News

 2. GSN DUES FOR 2013

 

2013 Dues:  January is the month to pay your annual GSN membership dues.  Cost is $50 for professionals/non-students and $25 for students/unemployed; membership is free for scholars in Latin America. You may pay via Paypal or check.

To pay via Paypal: http://www.vanderbilt.edu/gsn/annual-membership-dues

Please make checks to Guatemala Scholars Network and mail to:
Avery Dickins de Girón
Attention: GSN
PMB 351806
2301 Vanderbilt Place
Nashville, TN 37235-1806

You may also register for the conference at the same time you pay dues (see below). If you have any questions regarding dues payments please contact Avery at avery.dickins-degiron@vanderbilt.edu.

---

3. GSN Directory: The GSN Directory (http://www.vanderbilt.edu/gsn/directory-of-members-2) allows members to post and update information about themselves and their work in Guatemala.  If you do not have access to post or update your information in the Directory, please send an email to Luis Velásquez at gsn.membership@gmail.com and he will send you a link.  Gracias Luis!

 

---

4. GSN Conference: Pre-registration fees are $75 for professionals and $30 for students; registration is free for scholars in Latin America.  Your registration includes a dinner and lunch.  You must be a member to register for the conference.  The deadline to pre-register for the conference is May 15.  On-site registration is $100 for professionals and $50 for students.
 
Guatemala Scholars Network Conference 2013
Casa Herrera and possibly another site in Antigua, Guatemala
July 10-12, 2013

 

Program Description
The GSN’s second conference in Guatemala is intended to build on the success of our conference there in 2011 and to continue our work of connecting scholars working on Guatemala. Our primary goal is to create an inclusive and informal setting emphasizing exchange, discussion and networking. There will be a series of round tables with short discussion by panelists and then wide ranging discussion from the audience. Panels will be organized around a range of topics and will be announced as plans develop. There will be no formal call for panel or paper proposals, however, those interested in participating should contact the program committee members Todd Little-Siebold (tlittle-siebold @coa.edu), Oscar Pelaez, and Tom Offit (Thomas_Offit@baylor.edu). Please send ideas and suggestions for panel topics to the committee as well.

Call for Proposals – New Research Workshop (For graduate students and younger scholars)
There will also be a workshop devoted to highlighting the work of graduate students and younger scholars currently working in the field or writing up their work. Grad students and younger scholars interested in presenting at that workshop the should contact Todd Little-Siebold (tlittle-siebold@coa.edu). Each participant will be given the opportunity to do a brief (five minutes?) presentation on their research in a workshop setting. There are fifteen to twenty spaces available for this workshop and space will be given out on a first come, first served basis.

---

5. NEW MAJOR BOOK ON GUATEMALAN MIGRATION TO THE US BY GSNER DAVID STOLL (LINK TO COUPON)
 
El Norte or Bust!
How Migration Fever and Microcredit
Produced a Financial Crash in a Latin American Town
https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781442220683
(use code 4F12STOLL for 25% discount through February 1, 2013)
 
From the preface:
This book is about Guatemalan peasants who crashed shortly before Wall Street did. I have been interviewing the people of Nebaj since the 1980s. Never did I expect them to become a leading indicator in the 2008 financial meltdown. Most Nebajenses still cultivate patches of maize on hillsides. They would consider themselves lucky to own a cow. They would like to be known for their hard work, their loyalty to their families, and their faith in God. Their good cheer and animosities, their provincialism and ingenuity, remind me of the 19th Century Americans portrayed by Mark Twain and the 19th Century Britons portrayed by Charles Dickens. With little to hope from police or judiciary, let alone a state-supported safety net or their community, they are self-reliant, resourceful, and moralistic. When there is no hope, they invent it.
                       
