Opinion Editorial
Scorched Earth Operations: The Fuel for the Resistance
“These were essentially scorched earth operations,” Kate Doyle explains in an interview with Ira Glass. “Soldiers would sweep through targeted areas. They were using plans drafted by the Army High Command. And they would essentially kill everything in sight.” The killing of innocent indigenous Guatemalans and the razing of their villages in these scorched earth operations led many indigenous people to join the guerrilla movement.
Scorched earth operations are a military strategy of wiping out the oppositions resources. This can include the destruction of resources and agricultural lands for the production of food, the befouling of water sources and irrigation, and the killing of the people and/or livestock. The Guatemalan army used this strategy against villages that they believed were cooperating with the guerrillas.
“Starting in the 1960s, small guerrilla groups challenged what was a corrupt and repressive government. There was also a broader movement calling for political rights, land reform, and workers’ rights. This always met with brutal violence. Reformers were assassinated. Civilian populations in the countryside were accused of harboring guerrillas and exterminated in the name of anti-communism. This violence peaked in the 1980s,” describes Ira Glass in a report on a village whose people were massacred because of a rumor about guerrilla weapons being hidden there (Rotella 2012).
When the guerrillas started mounting offensives against the state because of the condition of the government at the time, the army began their scorched earth campaigns. The scorched earth campaigns consisted of groups of soldiers moving through indigenous villages and destroying anything and anyone affiliated with the rebel guerrillas. Because of this, the Mayan people supported the rebels.
All that was needed to prompt such an attack was giving food to the guerrilla rebels. As Habiba Nosheen, a reporter, said; “At the time, the military was waging its scorched earth campaign where they destroy any village they suspected of helping guerrillas, even something as small as giving them some food” (Rotella 2012).
The village of Cocob was one of these towns. The guerrillas had foxholes all around the town and the villagers fully supported the guerrillas. According to one declassified CIA document:
“(One soldier) explained that the village was totally under control of the EGP (Guerrilla Army of the Poor) and that the local population appeared to fully support the guerrillas. During the battle it was impossible to differentiate between the actual guerrillas and innocent civilians, and according to (another soldier), the soldiers were forced to fire at anything that moved… The authorities point out, however, that the EGP appeared to completely control the village, and enjoyed the full support of the entire population.”
Another town that suffered from army attacks was a small village called La Estancia. La Estancia was a peaceful village with a close community. But, “before the end of 1980 the entire community of La Estancia, some 4,000 individuals, except for a few families in an isolated mountainous zone, had disappeared. A band of about 40 young men and women had joined the EGP guerrillas. The rest of the people had become refugees, scattered throughout Guatemala and neighboring countries; all had become guerrilla sympathizers” (Carmack 2010).
The people of La Estancia were scattered, broken, and homeless. They wanted to do something about the atrocious acts committed against them. So they either joined the guerrilla or became sympathizers with the guerrillas. This is what many people went through when the scorched earth operation were being carried out by the Guatemalan army.
The people of Dos Erres were not guerrilla sympathizers. They were simple peasants. But when the Guatemalan army arrived at their doorstep, none of that mattered. What started as one soldier raping a girl in a field turned into the massacre of an entire village.
When the other soldiers saw that one of their leaders was taking advantage of this girl, they all joined in. pretty soon, they progressed to killing all of the men and women. They did this by both throwing people into a nearby well. What had started as an operation to capture some rifles that were rumored to be in the village transformed into the rape and massacre of an entire town.
Twelve years later, when forensic anthropologists investigated the killings in Dos Erres, they discovered that the first victim of this massacre was an infant. It’s bones, along with the bones of 162 other victims, were unearthed in this death-pit, even when the local prosecutor said they would only find dog bones.
The anthropologists took the bones to the nearest town, put them together best they could, and put them on display with articles of clothing that were found next to each body so that they might be identified by the villagers. The people filed by, looking at the tragic remnants of a massacre twelve years ago. Some of the villagers recognize articles of clothing that belonged to someone they knew, but only 10 people actually came forward and identified relatives. This is because they were still afraid that if they told, they would be killed (Rotella 2012).
The government saw that people were joining the guerrillas and decided to put a stop to it. So they said “civilians in the area who agree to collaborate with the army and who seek army protection are to be well treated and cared for in refugee camps for the duration of the operation” (CIA doc: Counterinsurgency operation in EL Quiché).
The indigenous people of Guatemala joined the guerrilla resistance because their villages were being attacked in the scorched earth campaigns of the Guatemalan army. Their homes were destroyed, their food sources gone, and their families and friends were murdered. If you had no home, your family was dead, and you knew who caused all of this to happen, what would you do? Would you seek refuge with the people who committed these crimes against you, or would you take up arms against them, fighting for what you have lost?
Bibliography
Carmack, Robert M. "Indians and the Guatemalan Revolution." Cultural Survival. N.p., 9 Feb. 2010. Web. 27 Feb. 2013. <http://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/guatemala/indians-and-guatemalan-revolution>.
Rotella, Sebastian, Ana Arana, Brian Reed, and Habiba Nosheen. "What Happened At Dos Erres." This American Life. WBEZ Chicago, 25 May 2012. Web. 13 Feb. 2013.
United States of America. Central Intelligence Agency. Guatemalan Soldiers Kill Civilians in Cocob. N.p.: n.p., n.d. George Washington University National Security Archive. George Washington University. Web. 13 Feb. 2013.
