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Sunday, November 29, 2009
Just back from: Tikal, Guatemala
Three Suspected Criminals Lynched in Guatemala
GUATEMALA CITY – Inhabitants of an indigenous town in western Guatemala lynched three suspected criminals after forcibly removing them from a police station, which the mob set ablaze, officials said.
A police spokesman said that thousands of irate residents of Solola, a town 190 kilometers (118 miles) west of Guatemala City, captured two men and a woman suspected of killing a bus driver.
“When they realized what was happening, police officers intervened and transferred the suspects to the station, but the enraged residents demanded that they be turned over so they could take justice into their own hands,” the spokesman said.
When the officers refused, the stick- and machete-wielding mob took the station by force and dragged the suspects out, beating them unconscious and then setting them on fire in Solola’s main square.
The mob also set fire to two squad cars, a taxi in which the suspects supposedly had been transported and the police station.
Local media said that hours before Friday’s lynching the suspects had shot and killed a bus driver and seriously wounded two passengers. According to police, the slain bus driver – identified as 32-year-old Helmer de Leon – had apparently resisted being extorted by members of a criminal gang.
After the killings, more than 100 anti-riot police deployed to the area dispersed the mob with tear gas, but no arrests were reported.
Thus far this year, more than 150 drivers and 50 fare collectors have been killed for refusing to pay extortion money to criminal gangs.
According to the Gretrucex transport guild, bus drivers are forced to pay a daily amount of between $20-$40 per vehicle to the gangs under threat of death.
On Nov. 16, a group of residents in San Martin Jilotepeque, a town some 65 kilometers (40 miles) west of the Guatemalan capital, lynched a police officer accused of extorting a bus driver.
A study carried out by the Grupo de Apoyo Mutuo humanitarian organization and presented in October said there were 110 attempted lynchings between January and September and that 28 people died in the vigilante violence.
GAM said the number of such incidents has increased due to residents’ desperation at authorities’ failure to provide security and impart justice
Source:laht.com
A police spokesman said that thousands of irate residents of Solola, a town 190 kilometers (118 miles) west of Guatemala City, captured two men and a woman suspected of killing a bus driver.
“When they realized what was happening, police officers intervened and transferred the suspects to the station, but the enraged residents demanded that they be turned over so they could take justice into their own hands,” the spokesman said.
When the officers refused, the stick- and machete-wielding mob took the station by force and dragged the suspects out, beating them unconscious and then setting them on fire in Solola’s main square.
The mob also set fire to two squad cars, a taxi in which the suspects supposedly had been transported and the police station.
Local media said that hours before Friday’s lynching the suspects had shot and killed a bus driver and seriously wounded two passengers. According to police, the slain bus driver – identified as 32-year-old Helmer de Leon – had apparently resisted being extorted by members of a criminal gang.
After the killings, more than 100 anti-riot police deployed to the area dispersed the mob with tear gas, but no arrests were reported.
Thus far this year, more than 150 drivers and 50 fare collectors have been killed for refusing to pay extortion money to criminal gangs.
According to the Gretrucex transport guild, bus drivers are forced to pay a daily amount of between $20-$40 per vehicle to the gangs under threat of death.
On Nov. 16, a group of residents in San Martin Jilotepeque, a town some 65 kilometers (40 miles) west of the Guatemalan capital, lynched a police officer accused of extorting a bus driver.
A study carried out by the Grupo de Apoyo Mutuo humanitarian organization and presented in October said there were 110 attempted lynchings between January and September and that 28 people died in the vigilante violence.
GAM said the number of such incidents has increased due to residents’ desperation at authorities’ failure to provide security and impart justice
Source:laht.com
How Guatemala's Most Beautiful Lake Turned Ugly
In his 1934 travel book Beyond the Mexique Bay, Aldous Huxley compared Guatemala's Lake Atitlan to Italy's Lake Como. The Italian body of water, he wrote, "touches the limit of the permissibly picturesque." Atitlan, however, "is Como with the additional embellishment of several immense volcanoes. It is really too much of a good thing." Guatemalans have interpreted this declaration by the author of Brave New World to mean that Lake Atitlan is the most beautiful lake in the world — which is the billing on most of the tourist brochures, despite Huxley's ambivalent phrasing.
Atitlan is indeed breathtaking, but nowadays it is leaving many visitors gasping for breath. A thick brown sludge is tarnishing its once blue waters. It is the result of decades of ecological imbalance, brought on by economic and demographic pressures. The unsightly and smelly layer, more than 100 feet deep in some areas, is chasing tourists away from Mayan towns in the area and posing huge cleanup expenses to a government already strapped for cash. Worse, the results of a University of California, Davis, analysis found that the bacteria is toxic. Scientists are urging residents to avoid cooking with, bathing in or drinking the water. Several towns get drinking water from the lake.
(See TIME's photo-essay "The Politics of Water.")
The sludge has huge implications for the area and Guatemala. The towns around Atitlan have become reliant on tourism. Scores of restaurants and hotels have opened. Generations of boatmen made a living by shuttling visitors across the lake. And armies of three-wheeled taxis, known as tuk-tuks, were imported from Asia to help move tourists around. Business is down significantly this year. Hotels say they have about half as many guests as usual. Tuktuk drivers report they barely make enough to pay for gas. Restaurant owners are considering giving up. The global recession may be a major factor but the stench isn't helping.
The problem is as much visual as it is olfactory. As the bacteria dies, a foul odor wafts from the water. "It's like trying to eat lunch in an outhouse," says English backpacker Brian Thompson, 22, pulling his t-shirt over his nose between bites of chicken at a little lakeside restaurant. "Tell you one thing, I wouldn't eat the fish." One restaurant owner says he's considering closing or renting the space to another operator, at a loss. "We used to have 15 or 20 tables a day. Now we get one," says Pedro Chavajag, 38, owner of Comedor Juanita, an eatery about 40 feet from a busy dock here.
(See pictures of urban farming around the world.)
Scientists first detected the cyanobacteria that now infests Atitlan in the 1970s. But the genesis of the problem dates to the late 1950s when the Guatemalan government introduced non-native black bass into the lake's waters believing that hotels and restaurants could lure more tourists if they could offer freshly caught lake fish on their menus. Over the years, however, the bass ate through nearly the entire food chain, including the the young of the rare Pato Poc duck. Their consumption disrupted the ecosystem and destroyed the organisms that would have kept the bacteria at bay.
Without natural predators, the bacteria needed only a source of food to thrive. That would be phosphorous, which is abundant among the hills and three towering volcanoes around Atitlan. The situation is aggravated by government distribution of chemical fertilizer containing extra phosphorous to poor farmers who liberally apply it to their fields. Widespread deforestation allows the soil to leach into the lake during Guatemala's six-month-long rainy season.
(See more about Guatemala.)
Even indigenous Mayans' unknowingly feed the bacteria by washing their clothes on lakeshore rocks with soap that contains phosphorous. An overabundance of phosphorous coupled with three weeks of unusually high temperatures — which the government blames on global warming — is a possible reason why the lake is blooming this year.
"I think everyone is beginning to realize that we all had a part in the problem," says Monica Berger, executive director of Association Atit Ala, a community development group pushing for a government cleanup of the lake. "It's easy to ignore the problem until it starts to hurt tourism and the lake's image."
With the future of one of its major tourist attractions in question, the Guatemalan government has announced an ambitious multi-part plan to cut sources of phosphorous. It calls for the construction of 15 sewage-treatment plants, a government-led conversion to organic farming for 80% of farmers in the lake's watershed during the next three years, and for educating residents and tourists about the environment. The cost: about $350 million, a huge expenditure for an impoverished country. "The problem has been accumulating for years but Guatemala has other expensive problems and, apparently, this was not a priority," says Margaret Dix, a Universidad Del Valle scientist who has studied the lake since 1976. "It needs money, input and a commitment. ... I think it can be restored to a large extent in four or five years. But it will never be like it was 100 years ago."
