Guatemala is in the midst of a contentious legal battle, as networks of corrupt politicians and organized crime are trying to exploit the COVID-19 pandemic to attack the country’s courts. They are also disrupting over 100 cases against government officials… Read More ›
Justice
Bernardo Caal Xol is a prisoner of conscience – Amnesty International
Amnesty International has just recently declared the Q’eqchi’ Maya Indigenous leader and Guatemalan human rights defender, Bernardo Caal Xol, a prisoner of conscience, for having been wrongly imprisoned for more than two years. He had been defending the rights of… Read More ›
COVID-19: “Because of the President, people think it is a joke”
The government announced a steady re-opening of the country and this scared the medical personnel at the temporary hospital in Parque de la Industria (‘Industry Park’) whp have fought each day against the COVID-19 illness and in the face of… Read More ›
Behind the Fight to Hijack Guatemala’s Justice System
Ensuring impartial, professional, and honest officials in Guatemala’s highest courts is crucial to the rule of law, independence of the judiciary, and advancing the fight against corruption. Adriana Beltrán, of Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), outlines the various levels… Read More ›
A pandemic is not the time for reforming judicial nominations in Guatemala
As is the case in many countries across the globe, the COVID-19 pandemic has further undermined the rule of law in Guatemala due to the use of emergency measures to limit fundamental freedoms and blur the separation of powers. Simultaneously,… Read More ›
Judge who protected the son of Jimmy Morales will decide the future of Erika Aifán
The Supreme Court of Justice agreed to process a preliminary judgment against Judge Erika Aifán. The complaint was filed by Wilber Castellanos, known to have been in contact with Gustavo Alejos, currently in jail. What does the resolution say? What… Read More ›
Officials Conceal Conditions at Guatemala Mental Health Hospital During Pandemic
After a nurse tested positive for Covid-19, advocates warn that patients at a notorious Guatemalan psychiatric facility will be “left to die.” Naomi Larsson writes a rather harrowing story on the NACLA website about the plight of residents in the… Read More ›
A Crucial Moment for Guatemala’s Fight Against Impunity
Adriana Beltrán, of WOLA (Washington Office of Latin America) hosted a discussion with Helen Mack, Harald Waxenecker and Claudia Escobar. Last year at the U.S.-Mexico border, authorities apprehended more undocumented migrants from Guatemala than from any other country. That’s mostly… Read More ›
Working in fear
Gildaneliz Barrientos writes on the D+C Development and Cooperation website about the challenges facing journalists in Guatemala including murder, threats and acts of intimidation. This is compounded by the lack of protection from the police. In what is unfortunately a… Read More ›
The corruption epidemic in the Guatemalan justice system
Claudia Escobar Mejía writes, in the Global Americans website, about the ongoing, and increasing, infiltration and manipulation of the Guatemalan justice system by corrupt, and criminal, law-makers in the Guatemala Congress. The piece also explains the somewhat arcane process for… Read More ›
Guatemala Solidarity Network 