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This article focuses on the political tension between Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez and the US government. He remarked of his support for Obama but questioned whether there were 2 Obamas, since he believes that the US gov't knew about the situation in Honduras and supported it.

This article highlights the tension between government policies and indigenous populations in Ecuador. Due to the abundance of natural resources in the area, many indigenous communities are facing cultural and political instability.

This is an essay written by a Professor of Anthropology about masculinity in Christian Mexican music

In this video, the author of Reckoning makes a comparison between opening up a mass grave in Guatemala and charging 6 American Bush-era officials for torture. They are both ways of dealing with a recent violent past that and changing the possibilities for the futures of both countries. She also describes the snake dance that she wrote about in Chapter 1 of the book.

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.

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.

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.

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.

In 2005, 665 women were killed in Guatemala. The crimes are rarely investigated and not one has been solved. This article is gives first-hand accounts of the atrocious crimes committed. Because of the lack of investigation and corrupt police force, nothing is ever done to bring justice to the women and their families. Including the murders during 36 years of civil war, there have been three generations of killers who have murdered without punishment. The president of Guatemala, Oscar Berger, insists that he is optimistic of change in the form of better police forces. In truth, "the killings will not sop unless the justice system works".

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.