Practices of denunciation are at once ubiquitous and marginalised in literature on the Guatemalan armed conflict. Meanwhile, ordinary Guatemalans who spontaneously denounced neighbours, former friends and fellow villagers have largely escaped scrutiny in scholarly work on low-level perpetrators. Departing from untapped confidential documents in the Historical Archive of the National Police, this article provides the first archival study of denunciatory behaviour during the Guatemalan Civil War, specifically at the height of the conflict (1970–85). This contribution reveals both the strategic considerations that spurred state intelligence apparatuses to elicit civilian information as well as the broad range of personal, opportunistic and strategic motives that drove civilians to denounce. The case study questions scholarly consensus on the spontaneous and voluntary character of denunciation by arguing that besides providing novel pathways for opportunistic action, denunciations also opened up new strategies for survival in the face of a civil war that structured available choices.

中文翻译：

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“这不是八卦，这是真的”：危地马拉武装冲突期间的谴责和社会控制（1970-85）

在关于危地马拉武装冲突的文献中，谴责的做法无处不在，却被边缘化了。与此同时，自发谴责邻居、以前的朋友和村民的普通危地马拉人在对低级犯罪者的学术研究中基本上逃脱了审查。与国家警察历史档案中未公开的机密文件不同，本文首次对危地马拉内战期间的谴责行为进行档案研究，特别是在冲突最严重的时期（1970-85 年）。这一贡献揭示了促使国家情报机构获取平民信息的战略考虑，以及促使平民谴责的广泛的个人、机会主义和战略动机。