Accompanier perspectives: Exile & Mountain
Ethan, Internacionalista 2024, wrote this letter on October 9th, 2024 after a visit to ex-political prisoners in Huehuetenango. The Cuchumatanes mountains stretch 400 kilometers across the departments of Huehuetenango and Quiché in [...]
Accompanier Perspectives: A Photo Album from Guatemala
Michelle Liang (she/her) wrote this letter in July, 2024. This Friends and Chosen Family letter is a little different. I thought, sometimes my favorite way of receiving stories is sitting down with my friends [...]
Accompanier Perspectives: Being an Asian American Accompanier
Michelle Liang (she/her) internacionalista 2023-2024 wrote this letter on February, 2024. Photo by NISGUA Internacionalista. Guatemala City. January 2024 Thank you for reading! I had written this letter a while ago, [...]
Accompanier Perspectives: Then and now -US and Israeli backed genocide
Right now the most well documented genocide in recorded history is being committed by Israel–with the full throated military and political complicity of the United States–against the Palestinian people in Gaza. On Friday, March [...]
Accompanier perspectives: Understanding difference and shared struggle through solidarity
An Internacionalista 2023 wrote this letter on August, 2023. Hello All, Welcome to my friends and family letter after 2 months of being in Guatemala! This letter is part update/part reflections on [...]
![[ESP] Una tarjeta blanca sostenida por una mano. en la tarjeta se dibuja una vela con lápiz negro y unas letras que dicen: Don Noé presente. Por arriba y debajo de la vela pegado unos pétalos de rosas. [ENG] A white card held by one hand. On the card is drawn a candle with black pencil and some letters that say: Don Noah present. Above and below the candle glued some rose petals.](https://nisgua.org/wp-content/uploads/Untitled-design-11-320x202.png)
Accompanier perspectives: Organizing lessons from 106 days of Indigenous resistance at the Public Ministry
Ana (they/elle/ella). Internacionalista 2023 wrote this letter on January 18th, 2024. Dear friends, family and comrades: Bernardo Arévalo is president of Guatemala as of Monday in the very early morning. Even though [...]
![[ENG] Landscape of Guatemala. With blue sky and green grass and mountains at the bottom. [ESP] Paisaje de Guatemala. Con cielo azul y hierba verde y montañas al fondo.](https://nisgua.org/wp-content/uploads/signal-2024-02-01-141339_005-320x202.jpeg)
Accompanier perspectives: A letter as a messenger, in the road to awareness and global solidarity.
Michelle Liang (she/her), Internacionalista 2023 Welcome to my first Friends & (Chosen) Family Letter from Guatemala. Part of my responsibilities in my year with the Network in Solidarity with the People of [...]
Accompanier perspectives: The rivers here and the rivers up north are connected
Ana (they/them), Internacionalista 2023 wrote this letter on October 23rd, 2023 during the Guatemala National Strike. Right now, it is day 21 of a massive Plurinational Strike in Guatemala, led by [...]
Perspectivas de lxs acompañantes: Una reflexión de dos incendios
Esta reflexión es de Maisie (elles/elles) actual Internacionalista. Llevo ya más de 8 meses en Guatemala. Desde la última vez que les escribí, mis reflexiones se han multiplicado por diez. Estar aquí es como [...]
Accompanier perspectives: A reflection on two fires
This reflection is by Maisie (they/them) current Internacionalista. I’ve been in Guatemala for more than 8 months now. Since the last time I wrote y’all, my reflections have increased tenfold. Being here feels like [...]
![[ESP] En una calle de guatemala, en el muro de un parque, hay un grafiti con letras blancas que dice: La memoria es justicia para nuestrxs abuelxs. [ENG] n a street in Guatemala, on the wall of a park, a graffitti with white letter said: The memory is justice for our ancesters](https://nisgua.org/wp-content/uploads/IMG_5471-320x202.jpg)
Perspectiva de lxs acompañantes: el SIDA y memoria histórica.
Oli (elle) ex internacionalista de NISGUA y compa para siempre, escribió esto después de su segunda estancia como voluntarie en Guatemala con NISGUA. Durante mi primera semana de vuelta a casa en Filadelfia después [...]
Accompanier perspectives: AIDS and historical memory.
Oli (they/them), former NISGUA Internacionalista and forever compa, wrote this after their second stint as a volunteer in Guatemala with NISGUA. During my first week back home in Philadelphia after accompanying [...]
