Author Archives

• Congress approves Arms Law

  By kevodell on April 28, 2009 • ( 0 )

  Although the right to bear firearms is enshrined in the Guatemalan constitution, it is also a right that the Peace Accords agreed to limit. But over the past 12 years it has been impossible to approve a law to limit,… Read More ›

• On motorcycles and other things

  By kevodell on April 10, 2009 • ( 0 )

  In my previous note, I wrote of the killings committed by motorcycle pillion passengers on bus drivers in the capital. In a response worthy of Miguel Angel Asturias, the government have banned pillion passengers and the new law requires that motorcyclists… Read More ›

• A short reflection from Guatemala

  By kevodell on April 1, 2009 • ( 0 )

  I´ve been here on holidays for a few weeks now and what is unavoidable is the level of violence that is portrayed on the media, especially in the newpapers. It even seems difficult to make a count of the numbers…. Read More ›

• Groundbreaking Arrest Made in Guatemalan Disappearance Case

  By kevodell on March 11, 2009 • ( 0 )

  In a break in one of Guatemala’s most notorious human rights crimes, a Guatemalan police officer has been arrested in connection with the abduction and disappearance 25 years ago of labor activist Édgar Fernando García. The arrest, on 5th March,… Read More ›

• Who is Emeterio Perez? And why Goldcorp shareholders and investors ought to know.

  By kevodell on February 13, 2009 • ( 0 )

  This is an account of a meeting that Grahame Russell, of Rights Action, had with a resident in San Jose Ixcanique in western Guatemala. A village near the Goldcorp ‘Marlin’ mine. This article is taken from Upsidedown World.

• ¿Indígena, garífuna, ladino, español, gringo, chino o árabe?

  By kevodell on December 18, 2008 • ( 0 )

  I came across this wonderful little video on the guate360 website. How we identify ourselves is an important part of understanding who we are. For people in Guatemala, there are at least three possibilities – ladino, indigenous, or Guatemalan. Why… Read More ›

• Mining in San Miguel Ixtahuacán: Conflict and Criminalization

  By kevodell on December 10, 2008 • ( 0 )

  “Experts often consider open-pit mining to be the most destructive industrial activity in terms of environmental depletion, social and cultural impact… In San Miguel Ixtahuacán and Sipakapa, San Marcos, intensive mineral exploitation has already left its mark. Local residents from… Read More ›

• Water Tribunal condemns Guatemala ……… again.

  By kevodell on October 6, 2008 • ( 0 )

  The Latin American Water Tribunal (TLA, by its acronym in Spanish) carried out its 5th public hearing under the motto: ‘Hydraulic justice for indigenous lands and territories’. The trial took place in the city of Antigua Guatemala from September 8th… Read More ›

• Unease over Guatemalan goldrush – BBC radio

  By kevodell on August 21, 2008 • ( 0 )

  With gold prices skyrocketing, the Mayans of Guatemala find themselves caught up in a new rush for the precious metal. ‘Crossing Continents’, on BBC radio, features mining in Sipakapa and the consequences of the large increase in the price of… Read More ›

• Execution of young people

  By kevodell on August 14, 2008 • ( 0 )

  We received very sad news from La Asociación Cristiana de Jóvenes de Guatemala (ACJ), part of the International YMCA movement. The news concerned the assassination of three young men in the Amatitlán area. The communiqué from ACJ is introduced by… Read More ›