Source:time.com
Mom, son raise money for Guatemalan charity
LOUISVILLE -- Katie Doyle Myers and her 4-year-old son, Finn, love to read together.
So when her son asked her what it would be like to read 100 books in a day, she decided to turn that idea into a way to raise money for a Boulder nonprofit called Reading Village. Reading Village promotes literacy in Guatemala.
"I`m always trying to come up with service activities that we can do together," Doyle Myers said. "It always seems to me that he can read for hours."
She`s planning to read 100 books, heavy on the super-hero stories, to Finn on Saturday at various locations around Louisville. At 11 a.m., she`s going to read 10 of the books during the Louisville Public Library`s story hour and is inviting supporters to attend. People also can sponsor the pair, donating 5 cents to 25 cents a book.
Doyle Myers, who works for the Philanthropiece Foundation, said she talked to Finn about how not all kids have books or someone to read to them. When asked if he`s looking forward to Saturday`s reading marathon, his answer was a resounding "yes."
She said she chose Reading Village as the beneficiary because the organization is "so directly related to reading and literacy."
Reading Village provides leadership training to teens, who then lead reading activities for children in their communities. The program also provides scholarships to teens to pay for public school registration, books, transportation, uniforms and supplies.
Reading Village founder Linda Smith said the organization works in rural, Mayan communities where books are scarce, most adults are illiterate and the educational system is broken.
"But I have seen that where there is a caring person reading to children in a community, children learn to read and discover the joy of reading," she said. "Reading Village opens up the world to these children."
Along with raising money for Reading Village, Doyle Myers said she`s encouraging others to organize their own 100-book day and donate to local charities.
"It`s a way to have a really fun, meaningful day and start a conversation about giving to others," she said.
Source:dailycamera.com
Guatemalan firm wins US$800,000 judgement against local importer
LOCAL firm Carlo Products Limited will now have to fork out some US$839,000 to make good on a judgement against it, following a successful lawsuit brought by manufacturing firm, Crown Corke de Guatemala in the Jamaican Supreme Court.
The award was made recently by Justice Ingrid Mangatal in a scathing 27-page judgement in favour of Crown Corke de Guatemala, a company incorporated in Guatemala, which is part of an international group of companies.
Crown Corke, which manufactures and sells assorted containers and crown caps, was represented by Kingston-based attorney John G Graham of the firm John G Graham and Company.
The Guatemalan firm sued Carlo Products Limited for US$418,215 plus interest for goods which it claimed it had sold and delivered to Carlo Products.
In its claim, the company said that between the period November 1998 and May 1999, David Hughes, the then managing director of Carlo Products Limited, ordered goods from Crown Corke on behalf of Carlo Products. The goods were shipped to Jamaica from Guatemala and Crown Corke claimed that it was never paid for those goods.
Crown Coke also sued the estate of Hughes, who died in May 1999, for fraudulently representing that he was acting on behalf of Carlo Products Limited when he ordered the goods in question and for breach of warranty of authority.
In its defence, Carlo Products, which now trades under the name Latin America Exporters, denied that it ordered or purchased any goods from Crown Corke. Carlos Products said that if it did receive any goods from Crown Corke it had ordered them from OG Smith & Company, a company incorporated in the Cayman Islands and to which it made payment directly for the goods.
Carlo Products further claimed that it had a contractual arrangement with OG Smith & Company whereby OG Smith & Company would source goods on its behalf, and for which OG Smith would be paid directly.
Following the two-day trial, Mangatal awarded judgement in favour of Crown Corke in the amount of US $418,215. Interest was agreed at the rate of 10 per cent per annum, running from July 1999 to July 2009, bringing the amount to US$839,982.
Mangatal stated in her written judgement that there was "a preponderance of evidence" that the goods were provided to Carlo Products as a result of orders and requests made by Hughes directly to Crown Corke, and not as a result of any contract between OG Smith and Carlo Products.
She further found that Hughes, as managing director of the company, had the authority of Carlo Products to order the goods and, in so doing, was holding himself out to Crown Corke as having such authority.
Source:jamaicaobserver.com
The award was made recently by Justice Ingrid Mangatal in a scathing 27-page judgement in favour of Crown Corke de Guatemala, a company incorporated in Guatemala, which is part of an international group of companies.
Crown Corke, which manufactures and sells assorted containers and crown caps, was represented by Kingston-based attorney John G Graham of the firm John G Graham and Company.
The Guatemalan firm sued Carlo Products Limited for US$418,215 plus interest for goods which it claimed it had sold and delivered to Carlo Products.
In its claim, the company said that between the period November 1998 and May 1999, David Hughes, the then managing director of Carlo Products Limited, ordered goods from Crown Corke on behalf of Carlo Products. The goods were shipped to Jamaica from Guatemala and Crown Corke claimed that it was never paid for those goods.
Crown Coke also sued the estate of Hughes, who died in May 1999, for fraudulently representing that he was acting on behalf of Carlo Products Limited when he ordered the goods in question and for breach of warranty of authority.
In its defence, Carlo Products, which now trades under the name Latin America Exporters, denied that it ordered or purchased any goods from Crown Corke. Carlos Products said that if it did receive any goods from Crown Corke it had ordered them from OG Smith & Company, a company incorporated in the Cayman Islands and to which it made payment directly for the goods.
Carlo Products further claimed that it had a contractual arrangement with OG Smith & Company whereby OG Smith & Company would source goods on its behalf, and for which OG Smith would be paid directly.
Following the two-day trial, Mangatal awarded judgement in favour of Crown Corke in the amount of US $418,215. Interest was agreed at the rate of 10 per cent per annum, running from July 1999 to July 2009, bringing the amount to US$839,982.
Mangatal stated in her written judgement that there was "a preponderance of evidence" that the goods were provided to Carlo Products as a result of orders and requests made by Hughes directly to Crown Corke, and not as a result of any contract between OG Smith and Carlo Products.
She further found that Hughes, as managing director of the company, had the authority of Carlo Products to order the goods and, in so doing, was holding himself out to Crown Corke as having such authority.
Source:jamaicaobserver.com
Guatemalan Mormon helping hands serve children
GUATEMALA CITY -- Diego, a small child with Down syndrome, jumped with excitement after winning a dance contest at one of the many activities that occurred during a recent LDS Church-sponsored day of service here. More than 7,000 members volunteered, serving in areas throughout the country.
Children, teenagers and adults of all ages participated in hundreds of projects — including many that focused on serving children, particularly those battling illnesses or other challenges.
The Oct. 20 event coincided with Guatemala's "Children's Day" holiday. The various children's service projects included staging puppet shows, games and pinata parties. Mormons dressed up as clowns, painted the children's faces and taught them songs. The fun-filled activities brought joy to the children and the many members who participated.
Members sported familiar "Mormon Helping Hands" vests as they interacted with the children. Jessy Green of the Acatan Ward, Guatemala City Guatemala Stake, was one of many adults who spent the day at the "Club de Ninos San Pedrito" children's facility. He taught the children songs and watched as LDS young men and women shared their enthusiasm and talents with the children. Their efforts were rewarded with happy faces of appreciation.
Source:mormontimes.com
Guatemala shaken by 5.1-magnitude quake
MEXICO CITY, Nov. 26 (Xinhua) -- An earthquake measuring 5.1 on the Richter scale struck the coastal and some interior regions in Guatemala on Thursday, according to news reaching here.
The quake was recorded at 13:08 local time (19:08 GMT) as was in the capital, in the southern coastal area and the western region. There have been no reports so far of casualties or damage to property.
