Join NISGUA & CODIDENA on our 2015 tour!
We are excited to announce that NISGUA’s 2015 speaking tour will feature the Diocesan Committee in Defense of Nature (CODIDENA) - the grassroots organizers behind widespread opposition to Tahoe Resources' mine in Guatemala. The two-week tour begins October 12 in Reno, Nevada and will travel through Midwest and the Northeast before ending in Boston on October 26. CODIDENA leader [...]
Retrial for Ríos Montt to take place behind closed doors
Legal battles over Efraín Ríos Montt's health have taken center stage over the past three months in the decades-long search for justice for genocide in Guatemala. On August 25, the three-judge tribunal ruled that Ríos Montt is mentally unfit to stand trial due to chronic and irreversible dementia. The court ordered that Montt be assigned a legal representative to [...]
Crumbling political support for Tahoe Resources in Guatemala
Article written in collaboration with MiningWatch Canada and the Maritimes-Guatemala Breaking the Silence Network. If the militarized security strategy that Tahoe Resources has used to put its Escobal silver mine into operation isn’t enough to raise questions about the ethics of the company’s operations in Guatemala, the recent resignation of Guatemalan President Otto Pérez Molina should be. Pérez Molina stepped down on [...]
Guatemalan President Otto Pérez Molina resigns, detained on charges of corruption
Update: On Tuesday, September 8, former President Otto Pérez Molina was indicted on charges of customs fraud, illicit association, and bribery in connection with "La Línea," a customs fraud network accused of stealing millions of dollars from the Guatemalan state. Given the number of people still being investigated in connection with La Línea, Judge Galvéz ordered that Molina be [...]
Despite the arrest of former VP Roxana Baldetti, President Otto Pérez Molina says he won’t step down
On Friday, the UN-backed International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG) and Public Prosecutor's office revealed evidence connecting Guatemala President Otto Pérez Molina to the massive customs corruption network known as La Línea. Prosecutors have filed a legal motion to strip Pérez Molina of his presidential immunity – the second action of its kind to be filed in the [...]
Take Action: Call on the U.S. Embassy to stand up for political prisoners Saúl and Rogelio
On September 1, Barillas land defenders Saúl Méndez and Rogelio Velásquez will stand trial again for accessory to murder. Citing serious irregularities and major errors in the initial trial earlier this year that condemned both men to 33 years and 4 months in prison, a Special Appeals court ruled on May 15 to annul the sentence and ordered the [...]