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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.

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RRN Letter
RRN Letter: Guatemala, 06/21/2017
June 21, 2017
hundreds of people from Laguna Larga, El Petén Department, stranded at the Mexico-Guatemala border in temporary shelters after 1,000 Guatemalan security forces carried out a massive eviction because of a long-standing land dispute involving a national park and an oil driller
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RRN Letter
RRN Letter: Guatemala, 4/14/2017
April 14, 2017
Intimidation tactics (shots fired) against Pedro Rafael Maldonado Flores, the legal director for the Legal, Environmental and Social Action Center of Guatemala (CALAS), which represents communities organizing resistance to the exploration and exploitation of natural resources.
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RRN Letter
RRN Letter: Guatemala, 2/24/2017
February 24, 2017
Unjust detention of Abelino Chub Caal, indigenous and environmental defender in Izabal Dept., where agricultural and extractive industry companies are in land disputes with local communities.
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News Article
Hydroelectric Dam Conflicts Bring Back Past Horrors for Indigenous Communities
February 23, 2017
Guatemala’s indigenous communities have worked tirelessly to recuperate their communal lands in the 20 years since the end of the country’s 36-year-long internal armed conflict. But these communities have faced the constant threat of dispossession from mining companies, the large-scale agro-industry, and the construction of hydroelectric dams.
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RRN Letter
RRN Letter: Guatemala, 1/25/2017
January 25, 2017
Killing of indigenous and land rights defender Sebastian Alonso Juan, age 73, when armed men began shooting at demonstrators during a peaceful protest against hydroelectric projects Pojom I and Pojom II in San Matea Ixtatan in Huehuetenango Department.
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RRN Letter
RRN Letter: Guatemala, 11/25/2016
November 25, 2016
Assassination of environmental defender Jeremy Abraham Barrios Lima, assistant to the executive director of the Guatemalan Center for Legal, Environmental and Social Action (CALAS), and a former student leader.
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News Article
SOA Watch activists vow to keep their hands on the plow
November 19, 2016

No arrests with sparse crowd at SOA Watch protest

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RRN Letter
RRN Letter: Guatemala, 9/25/2016
September 25, 2016
Concern for the safety and well-being of Angélica Choc, a Mayan Q’eqchi’ human rights defender from the municipality of El Estor in Izabal Department.
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RRN Letter
RRN Letter: Guatemala, 9/23/2016
September 23, 2016
Attack against Esteban Hermelindo Cux and Fredy Qib, two indigenous community leaders. On September 2, approximately 20 masked men armed with machetes and firemarms attacked the home of Esteban Hermelindo Cux, an indigenous Q’eqchi’ organizer in Panzós in Alto Verapaz Department.
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News Article
Letter to Obama to grant Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for refugees from EL SALVADOR, HONDURAS, AND GUATEMALA
September 8, 2016

RENEWED REQUEST FOR TEMPORARY PROTECTED STATUS FOR EL SALVADOR, HONDURAS, AND GUATEMALA IN LIGHT OF CONTINUED INJUNCTION IN ​UNITED STATES V. TEXAS

Dear President Obama:

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