#q'eqchi

[saddayfordemocracy]

On August 10, Benoît Maria, a human rights defender who worked with the Ixil and Q'eqchi indigenous communities of Guatemala in defense of their rights and in the sustainable and community development of their agriculture, was assassinated.

Image Credit: @SaraCurruchich

[gwendolynlerman]

Discovering the World

Guatemala 🇬🇹

Basic facts

Official name: República de Guatemala (Republic of Guatemala)

Capital city: Guatemala City

Population: 17.9 million (2023)

Demonym: Guatemalan

Type of government: unitary presidential republic

Head of state and government: Bernardo Arévalo (President)

Gross domestic product (purchasing power parity): $213.13 billion (2024)

Gini coefficient of wealth inequality: 48.3% (high) (2014)

Human Development Index: 0.629 (medium) (2022)

Currency: quetzal (GTQ)

Fun fact: Guatemalans invented the first ever chocolate bar.

Etymology

The country’s name comes from the Nahuatl word Cuauhēmallān, which means “place of many trees”.

Geography

Guatemala is located in Central America and borders Mexico to the north and west, Belize to the northeast, Honduras to the east, the Pacific Ocean to the south, and El Salvador to the southeast.

There are six main climates: dry-winter tropical savanna in the north, south, and southeast, tropical monsoon in the north and southwest, tropical rainforest, humid subtropical, and subtropical highland in the center, and hot steppe in the southeast. Temperatures range from 10 °C (50 °F) in winter to 27 °C (80.6 °F) in spring. The average annual temperature is 19.9 °C (67.8 °F).

The country is divided into twenty-two departments (departamentos). The largest cities in Guatemala are Guatemala City, Mixco, Villa Nueva, Cobán, and Quetzaltenango.

History

2600 BCE-1697 CE: Maya civilization

1524-1697: Spanish conquest

1542-1821: Viceroyalty of New Spain

1821-1823: Mexican Empire

1823-1841: Federal Republic of Central America

1841-present: Republic of Guatemala

1954: coup d’état

1960-1996: Guatemalan Civil War

Economy

Guatemala mainly imports from the United States, China, and Mexico and exports to the United States, El Salvador, and Honduras. Its top exports are bananas, coffee, and palm oil.

Tourism is one of the main drivers of the economy. Services represent 63.2% of the GDP, followed by industry (23.4%) and agriculture (13.3%).

Guatemala is a member of the Central American Integration System and the Organization of American States.

Demographics

56% of the population identifies as mixed, while 41.6% is Maya and 1.7% is Xinca. The main religion is Christianity, practiced by 88% of the population, 45% of which is Catholic.

It has a negative net migration rate and a fertility rate of 2.6 children per woman. 52.7% of the population lives in urban areas. Life expectancy is 72.9 years and the median age is 23.2 years. The literacy rate is 80.8%.

Languages

The official language of the country is Spanish, spoken by 93% of the population. The most spoken indigenous languages are K’iche’ (11.3%), Q’eqchi’ (7.5%), Kaqchikel (7.4%), and Mam (5.4%).

Culture

Guatemalan culture has Mayan and Spanish influences. The country is known for its percussion bands and brightly colored yarn textiles.

Men traditionally wear a white shirt, loose patterned pants, and a cloth belt. Women wear a blouse (huipil) with a colorful zigzag pattern and ruffles, a wide cloth belt (faja), a long skirt (corte), a shawl (rebozo), and a hair ribbon (cinta).

Architecture

Traditional houses in Guatemala have colorful stone walls, tile roofs, and wooden doors and windows.

Cuisine

The Guatemalan diet is based on beans, corn, meat, and vegetables. Typical dishes include fiambre (a salad with beets, cheese, cold cuts, corn, olives, and onions), garnachas (fried corn tortillas with beans, cabbage, and cheese), hilachas (shredded meat in tomato sauce with rice and potatoes), kak’ik (a tomato-based meat stew served with rice), and rellenitos de plátano (balls of mashed bananas with sweetened black beans and sugar).

