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Demographics of Guatemala

This is a demography of the population of Guatemala including population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population.

According to the 2018 census, 43.56% of the population is Indigenous including 41.66% Mayan, 1.77% Xinca, and 0.13% Garifuna (Mixed African and indigenous). Approximately 56% of the population is "non-Indigenous", referring to the Mestizo population (people of mixed European and indigenous descent) and the people of European origin. These people are called Ladino in Guatemala. The population is divided almost evenly between rural and urban areas.

About 65% of the population speak Spanish, with nearly all the rest speaking indigenous languages (there are 23 officially recognized indigenous languages).

Population
According to the total population estimate was  in. The proportion of the population below the age of 15 in 2010 was 41.5%, 54.1% were aged between 15 and 65 years of age, and 4.4% were aged 65 years or older.

Guatemala City is home to almost 3 million inhabitants. In 1900 Guatemala had a population of 1,885,000. Over the twentifirst century Guatemala's population grew by a factor of fourteen. Even though Guatemala's population grew by a factor of 14, it still wasn't the biggest jump in that region. Although Guatemala does have an increase in population, the annual population isn't the superior in that region of the world as well.

Population by departments
In Guatemala, there are 22 departments that make up the country. Each department has its own population, with Guatemala Department ranking at 1 with the highest population and El Progreso Department ranking at 22 with the lowest population. According to the table, Guatemala Department accounts for 20% of the entire population in Guatemala, while El Progreso only accounts for 0.14% of the population. Sololá accounts for 2.7% of the population while ranking in the middle at 11. Overall, the rankings correlate to the percent of the population that each department contains.

Emigration
The Guatemalan civil war from 1960 to 1996 led to mass emigration, particularly Guatemalan immigration to the United States. According to the International Organization for Migration, the total number of emigrants increased from 6,700 in the 1960s to 558,776 for the period 1995–2000; by 2005, the total number had reached 1.3 million. In 2013, the Migration Policy Institute (MPI) estimated that there were about 900,000 Guatemalan Americans (persons of Guatemalan origin in the United States).

Ethnic groups

Official 2018 statistics indicate that approximately 56% of the population is "non-Indigenous", referring to the Mestizo population of mixed indigenous and European origins (50-52%) and the people of European origin (14-26%), Most are of Spanish, German and Italian descent. These people are called Ladino in Guatemala. Genetic testing indicates that Guatemalan Mestizos are of predominantly indigenous ancestry, although they have a high level of European ancestry as well.

Approximately 43.4% of the population is Indigenous and consist of 23 Maya groups and one non-Maya group. In 2012 these are divided as follows: K'iche 9.1%, 8.4% Kaqchikel, Mam 7.9%, 6.3% Q'eqchi', other Maya peoples 8.6%, 0.2% Indigenous non-Maya. They live all over the country, especially in the highlands. While the official censuses usually count around 40% of the Guatemalan population being indigenous, this percentage is actually much higher, with around 60% of Guatemalans being indigenous. In 2002 Census, The Amerindian populations in Guatemala include the K'iche' 9.1%, Kaqchikel 8.4%, Mam 7.9% and Q'eqchi 6.3%. 8.6% belongs to other Maya groups, 0.4% belong to non-Maya Indigenous peoples. The whole Indigenous community in Guatemala is about 40.5% of the population.

The Maya Civilization ruled Guatemala and the surrounding regions until around 1521 A.D. Following 1521 A.D., Guatemala became a Spanish colony for approximately three centuries, until in 1821 when Guatemala won its independence. Since the independence of Guatemala, the country has experienced a wide range of governments, including civilian and military governments. In 1996, a peace treaty was signed by the government that ended internal conflicts within the region, which caused over 200,000 casualties and approximately one million refugees. The ethnic population in the Kingdom of Guatemala, at the time of Independence, amounted to nearly 600,000 Indians, 300,000 Castas (mostly Mestizos and a lesser number of Mulattos, Zambos, and Pardos), and 45,000 Criollos or Spaniards, with a very small number of English traders.

Other racial groups include numbers of Afro-Guatemalans, Afro-Mestizos, and Garifuna of mixed African and Indigenous Caribbean origins who live in the country's eastern end. Some Garifunas live mainly in Livingston, San Vicente and Puerto Barrios. They descend mainly from the Arawaks and Belizean Creoles.

There are also thousands of Jews residing in Guatemala. They are immigrants from Germany and Eastern Europe that arrived in the 19th century. Many immigrated during World War II. There are approximately 900 Jews living in Guatemala today. Most live in Guatemala City, Quezaltenango and San Marcos. Today, the Jewish community in Guatemala is about 60% Ashkenazi and 40% Sephardi.

In 2014, numerous members of the Hasidic communities Lev Tahor and Toiras Jesed began settling in the village of San Juan La Laguna. The mainstream Jewish community was reportedly dismayed and concerned that the arrival of communities with a more visible adherence to Judaism might stir up anti-Jewish sentiment. Despite the tropical heat, the members of the community continued to wear traditional Jewish clothing.

Guatemala has a community of East Asian descent, largely of Chinese and Korean origin. There are thousands of Arab Guatemalans descending from West Asian countries like Palestine, Syria, Jordan and Iraq. Some belong to Christian Churches while others to Islamic Mosques.

UN estimates
The Population Department of the United Nations prepared the following estimates.

Vital statistics
(C) = Census results.

Fertility and births (demographic and health surveys)
Total fertility rate (TFR) (wanted fertility rate) and crude birth rate (CBR):

Marriage and childbearing
The legal age for females to get married in Guatemala was 14, but was raised to 16 with parental consent and 18 without in November 2015. This phenomenon, known as child marriage, is prevalent in Central America; in rural areas of Guatemala, 53% of 20 to 24-year-old women married before their 18th birthday. Once married, young girls are likely to abandon their education and are exposed to domestic and sexual violence. They are no longer seen as girls; their husbands, who are often older men, see them as servants. Frequently births are at home. Most of these women are isolated without networks of support.

In most cases, motherhood comes after marriage. However, due to the fact that these young women' bodies are not entirely developed, many pregnancies result in high complications and high risks for both the mother and baby, during and after labor. Because there is limited access to health services, women in Guatemala choose a different alternative when it comes to the care during and after child delivery. Pregnancies before marriage are on the rise and unmarried women make their decision based on their image more than their safety. Single Guatemalan women may choose midwives as their health care provider during pregnancy and delivery to avoid feeling ashamed. Other women know the midwives in the community personally so they opt for a private healthcare provider. Throughout the country, midwives are known as the providers of choice for approximately 80% of the births even though they are not professionally trained. This contributes to the increasing infant mortality rate of 100 per 1,000 births as reported in some Guatemalan communities.

Other demographic statistics
Demographic statistics according to the World Population Review in 2022.

