Author Archives

• The Scale and Dagger Club

  By kevodell on May 17, 2014 • ( 0 )

  Carolina Gamazo wrote in Plaza Pública about the so-called Foundation Against Terrorism (Fundación contra el Terrorismo) and about how this group contributed to growing tensions in Guatemala during the genocide trial of Efraín Ríos Montt. The organisation is headed by… Read More ›

• Guatemala’s growing mining sector brings violence against indigenous communities with it

  By kevodell on May 11, 2014 • ( 0 )

  Guatemala’s metal mining sector has grown seven-fold since 2006, and the administration of President Otto Pérez Molina has granted more than 100 mining licenses during its first 18 months in power. There are also more than 50 hydroelectric projects at… Read More ›

• Guatemala: The War of Paz y Paz

  By kevodell on April 28, 2014 • ( 0 )

  

  Courtesy of InSight Crime, and written by Steven Dudley, is this fascinating piece about Claudia Paz y Paz and her struggle for justice in Guatemala, which led her up against the powerful and corrupt. Her term as Attorney General has… Read More ›

• Guatemala: Suppressing Dissent at Home and Abroad

  By kevodell on April 26, 2014 • ( 0 )

  Last year Otto Pérez Molina presided over the sharpest escalation in targeted attacks on human rights defenders since Guatemala’s armed conflict ended in 1996. Attacks on human rights defenders increased last year by 126 percent, by far the greatest jump… Read More ›

• Two pots, two stories: vignette on the looting of Guatemala’s Maya past

  By kevodell on April 23, 2014 • ( 0 )

  ‘How does an ancient Maya vase end up in a UK museum?’ This is an interesting article by Donna Yates and tells the story of how two Maya vases ended up across the ocean. ‘In a situation where once the… Read More ›

• El Quetzal – Spring 2014

  By kevodell on April 21, 2014 • ( 0 )

  The spring issue of El Quetzal, from Guatemala Human rights Commission (GHRC) is available. It highlights current and upcoming challenges to judicial reform in Guatemala, as well as the role that women are playing in the country’s transitional justice processes…. Read More ›

• Defensora – the film

  By kevodell on April 20, 2014 • ( 0 )

  Defensora_PreviewTrailer from 6kidsProductions on Vimeo. Defensora is a documentary about a Mayan Q’eqchi’ resistance against mining in Guatemala. The story is set along the shores of Lake Izabal in the community of El Estor where a nickel mining company has… Read More ›

• Official Histories

  By kevodell on April 20, 2014 • ( 0 )

  “Veterans of Guatemala’s long civil war recover the secret archive of the National Police, pulling together the missing parts of the country’s past, and of their own. In July 2005, investigators from Guatemala’s Human Rights Ombudsman’s Office stumbled upon a… Read More ›

• Organizations in defense of territory denounce violence against their communities

  By kevodell on April 20, 2014 • ( 0 )

  

    Late on Sunday, 13th April 2014, around 10:30pm, father and daughter activists involved in the resistance against Tahoe Resources’ Escobal Mine, Edwin Alex Reynoso and Merilyn Topacio Reynoso (above), were attacked by unknown suspects. Alex and Topacio were on… Read More ›

• Report on pressure to construct Xalalá dam amid strong local opposition

  By kevodell on March 30, 2014 • ( 0 )

  NISGUA recently published the following summary of the report Pressure to construct Xalalá hydroelectric dam; Local opposition remains strong.   Nearly two years after the Guatemalan government announced its renewed interest in constructing the Xalalá Hydroelectric Dam, communities maintain strong… Read More ›