Topic: Guatemala | VivirLatino

Stolen Vidas : Some Guatemalan Babies in the U.S. Were Stolen From Their Mamis

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 18:12:11 -0500

About a year ago, we wrote about some of the problems and attempts at solutions surrounding adoptions of Guatemalan children. Even after the passing a new law that imposed stricter standards on international adoptions, at least one baby, destined for the arms of a U.S family was been proven to have been stolen from her birth mother.
From the BBC:

Ana Escobar reported her daughter Esther Sulamita stolen last year and during her search saw the baby with a US woman who was adopting her.
The baby had a false birth certificate but DNA tests proved the parentage and Esther is now back with Ms Escobar.

Via / Citizen Orange and BBC News

Anti-Immigrant Groups in Denver Protest Actions of Guatemalan Consul

Mon, 18 Feb 2008 09:56:29 -0500

They say third time is a charm, but this wasn't the case for the Denver-based consul of Guatemala, that renewed passports and embassy identifications for its citizens living and working in Utah, Colorado and Nevada. Anti-immigration groups protested the event because the Guatemalan nationals didn't have to prove their status in the U.S. (why would they- this was for Guatemalan documents!). Protest groups said if the Guatemalans were legal immigrants, they wouldn't need secondary forms of identification.

Via / Local News 8

Guatemala Has a New President

Tue, 15 Jan 2008 11:07:59 -0500

Guatemala swore in a new president yesterday; Alvaro Colom, a social democrat, defeated a scary army general back in November, and officially began his term with a pledge to help the less fortunate of his country:

"I thank God that Guatemala got the chance for the first time in 50 years to change to a social democratic government,'' he said today after being sworn in. ``I'm convinced that by giving to those who have the least, we will all have more."

How many administrations have begun with just those words? Let's hope Alvaro will keep his word. Guatemala faces serious issues many of which -- like discrimination and violence -- are age-old. On the topic of racism, Colom says he plans to govern Guatemala "with a Mayan face".

Via / Bloomberg and AFP

Guatemala Approves New Adoption Law

Wed, 12 Dec 2007 08:06:04 -0500

I took some heat for my position on international adoptions in third world nations, specific to a story about Guatemala suspending international adoptions. Well yesterday Guatemalan legislators approved a new law that tightens adoptions, while allowing pending cases — mostly involving U.S. couples — to go through without meeting stricter requirements. The new requirements comply with international law, specifically the Hague Convention, that was designed to protect adopted children from human trafficking.

The Central American country sent 4,135 children to the U.S. last year, making it the largest source of babies for American families after China.

Guatemala Meet Your New President!

Mon, 05 Nov 2007 08:58:31 -0500

Álvaro Colom beat out an army general proving that Latin American countries want more than just un gran macho to lead them. It doesn't get less macho than this guy. At least that's how the U.S. media is painting him. I mean seriously, the New York Times couldn't find a more flattering pic?

Álvaro Colom is a business man who focused on Guatemala's poverty throughout the campaign.

Colom himself said that vote was more about saying ‘no’ to the perpetuation of Guatemala’s militaristic history.

Giving Birth in Rural Guatemala

Thu, 25 Oct 2007 10:40:50 -0500

Childbirth isn't an easy process for any woman, but an article I came across this morning highlights the problems women, mostly Indigenous women, face in rural Guatemala. Part of the problem is poverty, made worse by machista attitudes towards pregnancy and childbirth

....in Guatemala, where 1 in every 71 women who becomes pregnant during her lifetime dies from causes associated with pregnancy, delivery and the postpartum period. In the Latin America-Caribbean region that's second only to Haiti, where the risk is 1 in 44. Often women in difficult labor are carried down in a hammock by menfrom the 16-family community, a journey that takes about two hours. Once they reach the nearest passable road, they could try to flag down a ride. But more often they would still have to walk the rest of the way as well, taking at least another four hours.

