CCDA National Assembly: 43 years of resistance in the struggle for agrarian reform The CCDA celebrated its 43rd anniversary with a General Assembly in Quixayá. On March 2nd, 2025, the Campesino Committee of the Highlands (CCDA) held their 43rd annual General Assembly in the community of Quixayá in [...]
Women and the agrarian resistance in Guatemala By: Mélisande Séguin, Campesino Committee of the Highlands (CCDA) Cooperant CCDA women activists, planning and organizing. Land dispossession as a historical root of the latest wave of evictions Guatemala has one of the most unequal land distribution and titling systems in [...]
poem from tribunal tower 42 years into the future: will we have unlearned genocide? April 24, 2024 By: Romi Fischer-Schmidt, New Hope Foundation cooperant This is a reflection on the experience of walking with four Maya Achi women survivors (Pedrina López Depaz, Paulina Ixpatá Alvarado, Máxima García Valey, Margarita Alvarado [...]
Guatemala will hold presidential, congressional, and municipal elections on Sunday, June 25. The outgoing administration, led by President Alejandro Giammattei, has been marked by corruption scandals, the dismantling of judicial and accountability systems, the criminal prosecution of judges, prosecutors, and journalists, and the ever-increasing criminalization of land defenders and entire [...]
By Laura Robinson and María Reyes The court room in Puerto Barrios where Maria Cuc Choc's trial was held. Photo Credits: Laura Robinson On April 21st, 2022, BTS accompanied María Cuc Choc, who for the past 16 years has dedicated her life to defending the land and [...]
Written by Laura Monday, January 24th 2022, and Thursday, January 27th 2022 Pedrina Lopez de Paz in the foreground, Paulina Ixtapá in the background photographed in the foreground of the courtroom on January, 24th, 2022. Photo Credits: Verdad y Justicia. The court reconvened Monday morning to hear [...]
Wednesday, January 19, 2022 Written by Lisa One of the 36 Maya Achi Women Survivors in Court listening to the concluding arguments of the defense on January 19th, 2022. Photo Credit: Lisa Rankin Today the defence presented their conclusions in support of their clients. As they didn’t [...]
Tuesday, January 18 Written by Lisa The day started off with the final witness for the prosecution, the sub-inspector of the Guatemalan National Civil Police who led the capture of Gabriel Cuxum Alvarado in his home in Guatemala City in May 2021. Despite the fact he was using a false [...]
Monday, January 17 Written by Lisa Today was another short day, with only two witnesses. Both are from the forensics department of the Guatemalan National Civil Police and testified on the comparison of the fingerprints of Gabriel Cuxum Alvarado, who was using an assumed name to hide from authorities. Both [...]
Friday, January 14, 2021 Written by Este [Testimonies given on this day were graphic: describing the context, reality, and mentality of not only survivors but perpetrators of genocide.] Photo taken in Rio Negro, on March 13th, 2020 (Photo Credits: Laura Robinson) Day 9 of the trial lasted half [...]
