Guatemala is the largest of the Central American nations, bordering Mexico and Belize to the north, and El Salvador and Honduras to the south and east. It has a coastline on the Pacific Ocean and a small coastline on the Caribbean.
The capital is Guatemala City, with other major cities being Quetzaltenango, Escuintla and Mazatenango
- Map (UN).
Guatemala Solidarity Network (GSN) supports the people of Guatemala who continue to struggle for change after centuries of oppression, violence, racism and exploitation. We work in solidarity with Guatemalan organisations and communities striving for human rights, social and economic justice and the empowerment and participation of indigenous peoples and all marginalised groups.
Submitted by Kevin D on Sun, 05/06/2012 - 10:02
“Clodoveo Rodriguez, better known as Don Clodo in his native San Rafael Las Flores, Santa Rosa, has lived his 78 years in the arid community. Since late 2011, his home has literally been fenced-in by the neighboring Escobal silver mine, a joint venture by Tahoe Resources and Goldcorp. Despite pressure from the Canadian mining companies to sell, Don Clodo refuses to leave his land. Kevin McArthur, former president of Goldcorp, founded Tahoe Resources in 2010.”
Submitted by Kevin D on Tue, 05/01/2012 - 22:39
“In Guatemala’s case, the insidious effects of inequality are clear. There can be no suggestion that the continued and increasing suffering of Guatemala’s poor – most particularly its indigenous population – is due to a lack of resources or institutional capacity. It is directly linked to the failure of the state to address critical tax and social spending issues to achieve even a moderate redistribution of the nation’s wealth. The elite has effectively wielded a veto over all attempts to reform.”
Submitted by Kevin D on Mon, 04/23/2012 - 22:38
In 1979, Juan Pablo Arévalo dug a well in his land, unaware of the fact that he was digging his own grave. His son, Saúl Arévalo, 54, takes off his black rimmed spectacles, pushes them back to the nape of his neck and points to the place where the Arévalo well was located. Much to the community’s disappointment, water was never found there. Fifteen years after the well was built, in 1994, an Argentinean forensic anthropology team extracted one by one, from that same well, the remains of 162 inhabitants of Dos Erres, including Juan Pablo Arévalo and two of his sons.
Submitted by Kevin D on Thu, 04/05/2012 - 23:31
“After 9 days and 212 kilometers, the Indigenous, Campesino and Popular March for the defense of Mother Earth, against evictions, criminalization, and in favor of Integrated Rural Development, arrived to the center of the Capital City. According to members of the Committee for Campesino Unity (CUC), it is estimated that about 15,000 people participated in the ninth and final day of the march”.
Submitted by Kevin D on Sun, 04/01/2012 - 18:18
This article, by Louisa Reynolds, was featured on the Latinamerica Press website, and provides some good background to the story.
Court sentences another soldier who participated in Dos Erres massacre.
Maria Ofelia Gómez Hernández will never forget Dec. 6, 1982. That day she was preparing breakfast for her two young children in her small home in the village of Dos Erres, when five heavily armed soldiers ill-disguised as guerrillas busted through her front door.
Submitted by Kevin D on Wed, 03/21/2012 - 00:11
Danilo Valladares interviews Rosalina Tuyuc, winner of the Niwano Peace Prize.
This was on the Global Issues website and is from Inter Press Service.
'To achieve peace, it is necessary for the truth to come out, and for the victims to receive reparations. And part of this is that cases of genocide and crimes against humanity against the Maya people must come to trial,' says Guatemalan indigenous leader Rosalina Tuyuc.
Submitted by Kevin D on Sun, 03/11/2012 - 22:09
This is an article written by Monsignor Alvaro Ramazzini who is Bishop of the Diocese of San Marcos.
It was originally published on the COPAE website and subsequently in albedrío. We we are grateful to Natasha da Silva for the translation.
Submitted by Kevin D on Sat, 03/10/2012 - 10:28
We are again grateful to NISGUA for the following piece.
Submitted by Kevin D on Tue, 03/06/2012 - 23:19
We are grateful to NISGUA for the following piece.
An initial court hearing for former General Efraín Ríos Montt, accused of genocide, took place after ten years of work by the Association for Justice and Reconciliation (AJR). The day after the hearing, ACOGUATE interviewed members of the AJR, accompanied by ACOGUATE since 2001.
What do you all think about the court hearing yesterday and how do you all feel now?
Submitted by Kevin D on Sun, 01/29/2012 - 19:00
Certainly one with promise for human rights and the struggle against impunity.
The Guatemala Human Rights Commission (GHRC) has highlighted two major events – the stand out news that former dictator Efraín Ríos Montt has been charged with genocide and crimes against humanity.
Submitted by Kevin D on Sun, 01/15/2012 - 23:36
Submitted by Kevin D on Mon, 01/09/2012 - 20:28
"Independent from the Occupy Movement in North-America and Europe, a movement of slum dwellers in Guatemala is occupying the street in front of Congress. They are protesting against the living conditions in the slums and a disfunctional housing policy. To change their situation they not only occupied Congress but made a bill and eventually started a hunger strike."
New article from Frauke Decoodt can be found here.
Submitted by Kevin D on Thu, 01/05/2012 - 22:12
The story of Jesus Tecu Osorio and the massacres of the Chixoy Dam project have been followed and told here on GSN previously.
Al Jazeera carries an opinion piece by Lauren Carasik and Grahame Russell on the continuing wait for justice for the victims of the Chixoy Dam massacres in March 1982.
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