Hurricane Eta reached Central America earlier this month and caused significant damage across the region in terms of flooding, landslides and huge crop destruction. Sofía Menchú wrote in Reuters about the effects on the Guatemalan Mayan indigenous community of Chicuz,… Read More ›
Environment
Indigenous Guatemalan Journalist Faces Charges after Reporting on Protest
Iñigo Alexander writes in the NACLA Report website. The arrest of Maya K’iche’ journalist Anastasia Mejía exposes the Central American country’s ongoing assault on press freedom. On 22nd September, Maya K’iche’ journalist, Anastasia Mejía was detained by the National Police… Read More ›
Between a Volcano and a Pandemic
In the Shadow of Guatemala’s Volcán de Fuego, a Community Displaced by War Struggles to Survive. James Rodríguez writes in El Faro about the challenges facing the community of La Trinidad in the Department of Escuintla, which was affected by… Read More ›
#ElijoDignidad – I Choose Dignity.
Pamela Yates, the film maker from Skylight, has featured a short film, Cho Ukayib’al (To Look Deeply), as part of her contribution to Indigenous Peoples’ Day, October 12th. The film is by Andrea Ixchíu Hernández and the Colectivo Elijo Dignidad… Read More ›
Evicting Lote Ocho
How a Canadian Mining Company Infiltrated the Guatemalan State Max Binks-Collier has written a powerful piece in The Intercept about the corporate and state violence visited on the poor community of Lote Ocho. It was often when Rosa Elbira Coc… Read More ›
PBI Guatemala – latest Bulletin
Peace Brigades International (PBI) – Guatemala Project published their latest Bulletin recently. It is a very useful resource to follow the work they do and the context within which they do so. Water Shortages in Guatemala Members of the organizations… Read More ›
El Mirador and the threat of Indiana Jones
The rule of “finders, keepers” has held true for most archaeological discoveries at least since museums, as we now know them, have existed. Collectors of foreign objects have been around, of course, as long as war, but the officialization of… Read More ›
New Report: Mining Injustice Through International Arbitration: Countering Kappes, Cassiday & Associates’ claims over a gold-mining project in Guatemala
A new report exposes omissions and misrepresentations in a Nevada-based mining company’s more than $400 million suit against the Guatemalan government. Released today, Mining Injustice Through International Arbitration: Countering Kappes, Cassiday & Associates’ Claims over a Gold-mining Project in Guatemala, examines… Read More ›
The Case of “Lote Ocho”: Indigenous women hold corporations accountable for violence
Indigenous women in Guatemala are using the concept of extraterritorial obligations to hold corporations accountable for violence—and to set important precedents in human rights law. Andrea Bolaños Vargas and Andrea Suárez Trueba write an interesting and increasingly relevant article in… Read More ›
Laguna Larga: Evicted families struggle to survive
The Human Rights Ombudsperson’s Office and the law firm (BDH – Bufete de Derechos Humanos) demanded that the Guatemala state fulfilled its obligations under the ruling of the Inter-American Commisison for Human Rights (CIDH) with regard to the 111 families… Read More ›