime and only an 
extensive and dedicated effort could achieve this as it was located in 
one of the more remote and unsettled regions of the republic. To 
create a vibrant agricultural colony out of an untamed jungle was, in-
416 
deed, a major challenge and although progress was slow, by the end 
of the Arbenz period, Poptun was a productive colony. The failure of 
the government to develop similar projects in other areas of the re 
public was explained in part by the emergence of other developments 
demanding more immediate attention. ^7 
Prior to the announcement of the Poptún colonization initiative, the 
Arévalo government was faced with a difficult problem in the agricul 
tural sector. A sizable number of the country's agriculturalists who 
were living on and operating a given plot of land did not possess a valid 
title for the land. Ubico, as was his custom, had granted usage rights 
to individuals for several hundred tracts of land but had denied to the 
recipients of his favor valid title to the land. These individuals could 
remain only as long as the land was kept under cultivation. Asa con 
siderable number of these agreements were not adequately documented 
in any legal sense, the problem was intensified. This practice plus 
that of simply residing on a given area of land without legal title, com 
plicated considerably the question of land ownership. The Ley de Titu 
lación Supletoria, passed on March U, 1945, sought to alleviate the 
confusion of this situation. ^ 
The new law affirmed the principle that all land except that denoted 
by a separate title as properly constituted land owned by the state 
which could be given in title to those interested in placing the area 
under cultivation. Article one of the law stated that anyone who re-
417 
sided on a tract of land for not less than ten years could apply for legal 
title from the juzgado de primera instancia in the departmental capital. 
Applicants had to be Guatemalan citizens by birth and the land under 
consideration had to be more than fifteen kilometers from any of the 
national borders. Public or state officials could not solicit land titles 
in the geographical area of their jurisdiction. All inquiries had to be 
exact, giving land size, location, geographical description, and the 
complete names of the applicants. The land size, if exceeding forty-
• 49 five hectáreas would require special processing. As it was intended, 
the law was to lend some standard of legality to the entire process of 
granting and receiving land titles, something that had been ignored 
during the Ubico administration. 
Although the Ley de Titulación Supletoria might have solved a 
facet of the agricultural problem in Guatemala, the fact still remained 
that agricultural production had to be increased. President Arevalo's 
prescription for solving at least a portion of this problem was the en 
couragement of collectivation, a path later to be pursued by his suc 
cessor. Beginning in 1946 the government began assigning designated 
land areas, particularly national fincas, for use as cooperatives. Des 
tined to receive financial and technical assistance from the government, 
it was hoped that these new cooperatives would overcome the problem 
of the distribution of goods and those problems inherent in the mini-
fundía. On May 20, 1946, the national finca "La Blanca" was desig-
418 
nated as the cooperative ll20 de Octubre11 and given a charter for a 
period of twenty years. 
The goals of the new collective were several and included the 
rational exploitation of the land area, the initiation in cooperation with 
the state of profitable means of distribution, the creation of efficient 
organs for price regulation, the teaching of mechanized agricultural 
techniques, the use of fertilizers and crop rotation, the social and 
economic betterment of the families living on the cooperative, the 
development of educational programs geared toward the needs and de 
sires of those in the cooperative and the establishment of needed social 
services. The families to comprise the work force of the cooperative 
were to be those currently residing on the land and their number was 
not to exceed the maximum determined by the government as being the 
number to utilize capably the land area and in so doing maintain a decent 
standard of living. 
The collective was to be financed by a group of loans and credits 
51 
totaling ten thousand quetzales. It was to be administered by a tech 
nical council, one of the members to be named by the President and 
another who would be appointed from the Ministry of Economy and 
Labor. The council, however, would appoint an administrative official 
to operate the cooperative. Profits were to be divided between the 
workers and the state, the state to receive ten per cent, the workers 
fifty per cent with the balance to be allocated for the social and edu-
419 
cational improvement of the workers and their dependents. Signed 
into existence in 1946, the finca "20 de Octubre, " legislatively speak 
ing, became a model for dozens of subsequent cooperatives that would 
be formed during the revolutionary period. 
In another policy innovation to stimulate production, the Arévalo 
government in 1946 authorized the sale or renting of vacant municipal 
lands to individuals wishing to bring the land under cultivation. Lands 
belonging to the municipality of Fraijanes in the Department of Guate 
mala were parcelled in this manner in October of 1946 and in December 
of 1946 an ownership dispute over the finca "Estancia Grande" was set 
tled when the land was divided into parcels for use by the residents of 
r 52 
San Juan Sacatepéquez. 
In October of 1948, the government parcelled out the national finca 
"Región de Osuna, 2" to the Indians of the community of Sumpango in 
the Department of Sacatepéquez, the community henceforth to be known 
as the "comunidad agricola indigena de Sumpango. " The new finca was 
to be directed by the Ministry of Economy and Labor whose initial 
responsibility was to place all Indian families on plots of land that 
could become productive. The parcelarios were to receive technical 
53 
assistance and advice from the Ministry of Agriculture. 
With this particular division of land as well as others involving 
national fincas particularly, the recipient of a parcel of land could not 
rent his new holdings to another party. If he did or if he failed to 
420 
make effective use of it, he would lose his right of possession. Such 
action had been undertaken on several occasions with parcels of land 
on the national finca MLa Alameda" in Chimaltenango. The government 
maintained the right to institute changes in ownership whenever circum-
54 
stances merited it. Throughout the Arévalo period national fincas 
that were not being used effectively were parcelled out, this occurring 
to "El Conacaste1' and El Durazno" in May of 1949, to "Llanos de Morales" 
in El Progreso and "Las Pilas" in Jutiapa in June of 1949 and to "Chapul-
quito" and "El Naranjo" near San Martin Jilotepeque in 1950. ^ Others 
affected during 1950 were the national finca "San Isidro" which was par 
celled out to the residents of Malacatán in the Department of San Marcos, 
an area of land entitled "Jom Tzala" which went to residents of Nenton 
in Huehuetenango and other fincas which were divided among interested i
 . 56 parcelarios. 
The Arévalo government, in its efforts to encourage agricultural pro 
duction, was not always interested in granting small parcels of land to 
given family units. In April of 1949 the national finca "Cuyuta" in the 
Department of Escuintla was granted to Guillermo Balleza for the 
raising of cotton by mechanized means. The government was to re 
ceive twenty per cent of the total value of the yield. For those wishing 
to develop cotton, sugar cane, or cattle ranches and farms which would 
employ new technologies, the Arévalo government lent an interested 
57 
ear. 3 ' 
421 
Jacobo Arbenz came to the presidency having promised to conduct 
a regime dedicated to the aims and goals of the 1944 Revolution and to 
continue the reform programs begun by his predecessor. In contrast 
to the energy devoted to educational reform and changes in other areas, 
the Arévalo government had not pursued a vigorous program of agrarian 
reform. It was true that specific measures had been implemented, but 
in terms of the nation as a whole, the net effect had been nearly negli 
gible. In 1952 a small percentage of Guatemala's families owned nearly 
seventy per cent of the arable land in the republic. The latifundia was 
very much a part of the agrarian scene. To alter this situation and 
bring to Guatemala an agrarian reality that would correspond to the 
aims, goals, and persuasions of modern indigenismo and the 1944 Revo 
lution was a fundamental policy of the Arbenz regime. 
As early as 1951 Arbenz affirmed that one of the objectives of his 
administration was to convert the nation to a capitalistic basis in which 
it could produce what it consumed. He wanted to readjust the agrarian 
situation by suppressing the unproductive latifundia, abolishing the 
usury of land use rents and unfair labor practices, outlawing discrim 
inatory share-cropping practices and making as much land as possible 
truly productive. Guatemalan agriculture, he felt, should become 
59 
capitalistic rather than continue as a form of feudalism. 7 Yet, how 
was this to be achieved? The answer came, in part, on June 17, 1952. 
The Ley de reforma agraria or Decree 900 sought to bring about 
422 
land reform in Guatemala. Stated in the preface of the new law was 
that one of the fundamental objectives of the October revolution had 
been to realize a substantial change in property ownership and the forms 
traditionally utilized to exploit land, the aim being to end the economic 
backwardness of the republic and improve the lot of the agriculturalist. ^ 
The law implied a sense of dissatisfaction with the disproportionate pat 
tern of land ownership in the republic and the fact that many campesinos 
were without land that could be called their own. It assumed that the 
campesino working on his own land would be more innovative and pro 
ductive than one working on a latifundia. Decree 900 also indicated 
that the lands formerly belonging to Germans which had been expropria 
ted would be used to initiate new forms of agricultural production and 
bring about some reasonable social function to land. 
