“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 ›
Land
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 ›
'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 ›
2019 – a year of violence
UDEFEGUA has just reported on the number of personal attacks against human rights defenders in Guatemala this year, up to the middle of December. From the infographic, above, it reports that this year was the fourth most violent year out… 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 ›
Bloody Repression of Campesino Organisations
Manuel Pérez Hernández was shot dead on evening of the 6th November, in San Pedro Pinula, Jalapa. He left six children, the youngest of two months, who he was looking after when he was murdered. He was a member of… Read More ›
‘There are ‘two Guatemalas’, and this is the one that doesn’t eat’
Alejandra Agudo presents this photo-reportage in El País. Some 23.4% of the population of Guatemala does not have the minimum needed to cover the basic food basket. In rural areas, where climate change destroys crops, it is worse. This is… Read More ›
Guatemala Solidarity Network 