I Ask for Justice: Maya Women, Dictators, and Crime in Guatemala, 1898–1944

364 Pages·2013·31.47 MB·English

by  David Carey Jr.

I Ask for Justice

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Book Th irty-Th ree
Louann Atkins Temple Women & Culture Series
Books about women and families, and their changing role in society

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I Ask for Justice
Maya Women, Dictators, and Crime
in Guatemala, 1898– 1944
by david carey jr.
University of Texas Press Austin

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Th e Louann Atkins Temple Women & Culture Series is supported by
Allison, Doug, Taylor, and Andy Bacon; Margaret, Lawrence, Will, John,
and Annie Temple; Larry Temple; the Temple-Inland Foundation; and the
National Endowment for the Humanities.
Th is book draws on material previously published as the following:
“Distilling Perceptions of Crime: Maya Moonshiners and the Guatemalan State,
1898–1 944” in Distilling the Infl uence of Alcohol: Aguardiente in Guatemalan History
(Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2012). Reprinted with permission of the
University Press of Florida.
“Forced and Forbidden Sex: Rape and Sexual Freedom in Dictatorial Guatemala”
in Th e Americas: A Quarterly Review of Inter-American Cultural History 69, no. 3
(January 2013): 357– 389.
“‘Hard Working, Orderly Little Women’: Mayan Vendors and Marketplace
Struggles in Early-Twentieth-Century Guatemala” in Ethnohistory 55, no. 4 (Fall
2008): 579–6 07. Copyright 2009, American Society for Ethnohistory. All rights
reserved. Reprinted by permission of the publisher, Duke University Press.
“‘Ofi cios de su raza y sexo’ (Occupations Consistent with Her Race and Sex):
Mayan Women and Expanding Gender Identities in Early Twentieth-Century
Guatemala” in Journal of Women’s History 20, no. 1 (Spring 2008): 114– 148.
“Precursors to Femicide: Guatemalan Women in a Vortex of Violence” in Latin
American Research Review 45, no. 3 (2010): 142– 164.
Copyright © 2013 by the University of Texas Press
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
First edition, 2013
Requests for permission to reproduce material from this work should be sent to:
Permissions
University of Texas Press
P.O. Box 7819
Austin, TX 78713-7819
http://utpress.utexas.edu/index.php/rp-form
○∞ Th e paper used in this book meets the minimum requirements of ANSI/NISO
Z39.48-1992 (R1997) (Permanence of Paper).
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Carey, David, 1967–
I ask for justice : Maya women, dictators, and crime in Guatemala, 1898– 1944 / by
David Carey Jr. — First edition.
pages cm. — (Louann Atkins Temple women & culture series ; Book
thirty-three)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-292-74868-2 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. S ex discrimination in criminal justice administration—Guatemala—History—
20th century. 2. M aya women—Legal status, laws, etc.—Guatemala—History—
20th century. 3. M aya women—Crimes against—Guatemala—History—20th
century. 4. M aya women—Guatemala—Social conditions—20th century.
I. Title.
KGD2501.C37 2013
364.3′74089974207281—dc23
2012050645
do i:10.7560/748682
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For the bright, industrious, and resourceful women and girls closest to
my heart: Mom, Sarah, Ava, and Kate
In memory of Mary, Bob, and Jay, who all passed away while I was
writing this book

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Contents
List of Illustrations, Maps, and Tables ix
Foreword by Pablo Piccato xiii
Acknowledgments xxiii
Introduction: Justice, Ethnicity, and Gender in
Twentieth-Century Guatemala 1
1. Dictators, Indígenas, and the Legal System:
Intersections of Race and Crime 27
2. “Rough and Thorny Terrain”: Moonshine, Gender, and Ethnicity 56
3. “Productive Activity”: Female Vendors and Ladino Authorities
in the Market 90
4. Unnatural Mothers and Reproductive Crimes:
Infanticide, Abortion, and Cross-Dressing 118
5. Wives in Danger and Dangerous Women:
Domestic and Female Violence 153
6. Honorable Subjects: Public Insults, Family Feuds,
and State Power 191
Conclusion: Emboldened and Constrained 225
Appendices 240
Notes 263

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viii I Ask for Justice
Glossary 295
Bibliography 299
Index 327

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Illustrations, Maps, and Tables
Illustrations
Figure 0.1. Guatemala City jail, ca. 1875 10
Figure 1.1. General Justo Rufi no Barrios 34
Figure 1.2. General Jorge Ubico, 1940 37
Figure 1.3. Indigenous authorities from San Martín Jilotepeque, 1907 39
Figure 1.4. Indigenous military volunteers in the plaza central of
San Martín Jilotepeque, ca. 1940 44
Figure 1.5. Buhoneros arriving in the plaza central of Antigua, 1875 52
Figure 1.6. Director of National Police Roderico Anzueto, 1936 53
Figure 1.7. “Native women,” 1942 54
Figure 2.1. Stills decommissioned by Treasury Police, 1932 67
Figure 2.2. Clandestinistas and their wares, 1941 69
Figure 2.3. “Th e National Police in its tenacious work,” 1933 70
Figure 2.4. “Twenty-six clandestinistas of both sexes,” 1933 71
Figure 2.5. State-sanctioned liquor dispensary, ca. 1875 73
Figure 2.6. Miguel Alonso Tin (clandestinista), 1942 75
Figure 3.1. “Our powerful and hardworking native race,” 1943 98
Figure 3.2. “Work: Th e faith and religion of our autochthonous
race,” 1942 100
Figure 3.3. Mercado de Tecpán, ca. 1925 102
Figure 3.4. Public market, Guatemala City, ca. 1875 103

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