Becoming Guatemalan-De Refugiada a Guatemalteca: The Counterinsurgency War and the Politics of Gender and Memory

Abstract

Spanning 1982-1985, the Counterinsurgency War was the violent period of the county's thirty-six year civil war. The army under General Efrian Rios Montt targeted the Maya villages and communities throughout the Guatemalan Highlands with more than 400 recorded massacres in just a three year span. At the center of this study is the population of Guatemalans that left their country as refugees and later came back as retornados. The term retornado, reflected an emerging identity that stemmed from the new and transformative experiences of exile in Mexico. Their direct negotiations with the government reflected the new skills, organizational ability, and political capital that challenged the distribution of power in the family, community, and nation upon their return. The emergence of women's organizations demonstrated not only a shift in the politics of citizenship rights and inclusion, but also Latin American women's unique contributions to the development of feminist discourse.