Yesterday, 22nd March, was World Water Day, and we wanted to bring attention to the case of Bernardo Caal Xol, who has been unjustly detained for three years now. Since 2015, Bernardo Caal has defended the rights of the communities… Read More ›
Indigenous peoples
Women Weavers: To Outsiders We’re Exotic; In Guatemala We’re the “Marías”
An article by Kimberly Rocío López, has been translated into English and published in El Faro, outlining the struggle for recognition of, and respect for the craft of, women textile weavers in Guatemala. The original article is in Spanish and… Read More ›
Canada’s Diplomatic Support to Mining Under Scrutiny
In a series of tweets, Jackie McVicar has outlined the background to an important court case taking place in Canada regarding Canadian Government pressure on the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights regarding the Marlin Mine in Western Guatemala. Guate’s constitutional… Read More ›
Sepur Zarco: The Fight For Justice Continues
Based on information from Mujeres Transformando el Mundo, La Cuerda, through Jody García, has presented an infographic on the continuing fight for justice with regard to the Sepur Zarco case. Any errors in translation are mine. Five years ago, a… Read More ›
Guatemala Takes a Hard Line Against Migrants—With US Support
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 ›
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 ›