 * One birth every 1 minutes
 * One death every 6 minutes
 * One net migrant every 58 minutes
 * Net gain of one person every 2 minutes

Demographic statistics according to the CIA World Factbook, unless otherwise indicated.

Population

 * 17,703,190 (2022 est.)
 * 16,581,273 (July 2018 est.)

Ethnic groups
Mestizo (mixed Amerindian-Spanish - in local Spanish called Ladino) 56%, Maya 41.7%, Xinca (Indigenous, non-Maya) 1.8%, African descent 0.2%, Garifuna (mixed West and Central African, Island Carib, and Arawak) 0.1%, foreign 0.2% (2018 est.)

Age structure

 * 0-14 years: 33.68% (male 2,944,145/female 2,833,432)
 * 15-24 years: 19.76% (male 1,705,730/female 1,683,546)
 * 25-54 years: 36.45% (male 3,065,933/female 3,186,816)
 * 55-64 years: 5.41% (male 431,417/female 496,743)
 * 65 years and over: 4.7% (male 363,460/female 442,066) (2020 est.)

 * 0-14 years: 34.55% (male 2,919,281 /female 2,810,329)
 * 15-24 years: 20.23% (male 1,688,900 /female 1,665,631)
 * 25-54 years: 35.47% (male 2,878,075 /female 3,002,920)
 * 55-64 years: 5.28% (male 407,592 /female 468,335)
 * 65 years and over: 4.46% (male 336,377 /female 403,833) (2018 est.)

Birth rate

 * 22.34 births/1,000 population (2022 est.) Country comparison to the world: 56th
 * 24.6 births/1,000 population (2018 est.) Country comparison to the world: 50th

Death rate

 * 4.91 deaths/1,000 population (2022 est.) Country comparison to the world: 199th
 * 5 deaths/1,000 population (2018 est.) Country comparison to the world: 194th

Total fertility rate

 * 2.62 children born/woman (2022 est.) Country comparison to the world: 65th
 * 2.87 children born/woman (2018 est.) Country comparison to the world: 58th

Median age

 * total: 23.2 years. Country comparison to the world: 178th
 * male: 22.6 years
 * female: 23.8 years (2020 est.)

 * total: 22.5 years. Country comparison to the world: 179th
 * male: 22 years
 * female: 23.1 years (2018 est.)

Population growth rate

 * 1.58% (2022 est.) Country comparison to the world: 63rd
 * 1.72% (2018 est.) Country comparison to the world: 59th

Net migration rate

 * -1.66 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2022 est.) Country comparison to the world: 162nd
 * -2.4 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2018 est.) Country comparison to the world: 168th

Mother's mean age at first birth

 * 20.6 years (2014/15 est.)
 * note: median age at first birth among women 25-49

Contraceptive prevalence rate

 * 60.6% (2014/15)

Dependency ratios

 * total dependency ratio: 68.7 (2015 est.)
 * youth dependency ratio: 61.1 (2015 est.)
 * elderly dependency ratio: 7.6 (2015 est.)
 * potential support ratio: 13.1 (2015 est.)

Life expectancy at birth

 * total population: 72.91 years. Country comparison to the world: 150th
 * male: 70.88 years
 * female: 75.04 years (2022 est.)

 * total population: 71.8 years
 * male: 69.8 years
 * female: 73.9 years (2018 est.)

Major infectious diseases

 * degree of risk: high (2020)
 * food or waterborne diseases: bacterial diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever
 * vectorborne diseases: dengue fever and malaria

Languages

 * Spanish (official) 68.9%, Maya languages 30.9% (K'iche 8.7%, Q'eqchi 7%, Mam 4.6%, Kaqchikel 4.3%, other 6.3%), other 0.3% (includes Xinca and Garifuna) (2001 est.)
 * note: the 2003 Law of National Languages officially recognized 23 indigenous languages, including 21 Maya languages, Xinka, and Garifuna

Religions
Roman Catholic 41.7%, Evangelical 38.8%, other 2.7%, atheist 0.1%, none 13.8%, unspecified 2.9% (2018 est.)

Urbanization

 * urban population: 52.7% of total population (2022)
 * rate of urbanization: 2.59% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.)

 * urban population: 51.1% of total population (2018)
 * rate of urbanization: 2.68% annual rate of change (2015-20 est.)

Education expenditures

 * 3.3% of GDP (2020) Country comparison to the world: 136th

Literacy
definition: age 15 and over can read and write (2015 est.)
 * total population: 80.8%
 * male: 85.3%
 * female: 76.7% (2018)

School life expectancy (primary to tertiary education)

 * total: 11 years
 * male: 11 years
 * female: 10 years (2019)

Unemployment, youth ages 15–24

 * total: 4.6%
 * male: 4%
 * female: 5.7% (2019 est.)

Languages
The official language of Guatemala is Spanish. It is spoken by nearly 93% of the population and is found mainly in the departments of the Southern region, Eastern region, Guatemala City and Peten. Though the official language is Spanish, it is often the second language among the Indigenous population.

Approximately 23 additional Amerindian languages are spoken by more than 40%  of the population. 21 Mayan languages, one indigenous, and one Arawakan are spoken in Guatemala. The most significant are; Quiche, Cakchiquel, Kekchi, Mam, Garifuna and Xinca.

There are also significant numbers of German, Chinese, French and English speakers.

Religion
Catholicism was the official religion during the colonial era, and today is the most professed church in the population, but since the 1960s, with the armed conflict, Protestantism has increased progressively, today around two fifths of Guatemalans are Protestant, specially Evangelicals (with Pentecostals as the biggest branch). Eastern and Oriental Orthodoxy claim rapid growth, especially among the Indigenous Maya. Other churches include the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Jehovah's Witnesses, and other Christian minorities.

Indigenous beliefs are sometimes combined with Christianity. Maya religion believers only account for less than 0.1% of the population and since the mid-1990s the Constitution recognizes the rights of Maya Religion. The Islamic community in Guatemala is growing, and is projected to include at least 2,000 believers by 2030. There is a mosque in Guatemala City called the Islamic Da'wah Mosque of Guatemala (Spanish: Mezquita de Aldawaa Islámica). The president of the Islamic Community of the country is Jamal Mubarak.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Demographics of Guatemala


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Politics of Guatemala

Politics of Guatemala takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, where by the President of Guatemala is both head of state, head of government, and of a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the Congress of the Republic. The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. Guatemala is a Constitutional Republic.

Guatemala's 1985 Constitution provides for a separation of powers among the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government.

Modern Guatemalan politics are still strongly affected by the Guatemalan Civil War (1960–1996). From the late 1990s to the mid-2010s, Guatemalan democracy improved, as greater civilian control of the military was achieved and anti-corruption measures were adopted. Since 2017, there has been democratic backsliding in Guatemala.

Legislative branch
The Congress of the Republic (Congreso de la República) has 158 members, elected for a four-year term, partially in departmental constituencies and partially by nationwide proportional representation.

