On January, 5 2015, Guatemala's former president and general, Efrain Rios Montt, appeared before a tribunal where he faces charges of genocide and crimes against humanity during his dictatorship in 1982-83. In May 2013 Montt was convicted for the massacre of thousands of Indigenous people during his regime.
On Tuesday, December 9, 2014, at around 10:30 am Radio Juventud was raided by the Guatemalan Public Ministry, while Olga Ajcalon was on air broadcasting her women’s rights and education program. Radio Juventud has been serving the rural community of Sololá, Guatemala for over 10 years and has greatly contributed to educating and informing the surrounding communities.
Cultural Survival’s sister organization, Asociación Sobrevivencia Cultural, in Guatemala works with our various networks of community radios to promote Indigenous rights. The team’s constant presence has helped to foster empowerment and support for the community radio movement. Asociación Sobrevivencia Cultural is working towards sustainability, taking a major step by hiring its executive director, who will continue to strengthen the structure of this young organization.
November and December are known to be the windiest months in Guatemala; they are also the months characterized by kites, corn pastries and coffee. November 1 marks the Day of the Dead in Guatemala, celebrated by many with visits to the cemetery, with flowers and food to honor their ancestors. Sumpango, Sacatepequez is known to celebrate this festive day with majestic, colorful, giant kites that depict social, environmental and political issues.
The month of September was an exciting month for New York City as several historic events took place right on the little island of Manhattan. Cultural Survival had the unique opportunity to participate in several events that reconstructed the role of indigenous people in regards to important issues such as climate change. The first of many exciting events was the first ever, People’s Climate March, the biggest march of its kind with over 400,000 people in attendance.
By Ryann Dear
Radio Ixchel broadcasts from a hilltop overlooking Sumpango, Sacatepequez, near a cemetery with hundreds of simple, brightly-colored mausoleums. A small antenna rising from the roof provides enough signal to cover most of Sumpango and parts of the surrounding villages, or aldeas. The outer walls of the station are teal, with a small barred window on which one can knock to be let in.
On September 2nd the people of Sololá rose to their feet to protect what is considered by many to be the heart and body of the Mayan civilization, corn. Thousands of people, young and old, peacefully marched and shut down the main intersections on the inter-american highway that connects the western part of Guatemala to the capital. Their demand? Keep Monsanto out of Guatemala.
The European Commission, the executive body of the European Union, will hear the situation of Indigenous Maya communities living in Santa Cruz Barillas as they fight the Spanish company Hidralia Energy and its exploitative practices.
Land Acknowledgement
We acknowledge that we are headquartered on Massachusett land, in Cambridge, MA, and we thank the past, current, and future Indigenous stewards of this territory.