Guatemala Archives - American Jewish World Service

Home Tag Guatemala

Guatemala

Posts

December 6, 2021 by Madeline Cohen

A Year After Dual Disasters Hit Guatemala, Communities on the Road to Repair

In early November 2020, Hurricane Eta tore through Guatemala’s Caribbean coast and on to the north-central region of Ixcán, leaving many communities that AJWS supports in tatters. Just two weeks later — communities still reeling from the carnage of Hurricane Eta — disaster struck again when Hurricane Iota slammed into the same areas, leading to even more catastrophic damage. Now, a year after this series of destructive natural …Read More

April 27, 2021

Guatemala is Attacking its Independent Judges: The United States Must Do More to Ensure an Independent Judiciary

Statement by AJWS Senior Director of Civil and Political Rights and Advocacy, Tracey Gurd, on the attempts to dismantle an independent judicial system in Guatemala As U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris plans her visit to Guatemala in June, we encourage her to focus on the attacks on the country’s democracy, especially those aimed at Guatemala’s …Read More

November 17, 2020 by Justin Jacobs

As Dual Storms Hit Central America, AJWS Grantees Work to Keep Communities Safe

Hurricane Iota hurtles towards the same coastlines just battered by Tropical Storm Eta, as Central America braces for more catastrophic damage.

April 14, 2020 by AJWS Staff

Activists in Conversation: How COVID-19 Is Impacting Guatemala’s Indigenous Communities

Across the world, COVID-19 is ravaging low-income communities unprepared to take on a global pandemic and its economic effects. This crisis is compounded by authoritarian governments who are both refusing to lead with the public’s interest in mind and capitalizing on this global pandemic to assert and strengthen their power. To learn more about how …Read More

September 9, 2019

AJWS Decries State of Siege Across Guatemala

Human rights group calls on Morales government to end 30-day state of siege affecting indigenous communities American Jewish World Service (AJWS), the leading global Jewish human rights organization, strongly denounces Guatemala’s decision to impose a 30-day state of siege across 22 municipalities in five provinces in response to the killings of three Guatemalan military officers. …Read More

May 6, 2016 by Carolyn Ziv

Guatemalan youth take a stand in defense of sexual health and rights

A sexual slavery survivor stands during a break in the Sepur Zarco trial in Guatemala.

May 6, 2016 by Carolyn Ziv

Survivors of Sexual Slavery Obtain Justice in Guatemala, One AJWS Grantee Helps Keep Them Safe

“We are telling the truth. We want to be heard, and we want justice,” said a petite, elderly woman to a room full of journalists and human rights activists in Guatemala City on February 13, 2016. A survivor of sexual slavery during Guatemala’s decades-long civil war, the woman’s face was obscured by a Mayan scarf to protect her identity.

November 9, 2015 by AJWS

Carlos Chen Osorio

Seeking justice for bloodshed in the name of development

May 27, 2015 by Elizabeth Daube

Blood in the Water

Hundreds of Maya Achi people were murdered to make way for a dam in Guatemala. Decades later, their families finally find justice. Back in 1982, Carlos Chen Osorio was a young man with a family: his wife, Paulina, and their toddler children, Enriqueta and Antonio. Paulina carried their third child inside her, and expected to …Read More

March 20, 2015 by Andrew Blossom

Indigenous communities defend their land and way of life

Indigenous communities work together to defend their land and way of life. In Guatemala, indigenous people whose families have lived and farmed in one place for generations are now facing rapid encroachment on their land and way of life. Many Mayan communities lack official land titles, despite obvious historic and cultural ties to their land. …Read More

Guatemala

In Guatemala, AJWS focuses on ending violence and discrimination against women, youth and Indigenous people, and protecting the land and natural resources that farmers need to survive. AJWS grantees also protect human rights defenders seen as threats by the country’s deeply corrupt government.

Guatemala

Dvar Tzedek

January 10, 2011 | 5771

Beshalach

This week, we are pleased to welcome guest writer Rabbi Brent Chaim Spodek. Everybody wants something. There are very few of us who have reached the level of equanimity that we are happy with what we have; the rest of us want things that are still out of our reach. For oppressed peoples, the most …Read More

December 3, 2010 | 5771

Vayigash

This week, we are pleased to welcome guest writer, Dvar Tzedek alumnus Guy Austrian. Rock by rock, stone by stone, each one passed hand to hand along a human chain of young Jews and indigenous Guatemalans: our energy was high on this beautiful day during our AJWS delegation to rural Guatemala. We cleared a riverbed …Read More

March 22, 2010 | 5770

Tzav

Hundreds of young Mayan students gathered with their teachers and a small group of New York Jews, standing in a wide circle as we observed an astonishing spectacle. Rivulets of bubbling candle wax streamed onto the ground. Flowers withered and crumpled in smoke and flames. A priest of the Maya Achi tradition presided over the …Read More

Guatemala

Posts

A Year After Dual Disasters Hit Guatemala, Communities on the Road to Repair

Guatemala is Attacking its Independent Judges: The United States Must Do More to Ensure an Independent Judiciary

As Dual Storms Hit Central America, AJWS Grantees Work to Keep Communities Safe

Activists in Conversation: How COVID-19 Is Impacting Guatemala’s Indigenous Communities

AJWS Decries State of Siege Across Guatemala

Stories

Guatemalan youth take a stand in defense of sexual health and rights

Survivors of Sexual Slavery Obtain Justice in Guatemala, One AJWS Grantee Helps Keep Them Safe

Carlos Chen Osorio

Blood in the Water

Indigenous communities defend their land and way of life

Where We Work

Guatemala

Publications

Guatemala

Dvar Tzedek

Beshalach

Vayigash

Tzav