Philip S. MacLeod, Curator
May 1999
The Communist Party has had a tortured existence in Guatemala. For the majority of its history the movement has remained illegal and been subjected to violent government repression. The capture and assassination of various leaders over time forced teh party to constantly restructure itself. In addition the party has suffered from rampant factionalism over conflicting interpretations of Marxism, involvement with guerrilla activity and other issues. Consequently the party always lacked members and remained a marginal force in Guatemalan politics.
The first Communist party was founded in Guatemala in 1923. It emerged out of the incipient labor movement during the period of political liberalization after the fall of dictator Manuel Estrada Cabrera (1898-1920). President Jorge Ubico ordered the arrest and detention of a number of prominent communist leaders after a peasant rebellion with Marxist elements in El Salvador. This forced the party underground until the Revolution of 1944. The party would remain outlawed under the government of President Juan José Arévalo (1945-1950) and was only allowed to operate legally during the administration of Jacobo Arbenz (1951-1954). It was ruing this "ten years of spring" when divisions started to appear within the movement.
A faction of Marxists organized a secret group called Vanguardia Democratica within Arévalo's ruling party in 1947. José Manuel Fortuny, Vanguardia's leader, formed his own organization, the Partido Comunista de Guatemala, in 1949, after he proved unable to take control of the governing party. A rival group known as the Partido Revolucionário de Trabajadores Guatemaltecos, under the leadership of labor organizer Victor Manuel Gutierrez, formed in 1950. Gutierrez later dissolved his faction and the Marxists united in 1952, adopting the name Partido Guatemalteco de Trabajo (PGT). After the overthrow of Arbenz by a CIA-sponsored coup in 1954, the PGT was again made illegal and became a clandestine movement. Some party members, including José Manuel Fortuny, escaped to Mexico and tried to remain active in PGT affairs from exile.
Remnants of the PGT came together with student rebels and the surviving leaders of a failed 1960 military revolt to form the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionárias (FAR) in 1962. The PGT became the political organization for the guerrillas, but the movement was never very unified. In 1966 the police raided a secret meeting of the PGT and seized twenty eight people, including Victor Manuel Gutierrez. All these individuals subsequently disappeared.
Government counter-insurgency operations defeated FAR guerrilla campaigns by 1967. In 1968 the FAR leadership criticized the PGT for its lukewarm support of armed revolution and broke its ties to the Party. After this the PFT lost many of its younger supporters to the FAR. The PGT's Fourth Party Congress was held in 1969 and this was the group's final such gathering. The PGT continued its clandestine activities, but carried out few military operations. Its areas of strength were in Guatemala City and the South Coast.
The party suffered some severe blows in the 1970s, which limited its effectiveness. A new alliance with the FAR fell apart. Several members of the party's Central Committee were kidnapped and assassinated in 1972. Huberto Alvarado Arellano, the party's General Secretary, was murdered in 1974. A total of two general secretaries and nineteen Central Committee members disappeared between 1972 and 1983; all were the apparent victims of assassination.
Factionalism became a problem for the PGT beginning in the 1970s. In 1978 a faction, which became known as the Nucleo de Dirección del PGT (PGT-ND), split over the party's lack of participation in guerrilla activity. The sector of the party, named the Comité Central del PGT (PGT-CC), continued to be the internationally recognized Communist Party in Guatemala. A second faction called the Comisión Militar del PGT also appeared. The factionalized party was increasingly pushed to the sidelines.
Two new guerrilla groups, the Ejército Guerrillero de los Pobres (EGP) and the Organización Revolucionária del Pueblo en Armas (ORPA), emerged during the 1970s. Three revolutionary groups (EGP, FAR, and PGT-ND) joined together to coordinate guerrilla actions in 1979. ORPA joined a year later.
The late 1970s and early 1980s witnessed a dramatic escalation of violence in Guatemala. Guerrilla activity, the mobilization of labor, students and other groups led to increased military repression and violent counter-insurgency campaigns. In 1982 the four guerrilla groups declared an alliance, under a unitary structure, the Unidad Revolucionária Nacional Guatemalteca (URNG). The URNG suffered serious internal problems.
In the mid 1980s there was a rapprochement between the PGT-CC and PGT-ND which allowed both sectors to sign a joint statement commemorating the party's 38th anniversary in 1987. The URNG substituted the PGT-CC for the PGT-ND in the guerrilla leadership structure. The PGT suffered yet another internal split when a faction known as the PGT-6 de enero appeared and called for a renewal of the party. There is little information available about the PGT after this point.
By the mid 1980s a stalemate prevailed with the guerrillas unable to seize power and the military incapable of defeating the rebels. Guatemala's military establishment turned power over to a civilian-led government in 1986. The first direct negotiations between the Guatemalan government and URNG began in 1987, but nothing came from these talks. The mediation of Bishopo Rodolfo Quezada y Cruz led the URNG to meet with representatives from various segments of Guatemalan society, which laid the basis for peace accords. Direct negotiations between the government and guerrillas began again in 1991. The talks bogged down over the issue of human rights and the 1993 constitutional coup. The talks were renewed in 1994 under United Nations' auspices. A peace agreement was signed in February, 1996.