The Ley de reforma agraria was designed to bring fundamental 
change to Guatemala rather than temporary change. One of its objec 
tives as stated in article one was to liquidate feudal practices in Gua 
temalan agriculture and encourage capitalistic behavioral patterns 
which could operate as a foundation for the advent of industrialization. ^ 
Article two abolished all forms of slavery or servitude and usurous 
loans or personal service agreements between landholders and Indian 
or Ladino agricultural workers. Those renting lands were not to be 
assessed with a rent schedule that exceeded more than five per cent 
of the total value of the goods produced. The third article more sue-
423 
sinctly expressed the goals of Decree 900 as being the development of 
a capital i stic ally oriented campesino rural economy. Decree 900 also 
called for the increase in the size of lands held by campesinos, mozos 
colonos, and agricultural workers in general, the wise and productive 
use of unoccupied and untilled lands, the introduction of new agricul 
tural methods which would make use of fertilizers, seeds, and irri 
gation techniques, the rendering of technical assistance whenever and 
wherever it would be advantageous, and the development of programs 
which would make credit facilities easily available to the campesinos. ' 
Under the new law campesinos could apply for a plot of land from 
tracts that had been nationalized or expropriated and were not being 
used for a particular purpose by the state. The applicants would be 
granted either a title or usage rights by the state through the Departa 
mento Agrario Nacional. Any privately owned land area could be ex-
63 
propriated if it was determined that it was not under cultivation. 
Should this occur, the owner would receive agrarian bonds for the 
value of his land. Land areas that were not being effectively utilized 
by renters, state lands or national fincas, municipal land areas, 
tracts containing mineral or water reserves, areas needed to form 
new population centers, or lands that could be used for industrial 
purposes were all subject to possible expropriation. 
Exceptions, however, were noted. An area under two caballerías 
in size where at least two-thirds of the tract was under cultivation 
424 
were not to be expropriated, Ejidal lands, fincas operated by a co 
operative, and privately owned lands upon which the mechanized pro 
duction of coffee, cotton, citron ella, lemons, bananas, sugar cane, 
tobacco, rubber, fruits, beans, cereals, or a food crop destined for 
the domestic market was being grown were not to be parcelled. Gen 
erally speaking, the final consideration as to whether or not an area 
was to be expropriated was if it was being effectively utilized. 1£ so, 
64 
it was not to be adversely affected by the new law. Productive 
farms, forestry reserves, and lands belonging to civic organizations 
or particular domestic agricultural companies were to be excluded 
from any official action. The national forest reserves were loosely 
defined as the heavily forested areas in El Peten, Izabal, Alta Verapaz, 
El Quiche, Huehuetenango, and other areas so named by the Departa-
65 
mentó Agrario Nacional. 
The decree specifically allowed for and in a sense encouraged the 
parcelization of the national fincas. For those under cultivation the 
plots were to range in size from four to seven hectáreas. If unculti 
vated, the plots could range from one to eighteen hectáreas. ^ To 
be encouraged whenever possible was -the formation of cooperatives. 
Agricultural workers and campesinos who possessed no land whatever 
or very little could solicit up to twenty-five manzanas from a national 
finca that was not destined to become a cooperative farm. Once a 
party had received a plot of land it could not be ceded or rented to 
425 
another individual or organization. All property on a national finca 
including agricultural machinery, fertilizers, seeds, and tools was to 
become the property of the Departamento Agrario Nacional prior to 
parcelization. All who had received a plot of land from either a national 
finca or a privately owned tract were to contribute three per cent of the 
yield each year to cover the costs of expropriation and what was to be 
come the agrarian debt. ^ 
Under the Ley agraria all latifundias larger than six caballerías 
which were not productive or which were operated under a feudalistic 
agreement were subject to immediate expropriation with the land to be 
divided up among the resident mozos colonos and any interested campe-
68 
sinos in the immediate area without land. This stipulation more than 
any other in the new law constituted the greatest threat to the Guatema 
lan social structure in that if enforced rigorously, the entire rural 
social and economic strata of the republic could be altered considerably. 
The Agrarian law as it was envisioned by Arbenz was to attempt to 
achieve the goal of continued and beneficial use of all arable land in the 
republic. Any Guatemalan citizen could apply for and generally expect 
to receive a tract of land which/he could rent from the Departamento 
Agrario Nacional, but if by the second year a crop was not produced, 
the land would revert to the state. ^ In all cases, the rents were to be 
based upon the value of the crops produced and were to remain three 
per cent or less. However, as the value of the land increased, the 
426 
rent could be increased in proportion. All funds raised by the Departa 
mento Agrario Nacional were to be used in giving loans to applicants 
and in providing technical aid. The Banco Agrario Nacional was crea-
70 
ted to assist in this. 
To administer the new agrarian law, the President of the republic 
was to be the final authority on all agrarian questions. Beneath him 
would operate the National Agrarian Department, a National Agrarian 
Council, agrarian committees on the Department level, and local 
agrarian committees. The departmental agrarian committees were 
to be composed of one representative from the Departamento Agrario 
Nacional, a departmental official from the Ministerio de Gobernación, 
and one member each from the Asociación General de Agricultores, the 
Confederación General de Trabajadores, and the Confederación Nacional 
71 
Campesina. The local agrarian committees were to be operative in 
any area where there were lands that had been or could be affected by 
the law. The members could either be elected or appointed. 
While the National Agrarian Council and the departmental agrarian 
committees were to handle the details of expropriation and parceliza-
tions, the local agrarian committees were to process all solicitations, 
be responsible for the registration of all lands affected by the new law, 
and oversee the changes in ownership. The local agrarian committee 
possessed the initial authority to denounce a particular area of land 
as one which should be expropriated under the guidelines established 
427 
by the new law. Any eventual expropriation would be processed by one 
of the other agencies. Functioning as a dependency of the President, 
the Departamento Agrario Nacional was to be responsible for suggest 
ing new laws for application to the agrarian situation, for handling in-
demnizations, for granting titles to new property owners, for super 
vising rent contracts, and for organizing and directing technical as-
sistance and credit programs. 1 u Signed into law in June of 1952, Decree 
900 promised a transformation of the agrarian structure of the republic. 
With the final passage of the agrarian reform law, it was not long 
before local agrarian committees began to be formed and become opera 
tive. The chief task of these committees* whose members were more 
often than not campesinos, was to denounce all land areas that might 
be liable for expropriation under the law. Although the findings of 
these committees might frequently be-referred to higher authority, 
their decisions usually remained final. By 1953 nearly fifteen hundred 
comités agrarios were in operation. 
During 1953 the committees across the republic were quite active 
as 263 fincas were expropriated, a total land area of 76, 610 hectáreas 
73 
being divided among 16, 381 persons. The greatest number of expro 
priated fincas were located in the departments of Guatemala, Escuintla, 
74 
San Marcos, and Chimaltenango. By December of 1953 land valued 
75 
at nearly 4,423, 685 quetzales had been expropriated. By the end 
of 1953 records indicated that some 263 privately owned state fincas 
428 
has been expropriated while 23 municipally owned fincas and state fincas 
had been parcelled. Of the national fincas, 133 had been divided up and 
76 
44 had been organized into cooperatives. By April of 1954 a land area 
of some* 794,116 manzanas had been affected by the agrarian law and was 
77 
valued at over eight million dollars by the Banco Agrario Nacional. 
The Ley agraria, as viewed by the President, many of his supporters 
and indigenistas, was to make Guatemala more of a capitalistic country 
economically speaking. This, it was thought, could be achieved in part 
by making productive tracts of land that were not being effectively utilized 
by expropriating them for the benefit of those willing to work the land and 
those owning very little land or no land at all. It was felt by many indi 
genistas and arbencistas that an effective agrarian law would be an impor 
tant means of making the Indian an active participant in the national econ 
omy. As a landowner he would have a stake in the economy for the first 
time and could contribute more and benefit more from this interest and 
association. Ideally, the agrarian law would create a new middle class 
in the republic and ultimately end the dangers inherent in a bipolarized 
society of those with wealth and those without. ^ That this dream would 
not become a lasting reality represented the greatest defeat endured by 
indigenismo as it was manifested during the revolutionary decade. 
Regardless of the extent of Arbenz's dedication toward improving 
the status of the Indian agriculturalist in Guatemala by the implementa 
tion of what he and others considered to be an advanced and progressive 
429 
land reform law, the efforts of his regime were to end somewhat short 
of the goals they had envisioned. Several fundamental reasons could be 
noted for this. Economically speaking, Decree 900 did not fulfill the 
chief goal for which it was intended, that of increased agricultural pro 
duction. Between 1951 and 1954 the production levels of four of the basic 
foodstuffs in the republic fell. Corn production dropped by seventeen 
per cent, beans by ten per cent, rice by two per cent, and wheat by 
thirty per cent. Even the production level of coffee, the most important 
monetary or export crop in the republic, had decreased by thirteen per 
79 
cent. The production level of only one crop, potatoes, had been in 
creased by approximately eight per cent. The net effect of this decline 
forced the government to increase its import quotas of foodstuffs, thus 
causing the already precarious economy to become even more unstable. 