United States of America. Central Intelligence Agency. N.p.: n.p., n.d.Counterinsurgency Operation in El Quiché. George Washington University. Web. 14 Feb. 2013.
Scorched earth operations are a military strategy of wiping out the oppositions resources. This can include the destruction of resources and agricultural lands for the production of food, the befouling of water sources and irrigation, and the killing of the people and/or livestock. The Guatemalan army used this strategy against villages that they believed were cooperating with the guerrillas.
“Starting in the 1960s, small guerrilla groups challenged what was a corrupt and repressive government. There was also a broader movement calling for political rights, land reform, and workers’ rights. This always met with brutal violence. Reformers were assassinated. Civilian populations in the countryside were accused of harboring guerrillas and exterminated in the name of anti-communism. This violence peaked in the 1980s,” describes Ira Glass in a report on a village whose people were massacred because of a rumor about guerrilla weapons being hidden there (Rotella 2012).
When the guerrillas started mounting offensives against the state because of the condition of the government at the time, the army began their scorched earth campaigns. The scorched earth campaigns consisted of groups of soldiers moving through indigenous villages and destroying anything and anyone affiliated with the rebel guerrillas. Because of this, the Mayan people supported the rebels.
All that was needed to prompt such an attack was giving food to the guerrilla rebels. As Habiba Nosheen, a reporter, said; “At the time, the military was waging its scorched earth campaign where they destroy any village they suspected of helping guerrillas, even something as small as giving them some food” (Rotella 2012).
The village of Cocob was one of these towns. The guerrillas had foxholes all around the town and the villagers fully supported the guerrillas. According to one declassified CIA document:
“(One soldier) explained that the village was totally under control of the EGP (Guerrilla Army of the Poor) and that the local population appeared to fully support the guerrillas. During the battle it was impossible to differentiate between the actual guerrillas and innocent civilians, and according to (another soldier), the soldiers were forced to fire at anything that moved… The authorities point out, however, that the EGP appeared to completely control the village, and enjoyed the full support of the entire population.”
Another town that suffered from army attacks was a small village called La Estancia. La Estancia was a peaceful village with a close community. But, “before the end of 1980 the entire community of La Estancia, some 4,000 individuals, except for a few families in an isolated mountainous zone, had disappeared. A band of about 40 young men and women had joined the EGP guerrillas. The rest of the people had become refugees, scattered throughout Guatemala and neighboring countries; all had become guerrilla sympathizers” (Carmack 2010).
The people of La Estancia were scattered, broken, and homeless. They wanted to do something about the atrocious acts committed against them. So they either joined the guerrilla or became sympathizers with the guerrillas. This is what many people went through when the scorched earth operation were being carried out by the Guatemalan army.
The people of Dos Erres were not guerrilla sympathizers. They were simple peasants. But when the Guatemalan army arrived at their doorstep, none of that mattered. What started as one soldier raping a girl in a field turned into the massacre of an entire village.
When the other soldiers saw that one of their leaders was taking advantage of this girl, they all joined in. pretty soon, they progressed to killing all of the men and women. They did this by both throwing people into a nearby well. What had started as an operation to capture some rifles that were rumored to be in the village transformed into the rape and massacre of an entire town.
Twelve years later, when forensic anthropologists investigated the killings in Dos Erres, they discovered that the first victim of this massacre was an infant. It’s bones, along with the bones of 162 other victims, were unearthed in this death-pit, even when the local prosecutor said they would only find dog bones.
The anthropologists took the bones to the nearest town, put them together best they could, and put them on display with articles of clothing that were found next to each body so that they might be identified by the villagers. The people filed by, looking at the tragic remnants of a massacre twelve years ago. Some of the villagers recognize articles of clothing that belonged to someone they knew, but only 10 people actually came forward and identified relatives. This is because they were still afraid that if they told, they would be killed (Rotella 2012).
The government saw that people were joining the guerrillas and decided to put a stop to it. So they said “civilians in the area who agree to collaborate with the army and who seek army protection are to be well treated and cared for in refugee camps for the duration of the operation” (CIA doc: Counterinsurgency operation in EL Quiché).
The indigenous people of Guatemala joined the guerrilla resistance because their villages were being attacked in the scorched earth campaigns of the Guatemalan army. Their homes were destroyed, their food sources gone, and their families and friends were murdered. If you had no home, your family was dead, and you knew who caused all of this to happen, what would you do? Would you seek refuge with the people who committed these crimes against you, or would you take up arms against them, fighting for what you have lost?
Bibliography
Carmack, Robert M. "Indians and the Guatemalan Revolution." Cultural Survival. N.p., 9 Feb. 2010. Web. 27 Feb. 2013. <http://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/guatemala/indians-and-guatemalan-revolution>.
Rotella, Sebastian, Ana Arana, Brian Reed, and Habiba Nosheen. "What Happened At Dos Erres." This American Life. WBEZ Chicago, 25 May 2012. Web. 13 Feb. 2013.
United States of America. Central Intelligence Agency. Guatemalan Soldiers Kill Civilians in Cocob. N.p.: n.p., n.d. George Washington University National Security Archive. George Washington University. Web. 13 Feb. 2013.
United States of America. Central Intelligence Agency. N.p.: n.p., n.d.Counterinsurgency Operation in El Quiché. George Washington University. Web. 14 Feb. 2013.