Brutality Unhinged: The Counterinsurgent Response

Abstract

In Chap. 5, Brutality Unhinged: The Counterinsurgent Response, we examine the evolution of the counterinsurgency strategy aimed at defeating the guerrilla during the government of General Romeo Lucas García (1978–1982) and the de facto presidency of General Efraín Ríos Montt (1982–1983). As we shall see, counterinsurgency strategy evolved over time, evolving from low-intensity repression, including intimidation, kidnapping and selective killings, to the massacres that represented the blunt instrument of the genocide. In the aftermath of the massacres, elaborate institutional frameworks were adopted to subject the population to military control, frameworks that reinforced the impact of the massacres. In this regard, military strategy gradually assumed a dual logic characterised by direct confrontation with the guerrilla and the destruction of the rebel’s social base through a campaign of mass, organised killing. The chapter plots the evolution of the counterinsurgency within an historical framework, detailing how the political and economic context, the emerging guerrilla threat and the increasing protagonism of indigenous and peasant populations shaped the military’s response.