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 ›
Violence
Arrests Shed Light on Abuse of Women in Guatemala’s Prisons
“The problem that we have is a penitentiary system that’s out of control, in which many of the guards are involved” Lara Loaiza writes in InSightCrime on the situation of women within the Guatemala carceral system. Corruption and criminality are… Read More ›
Ex-Guatemala police chief convicted by Swiss court of prisoner murders – ‘legacy of the dirty war in Guatemala’
SWI swissinfo.ch has run a couple of pieces relating to the trial and subsequent sentencing of former Guatemala police chief, Erwin Sperisen, to 14 years in prison after being found guilty by a Geneva court of aiding and abetting the… Read More ›
Honouring Indigenous resistance in Totonicapán: interview with Maya K’iché exile Lucía Ixchíu
Linda Etchart, for Latin America Bureau, interviewed environment defender Lucía Ixchíu, of the K´iché Maya of Totonicapán, a community famous for its ‘48 Cantons’ resistance movement. Totonicapán was the second most important city of the K’iché and the headquarters of… Read More ›
Indigenous People’s Rights – The theory versus the reality
Lorna Ní Shúilleabháin, a former field volunteer with PBI in Guatemala, writes on International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, August 9th, on the theory of Indigenous rights against the reality in Guatemala. This year to celebrate the International Day… Read More ›
Guatemala: judicial kleptocracy at war with Indigenous peoples
Daniel Cerqueira writes in the Due Process of Law Foundation (DPLF) blog on the manipulation of the judiciary by elements of the Pacto de Corruptos and its effect on Indigenous communities and their rights to land and challenges for the… Read More ›
Genocide in the Ixil Triangle – Forensic Architecture
Forensic Architecture (FA) is a research agency based at Goldsmiths, University of London and their mandate is to develop, employ, and disseminate new techniques, methods, and concepts for investigating state and corporate violence. FA was commissioned by Guatemalan NGO, the… Read More ›
Analyzing The Role And Ascent To Power Of The Military In Guatemala
The Guatemala Human Rights Commission (GHRC) shares an article written in exile by Judge Miguel Ángel Gálvez. This in-depth study traces the history of corruption and impunity in Guatemala from the period of the revolutionary government of Jacobo Árbenz to… Read More ›
Indigenous Maya Q’eqchi’ Denounce Eviction Threats of New Communities in El Estor
Aldo Santiago writes in Avispa Midia about the threat of forced displacement facing Indigenous Q’eqchi’ communities in the Polochic Valley. Resource extraction, for the benefit of local elites and the international market, continues to take a heavy toll on Indigenous… Read More ›
“Despite the new government, the advance of mining in Guatemala is already decided”
Roman Gressier interviewed journalist Carlos Choc about his criminalisation by the state and the continuing struggle against rapacious resource extraction companies stirrping Guatemala of its wealth. Carlos Choc is Maya Q’eqchi’ and a high-profile practitioner of periodismo comunitario (community journalism)’…. Read More ›