Pan-Maya movement

The Pan-Mayan Movement is an ethno-political movement among the Maya peoples of Guatemala and Mexico. The movement emerged in the late 1980s and early 1990s in response to a long tradition of the political marginalization of the large indigenous population of Guatemala, and particularly in response to the violent counter-insurgency policies that disproportionately affected indigenous communities during the Guatemalan Civil War. The movement was organized around an ideology seeking to unite the speakers of Guatemala's many Mayan languages under a single shared cultural/ethnic identity. It was an alternative to either of the parties of the civil war - the communist revolutionaries and the conservative government. Indigenous Mayan linguists trained by North American linguists in the Proyecto linguistico Francisco Marroquin played a major role in organizing the movement. With the 1996 peace accords the movement gained a significant position in Guatemalan politics.

The Pan-Mayan Movement consists of the collaborative action of about more than 20 different Maya language groups. Although the indigenous people of Guatemala make up about half of the total population they are unrepresented and highly discriminated against.

Unification was difficult during a repressive civil war, which helped keep the Mayans fragmented. Mayan organizations were usually local organizations catering to a small group of the population, mostly those in the same language group. Barriers to unification included the diversity of languages, which made it hard to coordinate within the indigenous population. Geographic barriers include the lack of concentration of the Maya in one region of Guatemala and the majority of the population living in rural areas, which makes physical coordination difficult. Finally socioeconomic barriers include high poverty rates and fewer resources than other ethnic groups in the nation.

The Pan-Mayan Movement was officially mobilized when organizations started making explicitly indigenous claims. These organizations focused on creating Pan-Mayanism, uniting the diverse population of Mayan people throughout the nation. The organizations vouched for political autonomy, linguistic preservation, access to land and cultural revitalization.

The movement arose along with the rise of other indigenous movements across Latin America. The movement broke away from former indigenous activism that emerged through peasant organizations but did not make ethnic claims. They have previously joined peasant organizations because creating organizations with explicitly indigenous claims allowed them to be easy targets for discrimination. The international support for indigenous rights at the time helped change that.

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