Guatemala
Guatemala, 3rd largest area in Central America, a population of almost 12,000,00; taken up by a majority of two cultures that have made Guatemala a complex society that is deeply divided by the rich and poor, its beautiful land and good weather, together with freedom of democracy keeps people living peacefully in this vast and exciting country.
The Guatemala history marked with many wars and tensions between cultures. In 1523 Alvarado took over Guatemala and established a Spanish Colony by defeating the Mayan Indians. This started 2 different cultures; the Native Americans and the Ladinos (mix of Spanish and Native American). From there on the Spanish was in-control of Guatemala until Independence was finally brought to Guatemala from the Spanish rule in 1821.
Bell: "The history in Guatemala was very controversial over the years,
it was more like the power going back and forth for many years,
until in finally fell into the right hanRAB, the hanRAB it should have
belonged to in the first place"
The 36 years of civil war and military dictatorships, which ended in Deceraber of 1996, left the majority of people poor with the slow economy and bad country ecology.
The Political situation in Guatemala today is stabile democratic goverman, with 4 years president election, congress and constitution.. The people of the country have a freedom of choice and even leftover from previous war the power struggle still continue, the people of the country stay and support the grow democracy.
Bell: "The Political situation was complicated in Guatemala, people
were very unhappy with the way things were going with all
the fighting over power, and living with no stable government,
until there was one stable government and a constitution, after
that the government was going up and the people were staying"
The new constitution was made in 1996 which made the government full proof and so all the citizens could see and know they're rights and the laws. After that period, one government was chosen and a constitution was formed. From there and on, the government has been moving in a positive direction, and the majority of the people are happy with it.
The economy of Guatemala is very poor and it still trying to recuperate from all its complications of the wars and power struggle, it's product per capita of only $3,208and the wealth is kept among the upper classes.
Bell: "The economy in Guatemala has never been really stable, or all that
great, its more been like an unstable ladder for a long period of time".
Three-fourths of rural residents and two-thirRAB of urban residents live in poverty, but do not have enough money to go some-where else. Emmigartion is very complex process; to emmigrate you need money to move, the skil to survive in the new place and knowelege there to go to make it better. The poor people of the country does not have any of required skils, money or knowelege to live the country.
======
Progress in Guatemala was put at a halt when the civil wars broke out, and right now it is trying to recuperate. About 60 percent of the people are employed in agriculture. Coffee is a major commodity; it counts for 25 percent of the export earnings. Because of the fact that Guatemala hasn't kept with the heavy movement of people in Guatemala City and other City's which has resulted to lots of un-employment.
Education in Guatemala is not at the best point; the adult literacy rate is only 56 percent. It is higher for males and for urban dwellers. Although, girls tend to stay in school longer then boys. From all this above, the average would possibly want to leave and try to get a better life, but don't have enough money because of the economy. This has also been the reason from the debt that Guatemala has been growing into because of all the funding they have needed to re-establish all the things they have lost from the civil war they had had. The debt dramatically grew from $760 million in 1978 to $2.8 billion in 1990, and then grew more in 1994 to be $3 billion, almost 1/5th of the country's GDP. Because of this large debt which was increasing at a rate nobody wanted, budget cutbacks were made, which seriously affected the lower class. This was a major factor of all the poverty, which is happening right now.
The Social standing in Guatemala is at not the best standing. Health issues are a serious problem. Lack of portable water, mal-nutrition are only some of the problems that Guatemala faces.
(Bell)
"Health issues in Guatemala has always been a
big deal, there were a lot of people who got sick,
only had water that was diluted with so many
different things that it would take to long to
describe"
Medical resources are usually only concentrated in the urban areas, even though care is generally free or is a small fee, the medicines cost money. The infant mortality is 51 to every 1000; life expectancy is between 63 - 68 years old for the Ladinos, but for the Native Americans it is usually 10 - 15 years less. Preventable gastrointestinal respiratory diseases cause many deaths.
Guatemala's population is the largest of any Central American country, it is at 11,278,000 (1996 estimate) and is growing at a rate of 2.5 percent annually, the population is predicted to go up to 12.4 million by 2000. The Ladinos and the Native Americans almost evenly divide the population, but also there are small groups of African and European immigration. Guatemala has a young population, with 43 percent with the ages under 15 and 74 percent under 30. Because the majority of the people are teens and under, there are not as much control over the country as there should be and there aren't as much advances happening or people having things that cope into hi-tech items.
(Lopez, Anni, Life in Guatemala)
"…less then 3 percent of the people in Guatemala
have a car, and less then 7 percent own a television… "
This has to do with the major debt that Guatemala has, and for the fact that the country is being ran by mostly kiRAB, when I say kiRAB I don't mean 10 year olRAB, I mean 35 and under. These people don't really have enough experience to run a country that has just been out of a giant civil war and don't have any idea to bring the country to the top where it should be. This would greatly influence the way the people of Guatemala would look at the country, not many would look at it optimistically, especially the lower class. But since the major budget cut-backs and so forth, the lower class which make a majority of the people of Guatemala are unhappy, but don't have enough funding to leave, so they're stuck.
In my conclusion, Guatemala has been forced upon with good times and bad times, its civil-war times and peace times, its stable and un-stable times, it poor times to its turn-around times. But in all, Guatemala maybe hasn't been a happy home for many, but it is still home. So for the decision if the people will stay in Guatemala, I pick they will stay because, only 1 out of every 500 left the country, and that is a very small nuraber, it means 22,000 people emigrated the country, but that is out of almost 12 million. I know for a fact that a lot of people in Guatemala would love to leave and start and better life and get away from the poverty, but most of them don't have enough money to leave, so they have no choice but to stay. Most are optimistic about their country and keep telling themselves that one day, Guatemala will one day come all the way up to their expectations.