Decree 900 had failed to provide the republic with what it consumed, a 
goal President Arbenz had repeated on numerous occasions during his 
presidency. 
The Agrarian Law, in attempting to end latifundismo and the social 
structures associated with it, did not provide a better substitute. By 
placing a five manzana maximum on lands to be rented or given in title 
to individual agriculturalists, Decree 900 was, in effect, replacing the 
latifundia with the minifundia and in so doing emphasizing and increas 
ing the very problems it was attempting to eliminate, particularly sub 
sistence farming which traditionally was associated with a low level of 
430 
production. The minifundia simply could not provide the basis for a 
rural middle class capable of providing the handsome agricultural sur 
plus that the government so desperately desired. The land areas or 
parcels authorized by Decree 900 were such that any program of tech 
nical assistance would have been of minimum benefit at best. Mechani 
zation, generally speaking, was impractical if not financially impossible. 
Although financial assistance was available to the new agriculturalists 
through the Banco Agrícola Nacional, INFOP, and the Departamento de 
Agricultura, loans were often very modest given the nature and the ex-
80 
tent of the need of a given farmer. u Guatemala's status as an under 
developed nation and the fact that the country was experiencing falling 
production levels severely decreased available cash reserves. 
The Agrarian Law, in attempting to alter a centuries old social 
structure, would have faced major difficulties had everything else been 
favorable. That economic circumstances were not particularly favor 
able overall spelled eventual disappointment. In an effort to force the 
implementation of the agrarian law and circumvent probable opposition, 
Arbenz named himself as the final authority on all agrarian questions 
and disallowed the authority of the Guatemalan courts. The law stated 
81 
that appeals to a court of law were to be forbidden. A landowner 
whose holdings had been denounced could only appeal to the President 
for consideration. Disgusted and angered over the denouncing of lands 
which several affected landowners considered to be exempt from the 
431 
new law, they appealed as a group to the Guatemalan Supreme Court. 
The court issued injunctions against further expropriations on the 
legal premise that the agrarian law was unconstitutional. The court 
then ordered the lower courts to suspend any land reform proceedings 
pending the outcome of an investigation into the probable illegal sei 
zures of agricultural properties. 
In a message to Congress President Arbenz refused to recognize 
the Supreme Court's right to issue an injunction. The Guatemalan 
Congress with nearly an eighty per cent majority vote upheld the Pre 
sident and ousted those justices who had voted in favor of the injunction, 
82 
including the Chief Justice Arturo Herberger. Four justices favorable 
to arbencista policies were then appointed. Although the government had 
survived this crisis despite demonstrations in February of 1953 against 
illegal land seizures and the arbencista agrarian policies, the damage 
had been done. For the balance of his regime, President Arbenz would 
be required to face the criticism of his agrarian policies as being un 
constitutional . 
By June of 1954 records indicated that the Departamento Agrario 
Nacional had been busy indeed. In approximately an eighteen month 
period 235, 647 acres of national fincas had been distributed in the form 
of lifetime title grants to 23, 222 individuals. Some 127, 000 acres in 
state owned or municipally owned fincas had been granted to 16,515 
individuals. Nearly 48, 000 persons had received about 555, 098 acres 
432 
of land that had been privately owned before expropriation. In all, 
87,569 persons had received 917, 659 acres of land. 83 That a great 
deal of this activity was possibly illegal represented a serious criti 
cism of arbencista agrarian policies and the goal of bringing about the 
economic integration of the Indian. Yet a problem of more far reaching 
consequences faced the Arbenz regime as it attempted to radicalize the 
agrarian scene in Guatemala. 
Although the agrarian law could be questioned on legal, moral, and 
economic grounds as being something less than satisfactory for the 
situation at hand in Guatemala, at least at the beginning of its imple 
mentation it had not been a political issue. By 1953, however, it had 
become a political issue of both domestic and international proportions 
which in the final analysis was a disservice to the actual agrarian situa 
tion. The issue at stake was the presence, real or fictional, depending 
upon one's point of view at the outset of Arbenz's presidency, of Com 
munists in Guatemala and their influence in the government. At the 
beginning of his regime Arbenz did appoint some Communists to posi 
tions of some influence and he had been supported in his campaign by 
Communists, but they did not have a wide range of influence. Near the 
end of his term, however, the situation had changed. 
Probably out of the conviction that the Communists were more wil 
ling to carry out honestly some of his nationalistic aims, Arbenz began 
to tender several appointments to them. In December of 1951 Ricardo 
433 
Nackman was named Ministro de Gobernación and Mardequeo García 
Asturias as Ministro de Educación. Later Jaime Díaz Rozzotto was 
named by Arbenz as a member of the National Election Board. Diaz 
Rozzotto had earlier helped to organize the Communist Partisans for 
Peace Committee in Guatemala and in time would become Arbenz!s 
presidential secretary. In this capacity he. was able to exercise some 
influence in the executive branch of government and especially in the 
cabinet. Later he became secretary-general of the Partido Renovación 
Nacional, one of the government political parties, where he was able 
to expand his influence on a nationwide basis. In March Julio Estrada 
de la Hoz was elected president of the Guatemalan Congress and Alfon 
so Solórzano was appointed to direct the Instituto de Seguridad Social. 
84 
Most of these individuals were considered to be Communists. 
The expansion of Communism in Guatemala, however, was not to 
be seen only in presidential appointments. A stipulation in the Guate 
malan constitution disallowed the existence of a political party whose 
allegiance went beyond the national borders. This regulation, in ef 
fect, outlawed the communist party. However, President Arbenz 
chose to ignore this and allowed the Guatemalan Labor Party, the fore 
runner of the Guatemalan Communist Party, to form. The secretary-
general of this new political party was José Manuel For tuny, a self-
declared Communist. By 1952 the Partido Renovación Nacional, the 
Partido de Trabajadores de la Revolución, and the Partido Socialista 
434 
had either merged with other political parties where the evidence of 
Communist influence was strong or had their leadership heavily infil 
trated with Communists. Victor Manuel Gutiérrez, the founder of the 
Partido de Trabajadores de la Revolución, had dissolved his party and 
had joined the Partido Comunista in Guatemala. 85 Congressional elec 
tions held in January of 1953 gave leftists an unexpected victory. In 
local elections held in December of 1953 Gabriel Camay was elected 
mayor of Escuintla and Communists won at the polls in Villa Nueva, 
f 86 Santa Lucia Cotzulimaguapa, and San Miguel Petapa. 
Although a few prominent Marxists and declared Communists in 
government positions would not in themselves indicate a Communistic 
government, Arbenz's administration, as time progressed, seemed to 
be leaning more and more to Marxist persuasions. Arbenz lent official 
support to and attended the 1953 May Day Parade in Guatemala City. 
The parade turned out to be an anti-United States demonstration with 
87 
many of the trappings of a Soviet May Day Parade. Carlos Al varado 
Jerez, director of the government radio station and an admitted Com 
munist, became prominent in 1953 when he led the Guatemalan delega 
tion attending the International Peace Conference in Peiping in 1953. 
Other individuals having some influence in Arbenz's government in 
1953 were Manuel Pinto Usaga and Vicente Lombardo Toledano, both 
Marxist labor leaders in Latin America, Carmen Moran, head of the 
Committee for the Protection of Children in Guatemala, and José 
435 
88 Alberto Cardoza, a member of Congress, 
By early 1954 the open influence of Communism in Guatemala ap 
peared to be increasing. The third Congress of Campesinos meeting 
in Guatemala City on February 20, 1954 was attended by Julio Estrada 
de la Hoz. Those attending heard a greeting from the Farm Workers 
Union in Moscow and a speech by the Guatemalan Communist labor 
leader Victor Manuel Gutierrez, who related that the great Yankee 
trusts had been involved in a plot against Guatemala. The meeting was 
further punctuated by an address from Antonio Cabrere who represented 
the Confederation of Latin American Workers and the World Federation 
of Trade Unions. He explained the basic importance of agrarian reform 
and emphasized that it should be directed to benefit the Indian. At the 
same time, the first Youth Festival opened in Chimaltenango and was 
89 
supported by the Communist daily newspaper Tribune Popular. 
