patrick.net

Guatemala is home to a large and diverse indigenous population, with more than half of Guatemalans of Mayan descent. The Mayan Indians in Guatemala, who largely live in the western highlands, suffered horrific atrocities during the country's 36-year civil war that ended in 1996. Despite some progress since the war, the Mayan people continue to face
discrimination and live in grinding poverty.

The Mayans face discrimination and marginalization at the hands of the country's Ladinos, those of mixed Indian and European heritage. Guatemala's Vice President Eduardo Stein says strides are being made in addressing the inequalities and injustices, but he says it is a slow process. "We drafted and enacted a public policy against racism, which is now being implemented in a territorial base in different linguistic communities. We are very proud of this groundbreaking effort, but we are aware that we still have a long ways to go," says Stein. "So far, we can say that at the local level, indigenous participation for public office is well represented."

"There is a public recognition in Guatemala that the Mayan community suffered the worst of the atrocities and that there is a historical injustice that has been done against the Mayan community. I think that is a public recognition didn't exist a generation ago, so there is lots of discussions about that," says Oglesby. "Many Mayan leaders have risen to positions of some prominence, you have Mayans in Congress, you have Mayan leaders as government ministers. So there is progress in this sense, but it's been uneven and its been insufficient."

https://www.voanews.com/a/a-13-2007-11-16-voa47-66528207/553747.html

The Spanish conquest of Guatemala was a protracted conflict during the Spanish colonization of the Americas, in which Spanish colonisers gradually incorporated the territory that became the modern country of Guatemala into the colonial Viceroyalty of New Spain. Before the conquest, this territory contained a number of competing Mesoamerican kingdoms, the majority of which were Maya. Many conquistadors viewed the Maya as "infidels" who needed to be forcefully converted and pacified, disregarding the achievements of their civilization.[2] The first contact between the Maya and European explorers came in the early 16th century when a Spanish ship sailing from Panama to Santo Domingo was wrecked on the east coast of the Yucatán Peninsula in 1511.[2] Several Spanish expeditions followed in 1517 and 1519, making landfall on various parts of the Yucatán coast.[3] The Spanish conquest of the Maya was a prolonged affair; the Maya kingdoms resisted integration into the Spanish Empire with such tenacity that their defeat took almost two centuries.[4]

Pedro de Alvarado arrived in Guatemala from the newly conquered Mexico in early 1524, commanding a mixed force of Spanish conquistadors and native allies, mostly from Tlaxcala and Cholula. Geographic features across Guatemala now bear Nahuatl placenames owing to the influence of these Mexican allies, who translated for the Spanish.[5] The Kaqchikel Maya initially allied themselves with the Spanish, but soon rebelled against excessive demands for tribute and did not finally surrender until 1530. In the meantime the other major highland Maya kingdoms had each been defeated in turn by the Spanish and allied warriors from Mexico and already subjugated Maya kingdoms in Guatemala. The Itza Maya and other lowland groups in the Petén Basin were first contacted by Hernán Cortés in 1525, but remained independent and hostile to the encroaching Spanish until 1697, when a concerted Spanish assault led by Martín de Ursúa y Arizmendi finally defeated the last independent Maya kingdom.

Spanish and native tactics and technology differed greatly. The Spanish viewed the taking of prisoners as a hindrance to outright victory, whereas the Maya prioritised the capture of live prisoners and of booty. The indigenous peoples of Guatemala lacked key elements of Old World technology such as a functional wheel, horses, iron, steel, and gunpowder; they were also extremely susceptible to Old World diseases, against which they had no resistance. The Maya preferred raiding and ambush to large-scale warfare, using spears, arrows and wooden swords with inset obsidian blades; the Xinca of the southern coastal plain used poison on their arrows. In response to the use of Spanish cavalry, the highland Maya took to digging pits and lining them with wooden stakes.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_conquest_of_Guatemala