Cold War Cartography
in Guatemala

The Cold War in Latin America unfolded across diverse landscapes. To fully grasp these events, we must understand how the places of the Cold War were known, imagined, and lived over time. 

The Latin American Cold War was a profoundly spatial and territorial project. It involved struggles for regional sovereignty that spanned hemispheric, national, regional, and municipal scales. Geographical knowledge was fundamental at every stage: from efforts to build viable nation-states through grand development schemes, to guerrilla strategies and scorched-earth counterinsurgency campaigns. 

Precise maps—created using geodetic data, topographic surveys, aerial photography, and satellite imagery—were essential for military and state forces. Conversely, guerrillas often relied on a combination of state-produced maps and local Indigenous knowledge. Their ‘mobile landscapes’ contrasted with the state’s efforts to delimit and fix locations, allowing them to evade state surveillance.

Through deep collaboration with Ixil Ancestral Authorities, Indigenous researchers, and academic partners, this project analyses the role of knowledge creation and the deployment of geographical technologies in political violence and resource extraction during the Cold War. The research is grounded in oral histories and archival investigation.