In the international media, the people of Nebaj pop up only as victims of genocide in Guatemala’s late (1962-1996) civil war. As of this writing, a former chief of state is on trial for the murder of 267 non-combatants by army units operating under his authority. The trial is being attended by survivors and is being followed by other Nebajenses. Usually, however, being victims of genocide is less on their minds than being without work. They have been producing large families for several generations and they are running out of land. So great is their need for employment that, when they became a magnet for international aid projects, including a generous flow of microcredits, they invested the loans in an enterprise not foreseen by aid experts. They smuggled themselves to the United States. Just as U.S. investment bankers borrowed many times their net worth to produce higher returns, Nebajenses borrowed many times their annual income in order to seek higher wages in U.S. labor markets. Those who couldn’t go borrowed to invest in the journeys of those who could…..

 

---

6. EXPERT WITNESS NEEDED FOR IMMIIGRATION RELATED TRIAL IN BOULDER
 
My name is Megan Hall and I am an immigration lawyer in private practice in Boulder, CO. I am working on a case in which I think it might be useful to include a brief report or opinion letter from an expert on Mayan culture, and I am writing to see if this is something you might be interested in doing.
 
I am preparing an “unlawful presence” waiver for a Guatemalan woman in her early 20s. She is from Huehuetenango and speaks Quiche. Her parents both have green cards, and her father petitioned for her to get her green card as well. Unfortunately, because the young woman had been in the U.S. without permission for more than a year before she returned to Guatemala to apply for her green card, in order to get the green card, she also needs a waiver of her unlawful presence. To win that waiver, she must show that her parents will suffer extreme hardship if she can’t come back. Showing hardship to parents can be very difficult, especially in a case like this where the family is large and there are many other siblings here in the U.S. who live with the parents and can help them.
 
Another attorney prepared and filed a previous waiver application, which was denied. I am now preparing a new waiver application and looking to make it much stronger.
 
I am hoping to be able to make the argument that as the oldest daughter, my client occupies a special role in the family, and that the role of caring for her aging parents would traditionally fall to her. This seems to be the case based on what the family has told me, but I am looking for an expert to verify this. I am looking for a written report or letter addressing this point. I would need the report within about the next four to six weeks.
 
If this is something you might be able to help with, please let me know your rates for performing this type of work. If you are unable to help, I would appreciate it if you could steer me toward someone else who may be able to assist.
 
Thank you in advance for your time!
Sincerely,

Megan Hall
Associate Attorney
Green and Gardner, LLC
1790 30th Street, Suite 200
Boulder, CO 80301
phone 303-444-9500
fax 303-442-2311

---

7. NEW BOOK ON SOL TAX AND ACTION ANTHROPOLOGY WITH LOTS OF GSN PARTICPATION
 
A useful book of essays focusing on Sol Tax and Action Anthropology has just been released.  Contributions by GSN members dealing with Guatemala suggest the utility of its announcement's inclusion in your Monday Mailer.  Here is the editor, Darby Stapp's, brief announcement:

 

"Announcing a new publication: Action Anthropology and Sol Tax in 2012: The Final Word?, edited by Darby C. Stapp (2012, Memoir 8, Journal of Northwest Anthropology, 265pp, $10.99).

This edited volume includes 14 chapters about Action Anthropology and Sol Tax by his student-colleagues, his daughters, and others influenced by the man and the intellectual tradition he inspired.  Also included are commentaries, historical items of interest, and a complete bibliography of his work.  A flyer with more information and the Table of Contents is available at: http://www.northwestanthropology.com/whats__new.php

The book can be ordered directly from Amazon.com – search for "Action Anthropology and Sol Tax."

Thanks, Tom.
Regards,
Robert Hinshaw

---

8. GHRC CALL ON GUATEMALAN COURTS TO REJECT CALLS FOR AMNESTY FOR PERPETRATORS OF CIVIL WAR VIOLENCE
 
GHRC reitera la inadmisibilidad de una amnistía por crímenes de lesa humanidad.