Guatemala, 3rd largest area in Central America, a population of almost 12,000,00; taken up by a majority of two cultures that have made Guatemala a complex society that is deeply divided by the rich and poor, its beautiful land and good weather, together with freedom of democracy keeps people living peacefully in this vast and exciting country.
The Guatemala history marked with many wars and tensions between cultures. In 1523 Alvarado took over Guatemala and established a Spanish Colony by defeating the Mayan Indians. This started 2 different cultures; the Native Americans and the Ladinos (mix of Spanish and Native American). From there on the Spanish was in-control of Guatemala until Independence was finally brought to Guatemala from the Spanish rule in 1821.
Bell: "The history in Guatemala was very controversial over the years,
it was more like the power going back and forth for many years,
until in finally fell into the right hanRAB, the hanRAB it should have
belonged to in the first place"
The 36 years of civil war and military dictatorships, which ended in Deceraber of 1996, left the majority of people poor with the slow economy and bad country ecology.
The Political situation in Guatemala today is stabile democratic goverman, with 4 years president election, congress and constitution.. The people of the country have a freedom of choice and even leftover from previous war the power struggle still continue, the people of the country stay and support the grow democracy.
Bell: "The Political situation was complicated in Guatemala, people
were very unhappy with the way things were going with all
the fighting over power, and living with no stable government,
until there was one stable government and a constitution, after
that the government was going up and the people were staying"
The new constitution was made in 1996 which made the government full proof and so all the citizens could see and know they're rights and the laws. After that period, one government was chosen and a constitution was formed. From there and on, the government has been moving in a positive direction, and the majority of the people are happy with it.
The economy of Guatemala is very poor and it still trying to recuperate from all its complications of the wars and power struggle, it's product per capita of only $3,208and the wealth is kept among the upper classes.
Bell: "The economy in Guatemala has never been really stable, or all that
great, its more been like an unstable ladder for a long period of time".
Three-fourths of rural residents and two-thirRAB of urban residents live in poverty, but do not have enough money to go some-where else. Emmigartion is very complex process; to emmigrate you need money to move, the skil to survive in the new place and knowelege there to go to make it better. The poor people of the country does not have any of required skils, money or knowelege to live the country.
======
Progress in Guatemala was put at a halt when the civil wars broke out, and right now it is trying to recuperate. About 60 percent of the people are employed in agriculture. Coffee is a major commodity; it counts for 25 percent of the export earnings. Because of the fact that Guatemala hasn't kept with the heavy movement of people in Guatemala City and other City's which has resulted to lots of un-employment.
Education in Guatemala is not at the best point; the adult literacy rate is only 56 percent. It is higher for males and for urban dwellers. Although, girls tend to stay in school longer then boys. From all this above, the average would possibly want to leave and try to get a better life, but don't have enough money because of the economy. This has also been the reason from the debt that Guatemala has been growing into because of all the funding they have needed to re-establish all the things they have lost from the civil war they had had. The debt dramatically grew from $760 million in 1978 to $2.8 billion in 1990, and then grew more in 1994 to be $3 billion, almost 1/5th of the country's GDP. Because of this large debt which was increasing at a rate nobody wanted, budget cutbacks were made, which seriously affected the lower class. This was a major factor of all the poverty, which is happening right now.
The Social standing in Guatemala is at not the best standing. Health issues are a serious problem. Lack of portable water, mal-nutrition are only some of the problems that Guatemala faces.
(Bell)
"Health issues in Guatemala has always been a
big deal, there were a lot of people who got sick,
only had water that was diluted with so many
different things that it would take to long to
describe"
Medical resources are usually only concentrated in the urban areas, even though care is generally free or is a small fee, the medicines cost money. The infant mortality is 51 to every 1000; life expectancy is between 63 - 68 years old for the Ladinos, but for the Native Americans it is usually 10 - 15 years less. Preventable gastrointestinal respiratory diseases cause many deaths.
Guatemala's population is the largest of any Central American country, it is at 11,278,000 (1996 estimate) and is growing at a rate of 2.5 percent annually, the population is predicted to go up to 12.4 million by 2000. The Ladinos and the Native Americans almost evenly divide the population, but also there are small groups of African and European immigration. Guatemala has a young population, with 43 percent with the ages under 15 and 74 percent under 30. Because the majority of the people are teens and under, there are not as much control over the country as there should be and there aren't as much advances happening or people having things that cope into hi-tech items.
(Lopez, Anni, Life in Guatemala)
"…less then 3 percent of the people in Guatemala
have a car, and less then 7 percent own a television… "
This has to do with the major debt that Guatemala has, and for the fact that the country is being ran by mostly kiRAB, when I say kiRAB I don't mean 10 year olRAB, I mean 35 and under. These people don't really have enough experience to run a country that has just been out of a giant civil war and don't have any idea to bring the country to the top where it should be. This would greatly influence the way the people of Guatemala would look at the country, not many would look at it optimistically, especially the lower class. But since the major budget cut-backs and so forth, the lower class which make a majority of the people of Guatemala are unhappy, but don't have enough funding to leave, so they're stuck.
In my conclusion, Guatemala has been forced upon with good times and bad times, its civil-war times and peace times, its stable and un-stable times, it poor times to its turn-around times. But in all, Guatemala maybe hasn't been a happy home for many, but it is still home. So for the decision if the people will stay in Guatemala, I pick they will stay because, only 1 out of every 500 left the country, and that is a very small nuraber, it means 22,000 people emigrated the country, but that is out of almost 12 million. I know for a fact that a lot of people in Guatemala would love to leave and start and better life and get away from the poverty, but most of them don't have enough money to leave, so they have no choice but to stay. Most are optimistic about their country and keep telling themselves that one day, Guatemala will one day come all the way up to their expectations.