Guatemala

Guatemala is a country in northern Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, Belize to the northeast, Honduras to the east and El Salvador to the southeast, with coastline on the Pacific Ocean to the south and the Gulf of Honduras to the northeast, covering 108,889 square kilometers, the world's 105th-largest country. Guatemala City is the capital and largest city of a country whose population of roughly 17.6 million makes it the most populous in Central America and the fourth-most populous in North America. The region formed the core of Maya civilization before Spanish conquest in the sixteenth century; Guatemala declared independence from Spain in 1821 and became a republic in 1847, and after decades of authoritarian rule the 1944 Guatemalan Revolution began democratic reforms that a United States-backed military coup reversed in 1954, leading to a civil war from 1960 to 1996 that included genocidal massacres of Maya populations, ended by a United Nations-negotiated peace accord that opened a period of economic growth and democratic elections. Guatemala is a unitary presidential republic, led by President Bernardo Arevalo and Vice President Karin Herrera; despite the country's natural resource wealth, about 4.6 million Guatemalans face food insecurity, and poverty, crime, corruption and drug trafficking remain significant challenges.