La movilización maya en Guatemala: exigiendo derechos y construyendo multiculturalidad en un contexto de postconflicto

Indigenous mobilization in Guatemala for equal rights started in the 1970’s, in the twentieth century, and was abruptly interrupted by the State genocide in response to the revolutionary threat. However, when the peace process started in the 90’s, those actors that now called themselves Mayans were able to re-articulate in such a way that they succeeded to be recognized in the Agreement for the Identity and the Rights of Indigenous Populations. From then on, a phase of “cosmetic multiculturalism” is initiated in which many of them open their way into public spaces where they can develop specific politics while further reinforcing a discourse maximizing cultural difference. Nonetheless, this model shows some limitations since it fails to question the same structures that keep most of the Mayan in poverty. The results of Rigoberta Menchu’s candidacy in the 2007 elections come to prove this situation. This is what gives strength to those alternatives claiming to return to community-based grassroots in order to rearticulate a mobilization from the bottom.