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Although the previously bookmarked article seeks to establish an outline of the human or women rights violations that occur within Guatemala, here, author Karim Velasco, sheds light upon newly distinguished laws and explains despite their hopeful goals, why they have ceased to work effectively. She argues that because of the "lack of effective investigation and prevention strategies of the Guatemalan authorities", women continue to be raped, tortured, and murdered at an increasing rate. Because of pressures from the European Parliament to abide by human rights laws, "on April 9, 2008, Guatemalan Congressed passed the 'Law Against Femicide and other Forms of Violence against Women Act' to severely punish any kind of gender-based violence..." However, because the violence stems from the power inequality between men and women in the first place, there is little belief or evidence that this Act will be implemented or strongly enforced by the men in power who seek to represent masculinity or display a constant idea of machismo.

La Familia in 2006 emerged as the largest force in organized crime in Mexico, and had a brutal attack in a nightclub in Uruapan to showcase their power. There latest target is the federal police, and in their pursuit they have succeeded in the largest single assault on the federal government since Felipe Calderon assumed office in 2006 and declared war on drug gangs. The agenda of La Familia differs from rival gangs who focus on smuggling and selling drugs. La Familia wishes to develop itself into a malignant institution that extorts taxes from businesses, controls petty crime, and funds community projects. Michoacán, the hometown of Mr. Calderon has become the center of the drug trade as trafficking for the American and local markets grew. La Familia gives loans to farmers, businesses, schools and churches, and they advertise their benevolence in local newspapers. La Familia is recognized as Mexico's largest producer of methamphetamines, as well as controlling the import, transport and sale of cocaine in the state. Surprisingly drugs only account for half of their revenue. Although the government applauses itself for its increase in arrests, most of the people they detain are never charged, and the recession and rising unemployment will provide the mobs with a larger possibility of recruits. Retaking Michoacán back from La Familia is a battle that has just begun.

The military's efforts to exercise power through terrorizing during the civil war in Guatemala (1960-1966), resurfaces today through the acts of gender-based violence, committed by gangs in Guatemala. This exemplifies how war and violence shapes society and how it has influenced gender equality. There is as much terror and torturing of women as there was during the war. However, now this reality is being reinforced by members of society-since such crimes go unnoticed/unpunished-, normalizing terror and fear in Guatemala.

This article talks about violence against women in Guatemala and how it is not only happening more these days, but the crimes are also seeming to get worse. It also talks about the difference between the murders of both men and women and possible reasons for why they were caused. Recently however, there have been marches in the streets and increased awareness domestically and internationally of the problems facing the country regarding violence.

Continuing our discussion of sexual education in the US and Latin America, this research study is the start to continued knowledge and use of contraception methods and the role of HIV AIDS in Latin America. With this knowledge integrated into the school curriculum, there is greater awareness of AIDS and prevention methods will increase. If more schools were to create a dialogue with students about sexual awareness and AIDS in particular since it is affecting so much of the young population, than attitudes and efforts to prevent the disease would certainly change and increase. Catholic schools refused to partake in the study. Similar to our discussion in which Catholic schools only preached abstinence while others focused on being safe, the Catholic schools continued to disregard preventative measures in order to follow their beliefs. They also mention that gender roles and machismo may also be precursors to risky sexual behavior because of hierarchies that are established in Belize.

Many countries-Venezuela, Argentina, Brazil, and Cuba-are considering it mandatory to teach sexual education in primary schools. Many believe that the exclusion of sexual education has impacted the number of cases of sexual abuse, sexually transmitted diseases, and teenage pregnancies. The goal is to bring awareness to these issues in hopes of decreasing the rates and to teach children how to make choices responsibly.

Almost all of Latin America is required to provide sexual education classes for their students, however, these laws are widely ignored. Many children do not receive the proper knowledge about sex until the age of 12 or 13, even though a study conducted in Cuba shows that this is the age children are becoming sexual active. Without the knowledge of the issues of sex it leads to an increase in sexual abuse, sexually transmitted diseases, and many abandoned babies. The article also states that children in Argentina do not receive sexual education at all because of the conservative sectors in the area. Many committees and groups are lobbying to help make sexual education more prevalent in students education.

This article discusses the role of sexual education and how it affects the prevention of STDs, unplanned pregnancies, sexual abuse, and HIV/AIDS. Many countries in Latin America have laws stating that sexual education must be taught at schools, however in many of these countries this is not happening. Studies have shown that because these children are not receiving sexual education there are higher rates of unplanned pregnancy, STDs, sexual assault, and earlier ages of engaging in dangerous sexual activities.

In 2003 when Goldman Sachs economists linked Brazil with Russia, India and China as the economies that would come to dominate the world, much contest aroused over the inclusion of Brazil. Many economists questioned how Brazil could participate amongst the ensemble since the country features a declining growth rate, victim to any outside financial crisis, and constant political instability does not make Brazil an appealing candidate as an arising force. China leads the world economy out of recession while Brazil was not far from behind. Brazil was unable to avoid the downturn, but was among the last to fall and among the first to recover with a growing economy again at an annual rate of 5%. With the development of new deep-sea oilfields over the next few years, Brazil's growth will rapidly escalate also a result of Asian countries heightened appetite for food and minerals from Brazil's ample land. Forecasts alternate but in the decades proceeding 2014 Brazil will emerge as the world's fifth largest-economy, excelling Britain and France, and in 2025 it is also speculated that Sao Paulo will be the fifth-wealthiest city. Brazil perhaps surpasses its competing members because unlike China, it is a democracy, unlike India; the country is not plagued with insurgents, or ethnic and religious conflicts, or hostile relationships with its neighbors like India has with Pakistan and Kashmir. In contrast to Russia, Brazil exports more than oil and arms, and has established more cordial relationships with foreign investors. Brazil's emergence has not been hasty but instead steady. Initiatives began in the 1990s when they established a coherent set of economic policies, and the Central Bank was granted autonomy, which stimulated development of new multinationals that may have previously been state-owned companies that are now prospering as a result of operating from a distance from the government. Weaknesses, however, still permeate throughout Brazil, so it is necessary to

Latin America is notorious for some of the worst prisons in the world, and large levels of HIV/AIDS cases have resulted from drug use and sexual relationships inside these institutions. This article notes the poor quality healthcare available in prison, and the issue of HIV/AIDS elevated by prison inmate interaction (drug use, sex) and poor healthcare.