The quake was centered 127.2 km south-southwestern of Guatemala City, the country's capital, according to the Guatemalan National Seismology Institute.
Search teams and the civil protection services said the earthquake had caused fears among local population.
Source:xinhuanet.com
The quake was recorded at 13:08 local time (19:08 GMT) as was in the capital, in the southern coastal area and the western region. There have been no reports so far of casualties or damage to property.
The quake was centered 127.2 km south-southwestern of Guatemala City, the country's capital, according to the Guatemalan National Seismology Institute.
Search teams and the civil protection services said the earthquake had caused fears among local population.
Source:xinhuanet.com
U.S. Government Acts to Ameliorate Guatemala Malnutrition Crisis
Media-Newswire.com) - GUATEMALA CITY, GUATEMALA - Seeking to combat the food security crisis in Guatemala's Dry Corridor, which is located in the country's eastern region, the United States Agency for International Development ( USAID ) announced plans to provide $15 million in emergency assistance Nov. 19.
USAID's Guatemala Mission Director Wayne R. Nilsestuen and the U.S. Ambassador to Guatemala Stephen G. McFarland announced the U.S. government's intent while meeting with Guatemalan government officials and municipal mayors in the department of Chiquimula.
The emergency assistance will be used in five of the seven regions that the Guatemalan government identified as requiring urgent attention: Chiquimula, El Progreso, Jalapa, Jutiapa, and Zacapa. Assistance will also reach high risk communities in the highland areas of Huehuetenango and Chimaltenango where increased cases of acute malnutrition have been reported.
Expressing his concern over the devastating effects of chronic malnutrition on Guatemala's children, Nilsestuen said "the current food security crisis is an urgent call for concerted and coordinated action to provide immediate relief to people in need and to lay the groundwork for a rural development program that will eliminate malnutrition in a country that has the resources to feed all its citizens."
The main target recipients are children under five years old and women who are breastfeeding and/or pregnant. Approximately 7,600 metric tons of food will be distributed to a total of 41,050 families in 365 communities. USAID/Guatemala's four existing food security implementing partners: Catholic Relief Services ( CRS ), Mercy Corps, Save the Children/USA and SHARE Guatemala will coordinate the U.S. government's activities with the Guatemalan national disaster reduction entity and the United Nations as well as with other organizations working to ameliorate the food security crisis.
"Malnutrition is chronic in Guatemala. It is well past time for all elements of society and government to use the many resources the country has to eliminate malnutrition altogether. Particular attention must be paid to pregnant and lactating women and small children because they are the ones who need it most to build healthy, intelligent and productive citizens that will allow Guatemala to fulfill its enormous potential said McFarland."
The U.S. government, through USAID, has provided Guatemala with food security assistance as well as integrated programs to reduce poverty and improve basic health for families, particularly mothers and children.
For more information about USAID, visit www.usaid.gov.
Source:media-newswire.com
USAID's Guatemala Mission Director Wayne R. Nilsestuen and the U.S. Ambassador to Guatemala Stephen G. McFarland announced the U.S. government's intent while meeting with Guatemalan government officials and municipal mayors in the department of Chiquimula.
The emergency assistance will be used in five of the seven regions that the Guatemalan government identified as requiring urgent attention: Chiquimula, El Progreso, Jalapa, Jutiapa, and Zacapa. Assistance will also reach high risk communities in the highland areas of Huehuetenango and Chimaltenango where increased cases of acute malnutrition have been reported.
Expressing his concern over the devastating effects of chronic malnutrition on Guatemala's children, Nilsestuen said "the current food security crisis is an urgent call for concerted and coordinated action to provide immediate relief to people in need and to lay the groundwork for a rural development program that will eliminate malnutrition in a country that has the resources to feed all its citizens."
The main target recipients are children under five years old and women who are breastfeeding and/or pregnant. Approximately 7,600 metric tons of food will be distributed to a total of 41,050 families in 365 communities. USAID/Guatemala's four existing food security implementing partners: Catholic Relief Services ( CRS ), Mercy Corps, Save the Children/USA and SHARE Guatemala will coordinate the U.S. government's activities with the Guatemalan national disaster reduction entity and the United Nations as well as with other organizations working to ameliorate the food security crisis.
"Malnutrition is chronic in Guatemala. It is well past time for all elements of society and government to use the many resources the country has to eliminate malnutrition altogether. Particular attention must be paid to pregnant and lactating women and small children because they are the ones who need it most to build healthy, intelligent and productive citizens that will allow Guatemala to fulfill its enormous potential said McFarland."
The U.S. government, through USAID, has provided Guatemala with food security assistance as well as integrated programs to reduce poverty and improve basic health for families, particularly mothers and children.
For more information about USAID, visit www.usaid.gov.
Source:media-newswire.com
Latin American Tour reaches Guatemala
David Llewellyn and his group have now reached Guatemala, and flew yesterday from Panajachel
This is the 12th day of the tour, which started on 15 November in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Four of the days were spent in Oaxaca, Mexico, where they attended the Ipero festival.
Flying has been enjoyed by all of the group, and there are now pictures in the gallery on their website, www.gohanglide.com.
Source:xcmag.com
Home Soil Suits Guatemala, Dominant at Central American Championships
The host nation emerged as the most successful country in the Central American Championships held in Guatemala on Saturday 21st and Sunday 22nd November 2009.
They captured five of the seven titles on offer; the two to prove elusive being the Women’s Singles and Women’s Doubles events where El Salvador came to the fore.
Morayle Alvarez won the Women’s Singles title beating Guatemala’s Andrea Estrada in the final having earlier partnered Estefania Ramirios to Women’s Doubles gold; the pair defeated Andrea Estrada and her Guatemalan partner, Maria Jose Gomez, at the final hurdle.
Kevin Montufar
Meanwhile, the Men’s Singles crown went the way of Kevin Montufar beating compatriot Omar Flores in the final.
Montufar and Flores alongside Héctor Gatica, and Heber Moscoso were the winners of the Men’s Team title whilst for the women, the successful Guatemalan outfit comprised Andrea Estrada, MarÃa José Gómez, Eva Godoy y Mabelyn Enriquez.
Omar Flores
Success for Omar Flores and he added to his haul of medals by winning both the Men’s Doubles and Mixed Doubles events.
He partnered Hector Gatica to Men’s Doubles success beating Kevin Monufar and Heber Moscoso in the final whilst in the Mixed Doubles he teamed with Andrea Estrada.
The pair overcame Heber Moscoso and Mabelyn Enriquez in the final.
The successful Women’s Team from Guatemala
Photo courtesy by Carlos Esnard
Roll of Honour
Men’s Team
1. Guatemala 2. El Salvador 3. Mexico
Women’s Team
1. Guatemala 2. Costa Rica 3. El Salvador
Men’s Singles
1. Kevin Montufar (GUA) 2. Omar Flores (GUA) 3. Hector Gatica (GUA) & Kevin Soto (GUA)
Women’s Singles
1. Morayle Alvarez (ESA) 2, Andrea Estrada (GUA) 3. Maria Jose Gomez & Estefania Ramirios (ESA)
Men’s Doubles
1. Omar Flores/Hector Gatica (GUA) 2. Kevin Monufar/Heber Moscoso (GUA) 3. Edilberto Merino/Luis Mejia (ESA) & All An Guttierez/Kevin Soto (GUA)
Women’s Doubles
1. Morayle Alvarez/Estefania Ramirios (ESA) 2. Andrea Estrada/Maria Jose Gomez (GUA) 3. Maria Jose Martin/Abril Martin (MEX) & Sonia Ramirez/Karla Perez (ESA)
Mixed Doubles
1. Omar Flores/Andrea Estrada (GUA) 2. heber Moscoso Mabelyn Enriquez (GUA) 3. Hector Gatica/Maria Jose Gomez (GUA) & Allan Guttierez/Nury Vasquez (GUA)
Source:ittf.com
Danish man dies from wound in Guatemala mugging
GUATEMALA CITY — A Danish tourist died Friday, two days after being shot by robbers who tried to steal his camera while he visited a cemetery. Police said two suspected gang members had been arrested.