One area in which the influence of Communism was most evident 
was in the labor sector. By 1952 Communist labor organizations had 
penetrated many of the nation's sindicatos to the degree that many 
merged into a Confederation of Labor Unions which affiliated with the 
Latin American Confederation of Labor whose president was Vicente 
Lombardo Toledano. The anti-Communist labor groups were dealt 
a death blow when many of their leaders were sent into exile. Near 
the end of 1952 Communist labor leaders represented some 225,000 
90 
union members, 100, 000 of whom were Indian farm workers. 
436 
A direct manifestation of this spreading influence was the plethora 
of strikes and labor-management confrontations that occurred during 
the Arbenz regime. Earlier in 1951 the Communists were credited 
with instigating strikes by school teachers, farm workers, and market 
proprietors in Angigua. In August of 1951 Communist union officials 
conducted a strike on the government's most valuable coffee property, 
the 11, 000 acre "Finca La Concepción. rr The workers eventually re 
ceived higher wages. Many other strikes during the period were at 
tributed to the Communists, including strikes by customhouse workers, 
communications workers, and railway employees. Particularly costly 
for the economy as a whole was a strike by railway engineers in April 
91 
of 1951. As a result of this strike a good portion of the nation's banana 
crop was destroyed. With a Labor Code that consistently favored the 
worker over the employer in terms of its actual operation, Marxism was 
92 
provided with a fruitful environment for growth. ' 
The Departamento Nacional Agrario, unfortunately for the cause 
of indigenismo and that of agrarian reform, was heavily infiltrated 
by Communists. A good number of the local agrarian committees had 
been established by representatives from the Federation of Labor, 
communistic in its composition as well as in its ideological orienta 
tion. Eager to correct what they considered to be the ills in rural 
Guatemalan society, many of these local agrarian committees unjustly 
denounced lands for expropriation and by 1954 contributed considerably 
43 7 
to the rural unrest in the republic. This, coupled with a fast moving 
National Agrarian Committee which by 1954 had expropriated nearly 
234, 000 acres of the United Fruit Company's holdings at Tiquisate and 
nearly 174, 000 acres of its plantations on the Atlantic coast, as well 
as numerous privately owned fincas, all served to create a potentially 
93 
explosive situation. Owners received compensation for their holdings 
in agrarian bonds of doubtful value. Joining the United Fruit Company 
as those foreign companies which felt the sting of Arbenz1 s anti-imper 
ialism were the International Railways of Central America, the W. R. 
Grace Company, and the Empresa Eléctrica. 
Although the spread of Communism or its influence in Arbenz1 s 
government was apparent to many, it did not go unopposed. By late 
1952 the National Civic Committee and an organization of anti-Commu 
nist university students began agitating for a government housecleaning 
and calling for the prohibition of the Partido Comunista. By 1953 an 
anticommunist campaign was under way on both the domestic and inter 
national scenes. 
Late in 1953 the topic of Communism in Guatemala had become an 
international issue. Concerned over the possible presence of an un 
friendly power so close to the Panama Canal, Senator Alexander Wiley 
of the United States Foreign Relations Committee expressed his con 
tention and that of others as well when he affirmed that Communism 
had established a foothold in Guatemala. 7 It was felt that Guatemala 
438 
should be in friendly hands because of its geographical proximity to 
the United States and the Panama Canal and because of its value as a 
source of raw materials. Although at this time other Latin American 
nations were relatively unconcerned about the presence of Communism 
in Guatemala, the political climate in the United States was such that 
the issue assumed primary importance. 
Those of this persuasion could point to many instances where Gua 
temala had functioned in opposition to the United States. In April of 
1948 at an Interamerican conference held in Bogotá, the Guatemalan 
representative, Manuel Galich, had played the role of an obstructionist 
in the drafting of the constitution for the Organization of American 
States. In 1950 Guatemala was reprimanded by ODECA, the Organiza 
tion of Central American States, for allowing the Caribbean Legion to 
use its territory to prepare an invasion of the Dominican Republic. 
Also in 1950 Guatemala was accused of supporting an intended golpe de 
estado in Honduras. Later in 1952 the official Guatemalan government 
radio station was openly urging revolt in Honduras and Guatemalan 
Communists were blamed for encouraging the overthrow of Oscar 
Osorio in El Salvador. Throughout the period several Guatemalan 
diplomats were ordered to return home for suspected Communistic 
activities. When it was announced in May of 1954 by the United 
States State Department that the cargo ship Alfhelm was unloading a 
cargo of arms from the Communist controlled Polish port of Stettin 
439 
the fears of an eventual clash of arms began to become more apparent. ^ 
The Guatemalan populace, in learning of the opposition of the United 
States to the arms shipment, came to the defense of their government 
as having the right to purchase military supplies from whomever they 
wished. The Guatemalan press denounced the imperialism of the Uni 
ted States. 
Concerned over the prospect of an international military action 
against Guatemala based upon various hemispheric security agreements, 
many Guatemalans agitated in favor of the patria. Mass meetings of 
Guatemalan workers, dominated by leaders from the CGT and the CNCG 
were held throughout the republic to set up vigilante defense units. Meet 
ings in Guatemala City, El Progreso, and Zacapa encouraged the forma 
tion of farmer !s militia units. When in May of 1954 it was discovered 
that Guatemalan Communists were plotting to assassinate Anastasio 
Somoza, president of Nicaragua, arms were rushed to Nicaragua from 
the United States. A military action appeared entirely possible. Based 
upon the 1947 military defense pact signed in Rio de Janeiro, and the 
anti-Communist Caracas Declaration, the United States and other repub-
97 
lies seemed to be in favor of a strong stand against Guatemala. 7 
By June of 1954 the fear of revolution in Guatemala was becoming 
a real concern. Wishing to make more secure his political position, 
Arbenz began urging the Farmer's Union and labor unions where his 
support was considerable to arm their membership and form guerrilla 
440 
forces. Prominent anticommunists were jailed in a nationwide effort 
to stifle the opposition. Public centers and business establishments 
began to close their doors, fearing the outbreak of violence at any 
time.98 R evolution was apparent. 
Leading the anti-Communist and anti-Arbenz movement was Colonel 
Carlos Castillo Armas, who began consolidating his forces for an inten 
ded invasion of Guatemala from Tegucigalpa in 1953. An earlier attempt 
to oust the revolutionary government had failed. Although by June of 
1953 the United States Senate and some Latin American republics were 
discussing the possibilities of economic sanctions against Guatemala 
and the possibilities of a joint military venture to stop the spread of 
Communism, the revolution seemed to be progressing well as Castillo 
Armas set up headquarters in Esquipulas. By June 25, 1954 rebel for 
ces held strategic positions in Puerto Barrios, Zacapa, Chiquimula, 
and other areas. Castillo Armas, after repeated successes, felt as 
sured of eventual victory and asked the largely neutral Guatemalan 
army to oust Arbenz and set up a new government. Fearing the worst, 
most of Arbenz's cabinet members and legislative leaders resigned 
and on June 27 Arbenz himself was arrested. By June 29 the revolu 
tion led by Castillo Armas had met with success. 99 
The Arbenz experiment in the radicalization of domestic Guatemala 
had ended with some 4, 000 dead and horrible tales of atrocities that 
had been committed by Rogelio Cruz Wer, national police chief, and 
441 
Jaime Rosenberg, security police chief. They and their associates 
in the last hours of the revolution had committed a chain of atrocities 
that horrified the reading public in Guatemala for several months to 
come. Although by the end of July the bulk of the hostilities had ceased, 
uprisings of farmers and rural militia groups in Escuintlo, Pinula, and 
Concepción punctuated the aftermath of violence. The Arbenz govern 
ment had fallen, with many of the officials of Communist persuasion 
fleeing to Mexico, the most noted of these being Alfonso Bauer Paiz, 
president of the Banco Agrario Nacional, who took with him some 
200, 000 quetzales. 
In the weeks to follow, the military junta in power and Carlos Cas 
tillo Armas were quick to terminate many of the indigenista programs 
initiated by the revolutionary governments and particularly the Arbenz 
government. The new government initially appeared to feel that indigen 
ismo was simply a stepchild of Communism.^" In July of 1954 illiterate 
Indians who had been given the right to vote were disenfranchised. After 
July 8, when Castillo Armas was named provisional president, other 
programs were either dissolved or discontinued for a time. The Agrarian 
Law and its associated administrative machinery was suspended completely. 
