GUATEMALA

Source: http://worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/namerica/camerica/gt.htm

General Information

Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala is a country in Central America, in the south part of North America, bordering Mexico to the northwest, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize and the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast.

History Infrastructure Media Outlets Government Agencies Universities Embassies and Consulates

Maps and geographic Information Government

To know more about Guatemala:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guatemala

http:// www.deguate.com

https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/gt.html

History:

The Mayans were dominant through much of Central America from the fifth until the eighth century when their civilization declined and a variety of other ethnic groups moved into the region. Europeans arrived in the 15th century, and Guatemala was one of the territories overrun by the Spanish conquistador Cortés in the 17th century. Pressure on their empire during the early 19th century forced the Spanish to concede independence to their American colonies, principally Mexico, into which Guatemala was briefly incorporated in 1822. Subsequent plans to fuse the countries of the Central American isthmus were equally short lived. Guatemala enjoyed comparative stability, punctuated by brief periods of upheaval, under a series of dictators who were content to keep the country under a quasi-feudal regime underpinned by a small clique of land-owning families.

The government of Colonel Arbenz Guzman attempted various land reforms in the early 1950s, but was overthrown by a US-backed invasion led by military opponents of Arbenz. The country then slid into a state of almost perpetual civil war between a series of right-wing military governments and various leftist guerrilla movements: a major figure during this period was the former general Efrain Rios Montt, a self-styled evangelist who as army chief of staff and (briefly) president during the 1970s and 80s presided over a vicious counter-insurgency campaign whose savagery was exceptional even by the standards of the era and the region.

Although Guatemala has completed a successful transition from military to civilian government, the military retains considerable political power. This transition began in May 1985, when Guatemala’s new constitution was put into effect. The center-right Partido Democracia Cristiana Guatemalteca (PDCG) formed the majority party in the new National Congress, staying in control until 1995 when they came up against serious challenges from the Plan por el Adelantamiento Nacional (National Advance Party, PAN), which is dominated by business interests, and the Frente Republicano - Guatemalteco (FRG), which enjoys close relations with the army and a coterie of established landowners. A period of political musical chairs ended at the start of 1995 with a FRG/PDCG coalition in control of the legislature. The 1995 election was notable for the participation, for the first time, of some left-wing parties allied to the anti-government guerrillas.

The most recent polls in December 2003 brought victory for the FRG for a second consecutive term. The FRG and PAN now dominate Guatemalan politics. Only now has the Government been prepared to admit that its predecessors, especially the Rios Montt regime, were responsible for massive human rights abuses: this is still a central and highly sensitive issue in Guatemalan domestic politics. An exhaustive UN-sponsored investigation concluded in 1999 that the army was responsible for 90 per cent of the estimated 200,000 killings. The complicity and active assistance of successive American governments in the counter-insurgency campaign was also highlighted, and drew an unprecedented apology from US president Bill Clinton. Under the terms of the deal (see above) which ended the civil war, the culprits will go unpunished.

From (http://www.iexplore.com/dmap/Guatemala/History)

TOP

Infrastructure

Railways

total:

* 322 km (200 miles) operated by RDC, freight only

* 563 km (350 miles) closed

narrow gauge: 884 km 0.914-m gauge (single track)

Railway links with adjacent countries

* Mexico - currently closed - break-of-gauge 914mm/1435 mm

* Belize - no

* Honduras - none in use - break-of-gauge 914mm/1067 mm (?)

* El Salvador - currently closed

Highways

total: 13,100 km

paved: 3,616 km (including 140 km of expressways)

unpaved: 9,484 km (1996 est.) Guatemala

Waterways

260 km navigable year round; additional 730 km navigable during high-water season

Ports and harbors

Atlantic Ocean

* Puerto Barrios, Santo Tomás de Castilla

Pacific Ocean

* Champerico, Puerto Quetzal, Puerto San José

Airports

477 (1999 est.)

Airports - with paved runways

Total: 11

2,438 to 3,047 m: 3

1,524 to 2,437 m: 2

914 to 1,523 m: 5

under 914 m: 2 (1999 est.)

TOP

Embassies and Consulates:

Link to the list of Embassies in Managua: (Spanish)

http://www.minex.gob.gt/SistemaProtocolo/ProtocoloS/ConsultaM.asp?T=MRE0SPQ&A=DGI3S

Universities

(Information in Spanish)

Universidad Galileo

Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala

Universidad del Istmo

Universidad del Valle de Guatemala

Universidad Francisco Marroquín

Universidad Mariano Gálvez

Universidad Mesoamericana

Universidad Panamericana

Universidad Rafael Landívar

TOP

Government Agencies

Related to natural resources

(most of the information is in Spanish)

Ministries

Ministerio de Energía y Minas: http://www.mem.gob.gt

Ministerio de Ambiente y Recursos Naturales http://www.marn.gob.gt

Institutions

INSIVUMEH. Instituto Nacional de Sismología, Vulcanología, Meteorología e Hidrología. http://www.insivumeh.gob.gt/

IGN: Instituto Geográfico Nacional: http://www.ign.gob.gt/

CONRED: Coordinadora Nacional Para la Reducción de Desastres www.conred.org/principal.php

CONAP: Consejo Nacional de Areas Protegidas

http://conap.online.fr/

Geographic Information

Links to other sources of maps:

http://209.15.138.224/inmochapin/maps.htm

TOP

Media Outlets

PRESS (In Spanish)

PRENSA LIBRE	www.prensalibre.com
LA HORA	www.lahora.com.gt
SIGLO VEINTIUNO	www.sigloxxi.com
EL PERIODICO	www.elperiodico.com.gt
DIARIO DE CENTRO AMERICA	www.dca.gob.gt
LA REPUBLICA	-------
NUESTRO DIARIO	www.nuestrodiario.com
AL DIA	-------
EL QUETZALTECO	-------
EL METROPOLITANO	www.elmetropolitano.net

Government

Under the 1986 constitution, legislative power is vested in a single-chamber elected assembly with 80 members directly elected every four years. The President, also elected every four years, holds executive power.

HOME ESPAÑOL TOP