The words of an indigenous authority: “This is how we apply Maya justice”
2017 Mayo Guatemala
Last August I travelled to Tunijá, a village in Guatemala’s western highlands, some 190 km from the capital city and ten minutes by bus from the urban...

The ghost of Maya justice is haunting the country
2017 Abril Guatemala
The ghost of Maya justice is haunting Guatemala. Self-righteous talk show guests, guardian angels of positive law, omnipresent pens in opinion pages,...

What does settler Catalino’s story tell us?
2016 Septiembre Nicaragua
I have lived among indigenous communities and mestizo settlements during various conflicts between the two and between them and the State since the eighties,...

A book bathed in tears
2016 Agosto Guatemala
I first learned about Ixcan: Masacres y sobrevivencia (Ixcan: Massacres and survival) by Ricardo Falla in 1989. It was hidden in the catacombs...

Ayotzinapa on the world map of dignity
2015 Marzo México
After the big demonstrations in Mexico and around the world at the end of January demanding the return of the students from Ayotzinapa, the Mexican government...

Will the canal help build the nation or only further fracture it?
2013 Octubre Nicaragua
The canal concession appeared virtually overnight, approved as law only three days after it was sent to the National Assembly with no serious discussion...

The Ríos Montt trial was a historic milestone
2013 Julio Guatemala
On May 10, a lower court sentenced retired General José Efraín Ríos Montt to 50 years in prison for the deaths—categorized as genocide—of 1,771 Ixil...

A portrait of young Ngäbes who migrate out of the comarca
2013 Junio Panamá
The Ngäbes are the largest ethnic group in Panama, comprising 59.3% of the Panamanian indigenous population. In a lot of writings they speak of the...

Was it genocide or wasn’t it?
2013 Mayo Guatemala
Was genocide committed in Guatemala or not? There’s the possibility of an ideological trap in equating Guatemalan genocide with Nazi genocide and concluding...

The Zapatistas begin another stage and, as usual, make us think
2013 Marzo México
*See the January 2011 issue of envío for Guatemalan anthropologist Ricardo Falla’s analysis of the Mayan steles that refer to the end of a significant...

Totonicapán: The story of the first massacre since the peace
2012 Noviembre Guatemala
On Wednesday October 3, I was in Quetzaltenango giving a workshop on Mayan leadership to young indigenous people when we were alerted by people there...

“Non-histories” of the Ngäbe and the Buglé
2012 Marzo Panamá
In his homage to the famed Howard Zinn, among so many other things author of A People’s History of the United States, Noam Chomsky speaks about “non-history”...

Do indigenous peoples think these investments are fair?
2011 Octubre Centroamérica
The combination of large projects to extract natural resources in indigenous communities could become explosive, particularly in Central America. envío...

From Latin America to Abya Yala: The new awakening of indigenousness
2011 Septiembre América Latina
The homogenizing and “civilizing” policies fostered above all by the First Inter-American Indigenist Congress, held in Pátzcuaro, Mexico, in 1949, together...

Will the World Really End in 2012?
2011 Enero Internacional
It is being said that the world will end in 2012. Even some scholars have backed it up. Novels have been written and movies filmed on the subject....

Acteal Twelve Years On
2010 Marzo México
After a term and a half of National Action Party (PAN) governments, Mexico is a nation in ruins. According to the National Council for the Evaluation...

María: Mother, Wife, Indigenous Woman,Emigrant and Voluntary Returnee
2008 Octubre Centroamérica
We visited María in Xicalcal, a rural, almost urban village near the city of Zacualpa, located on a plain at the foot of the Chuacús mountain chain....

Mezcala: A Mirror and a Heart
2008 Octubre México
The struggles of a great variety of peoples for their autonomy demonstrate a long-term desire that constantly transforms both the group and the reality...

Rigoberta Menchú: A Shooting Star in the Electoral Sky?
2007 Julio Guatemala
What has happened to Rigoberta Menchú’s candidacy for President of Guatemala? Didn’t several polls show her as the most widely recognized person in...

“The State Doesn’t Have to Be Painted Mayan, But...”
2005 Agosto Guatemala
Whenever I return to Guatemala after a few weeks away, I’m invaded by an increasing sense of discouragement—a feeling many share. Things don’t seem...

Caribbean Coast: Multiethnic, Multilingual ...and Finally Autonomous?
2003 Septiembre Nicaragua
Nicaragua’s Caribbean populations are not so different from other Latin American indigenous peoples. But they are exceptional in that after eleven wars...

What Lies Ahead for the Xicaques, Kunas, Garífunas and Mayas?
2002 Noviembre Centroamérica
Where are Central America’s indigenous movements heading? What future do they have and what is their capacity to influence their respective civil society...

A State Denying Its Roots: Ten Million Indigenous People
2002 Octubre México
When President Fox took office, his government appeared to be interested in resolving the conflict in Chiapas. Within months, it sent Congress a bill...

How Wide Will the War on Terrorism Cast its Net?
2001 Octubre México
While the world massively repudiated the barbaric terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, a desire for revenge followed shock and pain among the...

The Indigenous Law: A Mocking Step Backwards
2001 Mayo México
At the end of April, the Mexican Senate and House of Representatives passed a law on indigenous rights and culture. Around the world, people sympathizing...

Masks, Silences and Winds from Below
1998 Agosto México
"It is necessary to demand of the public man, especially the politician, that he possess public virtues, all of which can be summed up in one: loyalty...

After Our Silence
1998 Agosto México
Brothers and Sisters: We are clear that our rightful and undeniable place in the great Mexican Nation is only one part of the struggle for democracy,...

A War Between Indigenous Memory and Government Amnesia
1998 Abril México
Ever since the uprising of the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN) on January 1, 1994, Mexican society has turned its eyes to "deep Mexico." The...

The Indigenous Speak Out
1994 Septiembre Honduras
Six of Honduras' seven original ethnic groups participated in the indigenous pilgrimage that shook Tegucigalpa in July. The pilgrimage began in different...

The Walagallo: Heart of the Garifuna World
1993 Agosto Nicaragua
Religious ceremonies are one of Latin America's most visible and dramatic forms of grassroots expression. In many of these ceremonies, the various ethnic...