All earlier expropriations were to be reviewed and if determined to have 
been unjust, the lands were to be returned to their original owners. As 
the political climate under Castillo Armas was avidly anti-Communist, 
a popularly held contention was that the land reform program of Arbenz 
442 
had been nothing more than an effort sponsored by the Communists to 
increase their influence in Guatemala. The majority of the private 
lands expropriated by the agrarian committees were returned to their 
owners. The new Indian tenants reverted to their former status as 
colonos or landless farmers in many instances 
The urge to rid the republic of any influence of Communism took on, 
in some instances, severe proportions. As much of the legislative and 
administrative structure and institutions established during the Arbenz 
era were thought to be communistic, they were dissolved or severely 
curtailed. Many rural school teachers suddenly found themselves with 
out jobs. The Instituto Indigenista was temporarily suspended and 
those who had been instrumental in bringing about reforms during the 
Arbenz period or who had been vocal in their calls for reform were 
suspected of being Marxists. Beyond the goal of ending Communism, 
the aim of the Castillo Armas government seemed to be that of return 
ing Guatemala to its state of being prior to the 1944 Revolution. 
For the benefit of indigenismo, however, this goal, intended or not, 
was not achieved. In time the Instituto Indigenista was reorganized and 
became active again and other institutions of indigenismo were either 
replaced or altered to conform to new interests and priorities. Al 
though indigenismo as an economic, social, moral, and philosophical 
point of view became dormant for a time following the 1954 counter 
revolution, it had not become a dead issue. Its denotation as a national 
443 
problem and the efforts undertaken during the revolutionary decade to 
deal with this problem remained implanted in the Guatemalan experience. 
Although the issue of land distribution during the Arbenz era had been 
unfortunately a radical one which attempted to accomplish a great deal 
in a very limited space of time, the issue, nevertheless, had been 
tackled on a wide front for the first time in the history of the republic. 
Truly widespread and organized efforts for the first time to integrate 
the Indian majority had been attempted and had achieved some noted 
successes, particularly in the fields of labor and education. Thousands 
of Indian peasants for the first time experienced a personal contact with 
the national government that did not after the contact leave them in 
worse circumstances than before. The Arévalo and Arbenz years, 
although ending in counterrevolution and tainted by the issue of inter 
national Communism, represented certainly a high point in the develop 
ment of Guatemalan indigenismo. 
NOTES 
CHAPTER DC 
LAmy Elizabeth Jensen, Guatemala: A Historical Survey (New 
York: Exposition Press, 1955), pp. 160-62."" 
2 
Richard N. Adams, Crucifixion By Power (Austin: University 
of Texas Press, 1970), pp. 186, 249. 
3 
Amy Elizabeth Jensen, Guatemala: A Historical Survey, 
pp. 162-63. 
4E1 Imparcial, 18-24 July 1949. 
5 
EI Imparcial, 19 July 1949. 
6El Imparcial, 25 ^July 1949-10 August 1949. 
7 
Amy Elizabeth Jensen, Guatemala: A Historical Survey, 
pp. 164-65. 
Ernesto Bienvenido Jiménez G., Educación rural en Guate 
mala (Guatemala: Editorial del Ministerio de Educación Publica, 
1967), pp. 249-50. 
9 
Amy Elizabeth Jensen, Guatemala: A Historical Survey, 
pp. 168-69. 
^Ernesto Bienvenido Jiménez G. , Educación rural en Guate 
mala, pp. 255-56; El Imparcial, 20-22 October 1950. 
^Ernesto Bienvenido Jiménez G. , Educación rural en Guate 
mala, pp. 258-61. 
12 
Interview, April 1, 1971, Francisco Rodriguez Rouanet, Insti 
tuto Indigenista Nacional Guatemalteca. 
13El Imparcial, 21-22 October 1950. 
"^Instituto Indigenista Nacional Guatemalteca, "Informe del Insti 
tuto Indigenista Nacional Guatemalteca,11 Boletín indigenista (March, 
1953), pp. 37-38. 
444 
445 
15 Ibid. , pp. 39-42. 
16 
Instituto Indigenista Nacional Guatemalteca, "Informe presen 
tada al Ministro de Educación Pública, " February 1953. (Typewritten 
report. ) 
17 
John Womack, Zapata and the Mexican Revolution (New York: 
Alfred A. Knopf, 1969), pp. 407-409. 
18 
Juan de Dios Rosales, r,El crédito rural frente al problema 
indigena, 11 Archivo del Instituto Indigenista Nacional Guatemalteca. 
(Typewritten report, no date. ) 
Ibid. 
Instituto Indigenista Nacional Guatemalteca, f,Credito agrícola: 
investigación sobre las facilidades de crédito a las pequeñas agricul 
tores, 11 Informe presentada al Presidente de la República en 1952. (No 
date provided. ) 
21 
Instituto Indigenista Nacional Guatemalteca, nEl problema 
agrario guatemalteca; notas y consideraciones,fr February, 1951. 
22 
Francisco Rubio, P. A. J. , rrEl problema agrícola campesina,11 
Campo (May, 195 8), pp. 16-17; Rafael Piedra Santa, "La mala distribu 
ción de la tierra como obstáculo a la industrialización en Guatemala, ,r 
Paper presented to IV Congreso Indigenista Internacional. Copy at 
Archivo del Instituto. Indigenista Nacional Guatemalteca. 
23 
William Kirk, "Social Change among the Highland Indians of 
Guatemala,11 Sociology and Social Research, XXIH (1939), pp. 321, 332-
33; Francisco Rodríguez Rouanet, et al. , nSintesis del proceso migra 
torio de braceros del Altiplano a la Costa Sur y sus repercusiones 
nacionales, " Guatemala indigena, IV (December, 1969), pp. 3-49-
24 • 
Instituto Indigenista Nacional Guatemalteca, "Crédito agrícola: 
investigación sobre las facilidades de crédito a las pequeñas agricul 
tores, 11 Informe presentada al Presidente de la República en 1952, no 
date provided. 
25 
Francisco Rubio, P. A. J. , "El problema agrícola campesina, 11 
pp. 16-17; Enzo Faletto, "Incorporación de los sectores obreros al pro 
ceso de desarrollo, " Revista mexicana de sociología, XXVIII (July-
September, 1966), pp. 693-741; Gonzalo Aguirre Beltrán, "Community 
Development, " América indígena, XXVI (July, 1966), pp. 219-29; Al 
berto Franco, "Algunas anotaciones sobre investigación en aspectos 
446 
relacionados con reforma agraria, " América latina, Ano 9 (April-
June, 1966), pp. 77-102. 
26 
Edward C. Higbee, "The Agricultural Regions of Guatemala, " 
The Geographical Review, Vol. XXXVIH, No. 2 (1947), pp. 177-201; 
Francis LeBeau, "Agricultura de Guatemala, " in Jorge Luís Arrióla 
(ed. ), Integración social en Guatemala (Guatemala: Tipografía Nacio 
nal, 1956), pp. 267-312. 
27 
Francisco Rodriguez Rouanet, "Síntesis del proceso migra 
torio de braceros del Altiplano a la Costa Sur y sus repercusiones 
nacionales," pp, 47-48. 
28 
Eric Wolf, Sons of the Shaking Earth (Chicago: University of 
Chicago Press, 1959), pp- 58-62, 77. 
29 
Francis LeBeau, "Agricultura de Guatemala," pp. 280-84. 
30 
Ibid. ; Edward C Higbee, "The Agricultural Regions of Guate 
mala, " pp. 181-89. 
31 
Eric Wolf, Sons of the Shaking Earth, pp. 197-211. 
32 
Francis LeBeau, "Agricultura de Guatemala, " pp. 284-87. 
33 
Rafael Piedra Santa, "La mala distribución de la tierra como 
obstáculo a la industrialización en Guatemala. 11 
34 
Eric Wolf, Sons of the Shaking Earth, pp. 248-51, 246; Eduardo 
Harney, "Consideraciones sociológicas* en torno a la reforma agraria en 
Latinoamérica," Revista mexicana de sociología, XXVHI (July-September, 
1966), pp. 677, 690-92. 
35 
Robert A. Naylor, "Guatemalan Indian Attitudes toward Land 
Tenure," Journal of Inter-American Studies, DC (October, 1967), 
pp. 619-39. 
36 
Andrew L. Pearse, "Land Tenure, Social Structure, and Devel 
opment in Latin America, " América latina (July-September, 1963), p. 77. 
37 
Interview, March, 1971, Francisco Rodriguez Rouanet, Carlos 
Leonardo Loyo, Instituto Indigenista Nacional Guatemalteca. 
38 
Andrew L. Pearse, "Land Tenure, Social Structure and De 
velopment in Latin America, 11 p. 79; A. Dollfus and E. de Mont Serrat, 
Voyage Geologique dans les Republique de Guatemala (Paris: Impri-
mirie Imperiale, 1868). 
447 
bert A. Naylor, "Guatemalan Indian Attitudes toward Land 
Tenure, " p. 627. 
Ibid. 
^Julio César Méndez Montenegro, 444 anos de legislación agraria, 
p. 421. 
