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Posts Tagged ‘Guatemala

Remember the Postville Raids?

via Racewire

When the US government stormed a Kosher meat plant in the American heartland, arresting nearly 400 undocumented workers, a Guatemalan village wept. The biggest immigration raid in US history severed an economic lifeline to one of the poorest corners of the Western Hemisphere while pushing an Iowa farm town to the brink of collapse.

Well, there is a new documentary out about the raids:

In the Shadow of the Raid – trailer from Streetdog Media on Vimeo.

Documentaries like “In the shadow of the raid” have the potential to change public support of deportations because we don’t often hear about the impact on families, friends and communities of the workers who were detained.

The film will be premiering at the Morelia International Film Festival, in Mexico between Oct. 3 and Oct. 11, but we at RaceWire can’t wait for it to come to the other side of the border.

For more information on screenings of “In the shadow of the raid” visit Street Dog Media.

Charges Against Twitter User in Guatemala Dropped

7:35 am By Maegan la Mamita Mala · Guatemala| Twitter · Comments Off

9 Jul 2009

jeanferNearly two months age we wrote about the “tweet heard ’round Guatemala” and how that tweet landed Jeanfer, also known as Jean Anleu, in jail facing charges of inciting financial panic. Well it looks like he’s a free man and that all charges have been dropped.

Via / Boing Boing

The situation in Guatemala is getting heavier by the moment with reports of arrests of street vendors and at least one twitter user A little background. Attorney Rodrigo Rosenberg was killed and a video released posthumously points the finger at President Alvaro Colom.

The video’s release has led to widespread protest, calling for President Colom to step down and face justice. The twittersphere in the Central American country also responded. Twitter user “Jeanfer” was arrested for suggesting in a tweet that people who had money deposited in Banrural should remove those funds, and by doing so, break the control that “corrupt people” have over the state-controlled financial institution. The murdered attorney, who was shot to death this past weekend, represented a finance expert, Khalil Musa, who was said to have refused to participate in corrupt transactions involving Banrural.

Read more…

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

9:56 am By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Guatemala| Immigration · Comments Off

18 Feb 2008

guatemala.gif 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

11:07 am By Maegan La Mala · Guatemala| Politics · Comments Off

15 Jan 2008

Pag-16-06-11-07.jpgGuatemala 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

8:06 am By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Controversia| Guatemala| Justice| Women| children · Comments Off

12 Dec 2007

capt.d9ce277f94284a60ba3f8b064d78b978.guatemala_adoptions_gua101.jpgI 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.

Read more…

Guatemala Meet Your New President!

8:58 am By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Guatemala| Politics · Comments Off

5 Nov 2007

05guatemala.600.jpgÁlvaro 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.

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Giving Birth in Rural Guatemala

10:40 am By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Guatemala| Health| Women| children · Comments Off

25 Oct 2007

village-3362.jpgChildbirth 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.

Read more…

Guatemala Suspends Adoptions

6:42 am By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Controversia| Family| Guatemala| Women| children · 8 Comments

5 Oct 2007

guatadopt.jpgLet 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.

Read more…


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