Statement from the Peaceful Resistance La Puya to the Guatemalan and International Community in response to the decision of the International Arbitration Tribunal (CIADI) in KCA v. Guatemala The Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala (NISGUA) has posted a statement from La Resistencia Pacifica La Puya regarding a decision of the International Arbitration Tribunal in favour of Guatemala. This is a positive result for Guatemala and La Puya but does not mean the…

The Winter 2025 edition of El Quetzal, from The Guatemala Human Rights Commission (GHRC), has recently been published. In it, they explore the implications of a co-opted justice system and the necessity of change, sharing the views of the Indigenous Mayor of Nebaj, two defenders living in exile, and two defenders working for justice within Guatemala. Indigenous Mayor Feliciana Herrera explains how tightened borders in the US are affecting the Guatemalan Indigenous communities, Juan Francisco Sandoval reports on the case of exiled Constitutional Court Judge Gloria Porras, Judge Miguel Angel Galvez discusses transitional justice cases, and Juan Francisco Soto, director of UDEFEGUA, warns of the various ways the selection of a new attorney general next spring can be influenced by corrupt networks trying to hold onto their power.

El Faro English presented an English version of a piece by Edward Grattan relating to the tiral and sentencing of those found responsible for the deaths of the 41 young girls in the fire at the Hogar Seguro Virgen de la Asunción. It took eight grueling years for Guatemala’s Supreme Court of Justice to place charges on those accused in the 2017 tragedy at the shelter home Hogar Seguro where 41 young girls were killed after being locked in a dorm room fire.

She walked barefoot, leaving footprints of human blood outside the Constitutional Court. She underwent surgery to reconstruct her hymen and become a virgin again. She had a doctor injected her in the mouth with anesthesia as she attempted to read the testimonies of Indigenous survivors of the Ixil genocide. Guatemalan artist Regina José Galindo attracted international recognition for her performances after winning a Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale in 2005.

She walked barefoot, leaving footprints of human blood outside the Constitutional Court. She underwent surgery to reconstruct her hymen and become a virgin again. She had a doctor injected her in the...

She walked barefoot, leaving footprints of human blood outside the Constitutional Court. She underwent surgery to reconstruct her hymen and become a virgin again. She had a doctor injected her in the…

She walked barefoot, leaving footprints of human blood outside the Constitutional Court. She underwent surgery to reconstruct her hymen and become a virgin again. She had a doctor injected her in the ...

She walked barefoot, leaving footprints of human blood outside the Constitutional Court. She underwent surgery to reconstruct her hymen and become a virgin again. She had a doctor injected her in the…

Professor Diana Taylor will be in conversation with Regina José Galindo, one of the most important performance artists in Latin America today, whose work has shown in museums and galleries around the…

Military Diary Case: “Every judicial delay prolongs the never-ending grief”Download Andrea Godínez has written on Agencia Ocote about the threats to the judicial process in the Military Diary case and the pain being felt by family members of the those forcibly disappeared by the Guatemala state because of these threats. You can read the original, with links and photos, here, …

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 discussion of ideas necessary for democracy. A recent feature on El Faro English was a translation of a piece by…

Guatemala’s former minister of governance resigns and leaves the country after the public learns of the escape from prison of twenty Barrio 18 (18th Street) gang members. Gabriel Labrador and Roman Gressier presented a podcast on El Faro English highlighting recent the prison break from a maximum-security prison. For almost two months, Guatemalan authorities didn’t make a peep about the escape of 20 gang leaders from the maximum-security prison Fraijanes Two, facilitated by public officials.

The Guatemala Human Rights Commission (GHRC) posted recently about how democracy has again been threatened in Guatemala. A judge, at the request of the Public Ministry, declared that President Bernardo Arévalo’s political party, Semilla, was not legally constituted, declared the party annulled, and ordered the Guatemalan Congress and the Supreme Electoral Tribunal to take corresponding legal measures. The order was widely interpreted as a coup attempt, as it implied that any seats Semilla party members had won in 2023 were illegitimate.

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 the Working Group on Illicit Networks in Latin America, saw how organised crime and corruption were interconnected phenomena where political, economic and criminal actors interact in layered and often hidden ways.

GHRC writes that in the past month attacks on human rights defenders, including journalists, have continued. Journalist Carlos Choc has suffered acts of intimidation and has been the victim of a defamation campaign. These acts are believed to be linked to his coverage of evictions, the cancellation of mining contracts in Izabal, and the criminalization of Indigenous leaders. The threatening incidents began on September 10, when an unidentified vehicle hit the fence surrounding Carlos Choc’s house in El Estor, Izabal.

A recent update from Guatemala Human Rights Commission (GHRC) on justice and human rights contained information on the following: At UN President Arévalo Points to Progress & Admits ChallengesAt a recent speech before the UN General Assembly, President Bernardo Arévalo stated that Guatemala was “returning to the path of democratic recovery,” but he acknowledged that the results his administration has achieved have not gone far enough.