The situation for trade unionists in Guatemala is getting worse by the day. Sergio Miguel García, a member of the National Health Workers’ Union of Guatemala (SNTSG) and organizing and minutes secretary of the “Vector-Borne […]
A landmark trial began in Baja Verapaz last December when a local judge announced the continuation of a trial charging six former members of a Civil Defense Patrol with murder for their roles in the 1982 massacre of 177 Río Negro women and children. However, dictators who orchestrated the massacres still enjoy impunity. […]
Less than 24 hours after President Bush met with Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom at the White House on Monday, a worker from a union that filed a trade complaint with
The human cost of speculation on the financial markets by mining companies is high. This is evidenced by the grave human rights abuses that have been committed on behalf of Inco and Skye Resources. This mining project is but one example of what the promises of "development" and "corporate social responsibility" mean for the people directly affected by these projects. […]
The imposing Rio Dulce (Sweet River), one of Guatemala’s principal tourist attractions, has witnessed the development of a transcendental conflict over land. Conflicts have arisen in the region where basic survival needs of entire communities cross paths with environmentally protected areas and business. On March 15th, a violent incursion by combined police-military forces ended with the tragic extrajudicial execution of local peasant leader Mario Caal Bolom. […]
Why would anybody camp by the side of a busy road? Why would anybody camp by the side of a busy road sheltered only by rough structures made from palm tree fronds in the punishing tropical heat and torrential downpours? And why would anyone do it for four long years?
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Several hundred Guatemalan campesinos took 30 police officers hostage last Thursday in response to the jailing of a local farm leader and to demand that land they had been occupying for the last 10 years be legalized by the Guatemalan government. Ramiro Choc, the farmer arrested earlier this month on charges of robbery and illegally occupying land, remains in jail. […]
Last month, the Constitutional Court’s verdict nullified a former ruling calling for the detention and extradition of retired Generals Ángel Aníbal Guevara Rodríguez and Pedro García Arredondo, and demands that the generals be set free. According Guatemalan human rights organizations and the families of the victims of massacres that occurred between 1982 and 1983, the verdict makes justice into a joke. […]
Peasant farmers from the southern coast who comprise the Civil Association Pro-Justice Nueva Linda Group celebrated their fourth Christmas in a row along the side of the road. Their resistance continues as they seek justice for the abduction and disappearance of Hector Reyes in 2003 as well as the violent eviction of August 2004, which left 12 dead and 45 injured. […]
By handing complete impunity to the high-ranking military officials responsible for Genocide between 1978 and 1985, the Guatemalan Judiciary system has stricken a severe blow against Justice. The children and family members of the hundreds of thousands of victims forcibly disappeared, tortured, and massacred, are speaking out to reject the current Guatemalan judiciary system and demand an end to impunity.
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