A Beauty That Hurts
Life and Death in Guatemala
When A Beauty That Hurts was first published in 1995, Guatemala was still one of the world’s most flagrant violators of human rights. If any measure of peace has come to the country, George Lovell contends, it is a peace resembling war. Lovell revisits a seductive but tormented land to reprise, and revise, his classic account of the evil perpetrated by a military-dominated state on its indigenous Maya peoples.
A Beauty That Hurts frames the armed conflict that raged in Guatemala, off and on from 1960 to 1996, in historical, cultural, and political context. It also examines the shortcomings of the Peace Accord signed over two decades ago, concluding that the social and economic inequalities that triggered upheaval in the first place have yet to be addressed.
Reviews
This is a true Guatemala Guide. George Lovell didn’t choose Guatemala—he was chosen by this land, in a magic way, to tell us about the shining voices that whisper in the heart of darkness.
– Eduardo Galeano, author of Open Veins of Latin America and Memory of Fire
George Lovell is one of the few outsiders who has penetrated to the heart of the hideous tragedy that burns amidst Guatemala’s beauty. He takes us there with style, originality, and calm understanding in this wise and moving book.
– Ronald Wright, author of Time Among the Maya and Stolen Continents
Contents
| Preface | |
| Acronyms | |
| Map | |
| Part I | Struggle and Survival |
| 1. | Q’anjob ’al Canadian |
| 2. | Nobel K’iche’ |
| 3. | Jakaltek American |
| 4. | Doña Magdalena |
| 5. | Through a Lens, Darkly |
| 6. | Devils and Angels |
| Part II | Blood and Ink |
| 7. | The Delivery Man |
| 8. | Into the Fire |
| 9. | Scorched Earth |
| 10. | Futility at the Polls |
| 11. | Civilian Rule |
| 12. | A Militarized Society |
| 13. | The Daily News |
| 14. | The Fiction of Democracy |
| 15. | Searching for Peace |
| 16. | Scarred by War |
| 17. | How Was Guatemala? |
| A Guatemalan Gallery | |
| Part III | A Peace Resembling War |
| 18. | Arzú (1996–2000) and the Peace Accord |
| 19. | Gerardi, REMHI, and the Spectre of Impunity |
| 20. | Tomuschat and the Truth Commission |
| 21. | Apology, Denial, and the Death-Squad Diary |
| 22. | Justice and Representation |
| 23. | Portillo (2000–2004) and the Corruption of Power |
| 24. | Berger (2004–2008), the Atrocity Archive, and Business as Usual |
| 25. | Colom (2008–2012) and the Failure of the State |
| 26. | Pérez Molina (2012–2015) and the End of the Line |
| Part IV | History, Archives, and the Enduring Maya |
| 27. | The Colonial Experience |
| 28. | The Century after Independence |
| 29. | Arbenz and the Fruit Company |
| 30. | The Archive that Never Was |
| 31. | The T-Shirt Parade |
| 32. | Indians in the Backcountry |
| Epilogue | |
| Sources and Commentary | |
| Index |