Accompanier perspectives: How do we struggle in these times?
Claire (they/them), former NISGUA Internacionalista, wrote this update during their time as a volunteer with NISGUA. Dear NISGUA family, Almost exactly one year after leaving staff, I’m honored to come back for [...]
First reflections: The makings of solidarity
Maisie (They/them/elle) current NISGUA Internacionalista, writes their reflections on accompaniment and solidarity. Enjoy the reading and the educational materials! Dear community, I have been in Guatemala for over two months now. I will admit [...]
Accompanier perspectives: on intergenerational struggle and collective liberation
Ruby Tedeschi (she/elle/ella) former NISGUA Internacionalista, recorded this update during their time as a volunteer with NISGUA. Turn the volume up and enjoy! Dear Friends and family I enjoy [...]
Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere
Far away communities, one struggle. My name is Isabel Ruano. I was born in Guatemala City in the 70’s, in the middle of a siege during a war. I grew up in the Capital [...]
Memory, truth, justice: Reclaiming historical memory as a path to liberation
Para leer en español Dear friends, family, and comrades, It brings me a lot of joy to be writing y’all again this fine Leo season! These past few months have been full of chaotic [...]
Accompanier perspectives: “We have survived the oppression, we are proud of our Indigenous Youth”
Straigth from NISGUA's archives, we invite you to read this letter written by Kayla Myers, who was an accompanier in Guatemala from November 2014 to November 2015. Dear Family and Friends, I [...]
One year of remote accompaniment: the bad, the complex and the beautiful
As I write these lines, I can’t help but think that just a year ago, on March 15, 2020, the first COVID-19 death was reported in Guatemala. On March 17, the state closed the [...]
Accompanier Perspectives:”We Must Love Each Other and Support Each Other”
Graphic credit: IG @bbyanarchists Hello Everyone, A lot has happened in such a short amount of time. Adjusting to a pandemic that pushes pre-existing inequality to a new limit while also seeing [...]
Accompanier Perspectives: On Holding Complexity
Para leer en español Nicole Estrada (she/her/hers), current NISGUA Internacionalista, wrote this letter during the COVID-19 pandemic and Black Lives Matter uprisings in the U.S. Picture of a dreamy trail in Birmingham, [...]
Accompanier Perspectives: Vivas Nos Queremos. Resistance at the intersection of feminism, coronavirus and the police state
Isa Villalon, NISGUA internacionalista, wrote this letter upon their return to the United States in March, 2020. Since her return, Isa has been organizing with Abolish ICE Denver. I wasn't [...]
Accompanier Perspectives: Connecting — Zapatistas, Feminist Teachings, and Neocolonialism in Guatemala
[Christina Reyes, NISGUA Internacionalista, wrote and sent this letter in early January 2020. It now includes modifications they made in early March 2020 for International Women’s Day] Hello loved ones, I hope this message [...]
Accompanier Perspectives: What is happening at the border?
Nicole Estrada (she/her) wrote this blog while volunteering as an international accompanier in our GAP Internacionalista program. Her blog is here both as a text and an illustrated booklet -- check it out! [...]
Accompanier Perspectives: Our struggles are connected and so is our liberation
Welcome to this second Friends and Family letter, I hope you are staying warm and cozy this winter days! I wish you a festive, joyous and reflective time. Below you’ll read about my reflections [...]
Accompanier Perspectives: climate change and Indigenous organizing
Accompanier Olivia Pandolfi (they/she or elle/ella) writes about climate change and indigenous resistance in Quiché, Guatemala. In the text you'll read about extractivism, linguistics, and a multiple-hour Google Earth tour of Guatemala's river systems. ————— [...]
Invest in Racial Justice: Christina Reyes launches GAP Scholarship Fund
A seed of transformation and liberation was planted two years ago, when we shared NISGUA’s vision for solidarity and our commitment to an organization-wide racial justice framework. We committed to increasing participation of People [...]
Accompanier Zine: Militarization & Resistance at the Mexico/Guatemala Border
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 [...]
Accompanier Perspectives: Political prisoners return home
Dear Friends and Family, As I reflect on the past year since joining Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala (NISGUA) and officially finishing my first period in Guatemala Accompaniment Program, I hold [...]
Accompanier Zine: An Introduction to Community Consultations in Guatemala
Current NISGUA accompanier Olivia Pandolfi (they/them or she/her) created this zine about community consultations as a Friends and Family Letter to their community. To read the zine as a PDF, click [...]