 

La Comisión de Derechos Humanos de Guatemala en Washington, se solidariza con las víctimas y sobrevivientes de las graves violaciones de derechos humanos que ocurrieron durante el conflicto armado interno en Guatemala. La Comisión hace un llamado a la Corte de Constitucionalidad a emitir una resolución acorde al estado de derecho y las leyes nacionales e internacionales.

La Corte de Constitucionalidad está por emitir resoluciones en dos casos que señalan a altos mandos del ejército de Guatemala –incluido un ex jefe de estado– por crímenes de lesa humanidad: el caso en contra del General López Fuentes, por el Genocidio Ixil y el que se sigue en contra del General Ríos Montt por la masacre en Las Dos Erres. La defensa ha planteado que los generales están protegidos por una amnistía, un argumento que ha sido rechazado una y otra vez por las cortes y tribunales guatemaltecos.
 
Detrás de estos dos casos están en fila muchos más, por lo cual, el fallo de la Corte tendrá implicaciones históricas importantes para el sistema de justicia y la posibilidad de romper con la impunidad, hasta ahora garantizada, para los autores de graves violaciones de derechos humanos cometidas en el pasado.
 
La Ley de Reconciliación Nacional (Decreto 145-1996), claramente dice en su artículo 8: “La extinción de la responsabilidad penal […] no será aplicable a los delitos de genocidio, tortura y desaparición forzada, así como aquellos delitos que sean imprescriptibles o que no admitan la extinción de responsabilidad penal, de conformidad con el derecho interno o los tratados internacionales ratificados por Guatemala”.
 
En septiembre del año en curso, un grupo de eminentes expertos en la ley internacional -conformado por jueces, ex-jueces y fiscales de la Corte Internacional de Justicia, Corte Penal Internacional, Corte Interamericana de DDHH, Tribunal para la ex Yugoslavia, y Corte Suprema de Justicia de Argentina–, respaldó la inadmisibilidad de amnistía para delitos imprescriptibles como genocidio a través de un amicus curie presentado a la Corte de Constitucionalidad guatemalteca en el caso de la masacre de Las Dos Erres.
 
El amicus recuerda a la Corte que “el poder judicial guatemalteco, incluida la Corte de Constitucionalidad, ha dado el ejemplo para la región al ratificar -en fallos previos concernientes a la masacre de Las Dos Erres- el principio fundamental de que no puede haber amnistía ni ningún otro impedimento para el enjuiciamiento de estas violaciones graves al derecho internacional”.
 
Los expertos también confirmaron que a nivel regional e internacional, las leyes y cortes han dejado en claro que no se puede aplicar leyes de amnistía, incluidas la Declaración Americana de los Derechos y Deberes del Hombre y la Convención Americana sobre Derechos Humanos, la Corte Interamericana, la Corte Europea de Derechos Humanos y la Comisión Africana sobre Derechos Humanos. El Comité de DDHH de la ONU ha condenado, en términos similares y de manera uniforme, la promulgación de leyes de amnistía en países tales como Argentina, Bolivia, Camboya, Chile, Croacia, Haití, Líbano y Sudán. Hace solo dos días, el 11 de diciembre, la Corte Interamericana dictó sentencia condenatoria contra El Salvador por graves violaciones y ordena nunca aplicar la Ley de Amnistía para estos crímenes.
 
Recientemente, el procurador de los Derechos Humanos de Guatemala, Jorge de León Duque, afirmó que Guatemala debe cumplir su compromiso internacional de investigar, enjuiciar y sancionar a los responsables de esos casos. De León recordó que Guatemala ha ratificado instrumentos internacionales, entre ellos el Estatuto de Roma, que “prohíben expresamente” la amnistía e indulto en estos casos: “Si vemos la normativa nacional e internacional, y la jurisprudencia, el genocidio, delitos de lesa humanidad y crímenes de guerra, tajantemente no caben en la amnistía”, argumentó.
 
Los casos que ahora están frente a las cortes guatemaltecas son claros ejemplos de crímenes de lesa humanidad que, según la ley, no pueden ser amnistiados. Cualquier aceptación de una amnistía implicaría un gran retroceso en materia de derechos humanos y una ruptura con las leyes vigentes en el país.
 
