This article details the growing trend of abused and battered women from Guatemala to seek asylum in the United States. In Guatemala, the law refuses to aid the women or protect them, which has led to enormously high rates of spousal killings. Unfortunately, violence against women in Guatelmala is not considered a crime

This site reports a recent study of the living standards for Guatemalans. In the past few years, the rates of poverty, crime, and malnutrition have skyrocketed alarmingly. The hardest hit are the elderly and the children. In order to combat this, Guatemala is instituting benefit programs to give welfare to the elderly.

This article describes a non-profit organization named CARE, which focuses on "fighting world poverty by improving the lives of women and girls around the globe" (and in this article's case, in Guatemala). In the past 3 years, the program started in a village in Guatemala has resulted in vast improvements in women's empowerment there.

This article is about the possibility of the Vatican getting involved in the Honduran government crisis as a third-party negotiator between ex-Presiden Manuel Zelaya and the current ruling group. The Church in Honduras is seen as a powerful political entity, with graasroots support and a powerful media outlet.

This blog describes a Pentecostal movement called Charismatic, headed by the bishops in Guatemala. The movement is about deepening the spirituality in the lives of the church members and the priests. The blog also describes the dangers of the movement going beyond the control of the Church, and into "peculiar kinds of prayers, exclusive attitudes... and overemphasis on emotions".

This article is about the Church in Bogotá, Colombia heading an interfaith dialogue on domestic violence with delegates from 16 countries and 13 religious denominations. The basic idea of the conference was that religious leaders should join together to fight domestic violence from their pulpits.

This news story is about a "declaration of sexual rights" given by the International Planned Parenthood Federation in Argentina, in which the group asked governments to commit to protecting their citizen's sexual rights, which translates into sexual education and ease of access to contraceptive methods.

A press release from the World Health Organization highlights the need for stronger Sexual Education in Latin America and the Carribean. The press release talks about the statistics of contracting HIV, and how programs can be implemented to cut down on the number of transmissions. One of the highlighted vulnerable groups for contracting HIV is sex workers and "men who have sex with men", the latter being connected strongly with the first chapter of "Fixing Men".

This is a music video from Shakira that demonstrates the sexualized status of women. In the video, Shakira, who is from Colombia, belly dances in a very sexual style. She also, at one point, is crawling in the mud. Finally, the lyrics are about how she will always be there for the presumed man. In the chorus, the line "estoy a tus pies" is repeated, which means "I am at your feet".

According to this article, on August 27, 2009, lawmakers in Uruguay voted to legalize to allow homosexual couples to adopt. This makes Uruguay the first Latin American country to do so. The Roman Catholic Church in Uruguay opposed the bill, but it was passed 40-13 in favor. Uruguay has also legalized homosexual civil unions and has ended a ban on homosexuals in the armed forces.

The author of this blog uses such examples as international fast-food franchises and the massive memorial to Michael Jackson in Mexico City to declare that Latin American culture is becoming one with American culture. In the author's view, Mexico is losing its "foreignness" to Americans.

Eco Del Sur was founded nine years ago with the idea to preserve the traditional music and culture from different countries in Latin America. In this way, the indigenous groups that have been integrated with the rest of society can still keep their past alive. The audience is taught about the origins of the music, so that they can know where it all came from.