So many of the early Guatemalan stamps show impressive stone edifaces. It is what claudillos like to build with their obvious achievement and hopefully stone permanence. What better to show potential immigrants who might worry the place will be a cultural wasteland. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.
The stamp today shows the La Reforma Palace. It was designed by French architects. The palace as with many of the structures on this set of stamps were destroyed by a large earthquake in 1919. The government of the time was not stable enough to follow through with plans for reconstruction. I covered this issues Carrera opera house here, https://the-philatelist.com/2017/11/06/guatemala-columbus-theatre-still-impressive-on-the-stamp-but-really-in-ruins/ .
Todays stamp is issue A30, a 5 Centavo stamp issued by Guatemala in 1902. It was part of a 10 stamp issue in various denominations featuring architectural achievements. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used. A vertical pair of this stamp in imperferate form is worth $100.
After independence from Spain Guatemala faced big problems. The bulk of the people in the countryside were of indian heritage. Their traditional style of living was on rural land under communal ownership of the tribe. The capital of Guatemala City had a slight majority of people of criollo background. This was much closer to Spanish with still some mixing. These were the leaders of the political parties, both left and right, and the military officers. The call out for European immigrants was one of self preservation. At the time, the Yukatan peninsula to the north was a separate indian run country. There was a boom in the cultivation of henequen, useful in ropes and a local alcoholic drink. The cultivation sent Indians off the land and toward Guatemala City from Yukatan. To keep them out of the capital and the following inevitable demand for political power, the American United Fruit Company was invited in, They set up banana plantations that took even more land from Indians but required much labor. The workers were given a small plot of land for themselves in return for several months of labor on the plantation. Guatemala City, now much larger, still claims a slight criollo majority. Their current relief valve are those caravans walking north.
I mentioned that the Presidential Palace on the stamp was destroyed in 1919. The street it was on still shares its name. A new design for a palace was commissioned from Italian architects, but there was no money to build it.The frustrated President Herrerra wanted a new palace in time for the Guatemala Centennial and ordered one built in 3 months with a shoestring budget. The result was known as the Cardboard Palace. It only lasted a few years before burning in 1925. Guatemala got by without until the current Presidential Palace was completed in 1943, with the help of the United Fruit Company. They courteously delivered the Palace on the Dictator Ubico’s birthday.
The current Palace is somewhat notorious today for death tribunals held there in the early 1980s by Dictator Efrain Rios Montt against mainly leftist Indians. 15 were killed after trials. For many years Rios Montt was protected from opponants retribution by staying an elected member of Parliment after leaving the Presidency. When he attempted to retire in 2012 at age 85 he was quickly indicted and convicted of genocide. The vertict was overturned by a higher court. It was agreed to reconvict him but without jail time due his age. The journey to civilization begins with one small step. Rios Montt died in 2018 at age 91.
Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast the United Fruit Company. Dangerous places require relief valves especially beneficial are domestic ones. Plus you can’t have people as esteemed as Guatemalan leaders living in cardboard palaces. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.