Since the end of civil war in Guatemala, the URNG has participated in a disarmament, demobilization and reintegration process as part of a UN-sponsored peace accord.  It now operates as a peaceful political party. The URNG is now part of the New Nation Alliance bloc. <P>

The Guerrilla Army of the Poor was a key component of Guatemala's 36-year terrorist insurgency.  Between 1954 and 1996, the Guatemalan government was embroiled with an active movement to disrupt their rule.  For a ten-year period of this insurgency, the Guerrilla Army of the Poor operated as an independent terrorist organization.  While the Guerrilla Army of the Poor did not form until 1972, the events leading up to the insurgency began in 1951.  <P> Colonel Jacobo Arbenz Guzman took over as Guatemala's president in 1951 and soon drew the ire of Guatemala's northern neighbor, the United States.  The central reason for U.S. concern was the communist leanings displayed by President Arbenz.  In 1954, a U.S.-backed coup led by Colonel Carlos Castillo Armas, successfully ousted President Arbenz.  Col. Castillo thereafter appointed himself Guatemala's leader.  Due to the Guatemalan government's increasingly autocratic rule over the next six years, a group of military officers attempted a 1960 coup but failed.  After their defeated attempt, many of the coup leaders went into hiding and re-emerged as terrorist insurgent groups.  <P> While the first insurgent groups began operations in the 1960s, the Guerrilla Army of the Poor did not form until 1972.   By 1980, approximately 6,000 people had joined the Guerrilla Army of the Poor and Guatemala was embroiled in a wide-spread insurgent movement.  In addition to the Guerrilla Army of the Poor, several other left-wing terrorist groups operated during this period.  The insurgent groups principally attacked government facilities and security personnel, as well as economic targets.

In 1982, the Guerrilla Army of the Poor merged with three other terrorist organizations, the Guatemalan Labor Party (PGT), the Revolutionary Organization of Armed People (ORPA), and the Rebel Armed Forces (FAR).  After 1982, these four groups continued their attacks as one entity, the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity (URNG).  Guatemala's 36-year insurgency finally ended on December 29, 1996.  Peace negotiations with all major insurgent groups were concluded and the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity (URNG) put down its arms and re-formed itself as a legal political party.