The Democracy Development Machine

Front matter

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A f 4

Contents

Acknowledgments

List of Abbreviations

Introduction: A Transition to Misery

Index

166 193

217 233 249

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

It is a miracle that this book was ever written, and the fact that it was is a result of tremendous debts. My decision to do research in Guatemala was heavily influenced by the enthusiasm of colleagues at the University of Texas at Austin, especially Irma Alicia Velázquez-Nimatuj, Ramón Ponciano Gonzales, Ven de la Cruz, and Ajb'ee Jimenez. Thank you for your patience and generosity over the years. UT Austin presented a truly unique and wonderful place and time to study political anthropology in Latin America and the borderlands. I am fortunate to have met and shared ideas with an unusually large number of committed scholars and activists: Mark Anderson, Melissa Biggs, Ronda Brulotte, Vania Cardoso, Ben Chappell, Emiliana Cruz, Richard Flores, Melissa Forbis, Jen Goett, Pablo Gonzalez, Ted Gordon, Pete Haney, Scott Head, Keisha Khan-Perry, Cale Layton, Liz Lilliott, Chris Loperena, Korinta Maldonado, Mariana Mora, Courtney Morris, Vivian Newdick, Brandt Peterson, Nadjah Ríos, Gilberto Rosas, Apen Ruíz, Lynn Selby, Dan Sharp, Fernanda Soto, Shannon Speed, Angela Stuesse, Heather Teague, Mike Trujillo, and Jackie Zahn. It x Acknowledgments will always be humbling to be among this generation of luminaries. Teresa Velasquez has been a constant collaborator whose combination of commitment, brilliance, and sense of humor is without equal. I am also thankful to the staff of the Benson Latin American Collection, who curate the many treasures stored there.

I was blessed to have had a large group of nonanthropologist but equally brilliant friends over several iterations of Austin life, including Billy O’Leary, Natalie Vallot, Darren Jones, Tamara Goheen, Jacob Childress, Chris McNett, Anne Merrill, and Karla Steffen, many of whom happened to later staff the anthropology department. I was in a vibrant intellectual world inhabited by Stapp Beeton, Dave Breshears, Jon Brody, Chris Burk, Nikheel Dhekne, Eric Emerson, Jeni Emerson, Blake Eno, Michelle Gajda, Ryan Goodman, Penelope Gonzalez-Marks, Derek Jenks, Yuri Kostun, Kevin Kuswa, Brian McBride, Georgette Oden, Megan O’Neil, Joel Page, Jay Reed, Judd Renken, Joel Rollins, Bill and Kim Shanahan, Kate Shuster, Stephen Stetson, Sammi Whitmire, and Dave Wyrick. They set me on a path of ethical and political development that led me to anthropology.

Acknowledgments xi

I had encountered Brian Ragsdale, Orion Auld, Chris Carty, Seth Ulrich, and Andy Graan even earlier.

My family—Marian, Bud, Mildred, Bill, Scott, and Catherine—is a truly eclectic group and has been a constant source of support and perspective over the years, including offering some suggestions with which I completely disagree. The Jimenez family—Blanca, Mary, Fabi, Luis, Romelia, José, Miguel, Julio, Victor, Eva, German, and Marvin—welcomed me into their lives in San Sebastián, taught me many things, and showed me the true meaning of hospitality. My compas from Asociación Ceiba were Luisa Morales, Erick Monroy, Pepe Maldonado, Anna Maria Ramos, Alfonso Morales, Chepe Díaz, Chepe Ros, Elías Raymundo, Marina Domingo, Candelaria Gabriel, Fabiana Ortíz, Carolina Floren, Tom Feyaerts, and Francisca Velasquez. Without the guidance of the indomitable Isabel Sáenz, whose work for women’s rights knows no limits, I would have never gotten very far. The team at the Centro de Estudios y Documentación de la Frontera Noroeste de Guatemala (CEDFOG) provided a tremendous resource. It is a true loss for the region that their doors have closed. Pedro Camajà and Aníbal Salazar from FUNDEBASE have been central to my current understanding and research.

