The Violent Legacy of a Civil War: Lynching in Post-War Guatemala

Lynchings became a common practice in Guatemala after the signing of the peace accords in 1996.Since lynching has become a source of serious concern in post-war Guatemala, it is of vital importance that the underlying causes of this phenomenon receive a more profound analysis, in order to discern, and consequently address, the root causes of this issue. Due to the often complex and multi-causal nature of violence it is imperative that these problems be tackled from a similar multifaceted perspective. However, the incidence and geographical dispersion of lynching in Guatemala provide clues as to possible factors and conditions of interest as focal points for further analysis.The central hypothesis of this thesis is that widespread loss of social capital and the profound alteration of fundamental social and communal relations have left communities vulnerable to ‘frontier’ practices such as vigilantism and lynching. In the absence of a strong and capable legitimate power, the...Show moreLynchings became a common practice in Guatemala after the signing of the peace accords in 1996.Since lynching has become a source of serious concern in post-war Guatemala, it is of vital importance that the underlying causes of this phenomenon receive a more profound analysis, in order to discern, and consequently address, the root causes of this issue. Due to the often complex and multi-causal nature of violence it is imperative that these problems be tackled from a similar multifaceted perspective. However, the incidence and geographical dispersion of lynching in Guatemala provide clues as to possible factors and conditions of interest as focal points for further analysis.The central hypothesis of this thesis is that widespread loss of social capital and the profound alteration of fundamental social and communal relations have left communities vulnerable to ‘frontier’ practices such as vigilantism and lynching. In the absence of a strong and capable legitimate power, the democratic transition left rural and marginalised communities isolated in an already volatile political and security situation, while pre-existing social disjunctions persisted. In an attempt to re-establish order in a context of psychosocial and collective trauma, perched on the razor’s edge of a near-defunct legal system, violence remained as the only tool in their armoury to settle conflict, exert social control, and impose moral authority.Show less

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The Violent Legacy of a Civil War: Lynching in Post-War Guatemala