Paul Wolfgang Ritter died at a hospital in Guatemala City, where he was flown after being wounded in the port city of Santo Tomas de Castillo, said Luis Jose Fernandez, an official in the tourist assistance program of the Guatemalan Tourist Institute. He did not know Ritter's hometown.
Authorities said Ritter arrived on a Norwegian Cruise Lines ship and went with another tourist on a paid tour to a nearby town Wednesday. On the way back, they asked the driver to stop at the cemetery so they could take pictures. They were approached by two young men who tried to steal their cameras, and Ritter was shot in a scuffle.
Police spokesman Donald Gonzalez said two men, thought to be gang members because of the tattoos on their faces, were arrested.
Guatemala has one of Latin America's highest homicide rates, with more than 5,000 people killed a year, and many of the killings are blamed on gang warfare. However, homicides rarely involve the 1 million tourists who visit the Central American country each year.
Source:http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hSJDQ_8EDBa3_himrUOP4x-vLIcgD9BQDGIO0
Paul Wolfgang Ritter died at a hospital in Guatemala City, where he was flown after being wounded in the port city of Santo Tomas de Castillo, said Luis Jose Fernandez, an official in the tourist assistance program of the Guatemalan Tourist Institute. He did not know Ritter's hometown.
Authorities said Ritter arrived on a Norwegian Cruise Lines ship and went with another tourist on a paid tour to a nearby town Wednesday. On the way back, they asked the driver to stop at the cemetery so they could take pictures. They were approached by two young men who tried to steal their cameras, and Ritter was shot in a scuffle.
Police spokesman Donald Gonzalez said two men, thought to be gang members because of the tattoos on their faces, were arrested.
Guatemala has one of Latin America's highest homicide rates, with more than 5,000 people killed a year, and many of the killings are blamed on gang warfare. However, homicides rarely involve the 1 million tourists who visit the Central American country each year.
Source:http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hSJDQ_8EDBa3_himrUOP4x-vLIcgD9BQDGIO0
Virginia family's project helps Guatemalan children
Jody and Vicki Dalia started out donating to a village in Haiti. Now, they've opened an orphanage in Central America.
Six years ago, the White Top, Va., couple found themselves inspired after reading in Luke 5 and knew that was just what they needed to do with their extra money.
The aspirations of an orphanage soon became a family project, and with a daughter home from a mission in Chile who spoke fluent Spanish, the location of Guatemala for the project seemed perfect.
"We felt like we were to become fishers of men," Vicki Dalia said. "So we took our extra money and went down to Guatemala to complete the paperwork."
Many of the poor in Guatemala live in places like this. The Dalia family in Virginia is committed to helping the poor. Photo by Vicki Dalia.
Since that time, the Dalia family's orphanage and continuous donations have grown exponentially to help the people of Guatemala.
Two years ago, the family opened a new orphanage in Guatemala for the Mayan people of Atitlan. This area is in extreme poverty where people live in places with dirt floors and have little access to food.
To aid in combating this poverty, the family has started programs that help students with academics and funds for education, mothers with formula, and feeding for everyone.
The Dalia family is currently working on extending the work to other communities and opening up a small clinic for mothers who are having children to have a clean facility.
The Dalias, who put in about $100,000 of their own money, are currently doing presentations all over the United States asking for donations, including shoes and school supplies, to the program.
To find out more information about the Dalia family's project, visit www.safehomesforchildren.org.
Source:mormontimes.com
Guatemalan Police Force Adds Over 2,000 New Officers
GUATEMALA CITY – Guatemala’s National Civilian Police, or PNC, swore in 2,161 new officers on Tuesday, boosting its ranks to 23,287 uniformed members in this crime-ridden nation of roughly 13 million people.
Members of the 24th graduating class of the PNC academy were sworn in by the police command at a ceremony attended by President Alvaro Colom.
PNC chief Baltasar Gomez said the new officers would be assigned to cities in the interior of Guatemala where there were high levels of crime and violence.
“It is a commitment to society to professionalize the security forces to provide better service,” Gomez said.
The PNC, founded in 1997 as part of the peace agreements signed by the government a year earlier with leftist guerrillas who battled repressive rule from 1960-1996, is considered one of the most corrupt public entities in Guatemala.
More than a dozen high-level PNC officials, including former chief Porfirio Perez, are serving prison sentences for corruption and other crimes.
Some 50 active-duty officers are being investigated for crimes ranging from abuse of authority to murder and drug trafficking, the PNC Inspector General’s Office said.
Last year, 62 active-duty officers were charged with a variety of crimes, and more than 1,000 officers have been sacked since 2004 for being involved with criminal groups.
Guatemala is considered one of Latin America’s most violent countries with an average of 17 murders daily and a large presence of street gangs and drug traffickers. EFE
Source:laht.com
Guatemala slowly confronts widespread rape of women
Guatemala City - Moving up the ranks of Guatemala's ruthless gangs can be as simple as robbing a store at knife point or as brutal as shooting a city bus driver. Marisole figures she fell somewhere in between.
In January, a group of gang members ripped the teenager off a public bus at 7:30 a.m. Six of them raped her for nine hours in a house she'd never seen. Eventually they dropped her off shirtless in a nearby shopping center parking lot. .
"It hurt so much," said Marisole, who did not want her last name used for fear of her safety. "I don't know why they did it. I thought they were just going to rob the bus. I made eye contact with them. And they just took me away in front of everyone."
From the patriarchal days of the Spanish conquistadors to the military's systematic torture of women during its 36-year civil war, the country has long cultivated a reputation as one of the Western hemisphere's most brutal places for women. These days, Marisole and thousands of other victims of gang violence and a wave of street crime are giving that long-standing problem a new face. The government estimated that 10,000 women were raped last year, about 77 for every 100,000 residents. The real numbers are likely higher, organizations said.
But the alarming rate of abuse is finally garnering attention – and action – from the government, which observers say might be a sign that the conservative culture is ready to address the problem.
'Of all the banana republics, it's the most repressive'
"The situation is worse than it was during the war. It's terrible. But, with pressure from the international community, we've been able to push the government to start acknowledging the problem," says Norma Cruz, director of Fundación Sobrevivientes, which helps victims navigate the legal system to prosecute their crimes. The foundation is part of a network of women's rights groups that pressured the government into passing a law last year that set stricter penalties for rape and murder of women. "We still don't have solutions to prevent it from happening, but we now have a beginning."
From the streets of San Salvador to the murders of women in Juárez, Mexico, and domestic violence in the US, violence against women cuts across the hemisphere. But Guatemala's history, its male-dominated culture, the growth of gangs battling for territory and the climbing level of violence have made its problem more complex.
"Of all the banana republics, it's the most repressive," says Roselyn Costantino, a Pennsylvania State University professor who studies violence against women in the region. "The country is out of control right now with [drug] trafficking and violence, and women are often the innocent ones caught in between."
While drugs and violence are common throughout Latin America, Guatemala's broken judicial system largely allows gangs to rape and kill with impunity. Only 2 percent of crimes are brought to trial, according to the United Nations.
Violence against women also has deep roots in Guatemalan society. Throughout the conservative society, women have little protection. Under the domestic abuse law, for example, charges can only be brought if a woman's bruises are visible 10 days after the incident.
