The Maritimes-Guatemala Breaking the Silence Network (BTS) recently published their annual review for 2024. The report not only celebrates their accomplishments over the last year, it also recognizes the incredible contributions of their partners, staff, cooperants, interns, volunteers, and donors! It also included an overview of the Guatemalan context, including a summary of the Arévalo administration’s actions during the first year of his presidency, and recent updates on partner work.
The Introductory Summary reads:
In January 2024, Bernardo Arévalo was inaugurated as the president of the republic. His inauguration brought several promising signs of potential change in the country. In his first few months, he worked with campesino organizations to establish a new Agrarian Accord, stated his willingness to revisit mining licenses and to respect consultation results, and expressed open support for a National Dignification Plan for IAC survivors.
Despite these intentions, the Arévalo government has been stymied by efforts to criminalize him and his fellow party members by the cancellation of the Semilla party, which limits their lawmaking potential in congress. The constant persecution of Semilla and related government officials has limited possibilities of making large-scale changes in the country.
Even though Arévalo’s party has an inclination towards creating social change in the country, Semilla remains an urban-based party of intellectuals with little grassroots base. His government is out of touch with the needs of the masses and has lacked urgency in responding to chronic issues, including land conflicts and reparations for past violence.
Additionally, the Pact of the Corrupt still has a stronghold in the country, dismantling cases for justice, including the Ixil genocide and CREMOPAZ cases. They have also successfully freed those who were previously sentenced in cases for crimes against humanity and massive corruption. Further, despite announcing a plan for dignification of IAC victims, which included reparations and historical memory projects, the Arévalo government has followed in the footsteps of its predecessors by failing to pay reparations to victims.
Today, over a year after the new president’s inauguration, the Arévalo administration has not been able to implement the large-scale changes necessary in the country. Land defenders continue to be criminalized and targeted, communities constantly face the threat of violent evictions from their land and it’s unclear whether the government will respect mining consultation results. Notably, there has been no justice for the October 2023 murder of Noé Gómez, a member of PAPXIGUA who was active in the defence of democracy and territory, including community organizing against the Escobal mine.
Our partners continue to fight for their rights and for justice within their respective areas. We continue to monitor their situations and stand with them as they take action to demand justice and struggle for sovereignty over their lands, seeds, and history.
You can read the full report here, BTS 2024 Year in Review.
The Maritimes-Guatemala Breaking the Silence Network (BTS) is a voluntary network of people in the Maritimes who began to organize in 1988 to support the efforts of Guatemalans struggling for political, social, and economic justice. You can read more about their work here, BTS – About.
Categories: Accompaniment, Corruption, Criminalisation, Criminalization, Culture, Environment, Evictions, Femicide, Gender, Genocide, Guatemala, Human Rights, Impunity, Indigenous peoples, Justice, Land, Legal, Migration, Military, Mining, Poverty, Presidential Elections, Racism, Report, Resource Extraction, Solidarity in Action, Solidarity in Action/Guatemala, Violence
Guatemala Solidarity Network 
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