Forty years after surviving state violence, Maya Achi women return to court to demand justice, challenging a long legacy of impunity for crimes against humanity. Jo-Marie Burt, Paulo Estrada and Keily Colíndres write in NACLA Report about the long struggle… Read More ›
Racism
The Massacre of a Trial for Genocide
Benedicto Lucas García, a parachutist trained by France and the United States, was an iconic leader of the Guatemalan counterinsurgency. Decades after the horror, as some of the remaining Maya Ixil victims made the trek from the mountains of Quiché… Read More ›
GHRC – Blog: Update on Recent Developments in Guatemala
Guatemala Human Rights Commission (GHRC) posted an update last month on the latest news from Guatemala. The topics covered included: These topics, and others, can be read in more detail here, Update on Recent Developments in Guatemala.
Expanding Her Enemy List, Guatemalan AG Accuses Indigenous Leaders of Terrorism
Two Maya K’iche’ pro-democracy leaders who were key in fending off an electoral coup in 2023 and 2024 have now been arrested and accused of terrorism, including a member of President Bernardo Arévalo’s cabinet. In response, Arévalo and Indigenous authorities… Read More ›
Mayans in Guatemala call on multinational companies to stay away
Una Kelly writes on the RTÉ website about the struggle of Indigenous Q’eqchi Maya in their opposition to multi-national resource extraction in eastern Guatemala. Indigenous Mayans in Guatemala have called for a halt on multinational companies coming to their communities… Read More ›
Defense Strategy and Guatemalan AG’s Decisions Reduce Odds of Genocide Conviction
In the genocide trial against retired military commander Benedicto Lucas García, initially expected to end three weeks ago, the defense has attempted to recuse the court to delay sentencing. Last-minute tension is affecting proceedings: A judge is now on medical… Read More ›
Ixil Genocide Trial Against Benedicto Lucas García Nears End
Eleven years after the genocide trial of ex-dictator Efraín Ríos Montt, that of General Benedicto Lucas García, a former chief of the General Staff, began this April. In over 85 hearings, witnesses, victims, and experts have testified about the scorched-earth… Read More ›
The Voices Of Those Who Live Among Mountains
Resistance Of The Communities Of Guatemala Against Dispossession “We are Ral Ch’och, that is to say: we were born, we live and we are on our lands. We cannot go anywhere else other than our own.” Pascual Miranda, Río Cristalino… Read More ›
Guatemalan Women Fought for Democracy. Now They Have to Make It Work for Them.
Laura Carlsen writes in Z about the mobilisation of Indigenous people in defence of democracy, and the role of Indigenous women within that struggle. After the election of Bernardo Arévalo, the corrupt elites tried to turn back the clock and… Read More ›
In defense of Atitlán Lake
María Guarchaj and Teresa Gonón write in Ojalá about the challenges facing communities that live by, and depend on, Lago Atitlán. While it is true that the lake has been suffering from environmental degradation, attempts to profit from technical responses… Read More ›
Guatemala Solidarity Network 