Politics, Business & Culture in the Americas

Guatemala

 

Arrest of Director of Prisons Helps Take Down Extortion Ring

Guatemala’s Director of Prisons, Edgar Camargo, was arrested on Wednesday, September 3, helping to bring down an alleged extortion group that raked in millions of dollars, property and luxury cars. Also charged were the former deputy director of prisons, Edy Fischer, and Byron Lima Oliva, the purported mastermind of the operation, who was serving time … Read more

 

CICIG Investigation Could Be a Game-Changer for Guatemala

On September 3, 2014, Guatemala’s director of the penitentiary system, Edgar Camargo, and its former deputy director, Edy Fisher, were arrested—as were several others—for their participation in a crime ring run by a convicted felon from inside a Guatemalan prison. These arrests were produced following an investigation done by the Comisión Internacional contra la Impunidad … Read more

 

Guatemalan Armed Forces Chief Dies in Helicopter Crash

General Rudy Israel Ortiz Ruiz was one of five military officials involved in a helicopter crash Wednesday morning.  After the Fuerza Aérea Guatemalteca (Guatemalan Air Force—FAG) helicopter Bell 206 took off from Huehuetenango for a routine fly-over inspection of units along the Mexican border, the pilot rerouted from landing in Ixquisis to Las Palmas due … Read more

 

Majority of Americans Support Sheltering Unaccompanied Minors

A Reuters/Ipsos poll released Monday revealed that 51 percent of Americans oppose President Barack Obama’s plan to fast track deportations for unaccompanied Central American children apprehended at the U.S.-Mexico border. The online poll had a sample size of 1,566 people. The poll showed a divide in public opinion over how long the children should be allowed … Read more

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Beyond the Blame Game: Visualizing the Complexity of the Border Crisis

Much has been written and discussed in the last month about the causes of the migration of thousands of undocumented minors and women with young children from Central America’s Northern Triangle region (Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras) to the United States.[1] The debate has ranged from analyzing the so-called “pull factors” in the U.S. to … Read more

 

Behind the Numbers: Insecurity and Marginalization in Central America

With 11 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants in 2012, Nicaragua stands out as a relatively fortunate exception in a region whose homicide rates rank among the world’s highest. Its northern neighbors all recorded rates at least three times greater: with Guatemala at 34.3 murders per 100,000 citizens; El Salvador at 41.5; and—at the top of this … Read more

 

U.S. Ambassador Shannon Travels to Central America

U.S. Counselor of Department of State Thomas Shannon arrived in Honduras on Wednesday as part of a three-day trip to Central America to address the estimated 52,000 unaccompanied minors from the region entering the U.S. illegally. As part of his trip, Shannon visited repatriation centers and met with leaders of civic organizations and government officials. … Read more

 

Short and Long-term Solutions to Migration in Central America

During the past few months, the United States, Mexico and Central American governments have brought attention to the number of unaccompanied minors fleeing towards the U.S. from Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Mexico. A recent study by the Pew Research Center shows that the number of unaccompanied children ages 12 and younger caught at the … Read more

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How Guatemala Is Tackling Its Social Issues

One year ago, Americas Quarterly’s 2013 Social Inclusion Index gave Guatemala the lowest total score of all countries evaluated, with a total of 14.8 points out of a possible 100.  The index ranked 16 countries, including the United States and 15 countries from Latin America.  The comments in the evaluation for Guatemala indicated that “Poverty … Read more

 

Monday Memo: Argentine debt – Putin in Latin America – Italy investigates Plan Cóndor – Earthquake – Trapped Honduran Miners

This week’s likely top stories: Argentine negotiates with holdout creditors; Russia’s Vladimir Putin will visit Cuba, Argentina and Brazil; Italy investigates dictatorship-era murders; an earthquake hits Mexico and Guatemala; and Honduran authorities search for eight missing miners. Argentina begins debt negotiations: Argentina will begin negotiating a settlement today with its holdout creditors, who are owed … Read more

 

Report Urges Immediate Action on Guatemala-Honduras Border

The International Crisis Group (ICG) released a report on Wednesday detailing the increase in drug-related violence on the Guatemala-Honduras border and calling for immediate action on the part of both national governments to combat the situation. The large network of narco-trafficking gangs in the region have been competing over increasingly disputed drug routes that move … Read more

 

Paz y Paz Sidelined in Guatemala Attorney General Vote

Guatemala’s Comisión de Postulación, a national selection committee, announced the six nominees for country’s next attorney general  last week, with the name of current attorney general Claudia Paz y Paz conspicuously absent from the list. Guatemalan President Otto Pérez Molina will make his choice after interviewing the remaining candidates, and must announce a new attorney … Read more

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Two Views of Consulta Previa in Guatemala: A View from the Private Sector

Read a view from Indigenous peoples here. Guatemala ratified International Labour Organization Convention 169  (ILO 169) on June 5, 1996, more than a year after Guatemala’s Constitutional Court, the highest court in the country, ruled in Document 199-95 that the Convention did not contradict the Guatemalan Constitution.1 But the lack of clarity in ILO 169 … Read more

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Country study: Guatemala

Read the introduction here. Read a case study from Chile here. Read a case study from Colombia here. Read a case study from Peru here. Although they constitute 40 percent of Guatemala’s population, Indigenous Guatemalans face great inequality in terms of access to health, education, housing and—most critically—political representation.1 In 1995, the Guatemalan Constitutional Court … Read more

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