Brian Price/THE POST Guatamalan speaker Mario Permuth speaks to a crowd in Irvine auditorium yesterday.

It is extremely rare for an individual to change the course of history and see these changes in a lifetime. But Mario Permuth, who helped establish peace in Guatemala has done just this, said Josep Rota, director for the Center for International Studies.

Permuth, the keynote speaker for International Week, spoke to a packed Irvine auditorium last night about the Guatemalan peace process.

Permuth, who is a recipient of the Orden del Quertzal, the highest honor conferred by the Guatemalan government, said in the past he has declined invitations to speak about the peace process, but OU's strong tradition as an institution interested in fostering peace prompted him to accept the invitation.

"It's nice to see so many new faces interested in peace, especially young faces," he said.

But Permuth said many young people who decided to do something about the suffering in his country turned to guns, which led to the civil wars that lasted 36 years. Permuth was an integral part in establishing a peace to end these wars in his country. The president of Guatemala named him a distinguished citizen and peacemaker, granting him an ambassadorial rank and a diplomatic passport for life.

While many people believe the misconception that insurgency and revolution are born in poverty, this is not true, Permuth said. Rather, these people are repressed and do not have the energy for such action. Many of the people responsible for the warfare were military figures who wanted political space and power, he said.

Permuth participated in 165 meetings, which helped lead to the final peace agreement. Permuth signed or backed the signing of integral agreements of reconciliation in 1990 and 1991, which helped set the stage for the final peace agreement in 1996. Also, between 1994 and 1995, Permuth, who was a member of the Government Peace Commission, signed five important agreements that led to the final peace resolution.

To resolve the conflict, amnesty would be given to the insurgent groups who came forward. Efforts were made to try to reconcile groups who were unarmed members of the general population. Since political parties had little credibility, people chosen to head the peace process were outside the political arena. For this reason, a bishop within the Catholic Church was chosen to head the peace commission.

The National Reconciliation Commission decided that to succeed, it must be economically independent from the Guatemalan government. The commission asked for international donations, collecting $48,000 in three years. Even now, Permuth said people are amazed that the commission was able to harbor a peace negotiating process for that amount of money.

Some of the accords of the agreement dealt with socio-economic factors and how to place a powerful army under civil power.

Dr. Alan Boyd, director of the International Student and Faculty Services office, said peace has not been reached yet.

"There's so much more that has to be done," Boyd said. "You still have all the social issues to deal with."