Governments throughout Latin America are ramping up dengue prevention campaigns after 1.5 million people were infected and over 1,000 people in the region died of the disease in 2010. There have already been deaths from dengue fever this year, the most recent one in Perú, where the deaths are exceeding hospital capacity – and it has forced the city hospital to install 40 additional beds. The latest death brings to five the total number of dengue deaths in Perú this year. Read Article
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The ITUC, together with its affiliated organisations in Guatemala and the national health workers’ union SNTSG, has firmly condemned the killing of a member of the health sector trade union at the opening of 2011. Read Article
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Three Guatemalan departments are under yellow alert, as a preventive measure in the face of the sustained activity of Fuego Volcano. Sacatepequez, Chimaltenango, and Escuintla keep a wary eye on the evolution in coming days of the colossal, volcano, 3,763 meters above sea level. Read Article
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Guatemalan press reported that Russell Thomas Gilbert, age 72?, from the U.S. perished while attempting to make a landing at Santiago Atitlán, Guatemala. His companion, Helen Cernik, was seriously injured and hospitalized. Witnesses indicated the tale of his small aircraft hit a tree during the landing attempt.
Recorded Interview: Maguey Journey: Discovering Textiles in Guatemala Author Kathryn Rousso The name maguey refers to various forms of the agave and furcraea genus, also sometimes called the ecntury plant. The fibers extracted from the leaves of these plants are spun into fine cordage and worked with a variety of tools and techniques to create […]
Narco gangs have opened a new front in South America’s expanding drug war by seizing control of parts of northern Guatemala, prompting the government to suspend civil liberties and declare a state of siege in the area. Hundreds of soldiers have reinforced police units in an offensive against a Mexican cartel known as the Zetas […]
A female gang member was arrested in connection with the bombing of a bus in Guatemala City that left seven dead, authorities said. Sonia Veliz, a member of the Mara 18 street gang, was identified through a composite sketch police made based on statements from a witness, said Ronnie Lopez, prosecutor for organized crime. Read […]
An explosion on a bus in Guatemala City has killed at least five people and left more than a dozen others with serious burns. Police think the blast was caused by a home-made fire bomb which was either thrown onto the bus or left on board, causing it to burst into flames. Read Article
About 60,000 Central American undocumented immigrants enter Mexico each year, most of them from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras, official sources said on Monday. The undocumented enter Mexican territory mainly by the Soconusco and Coast zone, bordering Guatemala, said Andrea Hernandez, Chiapas’ director for Southern Border Development and Communication for the International Cooperation. Read Article
Currently, the poorest households in the country’s highlands suffer moderate food insecurity due to the spread of the annual lean season, as well as the consequences of this year’s heavy rainy season. Poor households in the rest of the country suffer moderate insecurity, as some still depend on external help to fill their food requirements, […]
Men claiming to belong to the Zetas drug gang forced radio stations to broadcast a threat of war in a northern Guatemalan province where the government declared a state of siege last week, authorities said Tuesday. The men arrived at three radio stations in the northern city of Cobán and threatened to burn the premises […]
Guatemala captured nearly two dozen suspected drug traffickers, automatic weapons and small planes in a country-wide sweep to crack down on Mexican cartels smuggling drugs through Central America. The arrests, four on Saturday and 18 over the past week, are the biggest blow yet to the Zetas drug gang, now operating in around 75 percent […]
The Guatemalan government today declared a state of emergency in the northern department of Alta Verapaz because of the control exercised there by drug traffickers, according to press reports. The digital edition of Prensa Libre attributes confirmation of that measure to the secretary of communications of the presidency, Ronaldo Robles, and the Minister of Home […]
Nicaragua and Costa Rica have accepted Guatemala to work in the meditation process of helping to resolve the border dispute between the two countries. Mexico is to also participate as a meditator. Read Article
According to Fox News, 150 miles north of Guatemala City, deep in the jungle, is a military base where Guatemalan Special Forces are being trained secretly by U.S. Green Berets. The U.S. officers say the Guatemalan troops are committed to the task of defeating the Mexican drug cartels and are training tirelessly. “They rest when […]
Nearly three years into President Álvaro Colom’s four-year term, Guatemala’s indigenous people have seen little improvement in their lives — and they represent approximately half the country’s population. Read Article
The number of people arrested in connection with the storming last week of a prison in western Guatemala to free the main suspect in the kidnap-murder of a pro soccer player has risen to 16, the National Civilian Police, or PNC, said. Another Guatemalan suspected of belonging to Mexico’s Los Zetas drug cartel was arrested […]