Anthropologists working in Guatemala and Central America are a model for dedication and intellectual generosity, among them Santiago Bastos, Jennifer Burrell, Manuela Camus, Ted Fischer, Liza Grandia, Carlota McAllister, Ellen Moodie, Diane Nelson, Debra Rodman, and Finn Stepputat. The following kind and wise individuals read and commented on parts of the manuscript: Abigail Adams, Aaron Ansell, Ted Fischer, Carol Greenhouse, Akhil Gupta, Matt Heaton, Eric Jenkins, Stuart Kirsch, Christine Labuski, Chad Lavin, Tania Li, David Nugent, Peter Potter, Barbara Ellen Smith, Steve Striffler, and Janell Watson, along with several anonymous reviewers. All errors are mine alone.

My time at Arkansas was graced with many superb colleagues and friends, especially Rob Brubaker, Jesse Casana, Lisa Corrigan, Kirstin Erickson, Stuart Fulbright, Troy Gittings, Andy Horowitz, Hamsa and Moshe Newmark, Kelly O’Callaghan, Karon Reese, Laurent Sacharoff, Kathryn Sloan, and Sergio Villalobos-Ruminott. Brittany Philips and Erin Von Feldt were my family. Ted Swedenburg is a dear friend, wise mentor, and devotee of international pop culture who will absolutely not relent. Steve Striffler is a giant whose shoes at Arkansas I could never fill. The xii Acknowledgments members of the Workers’ Justice Center in Springdale have my full respect. I was lucky to have known and taught the banjo-playing, bike-riding, antiwar veteran hillbilly Jacob George. Rest in power.

My research received funding from the University of Texas, from the H. F. Guggenheim Foundation, and from the University of Maryland Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, where I enjoyed conversations with Janet Chernela, Shane Dillingham, Saúl Sosnowski, Mary Kay Vaughan, and Daryle Williams. Thank you to Jim Lance from Cornell University Press for believing in this book. It would never have been possible without the help of so many friends in San Pedro Necta. My deepest gratitude goes to feminist killjoy, fashionista, and Walmart slayer Christine Labuski for walking the path with me.

Portions of chapter 3 were previously published in “Regarding Development: Governing Indian Advancement in Revolutionary Guatemala” (Economy and Society 44, no. 3 [2015]: 418-44). Portions of chapter 4

Acknowledgments xiii were previously published in “ ‘Guatemala Will Never Change’: Radical Pessimism and the Politics of Personal Interest in the Western Highlands” (Journal of Latin American Studies 43, no. 3 [2011], 485-515) and in “Mayan Imaginaries of Democracy: Interactive Sovereignties and Political Affect in Postrevolutionary Guatemala” (American Ethnologist 41, no. 2 [2014], 305-19.

ALMG:

ANACAFE:

ANN: ASODESI:

ASP: CA: CACIF:

CAFTA: CASA: CC:

ABBREVIATIONS

Academia de Lenguas Mayas (Academy of Mayan Languages)

Asociación Nacional del Café (National Coffee Association)

Alternativa Nueva Nación (New Nation Alternative) Asociación del Desarrollo Integral (Association for Integrated Development)

Asamblea Sociál y Popular (Social and Popular Assembly) Acción Católica (Catholic Action)

Comité de Asociaciones Agrícolas, Comerciales, Industriales y Financieras (Coordinating Committee for Agricultural, Commercial, Industrial, and Financial Associations)

Central American Free Trade Agreement

Centro de Acción Social (Center for Social Action) Corte Constitucional (Constitutional Court)

xvi

CEH:

CICIG:

COCODE:

COMUDE:

CONAVIGUA:

CPO: CSJ:

CUC:

DC: DECOPAZ: DIGESA: EGP:

FCN: FENACOAC: FIS:

