The Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) was a signatory, among many others, of a Joint Statement demanding due process at the review of journalist Jose Rubén Zamora’s detention. 19 international civil society organisations demand due process at the review… Read More ›
Impunity
Judicial Elections Enter Decisive Phase
“The Commissions have not excluded from the process aspiring magistrates, judges, lawyers, prosecutors and magistrates who have participated in acts of corruption and who have been involved in the corruption of the judiciary.” The Guatemala Human Rights Commission/USA (GHRC) recently… Read More ›
The Voices Of Those Who Live Among Mountains
Resistance Of The Communities Of Guatemala Against Dispossession “We are Ral Ch’och, that is to say: we were born, we live and we are on our lands. We cannot go anywhere else other than our own.” Pascual Miranda, Río Cristalino… Read More ›
Guatemalan Women Fought for Democracy. Now They Have to Make It Work for Them.
Laura Carlsen writes in Z about the mobilisation of Indigenous people in defence of democracy, and the role of Indigenous women within that struggle. After the election of Bernardo Arévalo, the corrupt elites tried to turn back the clock and… Read More ›
“Arévalo’s every action faces prosecutors’ arbitrary scrutiny”
“Consuelo Porras uses fear, threats and harassment to pursue an anti-democratic agenda. No one is cornered here. If anything, I believe that the MP, with its own actions, demonstrates its desperation and cornering.” Yuliana Ramazzini writes in El Faro English… Read More ›
In defense of Atitlán Lake
María Guarchaj and Teresa Gonón write in Ojalá about the challenges facing communities that live by, and depend on, Lago Atitlán. While it is true that the lake has been suffering from environmental degradation, attempts to profit from technical responses… Read More ›
Attacks on Guatemala’s Anti-Corruption President Growing
Rights Action have reposted a piece by Alex Papadovassilakis that was originally published in InSight Crime. The piece presents a further view on the corruption of the Guatemalan judiciary, starting at the very top, and how it continues to hamper… Read More ›
Inexperience, Lawfare, and Online Image Sway Arévalo’s Decisions
After almost nine months in office, Bernardo Arévalo’s decisions regarding his cabinet have shown that they did not really expect to govern. Yuliana Ramazzini writes in El Faro English on the difficulties that the government of Bernardo Arévalo continues to… Read More ›
GHRC: July Update
The July Update from the Guatemala Human Rights Commisison (GHRC) was recently shared. In hopeful news, Indigenous land rights activist Lolita Chávez has returned to her home in the K’iche after seven years of exile. In 2017, she suffered an… Read More ›
Honouring Indigenous resistance in Totonicapán: interview with Maya K’iché exile Lucía Ixchíu
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 ›
Guatemala Solidarity Network 