Author Archives

• Guatemalan Court Upholds Ruling on Ecocide

  By kevodell on January 26, 2016 • ( 0 )

  Polly Higgins writes in the blog, ‘Eradicating Ecocide‘, about the recent court case in Guatemala where the African palm oil corporation, Empresa Reforestadora de Palma de Petén SA (REPSA), lost their appeal against the first ruling of its kind. The… Read More ›

• Ghosts of Past Violence Haunt New President of Guatemala

  By kevodell on January 17, 2016 • ( 0 )

  As newly-elected Guatemalan president Jimmy Morales prepares to start his four-year term, the ghosts of the Central American country’s past violence are re-emerging in a dramatic way as, earlier this month, Guatemala’s Public Prosecutor’s Office arrested 18 high-ranking retired military… Read More ›

• Arrests suggest crimes of the past will not be forgotten

  By kevodell on January 9, 2016 • ( 0 )

  Further to this recent post on this blog, the Guatemala Trials website speaks of the arrest of 18 former military officers in relation to crimes committed during Guatemala’s 36-year conflict. According to Sophie Beaudoin, here, “the dramatic arrests came as… Read More ›

• Payada pa’ Satán – short film

  By kevodell on January 1, 2016 • ( 0 )

  Did you know that to produce a single gold ring generates 18 tons of toxic waste? Mega-mining is an chemical extractive industry which impacts all the world’s ecosystems, contaminating the reserves of freshwater, affecting the health of millions of people,… Read More ›

• ‘The US School that Trains Dictators and Death Squads’

  By kevodell on December 26, 2015 • ( 0 )

  On November 22, 2015, thousands gathered at the gates of Fort Benning, Georgia, at the 25th annual protest of the School of the Americas (SOA) to memorialise the tens of thousands of people who lost their lives at the hands… Read More ›

• Lessons in Resistance From La Puya, Guatemala

  By kevodell on December 14, 2015 • ( 0 )

  Richard Ring wrote in Counterpunch about his visit to La Puya in 2014 and looked for lessons that he could take home from the Comunidad en Resistencia. – No religious or political distinctions. Everybody drinks water. – Women in front,… Read More ›

• Resource Extraction Destroys Guatemala Social Fabric

  By kevodell on December 14, 2015 • ( 0 )

  Sandra Moran marches alongside other activists to demand respect for women’s rights and end to violence against women. | Photo: Facebook / Sandra Moran Resource extraction projects destroy the land and social fabric, and both are fundamental for the lives… Read More ›

• Tahoe Resources’ Former Security Manager Flees Justice

  By kevodell on December 3, 2015 • ( 0 )

  News was recently released that Alberto Rotondo, Tahoe Resources’ former security manager, had escaped police custody. Rotondo is accused of having ordered private security guards to attack peaceful protestors outside the Escobal mine in southeastern Guatemala on April 27, 2013,… Read More ›

• Nómada – bringing a vision for change

  By kevodell on November 27, 2015 • ( 0 )

  The launch of a book about Guatemala’s 2015 civil movement – 140 Days of Spring (140 Días de Primavera) In August 2014, Guatemala journalism welcomed a new arrival in the form of Nómada – a new on-line publication which provides… Read More ›

• Report – “Under Siege: Peaceful Resistance to Tahoe Resources and Militarization in Guatemala”

  By kevodell on November 26, 2015 • ( 0 )

  “Almost from the moment Canadian-US mining company Tahoe Resources acquired the Escobal silver project from Goldcorp over five years ago, the company and the Guatemalan government have used repression, criminalization, and, ultimately, militarization to try to silence peaceful resistance to… Read More ›