On Monday the Supreme Electoral Tribunal both certified the victory of President-Elect Bernardo Arévalo and temporarily suspended his Semilla party, the latest in a chain of protracted legal battles leading up to inauguration on January 14. The party says it… Read More ›
Human Rights
Guatemalans Celebrate Return of “Democratic Spring” as Potential Violence Threatens Transition
Bernardo Arévalo won Guatemala’s runoff in a landslide but faces a troubled transition amid reported assassination plots and ongoing judicial maneuvers. Emily Taylor writes in NACLA on the ‘second Guatemalan spring’ and the challenges ahead. Guatemalans flocked to public squares… Read More ›
Guatemalans Voted to End 69 Years of Corrupt Rule. Will US, Canada Accept It?
To understand Guatemala’s challenges going forward, we must ask questions about the role of the international community. Grahame Russell writes in Truthout about the challenges facing Guatemala after the victory of Bernardo Arévalo and Karin Herrera in the presidential election…. Read More ›
Lawfare Casts Shadow Over Paradigm-Shifting Guatemalan Election
Despite court intervention and legal persecution, a reformist candidate is favored to win the runoff over an establishment option. Judicial efforts to derail democracy still loom. Vaclav Masek writes in NACLA about the increased use of lawfare by the state… Read More ›
Bernardo Arévalo Victory Is a Turning Point for Guatemala
The president-elect has promised to crack down on corruption and break up monopolies, a welcome sign in a country gripped by a wealthy elite. Jeff Abbott writes in The Progressive Magazine on the results of the election and the challenges… Read More ›
‘Fighting a huge monster’: mine battle in Guatemala became a playbook for polluters
Indigenous defenders opposing the Marlin mine were criminalised by a corporation and its state allies Nina Lakhani writes in The Guardian about the community struggle against the Canadian gold-mining firm Goldcorp’s Marlin mine in San Miguel Ixtahuacán, in the west… Read More ›
Guatemala elections to serve as crucial test for democracy in Central America
While the results of the election are now known, with a landslide win for Bernardo Arévalo, fears for democracy in Guatemala have not simply gone away as state actors in support of corruption remain powerful. Jody García wrote in The… Read More ›
US, Canada-Backed Guatemalan Elites Threaten Coup Amid Opposition Party Runoff
Grahame Russell and Michael Bakal write in Truthout,prior to the elections, on the fears and uncertainties revolving around an election which harnesses hope in the struggle against the corrupt elites, and those who facilitate them. These fears and uncertainties are… Read More ›
A Turning Point in Guatemalan History: Bernardo Arévalo Wins in Landslide Rejection of Ruling Elite
As news spread of the victory of Bernardo Aŕevalo in the presidential election runoff at the weekend by, what many consider, a landslide, Democracy Now had a piece featuring activist and award-winning investigative journalist, Allan Nairn, and Frank LaRue, Guatemalan… Read More ›
“If I win the presidency there will be efforts to stop the transfer of power”
José Luis Sanz writes in El Faro about the fears that Bernardo Arévalo holds if he wins the upcoming run-off in the Guatemala presidential election. It is well known that dark forces collude in violence and corruption to destabilise the… Read More ›
Guatemala Solidarity Network 