"Women have never been equal partners in this society," Costantino said. They have always been looked on as property, he added. "This is a culture that has never wanted to confront its legacy of violence against women."
Colombian cocaine passes through Guatemala
Members of Mara Salvatrucha 13 and Mara 18, two of the largest gangs in Central America, use rape as a way to gain a reputation. During territory disputes, such as the one in Marisole's neighborhood, they will often target women as a method of instilling fear by which to control areas.
"By dropping someone off without her blouse on after they'd raped her, they are saying, 'We control this neighborhood and you better not cross us,'" says Harry E. Vanden, a researcher who specializes in Central American gangs and has served as an expert witness in cases against gang members.
Territorial control is of particular importance to gangs these days. Mexico's war on drugs has led cartels to set up operations in Guatemala, through which some 80 percent of Colombian cocaine passes on its way north, US officials have estimated. And gangs are vying for supremacy to win lucrative relationships with drug traffickers.
"They use rape as a way to take vengeance on a family and to keep their neighborhood in line," Dr. Vanden says.
Sexual violence became so acute in recent years that Doctors Without Borders started its only mission in Latin America dedicated to treating sex victims in Guatemala City. And Nov. 25, the United Nations will open its Latin America chapter of its UNiTE to End Violence Against Women campaign in Guatemala.
"This is a humanitarian crisis," says Patricia Parra, the chief of mission for Doctors Without Borders in Guatemala. "The level of this problem is similar to the levels during the war. We're seeing conflict-level violence against women in what is supposedly a post-conflict country."
Society starts to address rape
But as the problem proliferates there is also the kindling of a solution. Instead of crimes going unreported like so many did before, rapes like Marisole's are now documented. Under the new law, victims can even use evidence collected by the doctors to push for a prosecution.
Just two years ago a victim would be treated for her wounds, but the rape would not be documented. Doctors Without Borders is training the country's medical system to record rapes and other sexual crimes and to collect statistics on their prevalence.
"Two or three years ago, you couldn't utter the words violence against women, or rape," says Dr. Pedro Rosales, a Guatemalan physician who heads up the government's new sexual violence project. "Now, we are actually collecting statistics on how many of those cases occur and prosecuting crimes."
Reliable numbers would focus the government's attention, and that could help shape policies, says Nadine Gasman, Guatemala's representative for the United Nations Population Fund.
"It's really important to acknowledge that this is not normal, that this is not the way things should be. It haunts these girls all their lives," she says. "We need to find ways to prevent it from happening. I'm a strong believer that if the state would take the lead, it would make a huge difference."
The UN is funding programs that seek to teach sexual equality to young men and teenagers. They have also funded performing arts groups and documentary makers that produce works that question the country's machismo culture.
The Red Cross and other groups are also working to keep youth from falling into gangs.
Although most agree Guatemala needs to incorporate sexual equality into its school curriculum and train doctors to look for the signs of sexual violence, the government has still failed to bring such programs into its ministries of health and education.
"I think the fact that we're able to talk about it as a society and the fact that we're recognizing the problem will help us come up with a way to prevent the problem," Rosales said.
Facing accusations that it has ignored the problem, the Guatemalan government last year passed a femicide law. It followed this year with the creation of a presidential office to assist in implementing the new legislation. More than 30 cases are currently being prosecuted under the law, which went into effect earlier this year. But the law is only minimally effective in a justice system riddled with corruption and impunity.
"The law is important, but we have a system in which 98 percent of crimes are not even brought to trial. Even fewer are convicted," says Cruz, of Fundación Sobrevivientes. "For a woman to press for her crime to be prosecuted takes a lot of courage."
Under threat, women drop charges
Marisole said she chose not to push for her crime to be prosecuted because her attackers told her they would kill her and her family. Eight of 10 women who press charges wind up dropping them.
A virgin when she was raped, she says, Marisole has suffered with shame in recent months, telling just two of her closest friends about the incident. These days, sitting next to a man on a bus or being alone with her boyfriend make her nervous. "I hope I get better one day," she says. "But I'm afraid I'm hurt for life."
Source:csmonitor.com
In January, a group of gang members ripped the teenager off a public bus at 7:30 a.m. Six of them raped her for nine hours in a house she'd never seen. Eventually they dropped her off shirtless in a nearby shopping center parking lot. .
"It hurt so much," said Marisole, who did not want her last name used for fear of her safety. "I don't know why they did it. I thought they were just going to rob the bus. I made eye contact with them. And they just took me away in front of everyone."
From the patriarchal days of the Spanish conquistadors to the military's systematic torture of women during its 36-year civil war, the country has long cultivated a reputation as one of the Western hemisphere's most brutal places for women. These days, Marisole and thousands of other victims of gang violence and a wave of street crime are giving that long-standing problem a new face. The government estimated that 10,000 women were raped last year, about 77 for every 100,000 residents. The real numbers are likely higher, organizations said.
But the alarming rate of abuse is finally garnering attention – and action – from the government, which observers say might be a sign that the conservative culture is ready to address the problem.
'Of all the banana republics, it's the most repressive'
"The situation is worse than it was during the war. It's terrible. But, with pressure from the international community, we've been able to push the government to start acknowledging the problem," says Norma Cruz, director of Fundación Sobrevivientes, which helps victims navigate the legal system to prosecute their crimes. The foundation is part of a network of women's rights groups that pressured the government into passing a law last year that set stricter penalties for rape and murder of women. "We still don't have solutions to prevent it from happening, but we now have a beginning."
From the streets of San Salvador to the murders of women in Juárez, Mexico, and domestic violence in the US, violence against women cuts across the hemisphere. But Guatemala's history, its male-dominated culture, the growth of gangs battling for territory and the climbing level of violence have made its problem more complex.
"Of all the banana republics, it's the most repressive," says Roselyn Costantino, a Pennsylvania State University professor who studies violence against women in the region. "The country is out of control right now with [drug] trafficking and violence, and women are often the innocent ones caught in between."
While drugs and violence are common throughout Latin America, Guatemala's broken judicial system largely allows gangs to rape and kill with impunity. Only 2 percent of crimes are brought to trial, according to the United Nations.
Violence against women also has deep roots in Guatemalan society. Throughout the conservative society, women have little protection. Under the domestic abuse law, for example, charges can only be brought if a woman's bruises are visible 10 days after the incident.
"Women have never been equal partners in this society," Costantino said. They have always been looked on as property, he added. "This is a culture that has never wanted to confront its legacy of violence against women."
Colombian cocaine passes through Guatemala
Members of Mara Salvatrucha 13 and Mara 18, two of the largest gangs in Central America, use rape as a way to gain a reputation. During territory disputes, such as the one in Marisole's neighborhood, they will often target women as a method of instilling fear by which to control areas.
"By dropping someone off without her blouse on after they'd raped her, they are saying, 'We control this neighborhood and you better not cross us,'" says Harry E. Vanden, a researcher who specializes in Central American gangs and has served as an expert witness in cases against gang members.
Territorial control is of particular importance to gangs these days. Mexico's war on drugs has led cartels to set up operations in Guatemala, through which some 80 percent of Colombian cocaine passes on its way north, US officials have estimated. And gangs are vying for supremacy to win lucrative relationships with drug traffickers.
"They use rape as a way to take vengeance on a family and to keep their neighborhood in line," Dr. Vanden says.
Sexual violence became so acute in recent years that Doctors Without Borders started its only mission in Latin America dedicated to treating sex victims in Guatemala City. And Nov. 25, the United Nations will open its Latin America chapter of its UNiTE to End Violence Against Women campaign in Guatemala.
"This is a humanitarian crisis," says Patricia Parra, the chief of mission for Doctors Without Borders in Guatemala. "The level of this problem is similar to the levels during the war. We're seeing conflict-level violence against women in what is supposedly a post-conflict country."