Judicial branch
The Constitutional Court (Corte de Constitucionalidad) is Guatemala's constitutional court and only interprets the law in matters that affect the country's constitution. It is composed of five judges, elected for concurrent five-year terms each with a supplement, each serving one year as president of the Court: one is elected by Congress, one elected by the Supreme Court of Justice, one is appointed by the President, one is elected by Superior Council of the Universidad San Carlos de Guatemala, and one by the Bar Association (Colegio de Abogados);

The Supreme Court of Justice (Corte Suprema de Justicia) is Guatemala's highest court. It comprises thirteen members, who serve concurrent five-year terms and elect a president of the Court each year from among their number. The Supreme Court has an Appeal Court formed by 43 members. When one of the Supreme Court is absent or cannot participate in a case, one of the Appeal Court takes its place. The president of the Supreme Court of Justice is also president of the Judicial Branch of Guatemala (Organismo Judicial de Guatemala), and supervises both the hundreds of trial judges around the country (who are named to five-year terms) and the administrative work force which assists the magistrates.

Administrative divisions
Guatemala is divided into 22 departments, administered by governors appointed by the president. Guatemala City and 333 other municipalities are governed by popularly elected mayors or councils.

Foreign relations
Guatemala's major diplomatic interests are regional security and increasingly, regional development and economic integration.

Political culture and human rights
The 1999 presidential and legislative elections were considered by international observers to have been free and fair. Participation by women and indigenous voters was higher than in the recent past, although concerns remained regarding the accessibility of polling places in rural areas.

Alfonso Portillo's landslide victory combined with a Guatemalan Republican Front (FRG) majority in Congress suggested possibilities for rapid legislative action. However, under the Guatemalan Constitution of 1985, passage of many kinds of legislation requires a two-thirds vote. Passage of such legislation is not possible, therefore, with FRG votes alone.

The political balance was disrupted in 2000 when allegations surfaced that the FRG had illegally altered legislation. Following an investigation, the Supreme Court stripped those involved, including President of Congress and FRG chief Ríos Montt, of their legislative immunity to face charges in the case. At roughly the same time, the PAN opposition suffered an internal split and broke into factions; the same occurred in the ANN. As a result, reforms essential to peace implementation await legislative action.

New cases of human rights abuse continued to decline, although violent harassment of human rights workers presented a serious challenge to government authority. Common crime, aggravated by a legacy of violence and vigilante justice, presents another serious challenge. Impunity remains a major problem, primarily because democratic institutions, including those responsible for the administration of justice, have developed only a limited capacity to cope with this legacy. The government has stated it will require until 2002 to meet the target of increasing its tax burden (at about 10% of GDP, currently the lowest in the region) to 12% of GDP.

During the Presidential race, the FRG organized what will later be known as Black Thursday (Jueves negro). The FRG organized its partisans from the country and brought them to the city. The FRG gave them transport, food, a shelter for the night, and meter long sticks. With these sticks, the participants ran through the streets wreaking havoc on the public infrastructure. During this day a journalist of Prensa Libre (a leading newspaper) was killed.

The media, which have a tradition of being independent and free,[According to whom?] took it very personally and for the next month, every headline was about these events, and the participation of the ruling party in this day of terror. The FRG was protesting the ruling of the TSE (supreme electoral tribunal) to ban the FRG candidate Efrain Rios Mont from the race. The TSE argued that as a formal putschist, he was banned by the constitution from ever becoming president. The FRG argued that since the events in which the former general participated predate the constitution, he was eligible for presidential office. Common sense argued that if such a clause was not retroactive by nature it would have no point.

Since 2004 Óscar Berger of the GANA (a coalition of political parties rather than a single one) won the elections, it is important to note that this was the first government in the history of democratic Guatemala that did not have an overwhelming majority in Congress. After he took office in January 2004 it was made public that the FRG had wildly ransacked the government going to the extremes of stealing computer equipment and objects of historic importance. Alfonso Portillo fled to Mexico with an impressive amount of money stolen from military funds, the national hospital, and the revenue service. Guatemala made a formal request for the deportation of Portillo to face charges of embezzlement, however, Mexico has never revoked diplomatic asylum once it is granted to a person.

Though the constitution says nothing about it, the vice president runs the government like a prime minister while the president deals with foreign affairs, this can be seen regularly as the VP stands in for the president in many events that are traditionally presided by the President of the Republic.

Criminality has reached staggering proportions: about 200 murders per month and it is starting to affect the economy as many companies prefer to leave the country than face the growing corruption and insecurity. One significant problem is the ongoing gang warfare between the M18 (Mara Dieciocho) and the MS (Mara Salvatrucha). These are two rival street gangs comprising loosely linked international franchise organizations, who wield a power somewhat like that of the US mafia of the 1930s and are for the moment above and beyond the grasp of the law. They hold territory under their control and extort "taxes" (la renta) from it.

They are not yet involved in high-level organized trafficking. That industry is of a different class of organized crime in Guatemala, with Mexican smugglers and top-ranking Guatemalan police officials regularly making headlines being caught with hundreds of kilograms of cocaine.

The mara phenomenon originated in the United States in the 1980s, specifically in Los Angeles, among refugees fleeing civil wars in El Salvador and Guatemala. Later many members of the maras were deported from the United States to their countries of origin, and during the 1990s this has helped fuel the spread of the two gangs across the United States, Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and even Italy and Spain. There is a zone of Guatemala City, "El Gallito" which is recognized as being outside of Government control, it belongs to the drug lords that inhabit it. Barrio "El Gallito" is located in Zone 3, 2 mi away from the National Palace where the Government's offices are located.

Drug trafficking has reached staggering proportions in Guatemala, with corruption extending to top positions of many branches of government. Various narco-mafias vie for control of the remote northern jungle regions of Petén, where drugs, arms, and people all cross the border into Mexico, mostly bound for the United States. Drug trafficking is undoubtedly the greatest threat to political freedom in Guatemala today.

Guatemala is plagued by lynchings which severely blemish the country's humans rights record as a violation of due process of law.

The Berger administration has been hailed in some circles for its work in devolution. Guatemala has always been a strongly centralized state and the administration sought to take halt the growing pre-eminence of the Capital. For example, the administration has engaged in mobile cabinets where the President and all his ministers will go into the country and change the seat of power every so often, to be "closer to the people".

The administration is facing growing financial difficulties, potentially in part due to 60% of the population being considered "poor" and therefore ineligible for taxation. The SAT (superintendence of tributary administration), the revenue service, is therefore obligated to tax the middle class which is starting to suffer under the burden. The SAT has become stringent in its application of the law seeking the full penalties of incarceration for tax evasion.

