Long before Trump, Washington was exporting control of migratory routes, along with repressive policing, to Mexico and Central America. Jeff Abbott writes in The Nation magazine about the response of Guatemalan authorities to the recent ‘caravan’ of Honduran refugees and… Read More ›
Indigenous peoples
David vs Goliath in Guatemala: how palm oil companies encroach on indigenous land
A community in northern Guatemala is fighting against the force of nature and against the expansion of palm oil. Jody García writes in Climate Tracker about a community that is increasingly trapped, literally, by the effects of climate change, on… Read More ›
Humberto Ak’abal in Scotland
In 2010, a modest Scottish publisher, Kettillonia, published a book of poetry, Drum of Stone, by celebrated Guatemalan Maya Kʼicheʼ poet Humberto Ak’abal, who sadly passed away just two years ago. The book presents poems in K’iche’, translated into English,… Read More ›
13 young Guatemalans who left for a better future were slain in Mexico, families say
Kate Linthicum and Jeff Abbott write a very sad story in the Los Angeles Times, highlighting the frightening dangers posed to migrants heading north, through extremely hostile territory, to the United States. As 15-year-old Robelson Isidro left Guatemala this month,… Read More ›
Guatemala Cross-Border Crime and Corruption Investigation
InSight Crime made a presentation recently regarding an investigation into cross-border crime and corruption in Guatemala. Drug trafficking has been reconfigured in Guatemala. The large clans that traditionally dominated the business have broken up. Now the main actors are small… Read More ›
Growing concerns regarding the situation of women human rights defenders in the northeast of Guatemala
Front Line Defenders recently made their concerns known about the situation of women human rights defenders in Guatemala and spoke about the challenges facing both Lourdes Haquelina Gómez Willis and Delia Adelina Leal Mollinedo. Front Line Defenders is deeply concerned… Read More ›
Guatemalan forces disperse migrant caravan
Historic elite-level corruption in Honduras, narc-trafficking, and brutal internal violence, much of it state-sponsored, as well as the effects of climate change, especially as witnessed by the successive hurricanes that battered the country, Eta and Iota, within the unprecedented situation… Read More ›
PBI-Guatemala visits the Peaceful Resistance of La Puya
Brent Patterson writes in the PBI-Canada website about a recent visit to La Puya – ‘La Comunidad en Resistencia’ – as part of their accompaniment of the community fighting against the corrupt imposition of a gold mine on their territory,… Read More ›
Guatemalan families mourn death of children as hunger spreads
Government data show acute malnutrition among the under-fives rose by 80% in Guatemala in 2020 compared to 2019. Sofía Menchú writes in Reuters website about a particular tragedy which is a recurring scandal in Guatemala – a country with very… Read More ›
PBI-Guatemala accompanies BDH law firm at hearing on the Hogar Seguro shelter fire
Brent Patterson has written in the PBI website about the accompaniment carried out by PBI with the Human Rights law firm, BDH, at the hearing on the Hogar Seguro shelter fire. In February 2019, 12 people were detained on charges… Read More ›