42 
Alain T. Dessaint, "Effects of the Hacienda and Plantation Sys 
tems on Guatemala's Indians," Archivo del Instituto Indigenista Nacional 
Guatemalteca. 
43 
Diario de CentroAmérica, December 28, 1945. 
44 
Julio César Méndez Montenegro, 444 anos de legislación agraria, 
p. 461. 
45Ibid. 
46 
Instituto Indigenista Nacional Guatemalteca, "La colonia agrí 
cola del Poptun, " Archivo del Instituto Indigenista Nacional Guatemal 
teca. 
47Ibid. 
48 
El Impar cial, March 12, 1945. 
49 0é f 
Julio César Méndez Montenegro, 444 anos de legislación agraria, 
pp. 629-31. 
El Impar cial, May 21, 1946. 
51 
Diario de Centro America, January 5, 1946. 
52 *j 
Julio César Méndez Montenegro, 444 anos de legislación agraria, 
p. 648. 
53 
Ibid. , pp. 637-45. 
54Ibid. , p. 668. 
55Ibid. , pp. 675-76. 
Ibid. 
57 
Ibid. , p. 681; Richard N. Adams, Crucifixion by Power, 
pp. 356-58, 371-72. 
448 
58 
pp. 689-90. 
60 Diario de Centro America, June 18, 1952. 
^Julio César Méndez Montenegro, 444 anos de legislación agraria, 
pp. 691-92. 
62 
Guatemala, Decreto 900 de la República de Guatemala. 
Julio César Méndez Montenegro, 444 anos de la legislación agraria, 
pp. 700-701. 
64 
Guatemala, Decreto 900 de la República de Guatemala. 
65 
José Luís Paredes Mor eirá, Estudios sobre reforma agraria en 
Guatemala: Aplicación del Decreto 900, cuadro no. 1; Instituto de Inves 
tigaciones Económicas y Sociales (Guatemala: Universidad de San Carlos, 
1964), pp. 48-59. 
66 1 r 
Julio César Méndez Montenegro, 444 anos de legislación agraria, 
p. 729. 
67Ibid. , p. 729, 730. 
68 
Ibid., p. 731. 
69 
7Ibid. , p. 732. 
70 
Ibid. , p. 774. 
71 
Diario de Centro America, June 18, 1952. 
Julio César Méndez Montenegro, 444 anos de legislación agraria, 
p. 736; José Luís Paredes Moreira, Reforma agraria: Una experiencia 
en Guatemala (Guatemala: Imprenta Universitaria, 1963), pp. 58-65. 
73 
Ibid. , p. 737. 
74Ibid. , pp. 741-42. 
75Ibid. , p. 744. 
76Ibid. 
Richard N. Adams, Crucifixion by Power, pp. 396-98. 
^Julio César Méndez Montenegro, 444 anos de legislación agraria, 
449 
77Ibid., p. 729. 
78 
Ibid. , p. 721; Rafael Menjívas, Reforma agraria: Guatemala, 
Bolivia, Cuba (San Salvador: Editorial Universitaria de El Salvador, 
1969), pp. 131-51. 
79 
Mario Monteforte Toledo, Guatemala: Monografía sociológica, 
2nd ed. (Mexico City: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 
1965), pp. 34-37. 
80 
Interview, Carlos Leonardo Loyo, April 1, 1971, Instituto Indi 
genista Nacional Guatemalteca; Thomas Melville, Guatemala: The Poli 
tics of Land Ownership (New York: The Free Press, 1971), pp. 67-69. 
81 
Amy Elizabeth Jensen, Guatemala: A Historical Survey, 
pp. 183-84. 
82Ibid. , p. 184. 
83 
Depending upon the sources consulted, the statistical results of 
the agrarian reform program pursued during the Arbenz era differ con 
siderably. Although the data presented in the text were extracted from 
materials maintained in the Archivo del Instituto Indigenista Nacional 
Guatemalteca, other sources have presented different data and conclu 
sions. Part of the difficulty is the fact that the actual official records 
of the National Agrarian Committee were destroyed during the uprising 
which unseated Arbenz. José Luís Paredes Moreira, Estudios sobre 
reforma agraria en Guatemala: Aplicación del Decreto 900, Cuadro No. 
1. Instituto de Investigaciones Económicas y Sociales (Guatemala City: 
Universidad de San Carlos, 1964), pp. 172, 173; Mario Monteforte Toledo, 
Guatemala: Monografía sociología, 2nd ed. (Mexico City: Universidad 
Nacional Autónoma de México, 1965), pp. 434, 442-43. 
74. 
84 
Amy Elizabeth Jensen, Guatemala: A Historical Survey, pp. 172-
85 
Robert Alexander, Communism in Latin America (New Bruns 
wick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 1967), p. 351; Victor Alba, 
Politics and the Labor Movement in Latin America (Stanford: Stanford 
University Press, 1968), pp. 283, 319. 
86 
Amy Elizabeth Jensen, Guatemala: A Historical Survey, p. 175. 
87 
Ibid. , p. 176; Ronald M. Schneider, Communism in Guatemala 
(New York: Frederick A. Praeger Publishers, 1959), pp. 270-71. 
450 
88 Ronald M. Schneider, Communism in Guatemala, pp. 89-99, 119. 
89 
Amy Elizabeth Jensen, Guatemala; A Historical Survey, p. 177. 
90 
Rollie E. Poppino, International Communism in Latin America 
(London: Collier-MacMillan Ltd. , 1964), pp. 92-94; Ronald M. Schneider, 
Communism in Guatemala, pp. 40, 41, 141-48; Edwin W. Bishop, "The 
Guatemalan Labor Movement, 1944-1959" (unpublished Ph.D. disserta 
tion, University of Wisconsin, 1959), p. 148. 
91 
Amy Elizabeth Jensen, Guatemala: A Historical Survey, pp. 178-
81. 
92 
El Imparcial, April-June 1951; Edwin W. Bishop, "The Guate 
malan Labor Movement, 1944-1959, " pp. 130-51. 
93 
Amy Elizabeth Jensen, Guatemala: A Historical Survey, p. 186. 
94Ibid. , p. 203. 
95 
Ronald M. Schneider, Communism in Guatemala, pp. 297-98; 
Amy Elizabeth Jensen, Guatemala: A Historical Survey, p. 210. 
"^Ronald M. Schneider, Communism in Guatemala, p. 309. 
97 
El Imparcial, May-June 1954. 
98 
Interview, Francisco Rodriguez Rouanet, December 1970, 
Instituto Indigenista Nacional Guatemalteca. 
99Amy Elizabeth Jensen, Guatemala: A Historical Survey, pp. 229-
30. 
l°°Interview, Francisco Rodriguez Rouanet, Carlos Leonardo Loyo, 
Instituto Indigenista Nacional Guatemalteca. 
101Ibid.; Robert J. Alexander, Communism in Latin America, 
pp. 363^64". 
CHAPTER X 
CONCLUSIONS 
Although indigenismo in Guatemala largely has been a phenomenon 
of the twentieth century, its political and ideological foundations stretch 
back into the early years of the sixteenth century and the first Spanish 
experiences in the New World. For most Spaniards the New World 
represented opportunity, the chance for social, political, and economic 
advancement. For others it meant spiritual dedication and commitment. 
Whatever the motive, the newly arrived were quick to take advantage of 
the circumstances surrounding them, in areas such as Guatemala where 
easily acquirable mineral wealth was not to be found in great abundance, 
the native populations subsequently became the basis for enrichment. 
In Guatemala a brutal despotism was imposed at the outset by Pedro de 
Alvarado. By 1540 this had developed into the virtual enslavement of 
many of the Indian groups in the area. In addition, the institutions for 
native control that had been implemented in the West Indies including 
the encomienda and the repartimiento were quickly and forcefully im 
posed in Guatemala. 
The fact that these exploitative practices were not accepted univer 
sally by all Spanish officials and clerics in the New World provided the 
451 
45 2 
basis for an argument that would endure throughout the colonial period. 
Speaking from his pulpit in Santo Domingo in 1511, Antonio de Monte 
sinos denounced the encomienda and the unjust treatment of the natives 
and in so doing became one of the first to oppose openly Spanish colo 
nial practices. Partly as a result of the dialogue by Montesinos and 
others, the Laws of Burgos were intended to limit the exploitation of 
the natives. Instead, the encomienda was recognized as an institution 
necessary for the continued maintenance of Spanish hegemony in the 
New World. By 1514 the ranks of those opposed to the encomienda were 
enlarged by Bartolomé De Las Casas. In renouncing his own encomienda 
and speaking out against Spaing overseas policies, the cause that later 
would be called indigenismo gained what would become its most consis 
tent and prolific expositor. 
