Guatemala: News & Updates

Along the Pacific coast of Guatemala on plantations subcontracted by Chiquita, agricultural workers with gaunt faces thread their way between banana trees, rubber boots sinking into black mud, machetes sharpened and strapped to their belts. They know the day will be long: 10 hours, sometimes 12, for a paltry wage – often below the legal minimum.

Although these plantations are certified by Rainforest Alliance (as “safe” for workers and the environment), researchers heard the same accounts from workers over and over: extreme fatigue, inadequate pay, unprotected exposure to chemicals, restrictions on the freedom of association.

The fungicide Mancozeb—banned in the European Union in 2020 after being classified as an endocrine disruptor that’s toxic to reproduction—is routinely sprayed on the banana fields. Without any warning to the workers,  the crop dusters fly very low, and the yellow acidic powder falls straight on them. The certification body Rainforest Alliance has granted an exceptional authorization for its use on Guatemalan plantations until December 31, 2028, citing the need for “rigorous disease management” of the Black Sigatoka leaf disease. Other fungicides, herbicides and insecticides are applied throughout the growing cycle, both from the air and workers applying them with backpack sprayers.

This report by Public Eye takes us deep inside the plantations where the global economy meets the silence – and often complicity – of local institutions. It’s a world where thousands of people labor in near-total invisibility. Here, Guatemala’s brutal history is still being written with a machete; it’s a story not of progress, but of sweat, pesticides and drug cocktails to alleviate workers’ aches and pains.

(You can learn about alternative trade organizations that partner with worker-owned banana farms at EqualExchange.coop )

You’ve heard of the “banana republic”? It started with the railroads. In the late 1800s, the Meiggs family (Boston entrepreneurs) began constructing a rail line in Costa Rica. They recruited workers from the US. But they were unprepared for the reality of manual labor in a  tropical environment—yellow fever, venomous wildlife, brutal manual work clearing dense jungle with machetes in the heat of monsoon season. When they died in great numbers, the family went to New Orleans and brought 700 inmates to Costa Rica. They promised pardons in exchange for labor. But only 25 survived!

So, bananas? As the railroad was built, along its tracks, something else had been growing. To feed his workforce, the project leader had planted banana trees along the railroad lines. Bananas grew fast, grew abundantly, and had only just been introduced to the American consumer at the Worlds’ Fair in 1876.

When Costa Rica defaulted on loan payments in 1882, the Boston entrprenuer made a deal. He would finish the final forty miles of track with this string attached: 800,000 acres of tax-free land along the railroad and a 99-year lease on the rail route itself. A single man now controlled the land, the transport, and the market.

By the time the railroad was completed in 1890, 5,000 men had died building it. The European market now had access to coffee from Costa Rica.  And the banana empire began.

(You can learn about alternative trade organizations that partner with worker-owned banana farms at EqualExchange.coop )

The January attacks by the criminal organization Barrio 18 sought to destabilize the country to benefit well-connected political elites who have challenged the government of President Bernardo Arévalo. NACLA provides analysis of Guatemala's ongoing challenges and efforts to end impunity. 

This nacla article sheds light on the Ch'orti' people's legal struggle against mining operations that contaminate their water and thus endanger their health and agricultural possibilities. 

Indigenous leaders who protested against efforts to overturn Guatemala's 2023 election results now face a wave of criminalisation and attacks on social media Indigenous leaders who protested against efforts to overturn Guatemala's 2023 election results now face a wave of criminalisation and attacks on social media.

to read the whole article click here

Support a historic shift in U.S. foreign policy. House Resolution 1056 calls for ending the Monroe Doctrine and building a “New Good Neighbor” relationship with Latin America and the Caribbean. Urge your US representative to co-sponsor this landmark resolution acknowledging two centuries of intervention and injustice. 

UN experts revealed at least 80 Indigenous Guatemalan children were illegally disappeared, institutionalized, and adopted abroad, and raised alarms over alleged involvement of current attorney general Consuelo Porras. They are urging Guatemala to investigate state officials, bar rights-abusing candidates from top posts, and guarantee truth, justice, and reparations for victims.

UN experts revealed at least 80 Indigenous Guatemalan children were illegally disappeared, institutionalized, and adopted abroad, and raised alarms over alleged involvement of current attorney general Consuelo Porras. They are urging Guatemala to investigate state officials, bar rights-abusing candidates from top posts, and guarantee truth, justice, and reparations for victims.

The hardline approach to violence, a model used by President Nayib Bukele in El Salvador, is gaining increasing support in Central America, a region that has been historically plagued by insecurity, whether related to gangs or drug trafficking.

Costa Rica, Guatemala, and Honduras are three countries that have adopted measures similar to those implemented by the Salvadoran leader, despite the criticism he receives from human rights organizations.