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.
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.
