The "Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation," formally known as "the School of the Americas" is a United States Department of Defense facility in Fort Benning, Georgia. The school is responsible for training a multitude of Latin American soldiers and policeman, many of whom have been responsible for a number of human rights violations. Graduates from the school include Guatemala's Efraín Ríos Montt, one of the most notorious generals of the Guatemalan army and president during part of the civil war. The SOA Watch is an advocacy organization formed in protest of the training methods utilized by the WHISC, including classes on torture and interrogation, jungle warfare, and how to preform a military Coup d'états.

This site offers a number of links pertaining to post-war society in Guatemala. Interesting here is the comparison and grouping of post-war Guatemala and post-war Camboia together, two countries with a recent civil war.

Opening with a brief introduction to the history of the Guatemalan civil war and subsequent recognition of widespread human rights violations, the author proceeds to interview Daniel Hernandez, a photographer famous for his works dealing with the aftermath of conflict in Guatemala. Hernandez combines human bones exhumed from mass graves with photographs of people, often creating the image of an angel with bones as wings. A piece by Hernandez is used on the cover of the journal released by the Guatemalan Project for the Recovery of Historic Memory, detailing the multitude of previously unrecognized human rights violations.

Written in 1989 during the Guatemalan civil war, this article presented the growing influence of Evangelical organizations and converts in response to the violent conflict occurring in Guatemala.

An overview of the social roles of Venezuelan citizens, highlighting themes of urbanization and religion in a nation with rich supplies of natural oil reserves.

Based in and around Guatemala City, La Fraternindad Christiana de Guatemala recently constructed a new church with a 7,000 person amphitheater, two stages, and 1,000 car parking lot. Over half of Guatemala's population define themselves as evangelical Christians, and La Fraternindad Christiana is one of the largest Evangelical organizations in Latin America.

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.

Uruguay passed a trailblazing law on September 9th of this year, allowing homosexual couples to adopt children. Uruguay is a predominately catholic country, and same-sex adoption goes directly against some principles of catholicism. Uruguay was also the first Latin American country to allow divorce, and recently allowed homosexual individuals into military schools, as noted in the article.

This article-out of a feminist news group called Women's E-News-highlights widespread illegal abortion throughout Latin America, particularly in Chile and Peru. Although based around women, the article talks about the limits on access to contraception in Latin America, and the fears surrounding contraception circulating through the modern Latin American man.

Chagas--a deadly disease caused by an inch-long insect found in Mexico and South America has begun to spread to the United States. This article examines a disease long common in Latin America, but virtually unknown in the United States. There is little awareness around the disease, possibly due to the disparities in healthcare between Latin America and the United States--and the lack of recognition/communication about diseases between the two bordering countries of Mexico and the United States (e.g. the H1N1 virus).

Reminders of Peru's recent violence have occurred in recent months in a series of attacks against the Peruvian government by a group using the name Sendero Luminoso or "Shining Path," the Maoist guerrilla group responsible for a large amount of bloodshed in the 1980's. This article details the recent attacks along with providing a brief history of the violence involving Shining Path in previous years.

Bryan Derballa is from my hometown, and has done a great deal of excellent photojournalism work-recently traveling to Venezuela during the referendum vote Hugo Chávez (the current controversial president of Venezuela) put forth to eliminate the law limiting the amount of years he could run for re-election and remain in office. I frequent his blog, featuring Derballa's work along with other artists from North Carolina, California, and New York. The photos document both the support and protest towards Chávez during the referendum vote last February.