Throughout his long and productive career Las Casas succeeded on 
several occasions in altering the crown's policy toward Indians in the 
New World. His energetic and impassioned pleas on behalf of justice 
for the Indians brought crown support to a community development scheme 
in 1516 and a colonization plan in 1520. His theory of peaceful conversion, 
implemented successfully in Chiapas, demonstrated an alternative to 
past crown policies. He argued that the familiar entradas by armed con 
quistadores were destructive and costly as a means of extending royal 
control and not within the bounds of accepted Church morality and ethics. 
The focal point for the rhetoric of Las Casas, however, was the 
453 
elimination of the encomienda as an institution. This viewpoint became 
crown policy in 1542 with the passage of the New Laws. These not only 
dissolved the encomienda, but attempted to protect the Indian from 
being exploited in a number of other ways. Although attempts to en 
force the New Laws met with stiff resistance and led ultimately to their 
suspension, it was around this issue that Bartolomé de Las Casas and 
Alonso Lopez de Cerrato, who in their support of Indian justice, estab 
lished the basis for indigenismo in Guatemala. This humanistic point of 
view centered around an abiding faith in the human potential of the Indians 
to become productive vassals of the crown and loyal Christians. Unwar 
ranted and excessive exploitation became the antithesis of this persuasion. 
The peak of pro-Indian sentiment and legislation embodied in the New 
Laws endured for only a few months. Although Lopez de Cerrato active 
ly attempted to implement these laws in Guatemala, his efforts eventual 
ly were futile. The very basis of Spanish power in Guatemala had become 
dependent utterly upon the presence of a large and docile Indian labor 
force. This factor as well as the crown's constant need of funds to 
maintain its vast overseas empire and to support its commitments in 
Europe dictated a legislative course that responded more often to econo 
mic necessities than to Indian rights. This economic priority continued 
as a dominant theme in Spain1 s colonial policy for over three centuries. 
With the collapse of Spanks empire in Central America early in 
the nineteenth century and the foundation of an independent Guatemala, 
454 
new political circumstances seemed at the time to suggest a depar 
ture from the familiar pattern of exploitation experienced by the re 
public's Indian population. Such a change, however, did not occur. 
With the exception of a few juridic changes and political realignments, 
independence merely substituted creóles for peninsulares. The Indian 
remained as the fundamental element in the republic's economy and to 
an appreciable extent a subjugated class held in place by the hacienda 
system and related institutions. 
Some like Rafael Landívar, however, felt the Indian majority of 
Guatemala's population held the key to the cultural identity of the area 
as well as its overall human potential. Another who years later agreed 
with such a viewpoint was Mariano Galvez. As president he encouraged 
recognition of the cultural autonomy of the Indian and sought to initiate 
government sponsored programs designed to benefit him directly. He 
contended that an educated Indian populace could become a part of the 
national fabric of the republic. This point of view, supported later 
by President Mariano Rivera Paz, was swept aside with the emergence 
of Rafael Carrera. Mariano Gálvez*s contribution to the indigenista 
cause was his belief that progress would ultimately depend upon the 
education and eventual integration of the Indian. 
The era of Rafael Carrera and to a considerable extent the liberal 
reaction which immediately followed were not noted for any lasting 
legislation which favorable affected the Indian population of the repub-
455 
lie. With Carrera1 s attainment of the presidency, the caudillo's sizable 
contingent of Indian supporters who had filled the ranks of his army eva 
porated into the highlands. Although a few Indians held official posts in 
Carrera's government, as a group they did not receive any substantial 
degree of legislative attention. The liberal regimes of Miguel Garcia 
Granados and Justo Rufino Barrios, which espoused economic develop 
ment and progress, achieved many of the advances associated with their 
era only at the expense of social progress for the Indian. Barrios viewed 
the Indian as did the landholders. Nevertheless, some legislation passed 
during his administrations benefited the Indians. A series of decrees 
established schools for Indian children and a new labor code gave Indian 
workers a few minor advantages. As in former eras, however, the 
Indian element in Guatemala remained in the background in terms of 
rights and social and economic participation. 
During the last decade of the nineteenth century the Indian became 
the center of a considerable degree of activity and attention. As indigen 
istas and like those favorable to this per suasion before him, President 
José María Reina Barrios recognized the unrealized and often ignored 
potential of Guatemala's majority and sought through law to allow this 
potential to become a part of the nation's existence. The mandamiento as 
an institution was discontinued and a new labor code was formulated 
which provided protection to Indian workers from some of the more abu 
sive practices of Ladino employers. 
456 
Political involvement at the local level was initiated and stimulated 
by, among other things, municipal elections for Indian officials such 
as that held in Totonicapán. To understand better the problems facing 
the Indian, an Indian Institute was created in 1893. An Agricultural 
Institute was established in 1894 for the training of Indian agricultural 
ists. With these measures and others Reina Barrios began what would 
later evolve as the multi-faceted approach to the Indian problem familiar 
to modern indigenistas. Through a series of programs and legislative 
decrees Reina Barrios, intime, hoped the Indian would become an ef 
fective part of the national identity of Guatemala. Like Las Casas and 
Mariano Gálvez, Reina Barrios recognized the latent potential of the 
Indian and attempted to set into motion programs and policies that 
would eventually channel the expression of this potential. 
The untimely assassination of President Reina Barrios in 1898 
abruptly terminated what amounted to an early indigenista government 
program. While the indigenista persuasion would not appear in such 
graphic political form again until after 1944, the philosophical and 
idealogical foundations were fostered, developed, and expanded upon 
in literary and cultural circles. The first major Guatemalan author 
to speak of the Indian in his novels was José Milla Vidaurre. In La 
hija del Adelantado, El visitador, and Los nazarenos, a romanticized 
concept of the Guatemalan Indian appeared including detailed discussions 
of his customs and traditions as a part of Guatemala's heritage. A later 
45 7 
novel by Agustín Franco entitled Don Juan Nunez García presented the 
Indian in his environment and discussed extensively the abuses and in 
justices sustained by the Indians at the hands of the Ladinos. These 
novelists, however, only touched upon what would be recognized in 
later years as a fundamental element of modern indigenismo, that of 
a detailed and realistic understanding of the Indian's circumstances 
and surroundings. 
With the Guatemalan novelists of the twentieth century, indigenismo 
was provided with its most artistic if not its most comprehensive ex 
pression. Through the novel the Indian became a point of cultural analy 
sis wherein indigenista authors attempted first to understand the signifi 
cance of Indian influence upon national culture and secondly to register 
a message of social protest which generally called for an end to exploi 
tation. Collectively they advocated the incorporation of the Indian into 
the national culture. In Carlos Wyld Ospina fs La gringa, the Indian 
appeared asa rational being who, like the Ladino, was affected by the 
environmental forces around him. A later novel by Wyld Ospina, La 
tierra de las nahuyacas, the Indian protagonist, Sebastián Ax, was 
portrayed as existing in a world where the supernatural and the real 
were fused into one shadow-filled entity which represented an unalter 
able part of Guatemalan national heritage. This melange of the real 
and unreal as presented by Wyld Ospina and others constituted a basic 
contribution to Guatemalan indigenismo as an understanding of this 
458 
helped to explain in some respects the social history of Guatemala. 
With the writings of Miguel Angel Asturias and Mario Monteforte 
Toledo, the Guatemalan Indian came to represent the most fundamental 
element of the republic's nationality. The eternally dispossessed Indian 
in El señor presidente, constantly being subjected to exploitation by the 
Ladino, was kept apart, thus, from the national heritage that was large 
ly his own. The continuation of caudillismo and personalismo which 
thrived upon advantage gained from the Indian, in effect, insured his 
unchanging social and economic position. This Indian, however, in 
Hombres de maiz, was presented as a person whose life style was in 
the material sense simple but in the psychological sense quite compli 
cated. Asturias, through many of his works, emphasized the magical 
and the subconscious elements of the Guatemalan Indian and the impor 
tance of these in his life style. As Asturias insisted, these elements 
must be understood and made a part of the non-Indian sector of Guate 
mala's culture. Along this same path Mario Monteforte Toledo in his 
Entre la piedra y la cruz described the fundamental dilemma facing the 
Indian. He was caught between the cultural values of his Indian past 
and the world of the Ladino. Unable to become a part of either, the 
Indian remained disenfranchised from both. Monteforte Toledo and 
Asturias saw the Indian as the common denominator of Guatemalan cul 
ture and society and thus the key to the nation's future. 
