Peace Brigades International (PBI) – Guatemala Project published their latest Bulletin recently. It is a very useful resource to follow the work they do and the context within which they do so.
Water Shortages in Guatemala
Members of the organizations PBI accompanies have shared their growing concern about the lack of water in their communities for several years. To address this issue, PBI organized a film forum on the climate crisis and water scarcity at the end of February. One of the participants was Gerardo Paíz, ecologist at the Madre Selva Collective, who shared his assessment of this issue.
Comprehensive Care Centres for Women Survivors of Violence In Danger: The case of the Petén Ixqik Women’s Association
The end of 2019 was very bleak for women survivors of violence in Guatemala where, according to the Public Prosecutor’s Office (MP) Women’s Observatory, “more than 60 thousand women reported being victims of some kind of violence in 2019.” Crimes against women are among “the most frequently reported in the Justice System” (37% in 2019). Despite these chilling figures, the Congressional Finance Commission proposed to cut the budget of 4 of the Comprehensive Care Centers for Women Survivors of Violence (CAIMUS) by 97% at the end of 2019, reducing its budget from more than Q9 million to Q300,000.
International Arbitration against the Guatemalan State: The El Tambor Mine Case
The Peaceful Resistance La Puya has been fighting against the El Tambor mining project for 8 years. During this time they have suffered all kinds of physical and psychological attacks, as well as acts of defamation and criminalization. Now they face another threat: an international arbitration process against the State of Guatemala, which was initiated by the Kappes, Cassiday & Associates (KCA) mining company. This represents a new challenge for the Resistance, since this process does not allow for the participation of the population directly affected by the project.
The Blood of the Earth – Hydroelectric mega-projects and their Impact on Human Rights
On February 13, 2020, PBI Guatemala organized an event called the Public Forum on Hydroelectric mega-projects and their Impacts on Human Rights in Guatemala. 200 defenders of territory and natural goods participated in the forum, as well as Guatemalan and international social organizations, and representatives of the Human Rights Ombudsman’s office (PDH), the French, Swiss, Colombian, and Spanish embassies and the European Union Delegation.
You can read each piece in full, alongside links and photographs, here, on the PBI website, and versions in Spanish are available here.
PBI is an international non-governmental organization (NGO) which provides international accompaniment and observation at the request of threatened social organizations. The presence of international volunteers backed by a support network helps to deter violence
Categories: Accompaniment, Culture, Environment, Gender, Genocide, Guatemala, Human Rights, Indigenous peoples, Justice, Land, Legal, Mining, Poverty, Resource Extraction, Solidarity in Action, Solidarity in Action/Guatemala, Violence
Guatemala Solidarity Network 
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