The government of Guatemala and the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity (URNG) of Jorge Rosal (ORPA) Pablo Monsanto (FAR) Rolando Moran (EGP) and Carlos Gonzalez (PGT) signed a Peace agreement on the 29th December 1996 in Guatemala City, thus ending a war that lasted 36 years - the longest ever in Latin America.

The UN has established a mission there (MINUGA) to verify that the peace accords are fully implemented. The motivations for the war originated from three sources (1) the intervention of the CIA in 1954, (2) the divisions in the Guatemalan army in 1960 and (3) the consolidation of the left in 1962.

According to Amnesty International, 150,000 Guatemalans were killed during the 36 year war - 9,000 Army casualties with 6,000 URNG deaths - leaving 135,000 unaccounted non-combatants who were mostly indigenous Guatemalans. One of the accords signed in OSLO, 23rd June 1994, namely the establishment of the "Commission for Historical Clarity" is largely a toothless commission, as the accord includes non-prosecution of anyone involved in the past in the violation of human rights.

Thus a self-given amnesty has already been actuated and the real past where indigenous villages were literally wiped off the map will never be confronted by the peace accords. The Guatemalan government and the URNG have both called for peace and reconciliation but only on their terms. Any peace and reconciliation which does not confront the truth of massive violations of human rights is a fraud.