Linda Etchart, for Latin America Bureau, interviewed environment defender Lucía Ixchíu, of the K´iché Maya of Totonicapán, a community famous for its ‘48 Cantons’ resistance movement. Totonicapán was the second most important city of the K’iché and the headquarters of… Read More ›
Criminalisation
Consuelo Porras Stokes Political Turmoil Amid Guatemalan Court Elections
Álvaro Montenegro writes in El Faro English about the extraordinary situation in Guatemala regarding the machinations of the Attorney General in seeking, effectively, to criminalise the President Bernardo Arévalo. He, on the other hand, is trying to have her removed… Read More ›
Indigenous People’s Rights – The theory versus the reality
Lorna Ní Shúilleabháin, a former field volunteer with PBI in Guatemala, writes on International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, August 9th, on the theory of Indigenous rights against the reality in Guatemala. This year to celebrate the International Day… Read More ›
Guatemala: judicial kleptocracy at war with Indigenous peoples
Daniel Cerqueira writes in the Due Process of Law Foundation (DPLF) blog on the manipulation of the judiciary by elements of the Pacto de Corruptos and its effect on Indigenous communities and their rights to land and challenges for the… Read More ›
Indigenous Maya Q’eqchi’ Denounce Eviction Threats of New Communities in El Estor
Aldo Santiago writes in Avispa Midia about the threat of forced displacement facing Indigenous Q’eqchi’ communities in the Polochic Valley. Resource extraction, for the benefit of local elites and the international market, continues to take a heavy toll on Indigenous… Read More ›
“Despite the new government, the advance of mining in Guatemala is already decided”
Roman Gressier interviewed journalist Carlos Choc about his criminalisation by the state and the continuing struggle against rapacious resource extraction companies stirrping Guatemala of its wealth. Carlos Choc is Maya Q’eqchi’ and a high-profile practitioner of periodismo comunitario (community journalism)’…. Read More ›
Guatemala Reform Agenda Hinges on Crucial High Court Elections
Vaclav Mašek Sánchez writes in El Faro English about the challenges facing Bernardo Arévalo in seeking to deepen democracy in Guatemala, in a structural sense, through the election of magistrates in the country. Since the removal of the CICIG, many… Read More ›
Long Live La Puya: Organizations Around the World Celebrate 12 Year Anniversary of La Puya Peaceful Resistance
It is now 12 years since the peaceful resistance of La Puya came into being in response to the attempt to set up a gold mine north of Guatemala City and against the wishes of the local people. The ‘La… Read More ›
The Indigenous Resistance Puts Its Doubts and Hopes in Arévalo’s Hands
Shortly after Bernardo Arévalo was inaugurated as President, Roman Gressier wrote a piece in El Faro English on the resistance led by Indigenous peoples in ensuring that the will of the people was carried out so that the inauguration took… Read More ›
‘He had a machete in his cheek’: how Guatemala’s hydropower dream turned deadly
Paloma de Dinechin wrote in The Guardian recently about the struggle that small and isolated Maya communities are facing in Ixquisis, a remote area close to the Mexican border. A struggle against global capital and led, in the main, by… Read More ›