Guatemala Suspends Adoptions

Fri, 05 Oct 2007 06:42:14 -0500

Let me come clean. I have problems with transnational and transracial adoptions. There, I said it. I think the system is racist on a number of levels. The president of Guatemala has some concerns too, leading him to suspend adoptions starting in the new year.

The country's president said he is taking the measure -- seen by some as extreme in that it ignores the fate of what will quickly be thousands of abandoned children -- amid growing concerns about the current system, which opponents say has led to paying mothers for children or coercing them to give up their babies.
An average of 17 children born in Guatemala leave the country for the United States every day with the parents who adopted them. Guatemala has long been considered a place where adoptions are relatively fast and uncomplicated. The Central American country is behind only China in the number of children adopted out to American families every year.
Guatemala has the highest per capita rate of adoption of any country in the world. One of every 100 children born in the country is adopted internationally. American officials say 5,000 adoptions have been approved this year, an all-time high for Guatemalan adoptions to the U.S. American officials also say that last year's 4,000 adoptions were legal and untainted by any problems.

Guatemala Elections: Runoff, Menchu defeated

Mon, 10 Sep 2007 18:12:53 -0500

While here in the U.S. we watched Democratic presidential candidates pander to Latino voters, voters in Guatemala were casting their ballots for president. 96 percent of votes have been tallied, and as per usual in Latin American elections, there will be a run-off. Businessman Alvaro Colom will face off with conservative ex-General Otto Perez in the segunda vuelta on November 4th.

The most internationally-known candidate in the 2007 Guatemalan elections, Nobel Laureate Rigoberta Menchu, didn't fair well at the ballot box, receiving a mere 3.4% of votes.

Menchu points to a "fear of the indigenous" as the reason for her poor showings at the polls. In an exclusive interview with AP, Menchu says:

With 42 percent of the population "we indigenous people are a majority and that's why they are afraid that if I make it, it will be dangerous. They use a fake fear like with Evo Morales, that Evo Morales is going to come and start an uprising among farm workers," said the presidential candidate on Saturday.

According to Mexico's El Universal, it is that same fear that had her being asked time and time again during her campaign about her relationship indigenous leaders, Hugo Chavez and Evo himself.

Via / Forbes and El Universal
Image via Edgarin's Flickr page

Rights group demands Mexico look into abuse against Central American immigrants

Mon, 23 Jul 2007 17:28:35 -0500

Every year thousands of undocumented people pass into the U.S. through the border with Mexico, and not all of them are Mexican. Many begin their journey in their homelands in Central America, and in order to reach U.S. territory must become, in the words of Los Tigres del Norte --"dos veces mojados" -- crossing not one border but two. Central Americans entering Mexican territory do not have it easy, and allegations of abuse on the part of Mexican officials has been a catalyst for a demand by Mexico's Human Rights Center for the National Commission of Human Rights (CNDH) to investigate the allegations:

In a press release, the National Center for Human Rights announced that there have been numerous complaints filed against military personnel and INM [Mexican Immigration authority) officials for stealing of money, physical and sexual aggression against Guatemalans, Hondurans and Salvadorans without CNDH having ever addressed the problems.

Are Mt. Kisco Police Killing Guatemalan Immigrants?

Tue, 15 May 2007 10:50:09 -0500

Rene Perez, a 42 year old homeless immigrant from Guatemala was found on a road in Bedford, N.Y. nearly dead on April 28th. He died shortly thereafter of internal injuries according to a medical examiner but the death of Perez has raised questions with possible answers including police brutality and a pattern of immigrant deaths in the suburban town north of New York City.

Mount Kisco police have acknowledged that three of its officers met up with Perez after the 42-year-old placed a 911 call from a coin-operated laundry. The officers determined that Perez "did not have a police matter," the Mount Kisco police said.
The county medical examiner classified Perez's death a homicide. Menzel said the injuries showed that Perez was "struck."

