by Apichart
Panyadee
Temperate highlands, tropical lowlands which front two
coasts, and the flat, jungles of the Peten region give geographic variety to
this unsettled and most populous nation of Central America. Pop culture from
North America, USA and Canada, reaches only the surface of Guatemala’s
complex and divided society. Separated by race and history, and Indian majority
and a largely Spanish ruling minority have given rise to a Latino culture that
accounts for about 45% of the population. Deep rifts between rich and poor also
impede a national identity.
Flashy
and cosmopolitan Guatemala City.
Where land is life, highlanders turn mountainsides into
terraced fields. Subdivided over centuries, small highland plots sustain the
country’s greatest rural population density. In a nation where a wealthy
handful own half the farm acreage, land reform has been a major fuse for
national turmoil. It is true that Guatemala has climbed some dark and steep
stairs toward a fragile democracy, but to those who know it best, the nation
may be at last emerging into the light.
A claim to Belize was omitted from the 1985 constitution,
which cooled a long-simmering dispute that pitted Guatemala against world
opinion, and Belize’s protector, Great Britain. Regionally strategic as
Mexico’s southern neighbour, Guatemala had been convulsed by the longest
running insurgency in Central America. But now the Guatemalans feel that the
biggest change in their country has been the ‘relaxing of terror” on all
sides.
The
diverse population includes the ‘black Caribe’ fishermen along the
Caribbean shores.
Almost one third of the people in Central America live in
Guatemala. It is blessed with remarkably fertile volcanic soil, a cosmopolitan
middle class, and the largest manufacturing base in that tiny isthmus which
connects the two great continents of North and South America. Yet is has never
lived up to its potential. Consider education; nearly half of the population is
illiterate or semi-literate. Only 20 percent have gone to high school.
Or consider health. The nation grows enough good to export
meat and vegetables to the USA and other Central American countries. Yet of
every hundred nationals who die, about 40 are children under the age of five
who perish from malnutrition.
Distribution of wealth is another sore point. The population
is growing rapidly and each decade there are twice as many citizens as there
are new Guatemalan jobs. Wealthy landowners control the country’s wealth,
therefore the politics.
But the nation’s capital, Guatemala City enjoys an
affluent intimacy once reserved for the elite. An oasis of light and
cosmopolitan polish, Sixth Avenue’s commercial artery gleams at rush hour in
the heart of the largest urban population between Mexico City and Medellin,
Columbia.
In this tiny country there is diversity. Though its language
of rule and its dominate culture are Hispanic, it is the only state in North
America with a predominately Indian population. It’s prevailing Roman
Catholicism, rich in history and moving ritual, it is being challenged by a
lively Protestant movement that now claims the adherence of about 30 percent of
the population.
Guatemala City is a modern Third World capital 20 times
larger than any provincial city in the country. And the countryside is decades,
some would say centuries, behind.
Fragile
designs of sawdust and flower petals line the streets of the villages during
the Good Friday celebrations.
Even the geography does not seem to be of all one piece.
Climatically and topographically, it seems to be three countries. The humid
tropical lowlands of the Pacific littoral, the Atlantic coast and the chilled
and clouded highlands and volcano-dotted Sierra Madre are tributes to a
congenial region of variety of vegetation and climate. Around the capital city
something is always blooming. In January, the flaming yellow palo blanco
tree, in February, the sumptuous bougainvillaea, in March, the purple Nazarene,
and so on through all the seasons.
Underneath this riot of colour, the city has grown
uncontrolled, without plan. With or without jobs, Guatemalans move to the city
seeking a better life. Some find it, others are simply escaping rural poverty
and hoping for the best.
During Holy Week, Guatemalan religious expression reaches
its highest intensity. Shops close, traffic vanishes, and Guatemala City is
practically deserted. Elaborate costume processions grace the streets of cities
and villages. Heavy floats depicting the Virgin Mary, the suffering Christ and
other saintly figures pass slowly by on the shoulders of villagers. Overnight
these streets have been laid with coloured sawdust carpets. Some of them four
blocks long. The crowd kneels to pray as the procession reaches each station of
the Cross, and the dreamlike magic of Guatemala’s traditional life comes into
full play.
