Accompaniment and Cooperant Program
Since 1990, Breaking the Silence has engaged Maritimers and people across Canada in solidarity work through on-the-ground accompaniment and presence with our partners in Guatemala. Ranging from short and long-term internships, cooperant placements, delegations, human rights accompaniment, and in-country presence of BTS staff, our solidarity efforts support the work of partners in Guatemala while increasing the capacity of Maritimers and other Canadians to become more conscientious and active organizers for social justice at home and abroad.
For several years after the end of our internship programs in 2013, our in-person support to partners in Guatemala took the form of in-country staffing and short-term delegations. In 2019, at the request of our partners, BTS recognized that a fundamental aspect of our solidarity needed to include a significant presence of Canadians in Guatemala. As a response, we launched a two-year pilot Cooperant Program to bring a cohort of highly qualified individuals from across the Maritimes (and across Canada) to Guatemala for short and long-term human rights and community development placements. Under the coordination of a full-time Lead Cooperant, the program brought several Cooperants to Guatemala to support our partners’ work on truth, justice, and impunity, defense of territory, and human security, including mining justice.
In 2020, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, BTS was forced to suspend its Cooperant placements in Guatemala and shifted gears to strengthening virtual solidarity and accompaniment efforts. However, we were pleased to restart the in-person Cooperant Program in Guatemala in January 2023. We look forward to welcoming new cohorts of Cooperants to Guatemala, continuing to be led by the requests and interest of our partners.
Interested in becoming a Cooperant? Learn more and apply today!
Report-backs from previous accompaniers and cooperants
An offering to the respected fire and to the ancestors: Honouring the lives of those who came before us
An offering to the respected fire and to the ancestors: Honouring the lives of those who came before us By Javier Every March 13th, in the area called Pak’oxom in the community of Río Negro, community members, students, activists, spiritual leaders known as Ajq’ijab’, and elders gather to commemorate the [...]
Intern update: Río Negro Presente: Honouring the lives of family members lost at the hands of the state
Río Negro Presente: Honouring the lives of family members lost at the hands of the state By: Cristina Jerez, Rabinal Community Legal Clinic Intern On March 13 1982, the Guatemalan army and Civil Defense Patrollers (PAC) murdered 177 innocent people from the community of Río Negro. 43 years later, the [...]
Intern update: We remember so that it does not happen again
We remember so that it does not happen again By: Cristina Jerez, Rabinal Community Legal Clinic Intern In February 1982, a group of armed men set fire to the market in Xococ and killed five people. The Guatemalan army associated this event with the guerrilla and the community of [...]
Cooperant Update: Impunity is a Canadian issue, too: Remembering Adolfo Ich Chamán’s death for resisting a Canadian mine in Guatemala
By: Romi Fischer-Schmidt, New Hope Foundation Cooperant Cooperant Update: Impunity is a Canadian issue, too: Remembering Adolfo Ich Chamán’s death for resisting a Canadian mine in Guatemala BTS Cooperant, Romi and Styvens Barrios perform in a cello-guitar duo at Adolfo Ich Chamán’s 15th annual commemoration at the Barrio La [...]
Artistic call-and-response, Guatemala-Canada: BTS at Antigonight
Artistic call-and-response, Guatemala-Canada: BTS at Antigonight By: Janette Fecteau, BTS Antigonish Committee member; Romi Fischer-Schmidt, New Hope Foundation Cooperant; and Ally Lord, New Hope Foundation Intern Saturday, September 14: Antigonight Art After Dark Festival in Antigonish/Nalikitquniejk unfolds, starring a spectacular installation exhibiting a months-long call-and-response between local and Maya Achí [...]
Cooperant Update: Protected Areas in Guatemala: A Conservation Project that Only Conserves Elite Economic Interests
By: Mélisande Séguin, Campesino Committee of the Highlands cooperant Cooperant Update: Protected Areas in Guatemala: A Conservation Project that Only Conserves Elite Economic Interests In 1989, the Guatemalan Congress adopted the Protected Areas Law and created the National Council of Protected Areas (CONAP) with the goal of guaranteeing the protection [...]