GUATEMALA
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| (See reference map III) |
LAND
108,880 km2; 14% cultivated, 10% pasture, 57% forest, 19% other
Land boundaries: 1,625 km
WATER
Limits of territorial waters (claimed): 12 nm (fishing 200 nm; 200 nm exclusive economic zone)
Coastline: 400 km
PEOPLE
Population: 7,537,000 (July 1982), average annual growth rate 3.1%
Nationality: noun—Guatemalan(s); adjective—Guatemalan
Ethnic divisions: 58.6% Ladino (mestizo and westernized Indian), 41.4% Indian
Religion: predominantly Roman Catholic
Language: Spanish, but over 40% of the population speaks an Indian language as a primary tongue
Literacy: about 30%
Labor force (1974): 1.8 million; 52.5% agriculture, 10.1% manufacturing, 21.7% services, 7.9% commerce, 3.9% construction, 2.1% transport, 0.7% mining, 1.2% electrical, 0.8% other; unemployment estimates vary from 3% to 25%
Organized labor: 6.4% of labor force (1975)
GOVERNMENT
Official name: Republic of Guatemala
Type: republic
Capital: Guatemala
Political subdivisions: 22 departments
Legal system: civil law system; constitution came into effect 1966; constitution suspended following March 1982 coup; judicial review of legislative acts; legal education at University of San Carlos of Guatemala; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction
National holiday: Independence Day, 15 September
Branches: traditionally dominant executive; elected unicameral legislature; seven-member (minimum) Supreme Court
Government leader: military junta under the presidency of Gen. (Ret.) Efrain RIOS MONTT following coup of 23 March 1982, which removed President Maj. Gen. Fernando Romeo Lucas García; Gen. Angel Anibal Guevara had been elected president in the March 1982 election and was scheduled to take office on 1 July 1982
Suffrage: universal over age 18, compulsory for literates, optional for illiterates
Elections: last elections (President and Congress) 7 March 1982
Political parties and leaders: Democratic Institutional Party (PID), Donaldo Alvarez Ruiz; Revolutionary Party (PR), Jorge García-Granados Quiñonez (secretary general); National Liberation Movement (MLN), Mario Sandoval Alarcón; Guatemalan Christian Democratic Party (DCG), Vinicio Cerezo Arevalo (secretary general); René de Léon Schlotter (honorary president and party strongman); Nationalist Authentic Central (CAN), Luis Alfonso López (secretary general), Gustavo Anzueto Vielman (secretary and 1982 presidential candidate), Gen. Carlos Arana Osorio (party strongman); National United Front (FUN), Col. Enrique Peralta Azurdia; Nationalist Renovator Party (PNR), Alejandro Maldonado Aguirre; United Revolutionary Party (FUR); suspended political activity of all parties following March 1982 coup
Voting strength: (1978) for President—PID/PR, 269,973 (42.3%); MLN, 211,393 (33.1%); DCG, 156,730 (24.6%); for congressional seats—PID/PR, 34 seats; MLN, 20 seats; DCG, 7 seats
Communists: Guatemalan Labor Party (PGT); main radical left guerrilla groups—Guerrilla Army of the Poor (EGP), Revolutionary Organization of the People in Arms (ORPA), Rebel Armed Forces (FAR), and PGT Dissidents
Other political or pressure groups: Federated Chambers of Commerce and Industry (CACIF)
Member of: CACM, FAO, G-77, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAC, ICAO, ICO, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC, IHO, ILO, IMF, ISO, ITU, IWC—International Wheat Council, OAS, ODECA, SELA, UN, UNESCO, UPEB, UPU, WHO, WMO
ECONOMY
GNP: $7.8 billion (1980 est.), $1,080 per capita; 76% private consumption, 7% government consumption, 22% domestic investment (1978), -5% net foreign balance (1978); average annual real growth rate (1974-80), 4.3%
Agriculture: main products—coffee, cotton, corn, beans, sugarcane, bananas, livestock; caloric intake, 2,156 calories per day per capita (1977)
