Stories from Quick Reads and Guatemala
In Guatemala, Mayan families ask for wisdom, health, and strength for 2023
"This Mayejak is carried out to ask permission from our Mother Earth, the hills and valleys that surround us and the 20 Nahuales that represent the days of the Mayan month."
Before the Border: The Immigrant Odyseey Across Mexico
The perils of crossing the border between Mexico and the United States are well documented, but for thousands of undocumented migrants from Central America, crossing Mexico is even more dangerous. To reach the US border, undocumented migrants from Central America undertake a dangerous 1,500-mile trip through Mexico, where they risk...
Spain and Latin America Celebrate Open Data Day
One again, bloggers, hackers, designers, experts, as well as citizens interested in open data and transparency will meet to celebrate International Open Data Day 2015 all over the world to promote the opening of government data. The event is expected to have online meetings but also in-person activities all over...
Migrant Children from Central America Are Not Mere Statistics
In an opinion piece for the American newspaper Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Global Voices contributor Jamie Stark wonders, “What kind of parent would pay $10,000 for a stranger to bring a child 1,400 miles through gangland and hostile border crossings? A good parent, perhaps.” As a concerned citizen about the crisis of...
The Maya Nut, a Nature Giant
In the Guatemalan department of Petén, a group of local women market natural products prepared with Maya nut, well known as natural medicine. The president of the producer association, Benedicta Galicia Ramírez, notes they “pick up the seed and then dry it, toast and grind it to make fluor”, and...
The Humanitarian Tragedy of Children Emigrating Alone
From Mexico, Katia D'Artigues, author of the blog Campos Elíseos (Champs Elysées), writes about the children who see themselves forced to emigrate on their own [es], and calls this a “humanitarian tragedy”: Son niños que son orillados a cruzar la frontera solos. No lo hacen por aventura, sino porque muchas...
Landslides After Heavy Rains Cause Death in Guatemala
Heavy rains on the early hours of Saturday, May 31, 2014 in the Guatemalan municipality of San Pedro Necta, in the department of Huehuetenango, 312 kilometers North from the country capital, resulted in landslides that destroyed homes and caused at least six fatalities and three disappeared individuals, as reported by...
Quintuplet Birth in Guatemala
Guatemalan media is reporting [es] a quintuplet birth in Guatemala City. The babies’ weight, three girls and two boys, is between one pound with 9 ounces and two pounds with 12 ounces, a weight to be expected as they were delivered on the 29th week of pregnancy. They were immediately...
Guatemala: Violent Eviction of the La Puya Peaceful Mining Resistance
The blog MiMundo.org, by James Rodriguez, writes about the eviction that took place in La Puya, San Pedro Ayampuc and San José del Golfo, in Guatemala: After two years and two months of peacefully blocking the entrance to U.S.-based Kappes, Cassiday & Associates (KCA) El Tambor gold mine, local residents...
Guatemala: Ex President Portillo Sentenced to Five Years in Jail
With a historic rule by a federal court in New York on May 22, 2014, former Guatemalan president Alfonso Portillo was sentenced to five years and 10 months in jail for money laundering and taking bribes from Taiwan. RT @Luisvela_pl: VIDEO: Alfonso Portillo recibe pena de cinco años y diez...
Guatemala: ¡PODER!, Tale of Two Girls
Stories are powerful. They define who we are and what we care about. When the stories that are told about us are positive, they can empower us. When they are desolate, they can make us feel insecure or question ourselves. ¡PODER! (Spanish word that means power) is a docudrama film,...
PHOTOS: Remains of Exhumed Guatemalan War Victims Returned to Families
In a new photo essay on MiMundo.org, photojournalist James Rodríguez follows residents of Pambach, Guatemala, as they receive the skeletal remains of six wartime victims who were “taken by the army after a military incursion to the village on June 3rd, 1982, during the de facto government of Efraín Ríos Montt,...
Guatemalan Q'eqchi Indigenous Face Ongoing Violations of Their Rights
The threatening, violation and denial of the undeniable rights the Q'eqchi [indigenous Maya community] have over the land they acquired by their own means so many years ago, together with the stunning violation of basic human rights by evidence of abuse of force, not possibly rested on legal means, are...
Portraits of ‘Children Who Have Children’ in Guatemala
Swedish photographer and journalist Linda Forsell has just started a Tumblr blog where she will be sharing her project “about young girls that have been sexually abused and have babies as a result of it.” Forsell explains: Through a strong photographic depiction following the lives of a few of the...
“Development For Who?” Guatemalans Resist Hydroelectric Project
“Development for who? Will the money stay in the community? No, it goes to fill others’ pockets, and we will continue to live in poverty. What we’re asking now is for the government to cancel all the [mining and hydroelectric] licenses that have been granted.” In Upside Down World, Kelsey...
Wave of Violence Against Guatemalan Journalists
Guatemalan journalists Carlos Alberto Orellana Chávez was gunned down on Monday, August 19, 2013; he is the fourth journalist killed in Guatemala this year. In an opinion piece [es] published in Guatemalan newspaper Prensa Libre, UN's special rapporteur for freedom of expression Frank La Rue denounced “the recent wave of...
Guatemalan Indigenous People Hold Peaceful Protests
As part of the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, Guatemalan indigenous people held peaceful protests around the country to demand that their rights be respected. Cultural Survival reported on the peaceful protests which were held on August 9, 2013: The general sentiment of the protests as sited by...
Rios Montt Testifies in Genocide Trial
On the 26th day of the historic Genocide trial against former de facto head of state Efrain Rios Montt and his Head of Intelligence Jose Mauricio Rodriguez Sanchez, the prosecution and defense gave their closing statements and the main accused, Rios Montt, finally declared. James Rodriguez shares a photo essay...
#FLISOL 2013: Hundreds of Latin Americans Installing Free Software
From the Patagonia to Havana, hundreds of computer users across Latin America are choosing freedom over control by installing free software on their computers. On April 27th, groups of free software enthusiasts will be installing free software in dozens of cities across Latin America as part of FLISOL [es], the...
Nobel Laureates: On with Ríos Montt Trial
“If this case does not move forward, survivors of Guatemala’s genocide are being victimized all over again,” says Nobel Peace laureate Jody Williams, co-founder of the Nobel Women’s Initiative. “They have taken a huge risk in testifying, and many have been harassed, intimidated and threatened. To annul the case would...
