This volume, by a longtime staff member of Amnesty International, is a piece of advocacy journalism by a human rights activist, seeking to indict the dominant forces of Guatemalan society and demonstrate the need for greater action by other nations to promote change to improve the lot of the rural peasants in that nation. while praising recent measures by the Carter administration as a step forward, the author calls for a much broader effort with far greater political implications—defining human rights in a manner that requires political intervention, hailing those agencies that are engaging in political action within Guatemala, and disparaging measures that stop short of such efforts. The account of Guatemalan events is written from a reformist viewpoint, with violence by the right constituting the principal target. The author contends that political violence was much more severe in the 1970s than at any time in Guatemalan history, and conveys the impression that all the problems began in 1954. Such a view overlooks the long-standing cycle, reflecting a highly polarized political scene characterized by violence, that has prevailed in Guatemala throughout its existence.
The discussion is most useful for its examination of the various definitions of human rights and their implications for policy, providing an overview of the human rights debates and policies in the United States and Europe
