Former NISGUA accompanier Olivia Pandolfi (they/them or she/her) created this zine about militarization and resistance as a Friends and Family Letter to their community.

To read the zine as a PDF, click here. To download the zine, cut it up, and fold it into your own mini zine, click here!

Dear friends & family,
I’m writing with a last letter (and another zine!) from Guatemala. I’ve just finished work as an accompanier; the last several weeks have been full of salidas, accompaniments, and tying up loose ends. I’m handing off a lot of in-process work to the next batch of folks, and finding the transition away from the Guatemalan partners I’ve gotten to know a little difficult.
One of those last accompaniments was a peaceful protest in Huehuetenango against the presence of US troops on Indigenous territory. In the action, organized by the Departamental Assembly of the People of Huehuetenango (ADH), community members marched to the US and Guatemalan military bases and to the governor’s office to deliver a petition demanding the immediate retreat of the troops. The ADH requested that NISGUA disseminate this petition and their demands widely in the US in order to urge the people there to hold their government accountable for the harm it is doing in Guatemala.
With wide media coverage of the enraging and inhumane reality of immigration policies inside the US (which itself provokes serious questions about ethical journalism), it feels important to lift up their less visible effects outside of US borders. With that in mind, I made another zine that provides some context for the militarization of the Mexico/Guatemala border and the ADH’s peaceful action of resistance. Attached you’ll find 1. a pdf (front and back) of the zine that you can print out and assemble yourself (please feel free to make copies and distribute it if you’d like) and 2. a pdf of the zine that’s easier to read digitally (bigger pages). As always, I’d love to hear any responses or questions you have!
Right now I have a lot of gratitude going in a lot of directions, and a big part of it is for all of you for being with me through this experience. Thank you for listening, for writing back, and for supporting and forming me before, during and after these 10 months. I’m looking forward to seeing so many of you soon!
in love and solidarity,
Olivia