I have one more story from Guatemala which illustrates how the repression can operate. I tell you these things because the average tourist, sticking to the tourist sites, having no contacts in the country and speaking little Spanish, will not see the repression nor the discontent – which cannot be safely expressed. They will come home saying that Guatemala is a beautiful country with smiling people, which is also true. Moreover, the situation is complex and I am struggling to understand it. Therefore I’m relating to you anecdotes which I have been told or have experienced, because they are my own windows on reality.

Hundreds of thousands of Guatemalans live in “asentamientos” or settlements in and around the capital. They are generally on government lands that they have “invaded”. There is a desperate lack of housing available because of rapid urban growth due to the violence in the countryside and economic hard times, exacerbated by the earthquake in 1972. The settlers build makeshift houses and organize to demand electricity, water, and schools for the new community, as well as title to the land. They are not always successful.

The asentamiento of Mesquital, I was told, had been very careful not to show who its leaders were, lest they become targets for disappearance. Every time they met the press or the authorities, someone different would speak for the organization.

Then suddenly, one man became the visible leader of Mesquital, always the spokesperson, and directing the organization. According to the observer who told me the story, he was in effect limiting the demands being made by the community and undermining the strength of their organization. People in Mesquital were convinced that he was working for the CIA. The last I heard, as I was leaving, was that the community was publicly refusing to recognize him as their leader.