Society starts to address rape
But as the problem proliferates there is also the kindling of a solution. Instead of crimes going unreported like so many did before, rapes like Marisole's are now documented. Under the new law, victims can even use evidence collected by the doctors to push for a prosecution.
Just two years ago a victim would be treated for her wounds, but the rape would not be documented. Doctors Without Borders is training the country's medical system to record rapes and other sexual crimes and to collect statistics on their prevalence.
"Two or three years ago, you couldn't utter the words violence against women, or rape," says Dr. Pedro Rosales, a Guatemalan physician who heads up the government's new sexual violence project. "Now, we are actually collecting statistics on how many of those cases occur and prosecuting crimes."
Reliable numbers would focus the government's attention, and that could help shape policies, says Nadine Gasman, Guatemala's representative for the United Nations Population Fund.
"It's really important to acknowledge that this is not normal, that this is not the way things should be. It haunts these girls all their lives," she says. "We need to find ways to prevent it from happening. I'm a strong believer that if the state would take the lead, it would make a huge difference."
The UN is funding programs that seek to teach sexual equality to young men and teenagers. They have also funded performing arts groups and documentary makers that produce works that question the country's machismo culture.
The Red Cross and other groups are also working to keep youth from falling into gangs.
Although most agree Guatemala needs to incorporate sexual equality into its school curriculum and train doctors to look for the signs of sexual violence, the government has still failed to bring such programs into its ministries of health and education.
"I think the fact that we're able to talk about it as a society and the fact that we're recognizing the problem will help us come up with a way to prevent the problem," Rosales said.
Facing accusations that it has ignored the problem, the Guatemalan government last year passed a femicide law. It followed this year with the creation of a presidential office to assist in implementing the new legislation. More than 30 cases are currently being prosecuted under the law, which went into effect earlier this year. But the law is only minimally effective in a justice system riddled with corruption and impunity.
"The law is important, but we have a system in which 98 percent of crimes are not even brought to trial. Even fewer are convicted," says Cruz, of Fundación Sobrevivientes. "For a woman to press for her crime to be prosecuted takes a lot of courage."
Under threat, women drop charges
Marisole said she chose not to push for her crime to be prosecuted because her attackers told her they would kill her and her family. Eight of 10 women who press charges wind up dropping them.
A virgin when she was raped, she says, Marisole has suffered with shame in recent months, telling just two of her closest friends about the incident. These days, sitting next to a man on a bus or being alone with her boyfriend make her nervous. "I hope I get better one day," she says. "But I'm afraid I'm hurt for life."
Source:csmonitor.com
Guatemala Bolsters Security on Mexico Border
GUATEMALA - The presence of Guatemalan security forces have increased in border zones with Mexico, where locals had lost confidence on the police.
Ongoing operations, part of the so called 2009 Territorial Recovery Plans, will allow re-establishing contact with people in those areas, who will help improve the anti-crime battle by providing information.
Government Minister Raul Velasquez made known that objective, after he supervised actions by the National Civil Police.
The plan includes the departments of San Marcos, Huehuetenango, and Quetzaltenango, bordering Mexico. Surveillance in those areas includes patrolling, car searches, identification of people, and inspections in commercial establishments, it was officially informed.
Source:insidecostarica.com
Ongoing operations, part of the so called 2009 Territorial Recovery Plans, will allow re-establishing contact with people in those areas, who will help improve the anti-crime battle by providing information.
Government Minister Raul Velasquez made known that objective, after he supervised actions by the National Civil Police.
The plan includes the departments of San Marcos, Huehuetenango, and Quetzaltenango, bordering Mexico. Surveillance in those areas includes patrolling, car searches, identification of people, and inspections in commercial establishments, it was officially informed.
Source:insidecostarica.com
'Pack-a-thon' aids Guatemalan kids
BLUE ASH - Working two-hour shifts in teams, more than 600 volunteers Saturday assembled 200,000 meals for starving children in famine-stricken Guatemala.
From ages 3 to 85, the volunteers packed a high-protein mix of rice, dried vegetables and soy protein - one scoop at a time - through funnels and into plastic bags. They were boxed and stamped with a yellow sticker reading "Packed in Cincinnati, Ohio USA by volunteers who care." The next step is shipment by the organization Kids Against Hunger to the Central American nation.
Entire families, corporate volunteers and nurses with international human relief experience were among those who worked the assembly tables in a former grocery store on Hunt Road in what organizers billed as a "pack-a-thon."
Devin Robinson, 47, a nurse at Cincinnati Children's from Burlington, scooped soy during a morning shift.
She came alone and wanted to experience the food end of humanitarian relief. She spent two weeks in 2008 working in a clinic and teaching first aid in schools in the South American nation of Peru.
"I wanted to see this and see if there was a way to make a connection," said Robinson, who plans to go back to Peru next summer with Project C.U.R.E.
Organizers hung a white board on a hook in the front of the space after a morning shift. In marker, it read 42,768 meals - the number packed in two hours.
Kids Against Hunger is a part of the Liberty Township-based A Child's Hope International, founded in May 2008. Lawrence Bergeron, former lead pastor at Mason's Hope Church, is its executive director.
"Our whole focus is the 'least of these,'" said Bergeron, who spent the day leading an information session for incoming volunteers in one corner of the building before they would go on the line. Then he'd announce a shift change over a bullhorn.
Volunteers washed their hands with waterless sanitizer and slipped on aprons, rubber gloves and hairnets. Packed boxes were sealed and stacked on wooden pallets. In the back, volunteers poured rice and other ingredients into large plastic containers that were moved to tables for volunteers to scoop.
The group has shipped its food packets to Appalachia, overseas and locally through the Freestore Foodbank. Organizers and a banner hanging in the former store - the Kroger Co. handed Bergeron the keys to the building and pays for all utilities and necessary upgrades - reminds people of their ability to make a difference: One volunteer working two hours can pack enough food to feed a child for one year.
"You could use a machine for this, but you would lose the human touch," Bergeron said. "It's great to see the community coming together, all faiths, all ages."
Keith and Lecia Holley of Loveland brought their three children - daughter, Karlin, 11, and sons, Ethan and Nolan, 8 and 6 - to work a shift as a family. They took their turns scooping ingredients into the bags, patting them flat by hand and packing them into boxes.
"It's a great family ministry," Keith Holley, 43, said. "It's a hands-on way to help the less fortunate."
Less fortunate, indeed: 52 percent of Guatemala's 13.3 million people live in poverty, according to the Latin America Herald Tribune. A government study released in February reported that 45.6 percent of Guatemalan children suffer from chronic malnutrition and that their physical growth falls below the average established by the World Health Organization.
Billie Kimbrough, an executive with the Kroger, volunteered Saturday with a co-worker.
"It's a really neat process," Kimbrough said of her first-time experience with Kids against Hunger. "When I see the tapes (in the orientation) ... No person should go hungry."
Source:cincinnati.com
From ages 3 to 85, the volunteers packed a high-protein mix of rice, dried vegetables and soy protein - one scoop at a time - through funnels and into plastic bags. They were boxed and stamped with a yellow sticker reading "Packed in Cincinnati, Ohio USA by volunteers who care." The next step is shipment by the organization Kids Against Hunger to the Central American nation.
Entire families, corporate volunteers and nurses with international human relief experience were among those who worked the assembly tables in a former grocery store on Hunt Road in what organizers billed as a "pack-a-thon."
Devin Robinson, 47, a nurse at Cincinnati Children's from Burlington, scooped soy during a morning shift.
She came alone and wanted to experience the food end of humanitarian relief. She spent two weeks in 2008 working in a clinic and teaching first aid in schools in the South American nation of Peru.
