Cultural Conflict In The Guatemalan Civil War

Following technological advances, numerous individuals receive their news digitally. However, a recent trend in the media has portrayed immigration negatively. Now in media, including films, immigrants are viewed as people that “spread infectious diseases and terrorists that may gain entry to western nations disguised as refugees” (Esses, Medianu, and Lawson 518). As reported by Vargas and DePyssler, media exemplifies immigrants into two representations: group and individual. Group representation is more commonly found and shown with “a group of Mexican immigrants who appear as outsiders unable or unwilling to assimilate, as welfare cheats draining society, or as people who do not pay taxes wresting jobs from citizens who do” (Vargas and

Cultural conflicts often revolve around certain topics such as: quality of life issues, the recognition or strengthening of identities, third generation rights, and the concept of cultural citizenship (“Understanding Social Conflict” 40). The five main addressed issues within these topics are political struggles, public safety issues, environmental issues, human rights conflicts, and issues of values, beliefs, and identity. A well known and unfortunate event caused from cultural conflict is the Guatemalan Civil War. The Guatemalan Civil War, which lasted from 1960 until 1996 began as the indigenous Guatemalans fought out against poverty, oppression, and the lost of land from foreign companies.
As an attempt to escape the possible tragic proceedings following cultural conflicts, Latin American immigrants seek refuge in America. Once in America, immigrants seek to gain new opportunities that can enable them to essentially achieve a better quality of life. Additionally, Henderson argues that immigrants from Latin America migrate to the United States for roughly the same reasons as other immigrants: “they might wish to join family members, have a lust for adventure, or need to escape something in their home country; but mostly they need jobs, which are scarce back home”

She informs to her brother Enrique that “In our own land, we have no home. They want to kill us. … In Mexico, there is only poverty. We can’t make a home there either. And here in the north, we aren’t accepted. When will we find a home, Enrique? Maybe when we die, we’ll find a home.” (Nava & Thomas, 1984). In this short monologue, Rosa summarizes the struggles she as well as other immigrants face while finding an identity within America. Immigrants only find a true home after death. In Rosa’s situation, she was no longer welcomed in her native home of Guatemala nor accepted in the United