Burning books, part of U.S. foreign policy during the Cold War, had strong support from local allies. Guatemala, after the fall of Jacobo Árbenz in 1954, points to a common practice in Central America: the violent repression of the free… Read More ›
Report
Rethinking Justice: How Prosecutors Can Disrupt Criminal Networks
The Due Process Of Law Foundation has posted a new piece on criminal networks and how prosecutors can disrupt them, using Guatemala as the case study. The research, by Issa Luna Pla, José Roberto Nicolás Carlock, and Harald Waxenecker, as… Read More ›
BTS – 2024 Year in Review
The Maritimes-Guatemala Breaking the Silence Network (BTS) recently published their annual review for 2024. The report not only celebrates their accomplishments over the last year, it also recognizes the incredible contributions of their partners, staff, cooperants, interns, volunteers, and donors!… Read More ›
Defence of Human Rights is sustained despite Cooptation of the Justice System
The Guatemalan Human Rights Defenders Protection Unit (UDEFEGUA) presented its 2024 Report on the Situation of Individuals, Organisations, and Communities Defending Human Rights, entitled “Impact of the Co-optation of the Justice System on the Defence of Human Rights.” It provides… 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.
The Genocide Trial and the Tightrope
José Luis Sanz wrote a two-piece chronicle in El Faro, published in Spanish in 2014, on CICIG, Claudia Paz y Paz, the genocide trial of Efraín Ríos Montt, and exile. The chronicle has been translated by Max Granger amid the… Read More ›
Arévalo’s “Democratic Spring” Polls Below the Nicaraguan Dictatorship
El Faro has presented a short video, scripted by Yuliana Ramazzini and Roman Gressier, on Bernardo Arévalo’s inability to curb criminalisation by the Attorney General and how his communications stumbles compound his inexperience as he struggles to make headway in… Read More ›
Fighting Corruption – Virginia Laparra awarded the Sir Henry Brooke award
In a significant acknowledgment of her relentless fight against corruption under perilous conditions, Virginia Laparra Rivas, a former prosecutor in Guatemala, was honoured with the prestigious Sir Henry Brooke Award for 2025. The ceremony, organized by the Alliance for Lawyers… Read More ›
Guatemala: A 2025 Snapshot
Emilie Sweigart provides a snapshot for 2025 on Guatemala in Americas Quarterly. Elected on an anti-corruption platform, President Bernardo Arévalo and his center-left Semilla Party (which holds only 23 of the 160 seats in Guatemala’s unicameral Congress) have faced strong… Read More ›
GHRC: July Update
The July Update from the Guatemala Human Rights Commisison (GHRC) was recently shared. In hopeful news, Indigenous land rights activist Lolita Chávez has returned to her home in the K’iche after seven years of exile. In 2017, she suffered an… Read More ›
Guatemala Solidarity Network 