In September 2006 the PNC (civil national police), in a joint action with the national military took by storm the Pavon detention centre, a prison with 1,500 inmates which until that date hadn't been requisitioned for 10 years and which was a hub of criminal activity. Some inmates, the guard of the chief of the mafioso what ran the prison and the leader himself resisted the onslaught of forces of law with AK-47 and handguns, they were massacred. Around 3,000 infantry and 4 tanks participated in the action. This was a milestone in the history of Guatemala and made national headlines.

2006 saw the dismemberment of the GANA in the face of the 2007 elections. It fractured into many parties, damaging the ability of the government to get legislation through Congress.

In the November 2007, second round presidential elections, Álvaro Colom of the UNE was elected president, defeating ex-general Otto Perez Molina of the PP. And in 2011, Retired General Otto Pérez Molina of the Patriotic Party won the presidential election in a runoff against populist Manuel Baldizón of the LIDER party. Pérez Molina assumed office on 14 January 2012, and his vice president is Roxana Baldetti. In september 2015, President Otto Perez Molina resigned because of bribery allegations.

In October 2015 presidential election, former TV comedian Jimmy Morales was elected as the new President of Guatemala after huge anti-corruption demonstrations. He took office in January 2016. In January 2020, Alejandro Giammattei replaced Jimmy Morales as the President of Guatemala. Giammattei had won the presidential election in August 2019 with his "tough-on-crime" agenda. In August 2023, Bernardo Arevalo, the candidate of the centre-left Semilla (Seed) Movement, had a landslide victory in Guatemala’s presidential election. On 15 January 2024, Bernardo Arévalo was sworn in as Guatemala’s president.

title: Politics of Guatemala


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Economy of Guatemala

The economy of Guatemala is a considered a developing economy, highly dependent on agriculture, particularly on traditional crops such as coffee, sugar, and bananas. Guatemala's GDP per capita is roughly one-third of Brazil's. The Guatemalan economy is the largest in Central America. It grew 3.3 percent on average from 2015 to 2018. However, Guatemala remains one of the poorest countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, having highly unequal incomes and chronically malnourished children. The country is beset by political insecurity, and lacks skilled workers and infrastructure. It depends on remittances for nearly one-tenth of the GDP.

The 1996 peace accords ended the 36-years-long Guatemalan Civil War, and removed a major obstacle to foreign investment. Since then Guatemala has pursued important reforms and macroeconomic stabilization. On 1 July 2006, the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) entered into force between the United States and Guatemala. It has since spurred increased investment in the export sector. The distribution of income remains highly unequal, with 12% of the population living below the international poverty line. Guatemala's large expatriate community in the United States, has made it the top remittance recipient in Central America. These inflows are a primary source of foreign income, equivalent to nearly two-thirds of exports.

Guatemala's gross domestic product for 1990 was estimated at $19.1 billion, with real growth slowing to approximately 3.3%. Ten years later, in 2000, it rose from 1 to 4% and by 2010 it had fallen back to 3%, according to the World Bank. The final peace accord in December 1996 left Guatemala well-positioned for rapid economic growth.

Guatemala's economy is dominated by the private sector, which generates about 85% of GDP. Most of its manufacturing is light assembly and food processing, geared to the domestic, U.S., and Central American markets. In 1990 the labor force participation rate for women was 42%, later increasing by 1% in 2000 to 43% and 51% in 2010. For men, the labor force participation rate in 1990 was about 89%, decreased to 88% in 2000, and increased up to 90% in 2010 (World Bank). Self-employment for men is about 50%, while the rate for women is about 32% (Pagàn 1).

Over the past several years, tourism and exports of textiles, apparel, and nontraditional agricultural products such as winter vegetables, fruit, and cut flowers have boomed, while more traditional exports such as sugar, bananas, and coffee continue to represent a large share of the export market.Over the past twenty years the percentage of exports of goods and services has fluctuated. In 1990 it was 21% and in 2000, 20%. It increased again in 2010 to 26%. On the other hand, its level of imports of goods and services has continually increased. In 1990 its imports of goods and services was about 25%. In 2000 it increased by 4% up to 29%, and in 2010 it increased up to 36%. Migration is another important avenue in Guatemala. According to Cecilia Menjivar, remittances are "central to the economy." In 2004 remittances to Guatemala from men's migration to the U.S. accounted for approximately 97% (Menjivar 2).

The United States is the country's largest trading partner, providing 36% of Guatemala's imports and receiving 40% of its exports. The government sector is small and shrinking, with its business activities limited to public utilities—some of which have been privatized—ports and airports and several development-oriented financial institutions. Guatemala was certified to receive export trade benefits under the United States' Caribbean Basin Trade and Partnership Act (CBTPA) in October 2000, and enjoys access to U.S. Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) benefits. Due to concerns over serious worker rights protection issues, however, Guatemala's benefits under both the CBTPA and GSP are currently under review.

The country is predominantly poor, with 49 percent of the population living in rural areas. Guatemala is characterized by a markedly unequal distribution of wealth, assets, and opportunities: between 2000 and 2014, rural poverty increased from 74.5 to 76.1 percent, while extreme rural poverty increased from 23.8 to 35.3 percent. Young people and indigenous communities are the most vulnerable. Among indigenous people, who comprise almost 40 percent of the total population, the poverty rate is approximately 80 percent.

The Inequality-adjusted HDI (IHDI) index for Guatemala is 0.481 (Data from 2019), below the average for Latin America (0.596) and distant from the countries with very high human development (0.800).

Economic development and poverty in Guatemala
From 1990 until 2018, Guatemala was growing with an annual GDP growth oscillating around 3.5%.

Manufacturing (20%), commerce (18%), private services (14%), and agriculture (12%) are the biggest estimated economic sectors in Guatemala. The country's economic structure shows a declining trend in the agricultural sector.

Guatemala is the third biggest country in Central America. It has one of the highest disparities between rich and poor as well as one of the highest poverty levels worldwide, with 54% of the population living below the poverty line in 2006 and 54% in 2011. According to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), which looks at multiple deprivations in the same household in regard to education, health and standard of living, found that in 2011, 25.9% of the population experienced multiple deprivations and another 9.8% were vulnerable to such deprivations. A human development report also states that the average percentage of multidimensional poverty in 2011 was 49.1%.

Poor women and unpaid work
In Guatemala in 2010, 31% of the female population was illiterate. In rural Guatemala, 70.5% are poor; women are more likely to be poor in the more rural areas. Gammage argues that women in poor households engage more in domestic tasks and undertake more household maintenance, social reproduction and care work than men. Similarly, Benería states that the women perform tough work but do not get paid and argues that there is an opportunity cost related, since the women could be paid for other work instead. Unpaid household work is associated with the number of people in the household, the location, and the availability of paid employment. This means that women in rural Guatemala are greater victims of poverty than urban women, and most poverty is found in the rural parts of Guatemala, so Gammage found that many rural women perform unpaid work.

