Review of Jonas, Of Centaurs and Doves: Guatemala's Peace Process.

• Date: 22 March 2001
• Author: Molina-Mejia, Raul
• Published date: 22 March 2001
• Author: Molina-Mejia, Raul

Susanne Jonas, Of Centaurs and Doves: Guatemala's Peace Process. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 2000.

THIS BOOK IS A SOUND, ACCURATE, AND IN-DEPTH ANALYSIS OF THE GUATEMALAN peace process, which ended the 36-year-old internal armed conflict and began the reconstruction of the Guatemalan state and society as a multiethnic, multilingual, and multicultural nation. Fortunately for those interested in Guatemala, Susanne Jonas decided not to limit the scope of this book to the stages that led to the signing of the Firm and Lasting Peace Accord on December 29, 1996. She expands her analysis to consider its immediate aftermath, that is, the period from January 1997 to mid-1999, when important attempts were made to implement some of the transformations mandated by the accord. Consequently, the book illustrates both the extraordinary significance of the peace agreements as a historic opportunity for the Guatemalan people, and the difficulties of trying to transform conditions in Guatemala that have defied change for decades and, in some respects, for centuries.

The analysis of a peace process in its complexity and uniqueness is a formidable task. It is, however, of the utmost importance to understand the relationships between internal conflicts and their political solutions, and to draw lessons for other situations of intense conflict where conditions may be ripe for initiating serious peace-seeking efforts. Jonas, through her accompaniment of the Guatemalan peace process and previous Central American peace processes, understands this importance and deals with the peace-seeking and peace-building efforts in Guatemala both meticulously and passionately. This book adds to her reputation as one of the best informed and most highly concerned observers of the situation in Guatemala. As Sir Marrack Goulding states in the book's "Foreword": "Another strength...is the length, depth, and breadth of the author's knowledge of Guatemala and its people.... I have been repeatedly struck by her understanding of Guatemalans and their country..." (p.xv). Being a Guatemalan myself, I fully agree with this comment, and I admire Jonas' long-term commitment to Guatemala and the Guatemalan people.

In the "Prologue," Jonas provides a vision of the Guatemalan peace process and the purposes and objectives of her book. Guatemala's peace process has been an emotional roller coaster for Jonas: she could not remain a cold observer or chronicler of this process, but became emotionally involved, enjoying its ups and suffering its downs. This is the analysis of a person who is in favor of peace in its broadest sense: the elimination of the root causes of the conflict. This position is itself a political one, in Guatemala and elsewhere, and runs contrary to the view of peace as a silencing of the weapons. Jonas states: "This is 'committed history,' insofar as I have felt committed to a successful outcome of the peace process" (p. 15).

Jonas stresses that Guatemala is a very complex country, "impossibly convoluted. Nothing is simple, straightforward, or easy to understand. Nothing is what it seems" (p. 1). For every two steps forward, there is one step back. Jonas seemed to have temporarily forgotten this evolution of Guatemala's reality when the Firm and Lasting Peace Accord was signed. It looked to many that day, including Jonas and a significant proportion of Guatemalans, as though a point of no return had finally been achieved. Many key actors in the international community, represented by the U.N. and the Group of Friends of the Guatemalan peace process -- Colombia, Mexico, Norway, Spain, the United States, and Venezuela -- believed that the signing of the accord made the entire peace process successful. They failed to fully realizing that a...