1980s: The early 1980s are some of the bloodiest years of the thirty-six-year civil war in Guatemala. Violent counter-insurgency measures taken by the army rage out of control, resulting in the killing of over 100,000 people, including thousands of indigenous Mayan Indians. The violence is aggravated by the financial and military support of the United States, which helps the oppressive government in an effort to keep communism out of Central America.

Today: The signing of a peace treaty in 1996 ends the civil war. Guatemala is governed by a parliamentary system. The president and parliament are democratically elected every four years, and though corruption still exists in the government, conditions have improved greatly since the 1980s.

1980s: The United States and the Soviet Union are still engaged in the cold war, making the presence of communism in Central America a matter of great concern to the...