Educated women and the labor force
The labor force participation rate for women in Guatemala was at 41% in 2018. Women have a small pay disadvantage, earning 97% of male wages in most occupations. Gender inequality declines if women have a second and/or third educational degree, and they are treated more equally with their male counterparts. As in many countries, both men and women earn the most if they have a university degree. The percent of women with a steady income increases for women who have completed the secondary level of schooling, but decreases again after university. This means that women earn about the same as men if they both have a secondary education, but after university, men earn more. The situation changes on the professional level, where women earn more than men. Men work more hours in all professions, except in the household, because many women have part-time jobs.

Child labor
Children in Guatemala are engaged in child labor, primarily in agriculture, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. In fact, 13.4% of children aged 7 to 14 work; 68% of them are in the agricultural sector, 13% in the industrial sector, and 18% in the services sector. The 2013 DOL report stated that "Guatemala [...] lacks Government programs targeting sectors in which children are known to engage in exploitative labor, such as domestic service, mining, quarrying, and construction." In December 2014, the Department's List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor included mostly agricultural goods produced in such working conditions, namely broccoli, coffee, corn and sugarcane. Guatemala's firework and gravel production also resorted to child labor according to the report.

Maquilas
Among the most important factors in Guatemala's economy are the significant number of Korean-owned maquila factories in the highlands of Guatemala. Korean entrepreneurs have adopted a buyer-driven commodity chain process that depends on the existence of a large labor force, low capital investment and low skills. Korea presents itself to Guatemalan industry and to Guatemalan workers by means of subcontractors responsible for delivering finished orders to multiple buyers, mostly located in the United States. Buyers include Macy's and JCPenney and brands such as Liz Claiborne, OshKosh and Tracy Evans.

The first industries began in 1980s. At first, workers were very interested in the new jobs in the factories, because they offered the opportunity to transition to what was seen as a new and modern world, away from agricultural work. However, in the factories, workers' backs hurt, because they sat for many hours on backless benches in front of sewing machines. Workers would usually enter the plant at 7:00 a.m. and take a 1-hour break for lunch at noon. They were expected to work until 7:00 or 8:00pm. About 70% of the workers in macula factories were female. Years later, there was a huge turnover. Workers started to leave the maquila factories for reasons including stress, bad treatment, poor payment, etc.

The legal framework as of 2024 is the Law for the Promotion and Development of Export Activities and Maquilas aimed mainly at the apparel and textile sector and at services exporters such as call centers and business processes outsourcing (BPO) companies. The government grants investors in these two sectors a 10-year income tax exemption. Additionally there is an exemption from duties and value-added taxes (VAT) on imported machinery and equipment and a one-year suspension of the same duties and taxes on imports of production inputs, samples, and packing material.

Economic priorities
Current economic priorities include:
 * Liberalizing the trade regime;
 * Financial services sector reform;
 * Overhauling Guatemala's public finances;
 * Simplifying the tax structure, enhancing tax compliance, and broadening the tax base.
 * Improving the investment climate through procedural and regulatory simplification and adopting a goal of concluding treaties to protect investment and intellectual property rights.

Import tariffs have been lowered in conjunction with Guatemala's Central American neighbors so that most fall between 0% and 15%, with further reductions planned. Responding to Guatemala's changed political and economic policy environment, the international community has mobilized substantial resources to support the country's economic and social development objectives. The United States, along with other donor countries—especially France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Japan, and the international financial institutions—have increased development project financing. Donors' response to the need for international financial support funds for implementation of the Peace Accords is, however, contingent upon Guatemalan government reforms and counterpart financing.

Problems hindering economic growth include high crime rates, illiteracy and low levels of education, and an inadequate and underdeveloped capital market. They also include lack of infrastructure, particularly in the transportation, telecommunications, and electricity sectors, although the state telephone company and electricity distribution were privatized in 1998. The distribution of income and wealth remains highly skewed. The wealthiest 10% of the population receives almost one-half of all income, and the top 20% receives two-thirds of all income. Approximately 29% of the population lives in poverty, and 6% of that number live in extreme poverty. Guatemala's social indicators, such as infant mortality and illiteracy, are successively improving, but remain in low growth and are still among the worst in the hemisphere. In 2000 the percentage of girls completing primary school was approximately 52%. That percentage rose in 2010 to about 81%. The completion rate in primary school for boys in 2000 was 63% and rose to 87% in 2010.

In 2005 Guatemala ratified its signature to the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA) between the United States and several other Central American countries.

The electricity sector is being privatized, resulting in very high prices. In rural areas, although electricity consumption per household is very low, the ratings can represent more than 20% of farmers' salaries according to the Comité de développement paysan (Codeca). Since privatization, the price per kilowatthour has risen to the point of becoming one of the most expensive in Latin America. To protest against this situation and demand the renationalization of electrical services, Codeca members organized demonstrations and exposed themselves to repression. Between 2012 and 2014, 97 people were imprisoned, 220 wounded and 17 killed.

2009 food crisis
In September 2009, Guatemalan President Álvaro Colom declared that lack of food and proper nutrition were a national emergency. Colom stated that the situation is the combined result of a severe drought and global warming, which have reduced the domestic food supply, and the global financial crisis, which reduced Guatemala's ability to import food. Colom said the government would immediately seek assistance from the international community for emergency food supplies.

A number of international organizations expressed concern about Guatemala's current economic status in 2009. The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and the World Bank reported the following:

 * Guatemala has the fourth highest rate of chronic malnutrition in the world and the highest in the western hemisphere.
 * Approximately 75% of Guatemalans live below the poverty level, which is defined as an income that is not sufficient to purchase a basic basket of goods and basic services.
 * Approximately 58% of the population have incomes below the extreme poverty line, which is defined as the amount needed to purchase a basic basket of food.
 * Approximately 50% of Guatemalan children under the age of 5 now suffer from chronic under-nutrition.
 * In the nation's highlands, where many indigenous people live, 70% of children under age 5 are malnourished.

Agriculture
Guatemala is the world leader in cardamom production and export. As of 2013, demand for biofuels has resulted in diversion of land from subsistence agriculture to sugar cane and African Palm plantations. Much of the land is owned by large landlords. Due to legal requirements for production of biofuels in the United States the price of maize, a Guatemalan staple, has risen sharply. Agriculture accounts for 60% of Guatemalan exports and employs more than 50% of the labor force.

In 2018, Guatemala produced 35.5 million tons of sugarcane (it's one of the 10 largest producers in the world) and 4 million tons of banana (it's one of the 15 largest world producers). In addition, in the same year it produced 2.3 million tons of palm oil, 245 thousand tons of coffee, 1.9 million tons of maize, 623 thousand tons of melon, 312 thousand tons of pineapple, 564 thousand tons of potato, 349 thousand tons of rubber, 331 thousand tons of tomato, 253 thousand tons of beans, 124 thousand tons of avocado, 124 thousand tons of lemon, 177 thousand tons of orange, 120 thousand tons of cauliflower and broccoli, 93 thousand tons of papaya, 107 thousand tons of watermelon, 98 thousand tons of carrot, 75 thousand tons of cabbage, 84 thousand tons of lettuce and chicory, 38 thousand tons of cardamom in addition to smaller productions of other agricultural products.

