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Guatemala: News & Updates
Guatemala had the longest and bloodiest civil war in Central American history: 36 years (1960-96). The US-backed military was responsible for a genocide (“scorched earth policy”) that wiped out 200,000 mostly Maya indigenous civilians. War criminals are still being tried in the courts.
Learn more here.
Event
July 12, 2018 to July 17, 2018
The Guatemala Human Rights Campaign had been at the forefront of international support for the Guatemalan struggle for human rights since 1983.
Recently, two indigenous Guatemalan human rights organizations, CCDA and CODECA have been under attack. There has been no investigation into the assassination of peasant leaders nor resolution to the rural land conflicts they fight for. Additionally, these communities have been damaged and are struggling to recover from Fuego volcano eruption on the South Coast.
RRN Letter
June 26, 2018
Human rights defender Bernardo Caal Xol is in prison for being an indigenous Q’eqchi’ leader who has spoken out against the illegal construction of massive hydroelectric dams in indigenous territory, which were built without consulting the indigenous population as required by law and have resulted in the destruction of local ecosystems, clear cutting of old growth forests and decimation of mountain ridges sacred to the Q’eqchi’ people.
Event
June 16, 2018
This weekend is Father's Day.
Event
June 14, 2018
This march is in response to the horrific abuses of immigrants, their children and families. Marches will take place across the country on June 14th with Families Belong Together. Below is the mission statement provided in both Spanish and English.
RRN Letter
June 13, 2018
The indigenous leaders Ramon Choc Sacrab, Florencio Pérez Nájera and Alejandro Hernández García were murdered in Guatemala, which make a total of six human rights leaders who have been killed in less than a month.
RRN Letter
June 11, 2018
We are deeply concerned by the ongoing criminalization of human rights defenders reporting on environmental degradation in El Estor, Guatemala, which we believe are motivated solely by their legitimate and peaceful work in defense of environmental and indigenous peoples’ rights.
RRN Letter
May 23, 2018
Three human rights defenders were killed within the same week: Luis Marroquin, 47; José Can Xol, 37; and Mateo Chamám Paau, 31. Luis was a member of the National Directorate of the Committee for Campesino Development (CODECA), which promotes land rights and rural development for indigenous farming families. José and Mateo were members of the Campesino Committee of the Highlands (CCDA), which promotes access to land and the labor rights of Mayan campesinos. CCDA has suffered numerous threats and attacks, including several attacks against their office and leaders.
RRN Letter
April 23, 2018
A group of hitmen killed Crisanto Garcia Ohajaca at a Catholic worship service on March 29. He was likely targeted for his family links to COMUNDICH, an indigenous rights organization that currently supports 48 Mayan Ch’orti’ communities who live along the border with Honduras, and his knowledge surrounding the killing of another member of the Ch’orti’ de Morola community.
RRN Letter
April 12, 2018
assassination of Héctor Manuel Choc Cuz in El Estor, Izabal Department. For many years, his local Mayan Q’eqchi’ community has been protesting displacement from their ancestral land and environmental degradation caused by the Fenix nickel mining, which was owned by Hudbay Minerals of Canada