En defensa del Estado de Derecho en Guatemala, reiteramos nuestro llamado a los magistrados de la Corte de Constitucionalidad a respetar los convenios y la jurisprudencia internacional, y garantizar la justicia para las víctimas de los crímenes cometidos durante el conflicto armado interno.
 
Comision de Derechos Humanos de Guatemala en EE.UU
Washington, DC
13 de diciembre de 2012

---

9.  I\9TH ANTHROPOLOGICAL CONGRESS TO BE HELD AT USAC IN A MONTH (SORRY FOR THE LATE POSTING)—– SEE ATTACHED ABOVE

 

---

10.  HIGH SCHOOL UNPLUGGED SUMMER PROGRAM IN GUATEMALA
 
Every year we take a maximum of 15 teens to Guatemala for the month of July and teach a Grade 12 High School Credit Course: "Issues in Social Justice."  We deal with the Mayan genocide and we contrast it to the Holocaust as well as the genocide in Rwanda and crimes against humanity in other parts of the world.
 
The course weaves its way through history and through the Mayan world. We travel throughout the entire country. We visit places such as Rio Negro, where genocide occurred, and walk the trail up the mountain to hear the story of the massacre told to us by a survivor who lost his entire family and is now rebuilding the community.
 
The kids are so moved by these real life stories of history.
 
They also raft through ancient Mayan caves that were cathedrals and hiding places during the civil war.  They horseback ride into the 16th Century city of Antigua – home of the conquest.
 
By the end of the trip – these kids are family.  These kids 'get it.'
 
The teacher from Canada is a Canadian First Nations Elder with 30 years of experience as a high school teacher. I accompany all trip personally. The teens also do service work for a number of days at a school in La Union (Coatepeque).
 
Please visit our website:  www.highschoolunplugged.com
 
Adrienne E. Rosen, M.A.,
President and CEO
First International Courier Systems Inc.,
33 International Boulevard
Toronto, Ontario,
Canada, M9W­-6H3
(416) 968-2000
(800) 387-3896
Cellular: (416) 662-9071

 

---

11. UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA OFFERS SUMMER COURSE ON ETHICS AND POVERTY IN GUATEMALA
 
Ethics and Global Poverty Graduate Course, Guatemala May 3rd-June 1st,
2013
University of British Columbia
3 credit graduate course on the philosophical questions raised by global poverty and transnational civil society, taught in three locations in Guatemala.  Interested graduate students with upperlevel philosophy background are encouraged to contact the instructor, Dr. Sylvia Berryman
sylvia.berryman@ubc.ca
 
Sylvia Berryman
Associate Professor
Graduate Advisor
Department of Philosophy
University of British Columbia

 

---

12.  GREAT ARTICLE ON PINABETES AND ANCIENCT CLIMATE AND A CALL FOR ADDITIONAL RESEARCHERS
 
Hi there y feliz ano nuevo!
 
I'm sending this paper along that Matthew recently wrote with some colleagues based on a study in the Cuchumatanes (ARTICLE IS ATTACHED ABOVE).  So, the question is:  do you know of any areas in your field sites where locals say that they are old pinabetes??  Matthew and colleagues from UVG and USAC would love to get out there and sample them.
 
This article is stage one of their research in which they established the basis for using "pinabete," as a reliable species with which to reconstruct climate.  Soon, they hope to begin to look for even more old trees to get a record back maybe 600-700 years (a ver!).  The oldest living tree they have found so far is 400 years old.  
 