Scale
The agricultural sector of Guatemala's economy consists of two types of producers: numerous small-scale peasant-owned farms in the highlands, and fewer medium- to large-scale operations in the more fertile lowlands. The smaller farms produce staples for Guatemalan consumption, such as beans and maize, as well as fruits and vegetables for export. Larger farms produce export and plantation products like bananas, sugar cane, coffee, and rubber and palm oil. While 88% of agricultural land in Guatemala is in large-scale farms, 92% of all farms in Guatemala are small. Large farms produce 1/3 more per hectare than small farms, but employ fewer people overall.

Non-traditional agricultural exports
The shift to the production of non-traditional agricultural exports (NTAE) is a strategy used by developing countries like Guatemala to grow the agricultural sector and decreasing inequality by including the rural poor in the benefits of globalization. The most important NTAE crops in Guatemala include
 * fruit like mangos, melons, and berries
 * vegetables like cauliflower, cabbage, broccoli, and snow peas
 * organic crops such as coffee. The value of non-traditional agricultural export crops has increased from $146 million US in 1992 to $262 million in 2001. IN 1998, NTAE accounted for 8.7 percent of the total exports. NTAE production largely comes from small-scale farmers. While the farmers who are involved in this market are not failing, this market limits their capital accumulation to slow growth, and therefore they are not able to profit highly off of this market.

Gender
The agricultural sector of Guatemala is differentiated by gender, and this differential can be seen in several different areas within the sector. More men than women inherit or buy land individually, although many houses choose to rent land instead of buying it. Additionally, there is a gender gap in the division of agricultural labor. Traditionally, men dominated subsistence production and agricultural production for domestic markets, while women had roles in small animal production, craft production, and the selling of products in regional rather than national markets. With the shift toward NTAE, there has also been an increase in field labor for women. Additionally, women have been included in land-use decision processes in NTAE production. Sarah Hamilton, Linda Asturias de Barrios, and Brenda Tevalán have stated that despite a traditional patriarchal structure in Guatemala, NTAE production is associated with increased independence and equality between men and women.

Macroeconomic development
Guatemala became more economically developed and stable from 1990 to 2011. The annual GDP growth rate for Guatemala in 2000 was 3.6%, but just 0.9% in 2009, increasing slightly in 2010 to 2.0% The poverty rate in Guatemala in 2006 was 54.8%, and the extreme poverty rate was 26.1%. Latin America as a whole had a poverty rate of 33% and an extreme poverty rate of 12.9% in 2009. The data indicate that Guatemala is behind other Latin American countries, in terms of lowering poverty rates, but there has been an increase in economic activity in terms of GDP and development. Guatemala's HDI increased from 0.462 in 1990, to 0.525 in 2000, to 0.550 in 2005, and 0.574 in 2011.3 Guatemala ranked 131st in HDI in 2011. Other important human development statistics such as the total fertility rate in Guatemala decreased from 4.8 births per woman in 2000 to 4.2 births per woman in 2006. During the same period, life expectancy increased from 67.9 years in 2000, to 69.9 years in 2006.

The following table shows the main economic indicators in 1980–2021 (with IMF staff estimates in 2022–2027). Inflation below 5% is in green. The annual unemployment rate is extracted from the World Bank, although the International Monetary Fund find them unreliable.

Electrical infrastructure in rural Guatemala
In Guatemala lack of access to electricity is concentrated in rural areas, although informal settlements around urban peripheries also tend to lack metered service. Guatemala's post-civil war efforts to improve electrical access in the countryside have proceeded under the auspices of the Rural Electrification Plan (Spanish: PER), a public-private partnership between the government's Ministry of Education and Mines (Mineduc) and private power companies. Over the period 2000 to 2011, the PER improved rates of electrical grid connectivity among non-indigenous (62 to 82 percent) and indigenous (48 to 70 percent) households in Guatemala. Continuity of the electrical grid is robust, with both groups reporting only about one hour per day of unavailability. Even when rural users are connected to the grid and pay subsidized rates, they often have difficulty affording electrical appliances, which translates into low power consumption (less than five percent of average US residential usage). This low power usage by rural customers is often not profitable for power companies, disincentivizing further expansion of the grid. As of 2014, one third of Guatemala's poorest rural residents still lacked electricity. By contrast, only around 8% of high-income rural residents lacked service, demonstrating that affordability plays a role in the accessibility of electrical grids.

In 2016, domestic hydroelectric power supplied the majority (about 34 percent) of Guatemala's electricity. The planning process for constructing new hydropower dams was updated by the Guatemalan Congress in 1996 and 2007 (Decree 93–96, the "General Law of Electricity"), giving project developers more power over the process, especially with regards to environmental impact assessments (EIA). A study in Guatemala covering the period 2009 to 2014 found that private construction firms generally have little knowledge of the rights of rural indigenous peoples their projects may be affecting. Firms typically hire consultants to perform EIAs and liaise with affected communities. However, consultants are frequently disinterested in adequately informing rural communities of the potential impacts of proposed projects. Instead, consultants frequently resort to bribery and manipulation to obtain consent to proceed with hydroelectric projects. Interlocutors from within the government say that there is internal pressure to approve EIAs even if they are performed inadequately, showing that visions of Guatemala's energy future may be overriding the interests of segments of its populace.

title: Economy of Guatemala


text:
Telecommunications in Guatemala

Telecommunications in Guatemala include radio, television, fixed and mobile telephones, and the Internet.

Radio and television

 * Radio stations: 1 government-owned radio station and hundreds of privately owned radio stations (2007).
 * Radios: 835,000 (1997).
 * Television stations: 4 privately owned national terrestrial channels dominate TV broadcasting; multi-channel satellite and cable services are available (2007).
 * Television sets: 640,000 (1997).

Telephones
Guatemala's incumbent telephone company is TELGUA, which won the bidding for the privatization of the government run GUATEL.

