Jeff Abbott has written a piece in The Progressive, for the “Other Americans” series, reflecting on the rise of right-wing evangelical forces in the once-Catholic majority nation which is reshaping its culture—and politics. As Christian nationalism rises within the Republican… Read More ›
Indigenous peoples
The Jungle Patrol: Fighting Illegal Loggers on the Guatemala-Mexico Border
Alejandro Melgoza and Alex Papadovassilakis present an important and fascinating report, on InSight Crime, into how a shadowy timber mafia, with ties to Asia, is illegally extracting precious wood on the Guatemala-Mexico border. They document how illegal loggers have ravaged… Read More ›
Special Reports: Guatemala’s Downward Spiral
The Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), the Latin America Working Group Education Fund, the Guatemala Human Rights Commission/USA (GHRC), and the Due Process of Law Foundation (DPLf) have, together, presented three reports into the challenges being faced by human… Read More ›
FAO Report: Guatemala included among 19 countries with acute food insecurity
Ana Lucía González writes, in La Hora, about Guatemala being added to the list of ‘Hunger Hotspots’ compiled by the FAO/WFP. The report ‘Hunger Hotspots: FAO-WFP early warnings on acute food insecurity, October 2022 to January 2023 Outlook’ warns that… Read More ›
Wounds Reopened: The Impacts of Democratic Backsliding on Human Rights in Guatemala
GHRC/USA led an Emergency Human Rights Delegation to Guatemala to document the impacts of the democratic backsliding and destruction of rule of law on human rights defenders. The delegation met with, among others, defenders, lawyers, journalists, Indigenous land defenders, and… Read More ›
Guatemala: environmental defenders of Lake Atitlán
The women of Tz’ununya’ Collective have struggled for eight years to defend and conserve Lake Atitlán by pushing for local authorities to stop the deterioration of the lake. Latin America Bureau has republished a piece by David Toro, as part… Read More ›
‘The Indigenous Women of Guatemala had the Courage to Break the Silence’
Josefina Salomón and Sergio Ortiz Borbolla spoke with Dr. Jo-Marie Burt, a Senior Fellow at WOLA, about the historic importance of two gender violence trials, that of the Maya Q’eqchi’ women of Sepur Zarco, and of the Maya Achi women… Read More ›
“We are the seeds that the State tried to kill, but now we bloom in the morning light”
The latest Bulletin from PBI Guatemala features several articles as well as an update on their work. Stolen Chilhood – For some years now, walking through the streets of the historic center of Guatemala City, we are astonished by the… Read More ›
Inter-American Court of Human Rights orders urgent measures to protect victims and the judge in the Military Diary case
Jo-Marie Burt writes in WOLA about a resolution of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) ordering the State of Guatemala to protect Miguel Ángel Gálvez, the pretrial judge in the Diario Militar (Death Squad Dossier) case, and to guarantee… Read More ›
Guatemalan Judge under Threat after Ordering Trial in 1980s “Death Squad Dossier” Case
Jo-Marie Burt and Paulo Estrada have written a powerful piece in El Faro on the ‘Death Squad Diary’ case (Diario Militar) moving through the Guatemala justice system. It also talks of the bravery of the families of the victims and… Read More ›