Also, if you know of any students interested in this topic for graduate work —especially archive work– they would be looking for any references to climate.  This way they can begin to look a the relationships between what the trees tell us and what the written archives tell us.  
 
cheers,
Michelle

 

---

13.  YEAR END REVIEW FROM THE MAKER OF ABUSED: THE POSTVILLE RAID
 
The Story Continues
abUSed: The Postville Raid
2012 Year End Update
Dear Guatemalan Network,
 
Some people say to me, “Are you still talking about abUSed: The Postville Raid?” And the resounding answer is: YES!  Of course the film is completed, but the events that took place in Postville, Iowa over four years ago continue to transform the lives of those associated with the raid. abUSed: The Postville Raid continues to garner attention and praise including premiering on the PBS World program America Reframed and winning “Best Documentary Audience Award” at Cinemaissi Film Festival in Finland.  Your friendship and continued support have allowed us to show the stories of these new immigrants at nearly 200 venues across the United States and other countries including Argentina, Cuba, Finland, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Italy, Mexico, Austria, Spain, and Sweden.  
 
I write to you today to update you on our efforts in the past year and to ask for your help in completing the trailer for The U-Turn, my new film about the transformational journey of a group of immigrant families and of the individuals and communities who supported them after the Postville raid. In contributing to this new work you will be a part of advancing the positive face of immigration today.  The new immigrants of 2013 came here for the promise of freedom and opportunity, possessing the same aspirations of all immigrants that came before them. How we treat new immigrants reflects our commitment to the values that define us as Americans. You can be a part of the conversation by making a tax deductible contribution through our fiscal sponsor,  the New York Immigration Coalition:  DONATE HERE. Please make sure to designate your donation to the abUSed: The Postville Raid / The U-Turn Fund. 
 
This project has become so much more than the film. Showing it at schools and other organizations continues to be a large component of my work.  In July we gave a first-look presentation for The U-Turn at the Justice General Assembly of the Unitarian Universalist Association in Phoenix, Arizona, which was attended by over 3,700 members; In September we presented the film in Baltimore, Maryland at the Training Community Conversations conference sponsored by the Lutheran Immigration Refugee Services.  In addition to participating in the event, we documented the presence of the Iowa delegation,  a group that was formed after the Postville raid to help in the resettlement of families that benefited from the U-Visa; In November we attended the Migration Policy and Advocacy in 2013 and Beyond sponsored by the Migration and Refugee Services-Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. of the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops in Atlanta, Georgia. 
 
We have also become a member of New Day Films and New Day Digital, a filmmaker-run distribution company providing award-winning films to educators since 1971. Democratically run by more than 100 filmmaker members, New Day delivers over 150 titles that illuminate, challenge and inspire. As a result of this partnership, we have began a marketing campaign targeted at educational institutions and public libraries.  If you wish to purchase abUSed: The Postville Raid for your school library or public library, please CLICK HERE. 
 
Hand-in-hand with the film, I have continued to be very involved in reuniting families that were separated during the raid and helping them to move forward with their lives in a meaningful way as part of their new community.  In August, for example, I accompanied three adults and two children of immigrant families from Guatemala to Postville, Iowa to be reunited with their families. This brings the number of U-Visa beneficiaries, as a result of the raid, to 96.

 

Back Row (L to R): Jesus Reyes Godinez, Luis Argueta, Angel Mario Junech, Guiselmy Junech. Front Row (L to R):Tania Alvarez, (Representative, Foreign Affairs Ministry)  Silvia Cúmez Soloví and Pablo Gómez.
 
So what’s next?  The Maya Media team has continued to document the stories of several U-Visa recipients and is hard at work on a trailer for The U-Turn. The film will show the challenges and triumphs of Rosa Zamora, Fermin Loyes and their two girls; young plant worker Joel Rucal and his mother and sister; and brother and sister Pedro and Samantha Lopez. Your end-of-year tax-deductible contribution will allow us to tell their stories at a crucial time when the country is ready to embrace a commonsense immigration reform. Please DONATE HERE and make sure to designate your donation to the abUSed: The Postville Raid / The U-Turn Fund. 
 
Si se puede with a lot of help from our friends.
In peace and solidarity,

Luis Argueta

---

Thomas A. Offit Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Anthropology
Baylor University
(254) 710-6226