The ignored Guatemala had received little international attention until Eduardo Galeano visited the country between April and May 1967 to get a close-up look at the war that was taking place since 1960. Curiosity about the guerrillas and a virtually unknown country was the driving force behind the trip Galeano embarked on when he was just beginning to write. Five years after the author's death, Siglo XXI published an expanded revision of the book Guatemala. General essay of political violence in Latin America.

The relevance of this book, which undoubtedly offers an interesting overview of Galeano's vision not only of Guatemala, but of Latin America in the context of the Cold War, lies in the fact that until now it was practically unpublished in Spain, despite being the direct predecessor of Open Veins of Latin America (1971).