Sanne Weber and Marlies Stappers recently wrote in Open Democracy about the ongoing challenges facing the rule of law and the protection of human rights from the corrupt elites. This year, which marks the 25th anniversary of the peace accords… Read More ›
Impunity
Guatemala’s Government Is Defying Biden’s Anti-Corruption Efforts
Jeff Abbott writes a column in The Progressive, The Other Americans, and this is from his latest piece. The Guatemalan government, helmed by President Alejandro Giammattei, continues to impede the country’s institutions meant to combat official corruption. While these attempts… Read More ›
International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances
August 30th is the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances. We remember the estimated 45,000 people who were disappeared, according to the United Nations–sponsored Truth Clarification Commission (CEH), during the internal armed conflict (1960-1996) that took place in… Read More ›
Biden Faces a Trade-Off: Stop Corruption, or Migration?
President Biden promised to attack corruption in Central America head on, but that goal has taken a back seat to cooperating on stopping migrants from the region. Natalie Kitroeff writes in the New York Times about the challenges facing anti-corruption… Read More ›
Assault on Guatemala’s Justice System Intensifies With Expulsion of Anti-Corruption Prosecutor
Julia Aikman Cifuentes and Adriana Beltrán write, in WOLA, about the recent sacking of Juan Francisco Sandoval, the wave of protests in response, and the criminalisation of members of the judiciary. They also talk of the massive corruption of the… Read More ›
#ParoPlurinacional: National Strike in Guatemala
Andrea Ixchíu Hernández, a Maya K’iche’ woman, journalist, land protector, and human rights activist, recently spoke to Gio B’atz’, on the Red Nation podcast, about the demands of Indigenous communities such as calls for a plurinational government, among other topics…. Read More ›
Children’s home fire: ‘The souls of our daughters are still there’
Mira Galanova writes, on the BBC, about the fire that took place in the care home, Hogar Seguro Virgen de la Asunción, on March 8th 2017, and the stories of those left behind. There were 41 deaths of young women… Read More ›
Guatemala is key to Biden’s migrant policy. Its corruption is worsening.
Sabrina Rodríguez and Eugene Daniels write in Politico about the challenges facing U.S. policy on anti-corruption in Guatemala, while also prioritising migration from Central America more broadly. When Vice President Kamala Harris visited Guatemala in June, she delivered a clear… Read More ›
Guatemala fires its top corruption prosecutor for being too effective
“That President Giammattei would confront the United States to protect major corruption targets says it all.” Stephen McFarland writes in Plaza Pública on the troubling direction facing Guatemala. The wilful moves of the governing elites to repudiate U.S. government’s support… Read More ›
Is this Guatemala’s Plurinational Moment?
Tim May writes in New Socialist about the recent demonstrations in Guatemala, including the recent Paro nacional and places the moment within a period of increasing grass-roots mobilisation. Indigenous authorities are increasingly finding their voice within national politics but still… Read More ›