A republic of Central America, Guatemala has coastlines on the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean. Area: 108,889 sq km (42,042 sq mi). Pop. (1994 est.): 10,322,000. Cap.: Guatemala City. Monetary unit: quetzal, with (Oct. 7, 1994) a free rate of 5.76 quetzales to U.S. $1 (9.17 quetzales = £ 1 sterling). President in 1994, Ramiro de León Carpio.
Frequent assassinations, bomb attacks, human rights abuses, land conflicts, labour disputes, and demonstrations marked 1994 as yet another violent year in Guatemala. The government of Pres. Ramiro de León Carpio faced one crisis after another and appeared increasingly impotent, although it moved forward on the political path to democracy.
In January the government and the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity agreed to resume peace negotiations (broken off in May 1993) and to sign a peace accord by the end of the year. Several subsidiary accords were signed during 1994; one of them involved the resettlement of people displaced by the armed conflict. There was no cease-fire, however, and insurgent activity continued.
Fewer than 20% of voters turned out for the January 30 referendum on constitutional change. Of those, 69% voted in favour of a new Congress and Supreme Court. Critics of the government pointed to the low turnout as evidence that the president had lost credibility, and there were rumours of coup attempts by the military. The Supreme Electoral Tribunal convened congressional elections for August 14. The number of deputies was reduced from 116 to 80, of which 64 were departmental and 16 nationwide. In another low turnout only 18.5% of the electorate cast valid votes, with high abstention rates in rural areas. The Guatemalan Republican Front, led by the fundamentalist evangelical former dictator Efraín Ríos Montt, won 32 seats, and another right-wing party, the National Advancement Party, won 24. (For tabulated results, see Political Parties, above.) The new Congress was inaugurated on September 13.
A massive police operation against alleged baby traffickers led to the discovery of several crib houses and arrests early in the year. In March a mob brutally beat a U.S. citizen, June Diane Weinstock, when it was rumoured that she had been trying to kidnap a child in San Cristóbal Verapaz. She was left unconscious and remained in a coma for weeks. There was speculation that the attack was instigated to destabilize the administration and thus justify greater military involvement in civilian policing. Another woman, Jennifer Harbury, who went on a 32-day hunger strike to force the government to release her husband, a leftist rebel who had been captured in 1992, faced legal action in November. The incidents had profound repercussions in the tourist industry, where cancellations caused lost revenue forecast at up to $100 million.
This updates the article Guatemala, history of.