The Guatemalan Civil War was a conflict between military governments and leftist guerrilla groups, which began after a coup in 1954, backed by the United States, had overthrown the elected president Jacobo Arbenz. The guerrillas drew strength from the rural Maya population and from land and social grievances. In the early 1980s the army adopted a scorched-earth policy against Maya villages, which, according to the UN-backed Historical Clarification Commission, caused the great majority of deaths and amounted to acts of genocide. About two hundred thousand people were killed or disappeared. A peace agreement was signed in 1996, and former president Efrain Rios Montt was later convicted of genocide, though the verdict was annulled.
Before and after
- 26 October 1959Birth of Evo Morales
- 1 December 1959Antarctic Treaty System
- 1960Founding of Somalia
- c. 1960sRise of Fluxus
- from 1960 to 1996Guatemalan Civil War
- from 1960 to 1970The Beatles
- 1960Founding of Islamabad
- 1960Construction of Lien Khuong Airport
- 1960Construction of Can Tho International Airport
More in Wars, politics & history
- from 3 April 1948 to 1 December 1951Marshall Plan
- 26 July 1953Cuban Revolution
- from 14 October 1962 to 28 October 1962Cuban Missile Crisis
- from 6 October 1973 to 26 October 1973Yom Kippur War
- from 2 April 1982 to 14 June 1982Falklands War
- 5 November 20242024 United States presidential election
The era
This moment belongs to the Contemporary world (1945 CE to today), the world since 1945. You can also browse everything in the 20th century.