Holidays and festivals

Like other Christian countries, Guatemala celebrates Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday, Assumption Day, All Saints’ Day, Christmas Eve, and Christmas Day. It also commemorates New Year’s Day, Labor Day, and New Year’s Eve.

Specific Guatemalan holidays include Army Day on June 30, Bank Holiday on July 1, Independence Day on September 15, Day of the Race on October 12, and Revolution Day on October 20.

Day of the Race

Other celebrations include the Dance of the Giants, Holy Cross, which features cultural events and folk dances, and Quema del Diablo, where paper effigies symbolizing the devil are burned.

Dance of the Giants

Landmarks

There are four UNESCO World Heritage Sites: Antigua Guatemala, Archeological Park and Ruins of Quirigua, National Archeological Park Tak’alik Ab’aj, and Tikal National Park.

Tikal National Park

Other landmarks include the Castle of San Felipe de Lara, the Church and Convent of the Capuchins, the Naj Tunich Cave, the Sierra del Lacandón National Park, and the Santa Catalina Arch.

Santa Catalina Arch

Famous people

Alaíde Foppa - activist and poet

Blanca Morales - swimmer

Carlos Ruiz - soccer player

Christian López - weightlifter

Gaby Moreno - singer

Miguel Ángel Asturias - poet and writer

Óscar Isaac - actor

Ricardo Arjona - singer

Rigoberta Menchú - activist

Sylvia Brindis - actress

Rigoberta Menchú

You can find out more about life in Guatemala in this post and this video.

[fenrislorsrai]

Here’s How You Can Help Fight Family Separation at the Border

Lawyers, translators, donations, protest.

Big huge list of org. Updates as more with specific programs are found by readers. 

The most needed type of volunteers are lawyers and paralegals.

The Texas Civil Rights Project specifically is looking for Spanish, Mam, Q’eqchi’ or K’iche speakers with paralegal or legal experience.  Spanish translator are easier to come by, but the other 3 languages you may still be of help even if you have no legal background

Women’s Refugee Committee has info becoming a foster family for a child separated from parents or volunteering to visit people in detention/prison.

[whenuawahine]

Guatemala military sexual violence trial starts - BBC News

A trial begins in Guatemala of two ex-military officers for human rights abuses against indigenous women during the country's long armed conflict.

Article doesn’t go into that much detail about the importance of these trials for local Indigenous communities and Indigenous women worldwide.

This was a tremendous effort from all involved, especially as the women who brought claims forward had to do so without speaking English or Spanish only the Mayan language of Q'eqchi.

[losdespojados]

Good news everyone! We’ve made a short video for US/Canadian NGO Rights Action to help raise funds in support of Lote Ocho, a Maya-Q’eqchi’ indigenous community in eastern Guatemala that’s previously suffered at the hands of Canadian mining multinational HudBay Minerals. Evicted once before, community members have re-built their homes on their ancestral lands in defiance of the multinational mining corporation that threatens to dispossess them.  Loto Ocho’s struggle was featured in our documentary about indigenous land struggle in Guatemala, which you can watch here. This short piece is an update that outlines how the community has fared in the past few years.

HudBay - which is facing a civil law suit in Canada for the murder of community leader Adolfo Ich, the shooting of bystander German Chub Choc, and the gang rape of eleven women from Lote Ocho - owned the Fenix mine in Guatemala between 2004 and 2011. Pressure caused by the lawsuits and civil society campaigns prompted HudBay to sell the mine at a loss in 2011 but new owner, Russia/Cyprus-based Solway Group, continues to be a threat to local communities. Shortly after Solway’s takeover, three biology students investigating CGN’s environmental impact drowned under suspicious circumstances, leading many to believe that they were killed. As for Lote Ocho, the community still faces a permanent threat of eviction. 

[riderofthewaves]

it makes me really upset that Guatemala’s central government completely disregards the needs of the Mayan community. There’s a clear distinction between mestizos and the Mayan. There are few full Mayan communities remaining and their lands are being mined without their consent. It's disgusting to see Canadian mine companies act this way. Indigenous lives matter