The Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity (in Spanish: Unidad Revolucionaria Nacional Guatemalteca) (initials: URNG) was a guerilla movement which emerged in Guatemala in 1982. After a peace process brokered by the United Nations it laid down its arms in 1996 and became a legitimate political party in 1998.

The URNG was formed as guerrilla umbrella organization for four Marxist groups active in Guatemala in the 1970s: the Guerrilla Army of the Poor (EGP), the Revolutionary Organization of Armed People (ORPA), the Rebel Armed Forces (FAR), and the Guatemalan Labor Party (PGT)

In March, 1982, the retired General Efrain Rios Montt came to power in a military junta which embarked upon a genocidal "scorched- earth" counterinsurgency campaign in the indigenous highlands against the URNG and its supporters. By the time a civilian government returned to office in 1986, the URNG recognized that coming to power through armed struggle was out of the question, and they took initiatives to negotiate a political solution.

According to a report in NACLA's Report on the Americas (May/June 1997),

The government and army maintained that since they had "defeated" the URNG, they had no need to negotiate until the guerrillas had laid down their arms. The subsequent settlements ending the civil wars in Nicaragua and El Salvador stiffened the elites' resolve "never" to permit such an outcome in Guatemala.

But gradually, between 1986 and 1996, the Guatemalan army and government were drawn into a peace process with the United Nations as moderator and verifier of the process, and other international actors as key players, with major concessions from both sides. Obligations were imposed on the Guatemalan government, including significant constitutional reforms, which were to be internationally binding and be verified by the UN.

On December 29, a peace agreement signed between the government and the URNG in the presence of UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali officially ended the 36-year civil war.

See also

• History of Guatemala

External link

• URNG party website (in Spanish)
• The Guatemalan peace process (Accord magazine, 1997)