FNDG: FODIGUA: FON:

FONAPAZ: FRG:

Abbreviations

Comisión de Esclaramiento Histórico (Commission for Historical Clarification)

Comisión Internacional Contra la Impunidad en Guatemala (International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala)

Consejo Comunitario de Desarrollo (Community Development Council)

Consejo Municipal de Desarrollo (Municipal Development Council)

Coordinadora Nacional de Viudas de Guatemala (National Coordinator for Guatemalan Widows) Consejo del Pueblos del Occidente (Council of the Peoples of the West)

Corte Supremo de Justicia (Supreme Court of Justice) Comité de Unidad Campesina (Peasant Unity Committee) Democracia Cristiana Guatemalteca (Guatemalan Christian Democracy)

Programa de Desarrollo Comunitario para la Paz (Community Development Program for Peace) Dirección General de Servicios Agrícolas (General Directorate of Agricultural Services)

Ejército Guerillero de los Pobres (Guerrilla Army of the Poor)

Frente de Convergencia Nacional (National Convergence Front)

Federación Nacional de Cooperativas de Ahorro y Credito (National Federation of Cooperatives for Savings and Credit)

Fondo de Inversión Social (Social Investment Fund) Frente Nueva Democratica Guatemalteca (New Guatemalan Democratic Front)

Fondo de Desarrollo Indígena de Guatemala (Indigenous Development Fund of Guatemala)

Frente de Oposición Nacional (National Opposition Front) Fondo Nacional para la Paz (National Fund for Peace) Frente Republicano Guatemalteco (Guatemalan Republican Front)

FUNDEBASE:

FUR: GANA: IDF:

ILO: LIDER: MAGA: MIFAPRO:

MLN:

NTX: ORPA:

PAC:

PAN:

PAR:

PGT:

PR:

RCDP:

RDP:

REDSAG:

REHMI:

SEGEPLAN:

Abbreviations xvii

Fundación por el Desarrollo y Fortalecimiento de las Organizaciónes de Base (Foundation for the Development and Strengthening of Grassroots Organizations)

Frente Unido de la Revolución (United Front of the Revolution)

Gran Alianza Nacional (Grand National Alliance) International Development Foundation

International Labor Organization

Ministerio de Agricultura, Ganadería y Alimentación (Guatemalan Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock,

and Food)

Mi Familia Progresa (“My Family Progresses”) Movimiento Liberación Nacional (National Liberation Movement)

Nontraditional Export

Organización Revolucionaria del Pueblo en Armas (Revolutionary Organization of the Armed Populace) Patrulleros de Autodefensa Civil (civil self-defense patrols [“ex-PACs”])

Partido de Avanzado Nacional (National Advancement Party)

Partido de Acción Revolucionario (Revolutionary Action Party)

Partído de Trabajadores Guatemaltecos (Guatemalan Workers” Party)

Partído Revolutionario (Revolutionary Party)

Rural Cooperative Development Project

Rural Development Plan

Red Nacional por la Defensa de la Soberanía Alimentaria en Guatemala (National Network for the Defense of Food Sovereignty in Guatemala) Recuperación de Memoria Histórica (Recuperation of Historical Memory)

Secretario General de Planificación Nacional (Secretary General of National Planning)

Abbreviations

Sociedad para el Fortalecimiento de la Economía Indígena (Society for the Strengthening of the Indigenous Economy) Sindicato de Trabajadores de la Educación de Guatemala (Guatemalan Educational Workers Union)

Tratado de Libre Comercio (Free Trade Treaty)

Tribuno Supremo Electoral (Supreme Electoral Tribunal) Unión de Cambio Nacional (Union of National Change) Unidad Nacional de Esperanza (National Unity of Hope) United Nations Office for Project Services

Unidad Revolucionaria Nacional Guatemalteco (Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity)

United States Agency for International Development

THE DEMOCRACY DEVELOPMENT MACHINE