Maya do a wipe down after Bush visit

Tue, 13 Mar 2007 18:13:12 -0500

Much like how you would hose the garage down after Fido has an accident, some Maya activists in Guatemala said they would "perform a cleansing" after our President dirtied their sacred land with his presence during a visit yesterday, part of his Latin American tour:

Mayan leaders will spiritually "cleanse" ancient ruins in Guatemala after a visit by U.S. President George W. Bush, unpopular here because of foreign policies going back to Central America's civil wars.

The leaders said they would hold a spiritual ceremony to restore "peace and harmony" at the Mayan ruins of Iximche after Bush tours the site on Monday.

"No, Mr. Bush, you cannot trample and degrade the memory of our ancestors," said indigenous leader Rodolfo Pocop during a press conference. "This is not your ranch in Texas."

Awesome. Mayan leaders quip about the Crawford ranch like the rest of us. According to Reuters, the activists we planning to "...burn incense, place flowers and water in the area where Mr. Bush has walked to clean out the bad energy." Oh, if that were only enough.

Via / Reuters UK

Bush and Chavez Dueling Tours Continue

Mon, 12 Mar 2007 12:30:46 -0500

U.S. President Bush continues his goodwill tour of Latin America. He hugged Lula, talked trade with Uruguay, and practically ran through Colombia as protesters burned U.S. flags. Today Bush lands in Guatemala where he plans to talk about poverty. Meanwhile Venezuelan President and Bush arch-enemy, Hugo Chavez is touring the places Bush isn't. In Argentina he sort of took back his statements made at the U.N earlier this year when he called Bush a devil who smelled of sulfur.

In the rally in Argentina, Chavez called Bush a "political cadaver" and said he didn't smell like sulfur anymore. That's probably not the sort of apology Bush was looking for but oh well.

Chavez continued his tour in Bolivia with pal Evo Morales, showing love to victims of El Nino storm flooding.

Via / CBS News

Rigoberta for President

Thu, 22 Feb 2007 17:59:01 -0500

While the U.S. is caught up in the Obama vs. Hillary for president game, many Guatemalans are celebrating the announcement that Nobel Peace Prize laureate and indigenous activist Rigoberta Menchu will run for president of their country:

Rigoberta Menchú said Wednesday that she will run for president of Guatemala, backed by a center-left coalition, in an attempt to become the second indigenous leader of a Latin American nation.

Menchú, the 1992 Nobel Peace Prize laureate and defender of the Mayan victims of the brutal civil war that tore through Guatemala between 1960 and 1996, will participat in the September 9th elections together with the Juntos por Guatemala coalition and Winaq, a newly formed indigenous political party.

Fried Chicken and Floods in Jakarta

Wed, 07 Feb 2007 14:28:50 -0500

Jakarta may be underwater but that didn't stop Guatemalan chicken chain, Pollo Campero from opening its first Asian branch in the Indonesian capital. According to a press release ,the locale opened its doors in Sarinah, a historical department store in the heart of the Jakarta's business district.

Now don't get me wrong. I have nothing against Pollo Campero. I have a branch three blocks from my apartment that I have patronized on more than one occasion but with hundreds of thousand dead in Jakarta because of flooding, fried chicken probably isn't the priority.

Via / Hispanic PR Wire

Spain seeks to prosecute Guatemalan politicians

Thu, 28 Dec 2006 12:13:38 -0500

The Spanish government is looking to have several Guatelmalan ex-military rulers extradited to Spain and prosecuted for the crimes of genocide and torture, according to the BBC:

Human rights groups want the seven - including two former military rulers - to face trial in Spain.

Guatemala has rejected extradition requests made this year.

Spain's highest court has ruled that cases of genocide committed abroad could be judged in Spain, even if no Spanish citizens have been involved.

The seven men sought by Madrid include former military rulers Efrain Rios Montt and Oscar Humberto Mejia Victores.

They are wanted in connection with a series of kidnappings, mass murders and torture of Mayan Indians committed during Guatemalan's 36-year-long civil war, which ended 10 years ago.