Although the indigenista expression in letters explained in some 
459 
detail various facets of the Indian problem and suggested a number of 
solutions, the reality of the Indian's circumstances prior to 1944 had 
changed little from the colonial period. In October of 1944 the ousting 
of Jorge Ubico from power brought an end to over a decade of stern 
and often harsh political rule. Within a few days after assuming power, 
the military junta which replaced Ubico began issuing decrees which, if 
nothing else, reflected their intent to deal with some of the pressing 
national problems facing the republic such as illiteracy, poor education, 
prejudicial labor practices, and a host of other difficulties concerning 
the republic's Indian population. With the election of Juan José Arévalo 
a more official sanction was given these decisions of the military junta. 
With the creation of the Instituto Indigenista Nacional Guatemalteca 
in 1945, Guatemala became yet another Latin American republic officially 
recognizing the presence of the Indian problem and expressing their re 
solve to do something about it. This commitment opened a new era as 
far as indigenismo was concerned. The entire issue of the Indian would 
now be discussed, studied, and dealt with through an official organ of 
the government. Headed by Antonio Goubaud Carrera and enthusiasti 
cally supported by some of Guatemala's leading intellectuals and pro 
fessionals, the Instituto during the Arévalo years became a focal point 
for indigenista thought and activity. A number of programs and rural 
investigations were initiated to gather scientific data relating to the 
republic's rural Indians. Carefully directed community studies pro-
460 
vided the foundation from which local economic and educational pro 
grams were developed. The Institute's encouragement during these 
years of the production of tejidos by Indian craftsmen and the organiza 
tion of cooperatives of various types represented decisions of far-reach 
ing importance for the Indian. 
The Institutofs activities, however, were not restricted to studies 
of rural communities. Certainly one of the major obstacles facing 
any desire to integrate the Indians of the republic was a variety of quite 
different Indian languages used throughout the republic. Communication 
was difficult at best. Through concerted efforts and the assistance of 
North American linguists, alphabets were devised for these languages 
and literacy programs were generated in which these languages were 
used as the base of familiarity from which Indian students could become 
literate in Spanish. Beyond these activities, the Instituto maintained a 
close contact with the Instituto Indigenista Interamericano, directed a 
scholarly journal, translated official legislation pertaining to Indians, 
trained rural school teachers and other officials, provided technical 
assistance to local agricultural cooperatives, and functioned as an of 
ficial organ of the government to preserve, protect, and disseminate 
the Indian heritage of Guatemala. 
During the first few years of the revolutionary decade following the 
fall of Ubico, the Instituto Indigenista was not alone as an agency dis 
playing indigenista thought and action. The Arévalo government con-
461 
sidered the Indian problem to be one of top national priority, the 
most important national domestic problem. In President Arévalo's 
view, a central issue within the Indian problem was the lack of a viable 
system of education. Effective and productive participation by the In 
dians in the national economy, thought many arevalistas and indigenis 
tas, depended upon the ability of the Indian to communicate. Education 
was seen as one of the keys to solving the Indian dilemma. Through 
several national illiteracy campaigns in largely Indian areas, thousands 
of Indian students became literate in Spanish using texts especially de 
signed to benefit and interest them. A new rural school system was 
established wherein especially trained teachers off erred a curriculum 
emphasizing topics of immediate interest to rural Indian communities 
such as agriculture, sanitation, animal husbandry, and a host of other 
topic s. 
To complement these efforts, the Arévalo government created a 
series of educational institutions designed to initiate an effective national 
educational program. These included núcleos escolares campesinos, 
which provided as often as possible a curriculum tailored to the needs 
of the surrounding Indian community. Regional rural normal schools 
and escuelas tipo federación were established to offer similar types of 
curricula. For the first time in the history of the republic, pragmatic 
and meaningful rural education became available to many Indian areas 
which, in effect, sought to facilitate integration. Through new programs 
462 
in education, a new Work Code, the Instituto Indigenista, and several 
other measures, the Arévalo regime committed a considerable portion 
of its efforts domestically toward the integration of the Indians of the 
republic. 
Fortunately for the cause of indigenismo, Arévalo's departure from 
office did not bring an end to the legislative programs begun on behalf 
of the Indians. The new president, Jacobo Arbenz, remained faithful 
to the policies of his predecesor. The Instituto Indigenista became 
more active in a variety of rural programs aimed toward benefiting 
Indian communities such as potable water projects, public sanitary 
facilities, and many others. Several hundred new rural schools were 
opened during the Arbenz years. Adult education programs were im 
plemented and vocational and secondary schools were expanded signifi 
cantly. As an indigenista Arbenz, however, felt that one particular 
part of the Indian problem represented a fundamental issue that had to 
be resolved before any real social or economic progress could be ex 
pected. 
For Arbenz land reform represented a major obstacle to be over 
come if effective and lasting integration was to take place. In 1952 
Decree 900, an Agrarian Reform Law, was passed into law and de 
signed to liquidate the feudal practice of latifundismo and absentee 
ownership. By parcelization, the Indian agriculturalists would be able 
to farm their own land. A rather complicated law in some respects, 
463 
Decree 900 brought far-reaching results. Throughout his regime, 
Arbenz saw over 48, 000 Guatemalan agriculturalists affected by the 
law as often untilled tracts, municipal lands, German owned proper 
ties, and latifundias were expropriated and divided. The fundamental 
need of the Indian, land, was being provided to him by Arbenz's agrar 
ian reform law. 
The dream of a Guatemala comprised of independent Indian farmers 
and laborers who had been educated and integrated into a national con 
glomerate of existence which was free of prejudice and exploitation 
was crushed with the fall of Arbenz. Also the drive and commitment 
behind indigenismo ended with this event. Indigenismo with the new 
Castillo Armas regime came to be regarded, like many other of Arbenz's 
policies, as tainted with or related to Communism. Indigenismo, how 
ever, was not destroyed with the counterrevolution in 1953. In time the 
Instituto Indigenista Nacional was restored by the Castillo Armas govern 
ment and ordered to function again as an organ of the government in com 
bating the Indian problem. What was lost with the ending of the revolu 
tionary decade was the degree of enthusiasm and commitment to indi 
genismo and the conviction that integration and the solution to the In 
dian problem were the same thing, future social progress and economic 
development being fundamentally related to this integration. 
Since the colonial era, the Indian in Guatemala has represented a 
non-participating majority in the population. The social, political, and 
464 
economic life of the republic seldom included him or his culture for 
any reasonable period of time. Although efforts by a variety of indi 
viduals including Bartolomé de Las Casas, Alonso Lopez de Carrato, 
Mariano Gálvez, José María Reina Barrios, and others succeeded in 
pointing out the Indian problem and instigating government programs to 
protect and to benefit him, these seldom endured much past their ini 
tial stages. However, the revolutionary governments of Juan José Aré 
valo and Jacobo Arbenz were successful in altering this trend. The in 
digenista point of view, philosophically, ideologically, and pragmatical 
ly was manifested in a variety of educational and economic government-
directed programs and institutionalized as an official government agen 
cy. 
Although tremendous strides were made during this period in solv 
ing many aspects of the Indian problem and in giving national attention 
and expression to many of the goals of indigenismo, the Indian problem 
continued to constitute a very serious national problem in 1954. Indi 
genismo, nevertheless, had offered in Guatemala an avenue that could 
lead to change and social progress and had been instrumental in pro 
viding an explanation of Guatemala's identity. In neither case, how 
ever, has it succeeded. 
The Indian's future role in the republic continues to be a hotly 
debated question. A Guatemala in which the Indian is socially, politi 
cally, and economically integrated remains a situation yet to be achieved. 
465 
Indigenismo will continue to be a half-way house, to borrow Eric Wolf's 
phrase, as long as an uncertain economy, an exploding population, and 
an unstable political system continue to exclude or inhibit the Indian 
majority from effective participation in the life of the nation. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY 
Public Documents 
Guatemala. Actas finales de los tres primeros congresos indigenistas 
inter am ér icano s. Informe del comité organizador del IV congreso 
interamericano. Mayo de 1959. 
Guatemala. Constitución de la república de Guatemala decretada por 
la asamblea constituyente. Marzo de 1945. 
Guatemala. Constitución de la república de Guatemala decretada por 
la asamblea nacional constituyente. Febrero de 1956. 
Guatemala. Constitución dé la república de Guatemala decretada por 
la asamblea nacional constituyente. Septiembre de 1965. 
Guatemala. Diario de sesiones de la asamblea constituyente de 1945. 
Guatemala. Estudio sobre las condiciones de vida de 179 familias en 
la ciudad de Guatemala. Junio de 1948. 
Guatemala. Encuesta sobre castellanización en sesenta una comuni-
dades representativas: problemas y sugerencias. 1968. 
Guatemala. Informe del ciudadano presidente de la república, Dr. 
Juan José Arévalo al congreso nacional en la inauguración de 
su primer período de sesiones ordinarias del aiio 1946: Síntesis 
de la labor de los ministerios durante el primer ano de gobierno. 
1946. 
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