Guatemala

Guatemala

the decision-makers. Even high-ranking leaders in business and government tend to be willing to see foreign salespeople.

●Price is the single most important factor in a purchasing decision. After sales service is also a high priority. Guatemala is a small market, and a negative reputation (especially for such things as service) spreads quickly.

●3 Country Background

History

Guatemala was home to the Mayan people, who developed a highly advanced civilization. In 1519, Hernando (Hernán) Cortés led the first European expedition to subdue Mexico. A lieutenant of Cortés, Pedro de Alvarado, made the first Spanish inroads into Guatemala in 1524.

Independence from Spain was declared in 1821; in 1823, representatives of the five Central American states (Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica) founded the United Provinces of Central America, independent from Mexico.

Following years of internecine fighting, the United Provinces of Central America was dissolved in 1838. Guatemala became a solitary independent state, led by Rafael Carrera. A semiliterate mestizo farmer, Carrera seized power during an Amerindian uprising. He remained dictator until 1865 and undid all the reforms enacted by the leaders of the United Provinces.

Justo Rufino Barrios, hailed as the “Great Reformer,” became president in 1873. He encouraged European immigration, coffee growing, and reduced the power of the Catholic Church. He died in 1885 while trying to forcibly reunite the United Provinces.

Manuel Estrada Cabrera came to power in 1898 in a rigged election for the presidency. He managed to hold on to power until 1920. It was Cabrera who gave huge concessions to the foreign plantation owners, especially the United Fruit Company. He was ousted in a bloody coup in 1920.

Juan José Arévalo was elected president in 1944. Calling himself a “Spiritual Socialist,” he enacted reforms and granted political liberties. He also survived twenty-five coup attempts by Conservative forces during his six-year term in office!

Colonel Jacobo Arbenz Gúzman was elected president in 1951. He continued Arévalo’s reforms, including the expropriation of land from foreign owners, such as the United Fruit Company. Angered, the United States supported a 1954 coup to overthrow him. The conservative oligarchy took power. There would not be free and fair elections in Guatemala until the 1990s.

After 1960, guerrilla movements began to grow in force, finally erupting into full-scale terrorist activities concentrated in Guatemala City. Many leading political figures, including the U.S. ambassador, were killed. By 1966, Guatemalan military and death squads began to make thousands of Guatemalan citizens “disappear.”

General Efraín Ríos Montt seized power in 1982. His sixteen-month dictatorship was marked by a scorched-earth campaign against rebels. His ruthlessness restored a measure of order and was popular with the oligarchy. He seized power a second time in 1989.

Jorge Serrano was elected president in 1991. His inauguration marked the first time in fifty-one years that one freely elected civilian government followed another in Guatemala. In 1993, faced with public unrest and official corruption, Serrano dissolved the Congress and Supreme Court. His attempt to seize dictatorial powers failed, and he was forced to flee into exile.

In 1992 the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Rigoberta Menchú Tum for her work with Guatemala’s Mayan Indians. In 1996, after five years of negotiations, President Alvaro Arzu signed a peace treaty with URNG guerrilla front leader Rolando Moran and Amerindian peace activist Rigoberta Menchú. This marked the official end to Guatemala’s thirty-six-year civil war.

In December of 2003, President Óscar Berger Perdomo won a run-off election.

Type of Government

Guatemala has had a difficult political history since its independence from Spain in 1821. It has seen dictators, revolutions, and violent transfers of power. Since 1986, however, the country has been under civilian rule.

The Republic of Guatemala has a unicameral legislative house, called the Congress of the Republic. The president is both chief of state and head of the government.

Voting is compulsory for all literate persons over the age of eighteen.

For current government information, check with the Embassy of Guatemala at www

.guatemala-embassy.org.

Language

Spanish is the official language. Many Amerindian languages and dialects are used in the interior of the country. Not all are mutually intelligible. Ethnologue, at www.ethnologue.com, has identified fifty-six separate languages in Guatemala, two of which are extinct.

Guatemala

Guatemala

Catholics whose “liberation theology” allied them with guerrillas came to be considered enemies of the state.). Some of Guatemala’s Amerindians retain their traditional religious beliefs.

In its long civil war, Guatemalans have suffered enough to acquire a sense of fatalism and helplessness.

*Know Before You Go

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Guatemala is subject to occasional violent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. The country’s Caribbean coast is extremely vulnerable to hurricanes and tropical storms.

Mudslides often follow heavy rains.

The history of Guatemala’s various capitals shows the country’s propensity for natural disasters. The first capital of Guatemala was Santiago de los Caballeros de Guatemala. Founded in 1527, it was destroyed by mudslides in 1543. (It was later rebuilt under the name Ciudad Vieja.) Next, nearby Antigua became the capital, until it was leveled by an earthquake in 1773.

The current capital, Guatemala City, was founded in 1776. While it has endured its share of disasters, it has survived. Street crime remains a problem. As a result of years of civil war, Guatemala is awash with weapons. Not only does this mean that criminals are liable to be armed, but there have been a substantial number of land mines in the countryside. Although Guatemala tried to clear all land mines and unexploded ordnance by 2004, persons traveling in

areas that were planted with mines should use extreme caution. Guatemala is a major transit country for drug smuggling.

●3 Cultural Orientation

Cognitive Styles: How Guatemalans Organize and Process Information

Guatemalans love to converse. In a discussion, foreigners can easily construe the acceptance of information by Guatemalans where no such acceptance exists. Guatemalans process information subjectively and associatively rather than objectively or abstractly. They will look at the particulars of each situation, rather than appeal to a rule or law to solve their problems.

Negotiation Strategies: What Guatemalans Accept as Evidence

Subjective feelings are much more important than objective facts in determining the truth. There is some faith in the ideology of the Church (Protestant and Catholic) in providing the truth, but Guatemalans are more apt to trust in the ideology of their ethnic heritage.

Value Systems: The Basis for Behavior

The value systems of the indigenous Indians are very different from those of the ruling class.

Locus of Decision-Making

The individual is responsible for his or her decisions, but these must be viewed in the context of the needs of the family, group, and organization. In Guatemala, “friends do things for

friends”—thus it is necessary to develop friendships with business associates. In the workplace, your ability to get along with colleagues can be more important than your expertise.

Sociologists have proposed that Guatemala has one of the highest scores in terms of power/distance in Latin America. This translates into a large gap between authoritarian figures and their subordinates. Not surprisingly, economic power (in the form of business ownership) in Guatemala is concentrated in less than 1 percent of the population.

Sources of Anxiety Reduction

Wealth and family ties give the individual status and security. Trust and loyalty are centered on close kin. The Catholic Church has little influence in the government, but its precepts permeate the population and give structure to life. Often, it seems more important to make a pronouncement than to actually carry out the action. Progress in any endeavor takes a long time, which protects those who are threatened by change.

Guatemala has been ranked as having the lowest score in Latin America for individuality. This indicates a highly collectivist culture in which loyalty to one’s group is paramount.

Issues of Equality/Inequality

Deep-seated social, economic, and political inequity exists, particularly between the mestizos and the Mayans. These ethnic relations have been changing and are dynamic, ranging from cordial and tolerant to open hostility and violence. Changes in the political system are often made by revolution or military coups. Women are still considered subordinate (they did not receive the right to vote until 1945, and under current law, only women may be charged with adultery).

Guatemala