Counter-Insurgency

The term "counter-insurgency" is used to describe the scenario in which a given country's military is actively fighting armed domestic groups which pose a threat to the established power structure. In the case of Guatemala, these insurgents have consisted primarily of rural guerrillas, with some revolutionary groups in the cities.

Counter-insurgency programs in Guatemala often took a "carrot and stick" approach: the government offered public works such as schools, hospitals, roads and other infrastructure as a "carrot" for those communities which rejected the guerrillas and the "stick" of the military for those individuals who harbored guerrilla sympathies, real or perceived.