In Photos: The Hidden Corners of Santa Anita

For approximately 36 years, Guatemala was at war with itself. Or rather, there was war within itself. From 1960 to 1996, State enacted atrocities that under today’s international human rights standards would have qualified as genocide. Between 80,000 and 200,000 people were killed and 50,000 people “disappeared”. When it became clear that the decade of governmental labor unions and social reforms were too far left for the comfort of Western stakeholders, the CIA intervened with its first recorded Latin American government intervention, overthrowing the populist  government in 1954, filling the void with extremist leaders and dictators and decades of conflict. The indigenous people of Guatemala, the Maya,  were specially, systematically stripped of their wealth of agricultural resources.

Hundreds of thousands resisted, forming guerilla factions.  Taking advantage of the dense, mountainous terrain of Guatemala, they used armed conflict and unarmed social movements as their primary weapon against the government that was crushing the People into gravel to pave the roads for the Wealthy elite.

Throughout the 60s, 70s, and 80s they fought this way. A community of believers and survivors, struggling to regain their rights, their land, their homeland, and their identity.

In 1996, the conflict was brought to an official close with the signing of the peace accords in December. The fighting was anything but civil, and despite the overwhelming atrocities of the government, the guerillas often exacerbated the violence with many ignominious actions of their own.

Many guerillas attempted a return to a life of normalcy. For a cohort of 500 who had fought together for decades, they took a different path. They established a farm (finca) called Santa Anita, on which dug in roots to grow up their children in peace.

Santa Anita is perhaps known today as the ex-guerilla commune that produces organic, fair-trade coffee, along with a delectable banana bread.  I wanted to show a few of the pictures of the people and places behind the rows of coffee trees. The wild vegetation that reminds them of their decades of struggle. A woman demonstrating what they used to eat (still eat) while in the mountains. The hands that fought the war.

Trail to the Mountains

Mountain Trail

Salads

Mountains and Valleys

"Arthur"

The Shape of the War