BTS March 2021 Newsletter
Get the latest updates from the BTS Maritimes-Guatemala Network and our partners in the March 2021 newsletter.
Updates from BTS Partners
Highlands Committee of Small Farmers (CCDA) Our friends at the CCDA continue their incredible work of community organizing in response to the many challenges faced. The end of 2020 brought on many difficulties with regards to the continuous violence and criminalization against land defenders. The CCDA continues to provide support [...]
Update to the BTS Network: COVID-19’s Impacts on Partners’ work
The second wave of COVID-19 is sweeping the world. In the North, we expect impending vaccine shipments and the beginnings of massive vaccination campaigns. However, in Guatemala, the failed disbursement of governmental aid and continued government corruption has left the guarantee of vaccination for the most vulnerable in a precarious [...]
BTS Delegation to Guatemala – Day 6
November 15, 2019 by: Keely Carter Beans, eggs, sausage, tortilla, plantain and chile sauce with a sweet cup of coffee. This is how we have started many of our days and day 6 waking up in Coban was no different. We are fortunate to have a hearty start like that [...]
BTS Delegation to Guatemala – Day 5
November 14, 2019 By: Laura Robinson October 12th, 2019 marked 527 years since the discovery of America, however, this year also marked 527 years of Indigenous resistance. Resistance which the Committee of Small Highland Farmers (CCDA) engages in wholeheartedly. The CCDA engages in the struggle for the protection of land, [...]
Hundreds of Maritimers express solidarity with the Highlands Committee of Small Farmers in Guatemala
From November 4th – 11th, Marcelo Sabuc of the Highlands Committee of Small Farmers (CCDA) spoke throughout the Maritimes regarding threats against human rights defenders in Guatemala and the deteriorating political situation in the country. During the speaking tour, Marcelo visited 7 communities: Antigonish, Halifax, Wolfville, Sackville, Fredericton, Charlottetown and [...]
TAKE ACTION: Land rights are human rights! End the repression! We will not be silent!
In Guatemala, human rights defenders continue to face threats of violence and criminalization for their human rights work. Many of them are Indigenous farmers who are working on issues of access to land and in defense of territory, like BTS partner: the Highlands Committee of Small Farmers (CCDA). Risks faced [...]
Urgent Statement Following Murder of CCDA organizer Daniel Choc Pop
THE COMMITTEE OF PEASANT FARMERS of the HIGHLANDS of GUATEMALA - CCDA - In response to the Governor of Alta Verapaz, Delegates from the Land Fund (Fondo de Tierra), Secretary of Agrarian Issues and Presidential Commission for Human Rights (COPREDEH) Daniel Choc Pop, Q'eqchi community leader and CCDA organizer was [...]
BTS 2016 Delegation
Follow our blog during the 2016 BTS delegation and hear updates from participants during their two weeks in Guatemala. The 2016 BTS delegation members in Guatemala City. Sunday, May 1 Kaleigh Kingsbury As we arrived to Guatemala I felt a warm embrace. The love and energy that [...]
Political Crisis or Democratic Revolution?
Reposted from the Halifax Media Co-op Political Crisis or Democratic Revolution? How coffee has sparked a shift in partisan politics in Guatemala by Jackie McVicar Maritimers may be familiar with Leo Juracan. When in exile from Guatemala, he toured Canada with the assistance of 'Breaking the Silence'. In Guatemala's recent [...]