Accompanier Perspectives: Women Seek Justice in Maya Achí Sexual Violence Case
Maya Achi women demanding justice for sexual violence enter the court for a trial date in the case's intermediate phase. Photo credit: ACOGUATE Current accompanier, Tal Netter-Sweet, shares their experience [...]
Accompanier Perspectives: Connecting Struggles for Justice Across Borders
Current NISGUA accompanier Meredith Wilkinson shares the journey that brought her to accompaniment and the lessons she'll take away. She invites others to join NISGUA's cross-border work for justice through the Guatemala Accompaniment Program. [...]
Displacement in Guatemala and How Transnational Solidarity Must Impact our Local Organizing for Housing and Land Rights
Washington, D.C. local, Clara Lincoln is a recent NISGUA accompanier through the Guatemala Accompaniment Program. She spent ten months accompanying land and human rights defenders in Guatemala. Since returning, she has collaborated with ONE [...]
Accompanier Perspectives: Extraction, Destruction, and Immigration – In Honor of Claudia Patricia Gómez González
Accompanier Claire Bransky dedicates this article to Claudia Patricia Gómez González and the many other victims of the United States' imperialism and racialized violence. The US's funding and training of genocidal dictators and its imposition [...]
Accompanier Perspectives: land, genocide, and gentrification in Guatemala and the US
In her final letter as a human rights accompanier in Guatemala, Clara Lincoln draws connections between the US and Guatemalan governments' violence against indigenous peoples and people of color, through genocide, sexual violence, state brutality, [...]
Accompanier Perspectives: Guatemalan History – The coup, the conflict, and the consequences
In her first letter from Guatemala, Claire Bransky provides a brief history of Guatemala and how its people have been affected by forces of racism, exploitation, and the US's imperialism. As a volunteer with [...]
Sponsoring Communities: Needham’s Guatemala Partnership celebrates 30 years of solidarity
NISGUA's Sponsoring Community partnerships provide the resources, energy and political action required to ensure ongoing international accompaniment in Guatemala. Their long-term commitment to human rights and solidarity is an essential component of the longevity [...]
La Resistencia a las Represas Hidroeléctricas en Guatemala: Una Cuestión de Vida y Muerte
Foto: Nómada El siguiente artículo fue escrito por Zia Kandler y publicado en inglés en la revista electrónica, Upside Down World. Fue traducida a español por la autora y publicado aquí con permiso de la [...]
Accompanier Perspectives: From Huehuetenango to Omaha, NE
The Maya Q’anjob’al Nation takes their defense of land and life in Huehuetenango transnational through community organizing in both Guatemala and the U.S. Caya Simonsen worked for 6 months as a NISGUA accompanier in Huehuetenango [...]
Accompanier Perspectives: 2017 Political Crisis in Guatemala
Guatemala plunged into a political crisis this month as President Jimmy Morales attempted to circumvent a criminal investigation into his campaign finances by declaring the head of the UN-sponsored Commision (CICIG) persona non grata, [...]
Accompanier Perspectives: Ixil
While international accompaniment is at its core a response to the requests of Guatemalan communities and a tool for the protection of human rights, it is also a radical practice of showing up in solidarity and [...]
Step into the House of Memory
Earlier this year, the Center for Human Rights Legal Action (CALDH) inaugurated the permanent installation of the Casa de la Memoria, an art exhibit that empowers youth to reconstruct their historical memory through the [...]
Accompanier Perspectives: Huehuetenango
Dear Family and Friends, Thanks to those of you who’ve responded to my recent call for action in solidarity with political prisoners in Huehuetenango and for financial support in NISGUA’s successful May Match campaign! [...]
Accompanier Perspectives: Ixcán
Since the mid-1990s, members of the NISGUA network have provided a physical international presence to threatened human rights defenders and communities in the Ixcán. We invite you to read the following reflection piece from one [...]
Disappeared but Not Forgotten: A Guatemalan Community Achieves a Landmark Verdict
The following was written by Amanda Kistler, an international accompanier from 2008 - 2009 with NISGUA. She was based out of Guatemala City and accompanied the plaintiffs in the Choatalúm trial. This article originally [...]
Guatemala: Forced Disappearance and the Search for Justice in El Jute
The following was written by Josh McLeod, an international accompanier with NISGUA who accompanied the plaintiffs in El Jute. This article originally appeared on UpsideDown World. Original article can be found here. "We are fighting [...]