Recently in Guatemala, many Catholics and Christians were involved in a Peace Walk protesting the excessive amount of violence, murders, abductions, rapes, drug addiction, and violence stemming from drugs. The walk was aimed to represent the extreme necessity of security that needs to be brought into Guatemala. During the protest, people used religion to preach for peace by holding signs that read "through Jesus and Mary we can have peace." Gangs such as maras are causing an overall insecurity throughout Guatemala (a recent study stated that 78 percent of Guatemalans are afraid to go out in the street and 90 percent are afraid of kidnapping). Everyday the people of Guatemala are threatened not knowing if either themselves or a loved one will be harmed in some way. Until changes are made and there is more security, the people of Guatemala call upon God and protest.

over 10,000 Catholic and Christian Guatemalans protested their frustration over violence and drug abuse. Crime has increased drastically over the past year in Guatemala, with 6292 murders. Cardinal Quezada Toruno spoke to the protesters in front of the Metropolitan Cathedral in Guatemala and turned to god and social activism to help decrease violence and crime in Guatemala.

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.

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 article contains statistics about AIDS/HIV in the world but particularly focuses on the people of Latin America because of the high rates of the disease in these areas. It talks about how Mexico, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru are all countries where it is well known that men are having sex with other men, and this increases the spread of the disease. In countries like Bolivia and Peru in particular, the spread of the disease is linked to the vast amounts of unprotected sex and the use of intravenous drugs. The article also mentions that there are many misconceptions with AIDS/HIV in regards to how it is spread and through whom and by whom, and that many people are prejudiced into a certain way of thinking.

A radical newsletter in the struggle for peace and justice. Due to religious influences and beliefs, women do not have the rights to their bodies by law, so they seek alternative methods to have abortions, with a large number resulting in death. Similar to our discussion of sexual education in schools, the 'reality' does not match up with what is taught in schools (especially Catholic ones). Instead of being proactive and preventative, abstinence is taught. iolence against women is coming to the forefront as a major concern in Latin America. Termed "femicide," violence against women by men because they are women is a poor result of the hierarchy of the cultural society in Latin America. Machismo and masculinity influence men to feel that they must act this way from a young way in order to exert their power and strength, but it is unacceptable. This article also discusses women's movements and their fight for equal rights as well as rights to maternity leave and other aspects that women who work must take into account.

This site addresses how drug and alcohol abuse in Latin America is widespread among the urban poor, and how the two contribute to daily violence. In poor neighborhoods in the Colombian cities of Medellín and Bogotá, approximately half of the population uses drugs--mainly marijuana, followed by cocaine and amphetamines. It is believed that heavy drinking in Guatemala is associated with Mayans, indigenous people trapped in poverty by discrimination and armed conflict.

This article discusses how many indigenous peoples throughout Latin America are experiencing a loss of cultural tradition, along with conflict and violence because of religion. Of the 40 million indigenous people who live in Latin America today, the most prevalent religion is still Roman Catholicism; however, over the years, other religions have surfaced such as Protestantism and Evangelicalism. The emergence of different religions have changed the collective behavior of indigenous people, along with breaking away their traditional nature.

Throughout Latin America, indigenous communities are losing their sense of tradition, stemmed from large established religious denominations and lesser known groups. While some churches focus on social concerns, others focus on spiritual concerns, creating a division between communities and families. The "sects" have taken on the role of dividing the people and lowering them to interests of the dominant powers. Anthropologists and religious leaders blame the sects for employing indigenous peoples with money and advertising beliefs that go against their way of life.

Criminal Organizations in Brazil, Mexico, Columbia, El Salvador, and Guatemala have increased their power over the last decade, weakening political stability and democracy of Latin America. Surprisingly, the journalists who cover the crimes are their targets. the number of killings, attacks, and disappearances have increased causing the government to become unable to assure safety from the paramilitary gangsters in Brazil, guerillas in Colombia, and street gangs in El Salvador and Guatemala. As revenge, journalists are taking on self-censorship. Although the crime rate has decreased, the fight against crime requires domestic and international support. Better legal structure and diminishing criminal groups will help create independent media outlets.

Magnum photographer, Christopher Anderson's new book Capitolio explores a poignant visual insight into the degeneration of Caracas, which was once Latin America's most economically advanced cities and is now plagued with chaos and despair. Murders in Caracas have grown so dramatically that they have become accepted as ordinary, and thus looking at the homicide statistics has become mundane. His images of blood and trash serve to highlight their omnipresence in the daily lives of Venezuelans. He opens with action scenes, and then moves to rural areas where the seeds of the infrastructure where set, before submerging into the hysteria of President Chavez. The book's name derives from a metaphor of an old city-center government building that exports revolution while the city itself like the building deteriorates. Anderson traveled into the countries interior to depict the polluted Lake Maracaibo in order to exemplify the interdependence between the United States, the main consumer of Venezuela's oil, and President Chavez. Anderson photographs a sugar harvester in Barinas, the town where Chavez was born into poverty and now transformed into a laboratory for revolutionary projects. When asked about the future of Venezuela, Mr. Anderson said his book is not a source for answers, but an insight for strangers.