 * Calling code: +502
 * International call prefix: 00
 * Main lines in use:
 * 665,061 lines (2000)
 * 1.4 million lines (2006)
 * 1.7 million lines, 63rd in the world (2012)
 * Mobile cellular:
 * 663,296 lines (2000)
 * 6.8 million lines (2006)
 * 10.2 million lines, 70% of the population (2007)
 * 20.8 million lines, 46th in the world (2012)
 * Telephone system: fairly modern network centered in Guatemala City; connected to Central American Microwave System, a trunk microwave radio relay system that links the countries of Central America and Mexico with each other.
 * Satellite earth stations: 1 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean).
 * Communications cables: landing point for both the Americas Region Caribbean Ring (ARCOS-1) and the SAm-1 fiber optic submarine cable systems that together provide connectivity to South and Central America, parts of the Caribbean, and the US (2011).
 * Operators:
 * {| class="wikitable"

! International Operator ! Brand ! Users ! Technology ! Web Site
 * América Móvil
 * Claro/PCS Digital
 * 3,591,138 (June 2007)
 * CDMA 1x EVDO Rev 0 1900 MHz, GSM/GPRS/EDGE 900/1900 MHz, UMTS/HSPA 1900 MHz (1.5 Mbit/s) with video calling and data services available.
 * Claro Guatemala
 * Telefónica
 * Movistar
 * 2,514,612 (June 2007)
 * CDMA 1x EVDO Rev A 1900 MHz and GSM/GPRS/EDGE 1900 MHz, UMTS/HSPA 1900 MHz (7.2 Mbit/s) with data services only available.
 * Movistar Guatemala
 * Millicom / Local partners
 * TIGO/COMCEL
 * 3,116,998 (June 2007)
 * TDMA/N-AMPS (to be shut down) and GSM/GPRS/EDGE 850 MHz, UMTS/HSDPA 850 MHz (3.6 Mbit/s) with video calling and data services available
 * TIGO Guatemala
 * Digicel Group
 * Digicel must be launched before June 18, 2008
 * Planned GSM/GPRS/EDGE 900 MHz
 * Digicel Group
 * }
 * Digicel must be launched before June 18, 2008
 * Planned GSM/GPRS/EDGE 900 MHz
 * Digicel Group
 * }
 * }

Internet

 * Top-level domain: .gt
 * Internet users:
 * {| class="wikitable"

! Year ! Users
 * 2002
 * ~200,000
 * 2003
 * ~600,000
 * 2004
 * ~1.0 million
 * 2005
 * ~1.7 million
 * 2006
 * ~2.4 million
 * 2007
 * ~3.8 million
 * 2009
 * ~2.3 million, 72nd in the world
 * 2012
 * ~2.3 million, 86th in the world; 16.0% of the population, 153rd in the world
 * 2021
 * ~9.2 million
 * }
 * Fixed broadband: unknown (2012).
 * Mobile broadband: 632,624 subscriptions, 85th in the world; 4.5% of the population, 113th in the world (2012).
 * Internet hosts: 357,552 hosts, 60th in the world (2012).
 * IPv4: 552,192 addresses allocated, less than 0.05% of the world total, 39.2 addresses per 1000 people (2012).
 * Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 27 (2004).
 * 2021
 * ~9.2 million
 * }
 * Fixed broadband: unknown (2012).
 * Mobile broadband: 632,624 subscriptions, 85th in the world; 4.5% of the population, 113th in the world (2012).
 * Internet hosts: 357,552 hosts, 60th in the world (2012).
 * IPv4: 552,192 addresses allocated, less than 0.05% of the world total, 39.2 addresses per 1000 people (2012).
 * Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 27 (2004).
 * Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 27 (2004).

Internet censorship and surveillance
In 2011 the OpenNet Initiative reported no evidence of Internet filtering in Guatemala.

Guatemala's constitution protects freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and individual privacy, however, government officials routinely violate these rights. Recent constitutional reforms have legalized various electronic surveillance techniques that threaten online privacy.
 * The Ley de Proteccion Integral de la Niñez y Adolescencia (Law on the Protection of Children and Adolescents) permits the restriction of content for children younger than eighteen years of age if it is deemed harmful to their development. Media outlets and organizers of public events are required to evaluate and classify programmed content according to this law.
 * The Ley de Emisión del Pensamiento (Law on Expression of Thought) prohibits libel, slander, and treason in printed form, and stipulates that the author of any publication containing an opinion that the judiciary considers to be subversive, morally damaging, or "disrespectful" of private life may be subject to punishment. The Law on Expression of Thought explicitly requires newspapers that have incorrectly attributed acts to or published false information about people or entities to publish any corrections, explanations, or refutations sent to them by those they have accused. In cases of printed material that involves treason, is subversive, is "damaging to morals," or contains slander or libel, newspapers may be subject to a trial by jury; decisions may be appealed within 48 hours. The law makes an exception when the offended party is a government employee or official: if the offending content concerns "purely official acts" related to government work, the case will be judged in a "court of honor," and the decision will be final and closed to appeal.
 * The Ley de Orden Público (Law of Public Order) states that if the government has declared the country to be "in a state of siege," journalists must "refrain from publishing anything that might cause confusion or panic."

title: Telecommunications in Guatemala


text:
Transport in Guatemala

Transportation in Guatemala includes roads, waterways, airports and a short cross-border rail line from Mexico.

The Ministry of Communications, Infrastructure, and Housing oversees the planning, maintenance and development of infrastructure and transport systems. The General Directorate of Roads is responsible for the planning, design and supervision of construction works and maintenance of the country's roads.

Roads
Guatemala has an extensive road network, where 12.72% of the roads connect with Mexico and Central America, 17.27% are National Roads, 43.84% are Departmental and 26.17% are Rural. All the country's roads have Guatemala City as their point of origin. Among the busiest international routes in the country are the Pan-American highway that connects Mexico with Central America and the CA-9 highway that connects Puerto Barrios in the Guatemalan Caribbean with Puerto Quetzal in the Pacific.

Urban transportation
The urban transport system began in Guatemala City in the 1990s and since then it has been one of the most used means of transport within metropolitan areas. Bus services such as Transmetro and Transurbano differ from other means of transportation, such as private or departmental public transport as they are regulated by lines with defined stops and are primarily used for short-distance transportation.

Intercity transportation
The Intercity system connects various cities, departments, and countries. It is mainly used for long-distance travel. In Guatemala, it is common to see Chicken buses, which are recycled and often colorfully painted former US school buses. There are also Pullman buses that offer different destinations within Guatemalan territory.

Streets
Guatemalan streets tend to be one-ways to ease congestion and move traffic.

Highways

 * Total: 14,095 km
 * Paved: 4,863 km (including 75 km of expressways)
 * Unpaved: 9,232 km (1999 est.)

Airports
Guatemala has a total of 402 airports and airstrips. Among these, three are international: La Aurora International Airport located in Guatemala City, Mundo Maya International Airport in Santa Elena de la Cruz, and Western International Airport in Quetzaltenango.

The General Directorate of Civil Aeronautics (DGAC) is the state agency responsible for regulating civil aviation throughout the country. Its primary functions include: managing the airports of Guatemala, controlling traffic in the national airspace, and overseeing the operation and acquisition of aircraft throughout the republic.

Named airports

 * La Aurora International Airport
 * Mundo Maya International Airport
 * San José Airport
 * Quetzaltenango Airport
 * Puerto Barrios Airport

Airports - with paved runways

 * total: 11
 * 2,438 to 3,047 m: 3
 * 1,524 to 2,437 m: 2
 * 914 to 1,523 m: 4
 * under 914 m: 2 (2006 est.)