"I wanted to see this and see if there was a way to make a connection," said Robinson, who plans to go back to Peru next summer with Project C.U.R.E.
Organizers hung a white board on a hook in the front of the space after a morning shift. In marker, it read 42,768 meals - the number packed in two hours.
Kids Against Hunger is a part of the Liberty Township-based A Child's Hope International, founded in May 2008. Lawrence Bergeron, former lead pastor at Mason's Hope Church, is its executive director.
"Our whole focus is the 'least of these,'" said Bergeron, who spent the day leading an information session for incoming volunteers in one corner of the building before they would go on the line. Then he'd announce a shift change over a bullhorn.
Volunteers washed their hands with waterless sanitizer and slipped on aprons, rubber gloves and hairnets. Packed boxes were sealed and stacked on wooden pallets. In the back, volunteers poured rice and other ingredients into large plastic containers that were moved to tables for volunteers to scoop.
The group has shipped its food packets to Appalachia, overseas and locally through the Freestore Foodbank. Organizers and a banner hanging in the former store - the Kroger Co. handed Bergeron the keys to the building and pays for all utilities and necessary upgrades - reminds people of their ability to make a difference: One volunteer working two hours can pack enough food to feed a child for one year.
"You could use a machine for this, but you would lose the human touch," Bergeron said. "It's great to see the community coming together, all faiths, all ages."
Keith and Lecia Holley of Loveland brought their three children - daughter, Karlin, 11, and sons, Ethan and Nolan, 8 and 6 - to work a shift as a family. They took their turns scooping ingredients into the bags, patting them flat by hand and packing them into boxes.
"It's a great family ministry," Keith Holley, 43, said. "It's a hands-on way to help the less fortunate."
Less fortunate, indeed: 52 percent of Guatemala's 13.3 million people live in poverty, according to the Latin America Herald Tribune. A government study released in February reported that 45.6 percent of Guatemalan children suffer from chronic malnutrition and that their physical growth falls below the average established by the World Health Organization.
Billie Kimbrough, an executive with the Kroger, volunteered Saturday with a co-worker.
"It's a really neat process," Kimbrough said of her first-time experience with Kids against Hunger. "When I see the tapes (in the orientation) ... No person should go hungry."
Source:cincinnati.com
Guatemalan gangs: swagger, tattoos but no rules
GUATEMALA CITY, Guatemala — Sandra doesn’t go outside after dark anymore. She lives in one of this city’s most notorious areas, where rival gangs have turned streets into war zones.
“It was like fireworks: pop, pop, pop everywhere,” Sandra, who asked that her last name not be used for fear of her safety, said of gunshots on one particularly busy night a few months ago.
The next day, bodies were found strewn throughout the city and her neighborhood, El Limon, a collection of ramshackle concrete block homes. At least 50 people, mostly gang members, were killed over two days that August weekend. They were shot, strangled and beaten to death.
For comparison, that would be the equivalent of 170 murders in New York City, which has three times as many people but averages about four murders per weekend.
It turned out to be the deadliest day of the year in a city that has become synonymous with crime. And it was also the last time Sandra went out after dark.
The gangs are central players in a crime wave that has paralyzed the country. Residents, like Sandra, are left powerless and frightened by the gangs' lack of propriety. Heinous crimes are accepted, even encouraged by the gang culture here.
The gangs are particularly dangerous these days because they are in their infancy, said Luis Rodriguez, author of “Always Running: La Vida Loca, Gang Days in L.A.” and a former member of East Los Angeles gangs.
Compared to L.A. gangs, those in Central America are operating without rules, said Rodriguez, who has done research in Sandra’s neighborhood.
“They have all the swagger of an L.A. gang, they have all the symbols, the tattoos, the signs, but they have none of the structure. They’re still too young to have developed any type of structure,” he said. “In the early days of gangs in L.A., raping a woman was a good way to develop your reputation. I knew a guy who raped dozens of women.”
Rodriguez said that as the gangs in L.A. developed, they learned that brutal tactics tarnished their reputations. “It was bad for business. So they stopped. The gangs in Guatemala haven’t gotten to that point,” he said.
Many Guatemalan gangs have roots in Los Angeles. During the 1980s — with civil wars being fought in Central America — Salvadorans fled to Hispanic neighborhoods of Los Angeles. They established gangs, "maras" in Spanish, with names to honor their home country. The most notorious were Mara 18 (a reference to 18th Street in San Salvador) and Mara Salvatrucha 13 (a reference to the gang founders who said they were as wise as a trout or trucha).
Members of those gangs were deported from Los Angeles and quickly began to spread in Central America. While much of the country’s crime spike has been blamed on Mexican drug cartels, observers say other Guatemalan criminal elements are responsible for many of the crimes.
Diego, a 14-year-old with slicked back hair who lives in a neighborhood with a growing gang presence, said the more brash the crime, the better it serves your reputation.
Source:globalpost.com
“It was like fireworks: pop, pop, pop everywhere,” Sandra, who asked that her last name not be used for fear of her safety, said of gunshots on one particularly busy night a few months ago.
The next day, bodies were found strewn throughout the city and her neighborhood, El Limon, a collection of ramshackle concrete block homes. At least 50 people, mostly gang members, were killed over two days that August weekend. They were shot, strangled and beaten to death.
For comparison, that would be the equivalent of 170 murders in New York City, which has three times as many people but averages about four murders per weekend.
It turned out to be the deadliest day of the year in a city that has become synonymous with crime. And it was also the last time Sandra went out after dark.
The gangs are central players in a crime wave that has paralyzed the country. Residents, like Sandra, are left powerless and frightened by the gangs' lack of propriety. Heinous crimes are accepted, even encouraged by the gang culture here.
The gangs are particularly dangerous these days because they are in their infancy, said Luis Rodriguez, author of “Always Running: La Vida Loca, Gang Days in L.A.” and a former member of East Los Angeles gangs.
Compared to L.A. gangs, those in Central America are operating without rules, said Rodriguez, who has done research in Sandra’s neighborhood.
“They have all the swagger of an L.A. gang, they have all the symbols, the tattoos, the signs, but they have none of the structure. They’re still too young to have developed any type of structure,” he said. “In the early days of gangs in L.A., raping a woman was a good way to develop your reputation. I knew a guy who raped dozens of women.”
Rodriguez said that as the gangs in L.A. developed, they learned that brutal tactics tarnished their reputations. “It was bad for business. So they stopped. The gangs in Guatemala haven’t gotten to that point,” he said.
Many Guatemalan gangs have roots in Los Angeles. During the 1980s — with civil wars being fought in Central America — Salvadorans fled to Hispanic neighborhoods of Los Angeles. They established gangs, "maras" in Spanish, with names to honor their home country. The most notorious were Mara 18 (a reference to 18th Street in San Salvador) and Mara Salvatrucha 13 (a reference to the gang founders who said they were as wise as a trout or trucha).
Members of those gangs were deported from Los Angeles and quickly began to spread in Central America. While much of the country’s crime spike has been blamed on Mexican drug cartels, observers say other Guatemalan criminal elements are responsible for many of the crimes.
Diego, a 14-year-old with slicked back hair who lives in a neighborhood with a growing gang presence, said the more brash the crime, the better it serves your reputation.
Source:globalpost.com
Darrington Elementary honored by Guatemala for helping schools
DARRINGTON — Children from this small, economically depressed town in the Cascade Range foothills went all out last spring to help establish a community library in the mountain village of Zacatecas, Guatemala.
Darrington Elementary School students collected school supplies, puzzles, multiple sets of Lego toy building bricks and money for books. They made English-Spanish vocabulary flash cards, painted postcards, printed photos and wrote letters to send to the children in the village.
Their efforts recently won recognition from the federal government of Guatemala.
