Latin American Studies Resources

This article talks about women's or young teenage girl's involvement in gangs in Guatemala. It discusses how these girls become initiated into these gangs and how they have to keep up membership. Also, it addresses why these girls join these gangs to begin with and why they cannot get out of them. Some studies show that nearly 40% of gang membership is made of females. This finding contradicts our normal idea of gangs being comprised of mostly men.

This article article talks about the uncertain future adoptions from Guatemala have. Nowadays the adoption system is very corrupt and in many cases mothers are forced and bribed to give up her children, rather than needing to give them up. Guatemala is the second largest popular country for adoption, just below China. So, if Guatemala were to discontinue adoptions from the U.S., it would change the structure of the U.S. as well. So, although adoption is not yet closed, officials are advising people to be cautious when planning to adopt from Guatemala.

This article discusses how the U.S. gets involved with international domestic abuse. Around 4,000 women in Guatemala have lost their lives in the past decade due to domestic abuse and violence. Luckily, Ms. Alvarado was spared this unfortunate fate. She had tried to get away from her husband numerous times but because he was involved with the military he easily tracked her down. So, the Bush and Obama administration got involved and allowed her to come to an asylum in the U.S. to get away from her violent husband. This is because violence is not tolerated no matter what nation. However, the U.S. cannot do this to every women in the world, they must provide credible and specific testimony of persistent abuse along with other criterion in order to be rescued. This seems to be a very good structure for battered women to get away from the abuse; but I believe that something needs to happen within the country to change the high numbers of domestic abuse instead of just sending women to the U.S.

This is a link to former Guatemalan president, Efrain Rios Montt Christian faith organization. He is an official minister of this California based Evangelical church. Montt is former dictator of Guatemala and regarded as one of the country's most brutal leaders, ever. Perhaps his faith shows his humane side or maybe the man is just ashamed of his past and covers it up by being active in the church he found.

In response to the murder of lawyer, Rodrigo Rosenburg Guatemalan authorities arrested seven men. The men apprehended all had ties to the military or police forces. Still, no one has stated the murderes' motives. Authorities have said however, that the president and his wife were in no way responsible. It is not clear whether these arrests are a political response by the government of President Colom or if there really does exist hard evidence that these men were responsible.

This article describes Guatemala's recent election where Alvaro Colom defeated former military general Otto Pérez Molina. He was said to have won because his soft stance on public security in comparison with his opponents.

In Guatemala City during the weekend of October 19, 2009, vicious attacks were carried out against prison guards that left two officers dead and one wounded. Five suspects have already been detained, however, there have been at least 10 other attacks since September that has left 7 people dead and 8 wounded. It is evident that this violence will continue unless there are drastic changes made. Samuel Logan, an expert on Lain American gangs, says that this prison, which holds some of the worst criminals of their time, can be broken up into two criminal elements: drug lords that deal with large exports and street gangs that sell drugs on a local level. However, these problems exist because the drug trades that did on the outside continue once they are put into prison. The attacks are a result of finding the corrupted officers as well as the intensified rules of what privileges well-behaved inmates are able to achieve, such as cell phone use. Officials continue to try and cut down the attacks and violence that happens against prison guards.

Lorenzo Rosebaugh, a catholic priest, was killed in Guatemala in May of last year. Although the crime rate in Guatemala is very high, this killing brought new attention to crime and violence in Guatemala. Religion is very important to Latin American cultures, which makes this death stand out to society.The Guatemalan government needs to take steps to increase security and improve their leadership to help alleviate crime in their country. If the Government does not intervene and help the lives of their citizens, Guatemala could face a deleterious outcome.

In the article printed in the Guatemala Times published on May 21, 2009, the Human Rights Office of the Archbishop of Guatemala calls for the investigation into the murder of Lorenzo Rosebaugh, a catholic priest that was killed in Ixcan on the May 18th. The article continues to discuss the big issue of violence and the lack of leadership that exists in Guatemala today. They call for the government to make a strategic plan in order to protect their citizens against this violence, especially those that are involved in many of the illegal activities that are occurring.

This article dicusses the murder of Rodrigo Rosenberg, a famous lawyer in Guatemala in May 2009. A few days before he was shot, Mr. Rosenberg made in a video in which he predicted his death and blamed President Álvaro Colom. Rosenberg also blamed the President for the death of his wife, the president's secretary, and other bankers and businessmen. The article goes into a description of the crime and poverty that have hit Guatemala since the civil war.

Although this article does not directly discuss the civil war that Guatemala has experienced and has yet to fully recover from, here you can see some the direct results of the civil war. What occurred in Guatemala definitely prepared it for the condition that it is in now. Not only is the country facing political issues, dealing with issues regarding the past civil war, the land which was once inhabited by indigenous peoples has not turned into a complete battlefield, even after the war.