Airports - with unpaved runways

 * total: 439
 * 2,438 to 3,047 m: 1
 * 1,524 to 2,437 m: 8
 * 914 to 1,523 m: 111
 * under 914 m: 319 (2006 est.)

Railways

total:

 * 1.65 km cross border link from Mexico to Tecun Uman rebuilt as standard gauge  in 2019

 * 322 km operated by the Railroad Development Corporation until September 2007, now closed
 * 563 km closed

narrow gauge: 884 km gauge (single track)

Railway links with adjacent countries

 * 🇲🇽 Mexico - short link since 2019, previously break-of-gauge /
 * 🇧🇿 Belize - None
 * 🇭🇳 Honduras - none in use - break-of-gauge / (?)
 * 🇸🇻 El Salvador - currently closed

Waterways
260 km navigable year round; additional 730 km navigable during high-water season

Pipelines

 * oil 480 km

Atlantic Ocean

 * Puerto Barrios
 * Santo Tomás de Castilla

Pacific Ocean

 * Champerico, Puerto Quetzal, Puerto San José

Merchant marine
None (1999 est.)

Boats
Ferries serve as a mode of transportation in certain regions, such as Sayaxché and for traveling between the cities of Puerto Barrios and Livingston. They are also used to connect multiple coastal towns in Lake Atitlán.

title: Transport in Guatemala


text:
Armed Forces of Guatemala

The Guatemalan Armed Forces (Fuerzas Armadas de Guatemala) is the unified military organization comprising the Guatemalan Army, Navy, Air Force, and Presidential Honor Guard. The president of Guatemala is the commander-in-chief of the military, and formulates policy, training, and budget through the Minister of Defence. Day-to-day operations are conducted by the Chief of the General Staff.

History
Guatemala is a signatory to the Rio Pact and was a member of the Central American Defense Council (CONDECA). The President of the Republic is commander-in-chief.

Prior to 1945 the Defence Ministry was titled the Secretariat of War (Secretaría de la Guerra).

An agreement signed in September 1996, which is one of the substantive peace accords, mandated that the mission of the armed forces change to focus exclusively on external threats. Presidents Álvaro Arzú and his successors Alfonso Portillo, Óscar Berger and Álvaro Colom, have used a constitutional clause to order the army on a temporary basis to support the police in response to a nationwide wave of violent crime, a product of the Mexican criminal organizations going across the north-west region.

The peace accords call for a one-third reduction in the army's authorized strength and budget — achieved in 2004 — and for a constitutional amendment to permit the appointment of a civilian minister of defense. A constitutional amendment to this end was defeated as part of a May 1999 plebiscite, but discussions between the executive and legislative branches continue on how to achieve this objective.

In 2004 the army has gone beyond its accord-mandated target, and has implemented troop reductions from an estimated 28,000 to 15,500 troops, including subordinate air force (1,000) and navy (1,000) elements. It is equipped with armaments and material from the United States, Israel, Taiwan, Argentina, Spain, and France. As part of the army downsizing, the operational structure of 19 military zones and three strategic brigades are being recast as several military zones are eliminated and their area of operations absorbed by others. The air force operates three air bases; the navy has two port bases.

The Guatemalan army has a special forces unit (specializing in anti-insurgent jungle warfare) known as the Kaibiles. In 2011, a Guatemalan court convicted four members of the Kaibiles, of killing more than 200 civilians in the Dos Erres massacre in 1982. Each man was sentenced to 6,050 years in prison. Their convictions for their roles in the massacre nearly 30 years prior, in which soldiers killed more than 200 men, women, and children, would not have happened if not for the courage of victims of violence and Guatemala's attorney general, Claudia Paz y Paz. After the convictions of the Dos Erres four, based on a Guatemalan government's commitment to reorganize its special forces units, the U.S. Department of Defense resumed military aid.

Armed Forces Day
The Día del Ejército (Army Day or Armed Forces Day) is celebrated on 30 June, although if it occurs on a Tuesday or Wednesday it is celebrated on the prior Monday, and if it occurs on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, or Sunday it moves to the following Monday.

Organization
The Armed Forces today number at around 39,000 active personnel.

Army
The Army or Land Forces are the oldest military branch of the armed forces. In the middle of the 19th century, General Rafael Carrera promoted it with the triumph in the Battle of San José La Arada, dated to 2 February 1851, a date that is today commemorated as the day of this branch.

Navy
The Navy was founded on 15 January 1959, by the then President Miguel Ydígoras Fuentes, due to the need to protect the country's marine resources, which at the time were the object of illegal predation by fishing boats from neighboring countries. It is a state entity with functions as a police agency for seas and rivers.

Air Force
The Guatemalan Air Force (Fuerza Aérea Guatemalteca; FAG) constitutes the aviation portion of the Guatemalan Army. Founded in 1921, it is organized, equipped and trained to plan, conduct and execute the actions imposed by the State Military Defense in relation to the use of air power.

Honor Guard
The Presidential Honor Guard of Guatemala is a branch of the Guatemalan Land Forces, responsible for the care and protection of the President of the Republic, as well as the Vice President.

Notable military personnel

 * Captain General Rafael Carrera
 * Colonel Jacobo Árbenz Guzman
 * Field Marshal José Víctor Zavala
 * General Justo Rufino Barrios
 * General Miguel Garcia Granados

title: Armed Forces of Guatemala


text:
Foreign relations of Guatemala

Guatemala's major diplomatic interests are regional security and increasingly, regional development and economic integration.

Diplomatic relations
List of countries which Guatemala maintains diplomatic relations with:

Multilateral relations
The Central American Ministers of Trade meet on a regular basis to work on regional approaches to trade issues. In March 1998, Guatemala joined its Central American neighbors in signing a Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA). In 2000 it joined Honduras and El Salvador in signing a free trade agreement with Mexico, which went into effect in 2001. Guatemala also originated the idea for, and is the seat of, the Central American Parliament (PARLACEN).

Guatemala participates in several regional groups, particularly those related to the environment and trade. For example, US President Clinton and the Central American presidents signed the CONCAUSA (Conjunto Centroamerica-USA) agreement at the Summit of the Americas in December 1994. CONCAUSA is a cooperative plan of action to promote clean, efficient energy use; conserve the region's biodiversity; strengthen legal and institutional frameworks and compliance mechanisms; and improve and harmonize environmental protection standards.

Illicit drugs: Guatemala is a transit country for cocaine shipments; minor producer of illicit opium poppy and cannabis for the international drug trade; active eradication program in 1996 effectively eliminated the cannabis crop; proximity to Mexico makes Guatemala a major staging area for drugs (cocaine shipments).

title: Foreign relations of Guatemala