Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Liberal Reforms of Barrios
The liberals returned to power in the 1870s, first under Miguel García Granados, next un-
der Justo Rufino Barrios, a rich young coffee plantation owner who held the title of presid-
ent, but ruled as a dictator (1873-79). Barrios modernized Guatemala's roads, railways,
schools and banking system and favored the burgeoning coffee industry disproportionately.
Under Barrios' successors a small group of landowning and commercial families came to
control the economy, while foreign companies were given generous concessions, and polit-
ical opponents were censored, imprisoned or exiled.
In
Silence on the Mountain,
Daniel Wilkinson uncovers in microcosm the social background to the civil war as
he delves into the reasons for the burning of a coffee estate by guerrillas.
