Guatemala

PBI-Guatemala accompanies Indigenous Community of San Francisco Quezaltepeque in opposition to Canadian mining company

The Indigenous Community of San Francisco Quezaltepeque has posted on Facebook: “Today, August 9, we celebrate the international day of indigenous peoples from our Mayan Ch’orti’ territory in the sacred place 11 aj y cruz de la ermita, in the indigenous community of Quezaltepeque. With the participation of the ancestral Read more…

By Brent Patterson, ago

PBI-Guatemala accompanied Council of Communities of Retalhuleu (CCR) highlights need for water legislation

Photo: The CCR observes water being taken from a river for a water-intensive sugar plantation; May 3, 2023. In this article published by Peace Brigades International-United Kingdom, former PBI-Guatemala field volunteer Lorna Ní Shúilleabháin contrasts the theory versus the reality of Indigenous rights in Guatemala. She highlights: “Approximately 43.75% of Read more…

By Brent Patterson, ago

Maya K’iche’ defender Lucía Ixchíu on extractivism in Guatemala; notes the support of PBI in Berlin and Hamburg

Photo of Lucía Ixchíu from Latin America Bureau by Eliana Lafone. Lucía Ixchíu describes herself as: “K’iche, tree of the Forest, anti-patriarchal, cultural manager, journalist and indigenous storyteller, architect (Mayan in exile).” In this interview with Linda Etchart for Latin America Bureau, “Lucía explains that Guatemalan Indigenous peoples continue to Read more…

By Brent Patterson, ago

PBI-Guatemala accompanies the Maya Ch’orti’ Indigenous Council of Olopa in court, hearing postponed to February 2025

Photo by Prensa Comunitaria. On July 18, PBI-Guatemala posted: “Today members of the Maya Ch’orti’ Indigenous Council of Olopa face a hearing in a process of criminalizing their right to defend their territory Ch’orti’.” That evening, the Consejo Indígena Maya Ch’orti’ de Olopa Chiquimula posted on their Facebook page an Read more…

By Brent Patterson, ago

Rita, a film based on the Hogar Seguro fire, to premiere at Montreal film festival, July 25

The film “Rita” will be shown at the Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal on July 25 starting at 6:50 pm (18:50). The screening will be hosted by Jayro Bustamante, a Guatemalan film director and screenwriter. On the film festival website, Kat Ellinger writes: “[The] story [is] based on a Read more…

By Brent Patterson, ago

PBI-Guatemala accompanies Jennifer Harbury and FAMDEGUA at hearing in the case of Efrain Everardo Bámaca

PBI-Guatemala has posted: “Today #PBI accompanies Jennifer Harbury and [the Association of Relatives of the Detained and Disappeared of Guatemala – FAMDEGUA] to a deposition hearing in Jennifer’s #BámacaCase. Jennifer initiated a search for the whereabouts of her husband, guerrilla leader Efrain Everardo Bámaca, beginning with his disappearance alive in Read more…

By Brent Patterson, ago

PBI-Guatemala accompanies FAMDEGUA and Jennifer Harbury at hearing on death of Efrain Bamaca Velasquez

On July 15, PBI-Guatemala posted: “Tomorrow #PBIaccompanies Jennifer Harbury and [the Association of Relatives of the Detained and Disappeared of Guatemala] FAMDEGUA Guatemala in the #Bámaca case.” The Bámaca case refers to Efrain Bamaca Velasquez, an Indigenous Maya-Mam man. In 1990, Bámaca had risen to the rank of commander of Read more…

By Brent Patterson, ago

PBI-Guatemala accompanies BDH lawyer as Maya Q’eqchi’ resist appropriation of ancestral territory for tourist site

PBI-Guatemala has posted: “Today #PBI accompanies the Human Rights Law Firm (BDH) in Cobán, for a delivery of memorials to the Sixth Room of the Court of Appeals. They are presented on behalf of the seven criminalized people, for their peaceful resistance against the appropriation of their lands in Semuc Read more…

By Brent Patterson, ago

PBI-Guatemala accompanies ceremony with land titles of the Maya Poqomam people of Santa Cruz Chinautla

PBI-Guatemala has posted: “On Sunday [July 7], #PBI accompanied in the act of ‘presentation of the historical titles of the communal lands of the Maya Poqomam people of Santa Cruz Chinautla’. This research, initiated in 2018 with the expert lawyer Juan Carlos Pelaez, includes certificates of title dated in the Read more…

By Brent Patterson, ago

Guatemalan anti-corruption prosecutor Virginia Laparra sentenced to five years in prison

LaHora now reports: “The former head of the Special Prosecutor’s Office Against Impunity (FECI) in Quetzaltenango, Virginia Laparra, was convicted of the crime of disclosure of confidential or reserved information to a sentence of 5 years in prison commutable at the rate of Q5 per day and a fine of Read more…

By Brent Patterson, ago