Yet another amazing 2 weeks of this trip! With a recommendation from a dear friend, I have been attending an awesome Spanish language school here in Xela (Quetzaltenango), Guatemala. It's called PLQ, and I came here because the school has a strong social justice focus. It supports many local community programs, and is committed to teaching all students about the history, politics, and local community issues of the country, with presentations, documentaries, and field trips with local guides. My time here has been so educational, with a lot of intense and depressing information, and inspirational teachers.

As I learned about how recently war was the way of life here, I was reminded of how we do not get taught this kind of history/world politics in schools in the US (at least I didn't).  There are a lot of important things children don't learn in school, but I suppose that is a whole other blog.

The history of colonization in Guatemala, and of how the indigenous people here are and have been treated, is not unfamiliar if you have have studied the history of colonization and oppression of indigenous people in the US. Guatemala has a large population of indigenous Mayan people, with 21 of the 24 languages spoken here being different Mayan languages, such as K'iche, Mam, and Tzutujil.  In the 1800s, the government stole land from the indigenous people and gave it to German coffee farmers, and then made new laws allowing the rounding up of landless folks and forcing them into slave labor for the coffee harvest every year.  Also, these coffee farm owners were granted immunity for certain crimes, such as murder.

It wasn't until 1944, when a revolution sparked a 10-year Democratic Spring in Guatemala, that the lower and middle-class began to get more of a voice, with the new presidents during this time working toward social and economic change, including better health care and education, voting rights for women, and restricting the privileges of the elite class. First Juan Jose Arevalo, and then Jacobo Arbenz Guzman, were the presidents during this time. When Arbenz decided to enact a land reform law, which would take away unused agricultural land from large property owners to give to landless rural folks (remember how it was their land to begin with?), guess who didn't like this ~ The United Fruit Company. And guess who were major stockholders of the UFC at the time ~ the US Secretary of State and the director of the CIA.  So, of course, the US/CIA organized a coup to stop this from happening, and put in power someone they liked better. All of this took place over a few years, and eventually led to a major civil war in Guatemala, lasting from 1960 to 1996. So many people died and were disappeared, 83% of them, indigenous Mayans, and the majority of humans rights violations were found to be committed by the state.

So much violence, tragedy, corruption, and trauma, and not that long ago.  The war is now in the past, but the reality today is that there are still very few work opportunities, especially for the rural indigenous folks. There are many transnational companies here, and mega-projects happening, including mining, hydroelectric, African palm oil, sugarcane, and bananas. These companies are all either using up valuable resources, such as land and water, or polluting them, or both, and this has sparked a lot of community resistance, which in turn triggers more violence from the state, and at least 196 activists have been assassinated since 2000. So there is still a lot of work to be done fighting corruption here in Guatemala.

Back in 2006, an agreement between the United Nations and Guatemala set up an independent body called the CICIG, the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala, which has been successfully working against corruption in the government, and other organized crime. Unfortunately, the current president, Jimmy Morales, another celebrity-turned-president, who is being investigated for illegal campaign funding and sexual harrassment by the CICIG, declared last year that he would not be renewing the agreement allowing the CICIG to continue its work in Guatemala. At least 71% of Guatemalans are against this decision, and it is dangerous for many reasons.

I have left out so many details, and key figures, but I really wanted to share with you a bit of what I have been learning here (without writing a book about it). In fact, there already is a book about some of this that was recommended to me, called Bitter Fruit: The Story of the American Coup in Guatemala by Stephen Kinzer.  Learning about the history, the politics, and the realities of life for people here was one of the goals I had for this trip. With all of the talk and news and rhetoric about immigration and caravans of refugees coming to the US, I feel it is important to hear the stories of real people with first-hand experience, in order to understand the complexity of the situation. This is what PLQ is making possible for me, and I am so grateful.  Next time I share, less history, more first-hand accounts, plus other lighter stories of my time here, including stories about animals, food, weaving, weather, volcanoes, earthquakes, and more, oh, and more pictures.

This morning, I head to PLQ's sister school, La Escuela de la Montaña, for 2 more weeks of studying Spanish. I have heard it's very similar to PLQ, but a bit warmer, and not in the city, so, more nature, which I am really excited about!