If you cannot keep track of changes in our government, do not even try to figure out Guatemala’s.

This is the impression Michael Salovesh, associate professor of social anthropology, seemed to give to about a dozen students in the Holmes Student Center on Tuesday. Salovesh related his experiences as a social anthropologist in the region.

Although Salovesh had been involved in linguistics and social anthropology in southern Mexico and Central America since 1958, he decided to return to Guatemala last June after a series of political developments in the Guatemalan government.

On May 25, 1993 then-president Jorge Serrano decided to become a dictator, Salovesh explained. Serrano placed the notoriously corrupt supreme court and legislature under house arrest.

The next day the U.S. suspended consideration of special tariff status and withdrew military aid in response to Serrano’s power grab, Salovesh said.

In one week, the Guatemalan army escorted Serrano out of the country. His replacement was president for three days. Then Ramiro de Leon Carpio, the human rights ombudsman, took over as president despite being “a thorn in the army’s side,” added Salovesh. The army-supported candidate for president became vice president.

Since then several terrorist groups have competed for power in Guatemala. Part of the terrorism results from the army not being under control of the president, Salovesh said. This has been true in Guatemala since 1954.

The Kaibiles, a well-armed and well-trained group of army terrorists, are among the most frequent assassins. Although they recently assassinated the general manager of El Grafico, Guatemala’s second-largest newspaper, the press still prints articles strongly critical of the government.

Salovesh cited an example of a supreme court chief justice who had used public funds to buy five expensive cars. One of the newspapers reported not only the embezzlement of public funds, but the make and model, the prices, the license plate numbers and parking places of each car.

One of the newspapers also reported on the training and tactics of the Kaibiles, which is almost unheard of in countries like Guatemala where the press is censored.

Salovesh speculated the Instancia Nacional de Consenso, an anti-dictatorship movement, may be using the press to further its interests.

Salovesh cited a television station general manager who believed the effect of free press in the former Soviet Union could be inspiring the newspaper reporters. After glasnost, the freedom of press led to the collapse of the Soviet empire.

Salovesh later mentioned the residents of small villages in Guatemala who receive satellite CNN and Mexican news broadcasts, but do not have access to newspapers. It would be ineffective for the government or the army to censor newspapers since the villagers’ only news source is the satellite transmissions, he said.

Adding to the terrorism, student protests also have been prevalent since the change of presidency. Salovesh said the day he left, students started bombing buses to protest having to show student identification cards to board free.

He said the feeling of citizens was one of suspicion and frustration with trying to figure out the government, and he shared those feelings. “When a politician tells you he’s doing something for the good of the country, you worry about it.”

“There are no simple questions in Guatemala,” continued Salovesh. “The more I found out, the less I knew. If I had stayed another month, I would have known nothing at all.”

The audience definitely wanted to find out more nonetheless. Salovesh answered questions and shared other experiences with several students for more than half an hour after the end of the presentation.