High above in the Guatemalan mountains, among its majestic lakes and rivers that nourish the earth like living veins, there is a land that safeguards the millenary memory of ancient populations. The Poqomam people, and their territory, have lived and survived there through their art, through clay, which is an essential resource for the creation…
It is with great joy that we want to introduce the first eight young Awasqa Youth Scholarship recipients! The main objective of the Awasqa Youth Scholarship is to create networks across Latin America and to give visibility to the work of Black and indigenous youth who are leading in the fields of community journalism, communication…
FGER [Guatemalan Federation of Radio Schools] MAYA K´AT Red de Comunicadoras Indígenas Jun Na’oj. Source: https://www.facebook.com/crfger/posts/3107980039482472 We repudiate the actions of the National Civil Police (PNC) and tear gas attacks against members of Maya Q’eqchi´ communities from the municipality of El Estor, who organized a peaceful resistance to show their disagreement with the operations of…
Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland announced in June the Federal Indian Boarding School Truth Initiative at the Department of the Interior to investigate human rights violations at these institutions. According to the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition (NABS), Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) is also expected this summer to reintroduce legislation in Congress…
FROM THE EDITORS: Bernardo Caal Xol has become a symbol of resistance in Guatemala, as well as of the criminalization of people defending Mother Earth. Caal is Maya Q’eqchi and together with his community organized a campaign against Oxec S.A., a transnational in charge of the construction of two hydroelectric dams on the Cahabón River,…
FROM THE EDITORS: Awasqa joins the international call about the unjustified detention of the Xol Abaj Radio and TV’s director, Anastasia Mejía Tiriquiz, who has been in prison since September 22 in Guatemala. We have translated below a communiqué of Guatemalan organizations that are demanding her freedom, as well as that of the social leader…
FROM THE EDITORS: In Guatemala, people are celebrating the memory of Atanasio Tzul, the first indigenous mayor of the country who, in 1820, led an indigenous uprising against Spanish colonialism, as well as a living example of the struggle for the people’s self-determination. The document below was originally published by Prensa Comunitaria from Guatemala, a…
Musical expressions are liberating and help build resilience. Some musical expressions have managed to unleash social change and others, to shape identities and resistance, but above all music is contributing significantly to keeping Native languages and expressions alive. Indigenous languages are living, active languages that grow and are renewed, for example, when young people take…