“Just weeks into his administration, President Giammattei has already declared martial law in two municipalities opposed to resource extraction. He also promised to fast-track a highly controversial law to regulate the consultation process. While sure to be contested, many fear… Read More ›
Indigenous peoples
Drought and hunger: why thousands of Guatemalans are fleeing north
The threat of famine and the battle for dwindling natural resources are increasingly being recognised as major factors in the exodus José García Escobar and Melisa Rabanales write in The Guardian as part of the Global Development series. Martina García… Read More ›
Drugs, mining, monoculture threaten Guatemala’s mangrove ecosystems
On Guatemala’s Caribbean coast, criminal activity is destroying mangroves and the livelihoods of families who depend on them. Yet Guatemala’s mangrove ecosystems are connected to those of Honduras, Belize and Mexico. What happens to one affects the others. Francelia Solano… Read More ›
Guatemala, a New President while the Old Leaves With Further Repression and Impunity
Lisa Rankin, of Breaking the Silence, writes on their blog site about the change-over but lack of change. January 14 was the inauguration of the new Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei. He is known as a hard-line right-wing conservative with a… Read More ›
PBI-Guatemala concern over the situation at the Police Archive
Brent Patterson writes: On January 12, the Peace Brigades International-Guatemala Project posted, “The Supreme Court of Justice had scheduled a public hearing on the AHPN situation but rescheduled it for February 24. Meanwhile the Archive is left without staff.” The… Read More ›
'Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador are everything but safe.'
Belén Fernández writes in Al Jazeera. This year, US President and xenophobe-in-chief, Donald Trump finagled “safe third country agreements” with Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador, allowing the United States to deport aspiring asylum seekers to the very region many of… Read More ›
A Translation Crisis at the Border
Rachel Nolan writes in the New Yorker magazine about the grassroots group of interpreters who are often the only hope for migrants who speak Mayan languages. “The U.S. government claims to provide proper translation at all points in the immigration… Read More ›
The cold cases of Guatemala’s civil war were impossible to identify—until now
Decades after 45,000 people vanished in Guatemala, an anonymous skeleton finally gets a name. Nina Strochlic writes in the National Geographic For 14 years, a human skeleton known as 317-38-10 sat in a cardboard box stored in a metal shipping… Read More ›
PBI – Indigenous land defenders criminalized for opposing open-pit mine, dam
Brent Patterson, of PBI Canada writes, On December 20, the Peace Brigades International-Guatemala Project posted, “Today we have accompanied the Law Office of Human Rights to Puerto Barrios at the initial debate hearing of Eduardo Bin Poou, Q’eqchi’ defender and… Read More ›
Central American mine resistance visits Vancouver
Hayley Woodin writes on BIV’s resources and agriculture website. It was the first advocacy effort of its kind in a mining conflict that has spanned a decade, three countries and multiple legal challenges. In November, a representative of Guatemala’s Indigenous… Read More ›
Guatemala Solidarity Network 