On Thursday September 10, 2015 the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) and CONNECTAS in collaboration with Asociacion Sobrevivencia Cultural began a three-day Investigative Journalism training workshop in Guatemala City. The project is part of an ICFJ initiative to foster investigative journalism in Latin America. Guatemala is one of three countries in Central America to benefit from the training workshops Honduras and El Salvador have already hosted similar events.
The year 2015 was an eventful year for politics in Guatemala. In a report released on April 25, 2015 by the International Center Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG), several high-ranking government officials were involved in customs fraud. The report pointed directly to the now ex-president and ex-vicepresident of the country as leading a secret group that stole millions from the country by negotiating customs taxes for various customers.
On August 22, 2015 Asociacion Mujb’ abl ‘yol celebrated the closure of a 9-month series of workshops and trainings for 40 community radio volunteers on “Democracy, Development and Community Media.” The project was partially funded by DEMOS Guatemala and the Inter-American Foundation (IAF) to benefit community journalists in Guatemala. It is the first time a project of its kind has been launched and has achieved 100% graduation rate. 40 participants proudly received their recognitions on Saturday in hopes of improving community media in their communities.
On August 17, 2015 Jose Mujica the ex-president of Uruguay visited Guatemala during the VI Esquipulas Forum where he spoke on “Moral Imperatives of Human Beings Before The Politics and Economics of Globalization”. The Forum took place in Guatemala City with the participation of various Human Rights entities and Latin America political leaders from Cuba, Argentina, Ecuador, etc. The ex-president was received warmly and with much anticipation given the current political state of the country.
The 193 member states of the United Nations reached consensus on a new set of sustainable development goals on August 2, 2015 concluding a negotiation period of more than two years which included the unprecedented participation of civil
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.
