On December 29, 1996, the Agreement on a Firm and Lasting Peace was signed, formally ending Guatemala’s armed conflict, which began in 1960 following the CIA-backed overthrow of the democratic government of Jacobo Árbenz and the end of the ten-year democratic period (1944–1954).
Peace negotiations initially took place outside Guatemala and were first mediated by the Catholic Church, later by the UN verification mission United Nations Verification Mission in Guatemala (MINUGUA). At the national level, the Assembly of Civil Society (ASC) brought together multiple sectors, including for the first time the Coalition of Mayan People’s Organizations in Guatemala (COPMAGUA), representing more than 200 groups. Although the ASC produced 13 consensus documents that influenced the process, the final Peace Accords were signed only by the government and the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity (URNG).
📸 Celebrating the signing of the Peace Accords — front page of Prensa Libre, Guatemala, 1996.