Alejandro Melgoza and Alex Papadovassilakis present an important and fascinating report, on InSight Crime, into how a shadowy timber mafia, with ties to Asia, is illegally extracting precious wood on the Guatemala-Mexico border. They document how illegal loggers have ravaged… Read More ›
Corruption
Special Reports: Guatemala’s Downward Spiral
The Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), the Latin America Working Group Education Fund, the Guatemala Human Rights Commission/USA (GHRC), and the Due Process of Law Foundation (DPLf) have, together, presented three reports into the challenges being faced by human… Read More ›
Who Will Inherit Giammattei’s Power in Guatemala?
Nine months before the presidential election, the right wing that rules the country is fracturing into rivaling projects as progressive groups discuss the elusive idea of a united candidacy. Electoral authorities are indulging pre-campaigning by the ruling party and top… Read More ›
“If the elections are clean, a progressive victory is possible in Guatemala”
In an interview with José Luis Sanz, published in El Faro, the former Guatemalan Human Rights Attorney, Jordán Rodas Andrade, believes that the opposition can still win the 2023 elections in Guatemala. He believes that there is enough outrage among… Read More ›
IACHR ratifies judgement to protect Judge Gálvez
Verdad y Justicia en Guatemala tweeted that the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) had ratified their judgement regarding Judge Miguel Ángel Gálvez in ordering the Guatemala state to provide protection and security for the Judge and his family. Errors… Read More ›
Wounds Reopened: The Impacts of Democratic Backsliding on Human Rights in Guatemala
GHRC/USA led an Emergency Human Rights Delegation to Guatemala to document the impacts of the democratic backsliding and destruction of rule of law on human rights defenders. The delegation met with, among others, defenders, lawyers, journalists, Indigenous land defenders, and… Read More ›
A Guatemalan law meant to protect women from violence is being used against journalists
Leila Miller writes in the Los Angeles Times about a particular use of lawfare in obstructing journalists in their work uncovering corruption – the law to protect violence against women. It was a landmark piece of legislation for Guatemala: a… Read More ›
“We are the seeds that the State tried to kill, but now we bloom in the morning light”
The latest Bulletin from PBI Guatemala features several articles as well as an update on their work. Stolen Chilhood – For some years now, walking through the streets of the historic center of Guatemala City, we are astonished by the… Read More ›
Top corruption prosecutor held in jail as Guatemalan elite bids to purge foes
Jody García and Nina Lakhani wrote in The Guardian, recently, on the case of Virginia Laparra, a leading senior anti-corruption prosecutor in Guatemala and the use of what is termed ‘lawfare’ being waged against anti-corruption members of the judiciary by… Read More ›
The Case against Journalist José Rubén Zamora Was Built in 72 Hours
Julie López writes in El Faro English about the case of José Rubén Zamora, the founder and head of El Periódico, one of Guatemala’s premier news outlets. The president and director of Guatemalan newspaper elPeriódico, José Rubén Zamora Marroquín, and… Read More ›
Guatemala Solidarity Network 