The Congress of Guatemala approved a bill in a closed-door session on November 20th reforming the Telecommunications Law to extend the current commercial radio licenses for another 20 years.

The UN issued a statement in response stating their concern over these new changes that were made without any discussion with affected populations and with what has been called “unusual speed,” according to the national newspaper the Prensa Libre.

The Ellen L. Lutz Indigenous Rights Award will be given to a courageous advocate who is pursuing the rights of Indigenous Peoples' with an Indigenous community. The Award is intended to recognize Indigenous activists for their dedication, passion, and commitment to human rights and their struggle for Indigenous Rights.   

A roundtable has been established by the government of Guatemala to dialogue towards an agreement that would allow for the installation of a hydroelectric dam on the Cambalam river in the town of Santa Cruz Barillas, Huehuetenango.

In early October, the military government of Guatemala’s president Otto Perez Molina massacred a peaceful protest held by Indigenous K’iche protestors from Totonicapán, resulting in the death of seven men and leaving thirty-four others injured.   Totonicapán, a department in the western highlands of Guatemala, holds an Indigenous K’iche majority population.  Despite being one of the poorest and most malnourished of the departments in Guatemala, it also has been ranked as one of the most peaceful, ranking third to last for rates of violent crime.

On October 12^th the government of Guatemala commemorates the Dia de la Hispanidad, the day Colombus arrived to the Americas.