Reflections on a talk given by an ex-guerrilla

Yesterday my spanish school joined forces with another spanish school to plan a talk given by an ex-guerrilla. Given my recent experiences in the Cuchumatanes Mountains, I found the lecture particularly interesting. The perspective I got from talking to Geronimo and other campesinos during my trek is that the Guatemalan people were caught in the crossfire between two sides who were both to blame. The man who gave the talk, the ex-guerrilla, no doubt, painted a very different picture. He put all the blame for everything completely on the government and the army. His main point was that since the government had closed off all peaceful means to dissent, the guerrillas had no choice but to take up arms if their perspectives were to be heard. From my research and reading, I might be inclined to conclude that the government was the entity more at fault, neglecting the rights of the campesinos since Guatemala was first colonized and committing unimaginable attrocities during the war. But the guerrillas need to accept criticism as well for the atrocities they committed. This December will mark the tenth anniversary of the signing of the peace accords. While visible progress has been made over the last decade, Guatemala still has a long way to go. It seems that until each side can stop accusing the other side and start reflecting on how they can contribute to society in a proactive way, Guatemala will continue in the same rut it has always followed, albeit under different disguises.