Ana Ordonez DeMolina, the Central American country’s minister of education, sent her thanks and a framed certificate from the Republic of Guatemala for the support given to the Zacatecas Library.
Students got their first look at the certificate last week in their school library. Now the kids have vowed to keep up the relationship with their sister library and are planning another drive for supplies in the spring.
Sixth-grader Shasta Howe, 12, said she has enjoyed the project because it involved a lot of fun art activities.
“And we got to do these things for other people,” Shasta said. “The award is really cool because you don’t usually get certificates from different countries.”
Shasta and her friends also were pleased to look at recent photos of the children in the Guatemalan community.
“I would like to meet the kids in Zacatecas,” Shasta said. “But I am not sure I would visit for long, because there’s no TV there.”
Darrington adults involved in the Zacatecas Library project include parent volunteer Litza Lovell, school librarian Mary Quantrille, community volunteer Martha Rasmussen and Catherine Austin.
Austin, 27, works for the U.S. Forest Service in the summer and is a certified emergency substitute teacher for the Darrington School District in the winter.
Fluent in Spanish, Austin also volunteers for the nonprofit organization Avivara, which was responsible for delivering the supplies from Darrington to Zacatecas. Her mother and stepfather, retired teachers, are Avivara volunteers in Guatemala.
Avivara, whose mission is to improve access to education in Guatemala, reports that about 70 percent of those in rural areas live in poverty and only about 25 percent of the people know how to read and write, Austin said.
Every elementary class spends a short period each day in the library, and so the library became the staging ground for the Zacatecas project, she said.
“It was an intimate, informal setting where the kids learned about Guatemala and life there. They also learned a little bit about the Spanish language. Then we brainstormed about how they could help the children in Zacatecas,” Austin said. “They formed a real connection with their sister library.”
Shipping the supplies and contributions to Guatemala was too expensive, so they were stuffed into the suitcases of Austin’s folks when they came for a visit.
The Kiwanis Club of Darrington contributed money for dictionaries for the Zacatecas Library. Rasmussen, a club member, also gave a personal contribution. Her father, the late Marvin Gharet of Everett, loved libraries and would have been pleased to donate to the cause, she said.
Lovell, who led the Darrington students in making postcards and flash cards, said Darrington families were generous in their contributions.
Quantrille agreed.
“It was an awesome project involving the school and the community,” Quantrille said. “The library in Darrington has more than 10,000 titles, while the library books in Zacatecas fill just one bookcase. Our students live in a community where we don’t have much. Now they feel much more fortunate.”
Gale Fiege: 425-339-3427; gfiege@heraldnet.com.
Source:heraldnet.com
Darrington Elementary School students collected school supplies, puzzles, multiple sets of Lego toy building bricks and money for books. They made English-Spanish vocabulary flash cards, painted postcards, printed photos and wrote letters to send to the children in the village.
Their efforts recently won recognition from the federal government of Guatemala.
Ana Ordonez DeMolina, the Central American country’s minister of education, sent her thanks and a framed certificate from the Republic of Guatemala for the support given to the Zacatecas Library.
Students got their first look at the certificate last week in their school library. Now the kids have vowed to keep up the relationship with their sister library and are planning another drive for supplies in the spring.
Sixth-grader Shasta Howe, 12, said she has enjoyed the project because it involved a lot of fun art activities.
“And we got to do these things for other people,” Shasta said. “The award is really cool because you don’t usually get certificates from different countries.”
Shasta and her friends also were pleased to look at recent photos of the children in the Guatemalan community.
“I would like to meet the kids in Zacatecas,” Shasta said. “But I am not sure I would visit for long, because there’s no TV there.”
Darrington adults involved in the Zacatecas Library project include parent volunteer Litza Lovell, school librarian Mary Quantrille, community volunteer Martha Rasmussen and Catherine Austin.
Austin, 27, works for the U.S. Forest Service in the summer and is a certified emergency substitute teacher for the Darrington School District in the winter.
Fluent in Spanish, Austin also volunteers for the nonprofit organization Avivara, which was responsible for delivering the supplies from Darrington to Zacatecas. Her mother and stepfather, retired teachers, are Avivara volunteers in Guatemala.
Avivara, whose mission is to improve access to education in Guatemala, reports that about 70 percent of those in rural areas live in poverty and only about 25 percent of the people know how to read and write, Austin said.
Every elementary class spends a short period each day in the library, and so the library became the staging ground for the Zacatecas project, she said.
“It was an intimate, informal setting where the kids learned about Guatemala and life there. They also learned a little bit about the Spanish language. Then we brainstormed about how they could help the children in Zacatecas,” Austin said. “They formed a real connection with their sister library.”
Shipping the supplies and contributions to Guatemala was too expensive, so they were stuffed into the suitcases of Austin’s folks when they came for a visit.
The Kiwanis Club of Darrington contributed money for dictionaries for the Zacatecas Library. Rasmussen, a club member, also gave a personal contribution. Her father, the late Marvin Gharet of Everett, loved libraries and would have been pleased to donate to the cause, she said.
Lovell, who led the Darrington students in making postcards and flash cards, said Darrington families were generous in their contributions.
Quantrille agreed.
“It was an awesome project involving the school and the community,” Quantrille said. “The library in Darrington has more than 10,000 titles, while the library books in Zacatecas fill just one bookcase. Our students live in a community where we don’t have much. Now they feel much more fortunate.”
Gale Fiege: 425-339-3427; gfiege@heraldnet.com.
Source:heraldnet.com
US Anti-Drug Operation Fails in Guatemala
GUATEMALA - A combined operation by Guatemala and US forces to capture and extradite to the United States drug-traffickers in Guatemala reportedly failed.
Sources from Teculutan, Department of Zacapa, have given an account of the attempt carried out by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and a large contingent of Guatemalan police, military and district attorneys.
They raided the houses of two people accused for drug-trafficking and with an extradition order from Washington, but they failed to arrest them.
According to media, that was the fourth failed operation carried out by DEA in the last months.
Source:insidecostarica.com
Sources from Teculutan, Department of Zacapa, have given an account of the attempt carried out by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and a large contingent of Guatemalan police, military and district attorneys.
They raided the houses of two people accused for drug-trafficking and with an extradition order from Washington, but they failed to arrest them.
According to media, that was the fourth failed operation carried out by DEA in the last months.
Source:insidecostarica.com
Guatemalan`Drug kingpin’ convicted in New York
Guatemalan `Drug kingpin’, Jorge Mario Paredes-Cordova has been convicted of cocaine importation and distribution charges in New York. AP
Jorge Mario Paredes-Cordova was the leader of a Guatemalan drug trafficking organization with criminal associates in Colombia, Panama, Nicaragua, Mexico and El Salvador trafficking multi-ton cocaine shipments into Guatemala via air, land and sea routes.
Paredes-Cordova was convicted on Friday by a federal jury in Manhattan on charges he led a drug-trafficking syndicate that smuggled tons of cocaine into the country from Central America. Paredes-Cordova was captured in Honduras in May 2008 while living there under a false identity
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Source:typeboard.com
Guatemalan leader's visit to Russia delayed
Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom's visit to Russia initially planned for late November has been delayed until a later date, Colom's spokesman Ronaldo Robles said.
Colom also canceled his participation in the Ibero-American summit, due November 30 — December 1 in Portugal.
Russia's ambassador to Guatemala Nikolai Vladimir told RIA Novosti the visit was postponed on an agreement between the sides.
"The main reason for the delay is that the Guatemalan National Congress has not yet adopted the country's budget for 2010 although the deadline expires November 30," he said.
In the current situation, Colom decided to stay in the country and attend a parliamentary session considering a draft 2010 budget.
Vladimir said the new date for the visit will be coordinated through diplomatic channels
Source:rian.ru
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