In this New York Times article, dated May 22, 2009, the conspiracy surrounding the death of Rodrigo Rosenberg, a prominent lawyer in Guatemala, was discussed. Even though there was a peace accord signed in 1996 to end the civil war, violence and corruption still exists in the society. In a video shot days before Rosenberg's death, he not only predicted that he would be next to be killed, but also pointed out the president and his wife, who is also his secretary, as the main figures involved in this corruption. Rosenberg said that the scandal involved the Rural Development Bank and had already resulted in the death of one of his clients and his client's daughter. The president and his wife have publicly stated they had nothing to do with the murders, but Rosenberg predicting his death is a chilling aspect to the accusations.

This article deals with steps to help contain corruption in Guatemala. They are trying to pass a law for free access to public information and transparency in public institutions. This law needs to be passed to show improvement when it comes to corruption in Guatemala and if the republican congress really cares then they will have to pass this law.

In Guatemala the rate of violent deaths of women is outrageously hight and is still growing rapidly. The murdering of women usually involves torture, rape, or mutilation. Norma Cruz,co-founder of the NGO Survivors Foundation, has helped to provide many victims of domestic violence and sexual abuse and the families of murdered women with emotional and social support. According to Cruz, the "increasing number of killings of women in Guatemala is tied to the poverty that is the aftermath of Guatemala's civil war..." Even though her position in the foundation has many risks and harms, it has given voice to many victims and inspired other foundations in Guatemala to help this on-going issue of violence.

The United Nations commission issued a summary in 1999 summarizing the claim made by the Guatemalan government that the atrocities committed during the Guatemalan civil wars were carried out by subordinate soldiers; this claim was without foundation. The statements made in the commission's conclusion advocates for a restructuring of the Guatemalan military system as well as the establishment of a commission that is under the president's authority for the purpose of maintaining a just military and observational component that monitors military officials conduct during periods of armed conflict. According to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan the restructuring of the Guatemalan government and military systems is a milestone for Guatemala. Annan further emphasizes the usage of Guatemala as an example for the world as it highlights the importance of nations and governments to recognize history plagued with violence and flagrant violations of human rights because in doing so it will guarantees a smoother path towards peace and stability.

On October 13, 1981 the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights published a report that outlined the political conditions within the republic of Guatemala. Chapter IX of this report focuses on political rights and as such designates five sections that address various aspects of domestic political rights. Within the text the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights devotes one section to the history of politics since the 1940s up until the regime in power during the early 1980s. Along with Guatemala's political history, Chapter IX incorporates political rights as defined under the 1965 Guatemalan Constitution and governmental adherence to such policies as outlined by the Constitution.

This article discusses the steps that the government is taking currently to try to heal the population that was affected by the war, nearly everyone. The president is awarding compensation, in the form of money (check), to individuals who have lost family members and/or their homes because of the state military's past actions. Some say the most important thing that the president is doing is apologizing via letter that he signs or in person because it means that they recognize that they wronged many individuals and no amount of money can replace family members.

This short video clip talks about an organization, The Forensic Anthropology Foundation, that is working to uncover the mass graves from the civil war in Guatemala and put names to each of the bodies. They will hopefully be able to identify each body by DNA testing and return the corpses to their surviving family members to have a proper burial. This relates to our class because it is an account of what anthropologists are doing now to try to heal from the Guatemalan Civil War that we are studying.

This BBC article contains a timeline of political, social, economical, and cultural changes in Guatemala from the 1500's to the present day. It marks from 1970 up until the end of the civil war as a time when human rights were violated. The postwar years mainly focus on political reform.

This webpage includes a basic timeline of Guatemala's history from the beginning of the Spanish colonization to the present. It outlines social-democratic reforms, violations of human rights, the end of the civil war, storm related deaths, murders, etc. This relates to our class because it provides an easy to read outline of Guatemala's history.

In an effort to tie the three bookmarked articles together, this piece also discusses relevant material to Nelson's "Reckoning" alongside the movie, "When the Mountains Tremble". This article too discuses the idea and reality of Femicide or the genocide against women in Guatemala that still occurs to date.
While the other readings set up an outline of what acts occur against women and the lack of influence police powers have, this article flashes numbers at the reader as a shock value to paint a picture of the immense number of women who have experienced brutality.
While the other articles have mentioned the extent to which corruption influences the lack of punishment, this author seeks punishment in a different way. While doing research in Guatemala, he took victims who have been harmed themselves or have lost close ones to the war to the mountains to confront the militia men as a form of satisfaction or justice since the impunity rate is 97% in Guatemala. He explained that the gratitude of victims explaining their feelings to murderers would be far more reaching than formal punishment from the criminal justice system ever could be.

This video is about sexual violence in Guatemala and the stories of some of the survivors of this growing epidemic. In Guatemala about 10,000 people are raped every year. Many people are afraid of leaving their homes and entering the streets due to the lack of security and high violence. The patients in the video speak about how they have been affected by the incident and how they sought treatment to eventually break through the cycle of fear they were living in.

Guatemalan authorities work towards moving Guatemala away from its dark past. They want to ensure that people who are found guilty of having anything to do with the persecution of many indigenous people during the civil war are punished in some way.