‘How does a former director of prison facilities connected to a massacre end up as president of Guatemala? In the country’s recent history, discontent with the political class has created fertile soil for people claiming to be saviors to take… Read More ›
Guatemala
Drought and hunger: why thousands of Guatemalans are fleeing north
The threat of famine and the battle for dwindling natural resources are increasingly being recognised as major factors in the exodus José García Escobar and Melisa Rabanales write in The Guardian as part of the Global Development series. Martina García… Read More ›
Drugs, mining, monoculture threaten Guatemala’s mangrove ecosystems
On Guatemala’s Caribbean coast, criminal activity is destroying mangroves and the livelihoods of families who depend on them. Yet Guatemala’s mangrove ecosystems are connected to those of Honduras, Belize and Mexico. What happens to one affects the others. Francelia Solano… Read More ›
What the CICIG Taught Guatemala
Irma A. Velasquez Nimatuj writes on the Americas Program website about the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG by its acronym in Spanish). It is a timely piece, as President Morales is about to step down from his role… Read More ›
A Translation Crisis at the Border
Rachel Nolan writes in the New Yorker magazine about the grassroots group of interpreters who are often the only hope for migrants who speak Mayan languages. “The U.S. government claims to provide proper translation at all points in the immigration… Read More ›
NISGUA – December Solidarity Update
NISGUA recently shared their Solidarity Update for December. Maya Achi survivors present a formal complaint against Judge Claudette Domínguez On December 5, 36 Maya Achi survivors of sexual violence presented a formal complaint against Judge Claudette Domínguez for acts of… Read More ›
Guatemala – CICIG’s Legacy
The Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) have done a series of short reports looking at Trends of the Decade. Guatemala features in various themes, but I thought to concentrate on the Fight Against Corruption and CICIG’s legacy. Since 2007, Guatemala’s… Read More ›
Safe Third Country?
In November, a 23-year-old Honduran man became the first asylum seeker to be sent from the US to Guatemala under the “Safe Third Country” deal. Since then, it appears that up to two dozen asylum seekers have been flown to Guatemala. Two… Read More ›
2019 – a year of violence
UDEFEGUA has just reported on the number of personal attacks against human rights defenders in Guatemala this year, up to the middle of December. From the infographic, above, it reports that this year was the fourth most violent year out… Read More ›
The cold cases of Guatemala’s civil war were impossible to identify—until now
Decades after 45,000 people vanished in Guatemala, an anonymous skeleton finally gets a name. Nina Strochlic writes in the National Geographic For 14 years, a human skeleton known as 317-38-10 sat in a cardboard box stored in a metal shipping… Read More ›
Guatemala Solidarity Network 