I've got to say that I found Entremosle a Guate's latest episode (in Spanish) on the 'Value and Power of Indigenous Textiles' (El valor y poder del traje Indigena) really interesting.

The episode touches on the story of Irma Alicia Velásquez Nimatuj who is a K'ichee' Maya anthropologist and journalist. Velasquez Nimatuj has been in the vanguard of the fight for respect for the traditions and culture on the indigenous people of Guatemala. Her article on Transnationalism and Maya Dress (in English) published in the Social Science Research Council (SSRC) is a very good explanation of the issues at stake. In particular, she tells of the event where she was refused entry to a bar because of the traditional indigenous clothing she was wearing and how she then brought the first case of racial discrimination to court in Guatemala.

You can read Irma Alicia Velasquez Nimatuj's dissertation as part of her doctorate at the University of Texas here.

This episode of Horizon from the BBC called Stone Age Columbus explains the theory that around 15,000 years ago Europeans crossed the Atlantic to settle in the American continent.

The theory has been seen as controversial not least because it challenges the notion that the indigenous peoples of the Americas are descended entirely from Asian migrants. But as Dr Joallyn Archambault of the American Indian Programme of the Smithsonian Institute this theory reaffirms the courage and creativity of the Native Americans' ancestors venturing across huge bodies of water. Archambault adds that it also underlines the idea that, "we are truly all one species".

Interesting documentary (in Spanish) about the current state of Guatemalan filmmaking by Josue Diaz. Thanks to Albedrio for flagging this.

In the Guardian the other day there was a report by Rory Carroll interviewing six people who went to live in Nicaragua at the time when the Sandinistas took power in 1979. The portraits of the six people give a flavour of how Nicaragua and our perspective has changed over the years. It's a report that gives a glimpse of what it is to live out ideals on a very human level.


I thought it was an appropriate moment to append this report with a clip from a documentary produced by CNN in 1998 as part of their series on the Cold War- Episode 18: Backyard. It's a glimpse of sorts of that past lived out in Central America not so long ago. The episode included a recapping of the 1954 coup in Guatemala.

This is a clip from a BBC2 documentary called "Secrets of the Maya Underworld".

More information here: Grupo de Exploration Ox Bel Ha

Look out for the guys carrying the marimbas to the party from this clip of Guatemala City in 1903. And then this quality video of the legend that is Marimba Maria Concepcion :-)

These videos "¿Quién es el principal violador de los Derechos Humanos en Guatemala?" are by Santiago Botón/Derechos en Acción - Guatemala, 20 December 2007.


SIEPAC is described on Wikipedia as follows: "(Sistema de Interconexion Electrica para America Central or Central American Electrical Interconnection System) is a planned inter-connection of the power grids of six Central American nations. Central America, where few electrical interconnections currently exist, and those that do are often old and unreliable, has been discussing plans to link the region's electricity grids since 1987.

The proposed project entails the construction of transmission lines connecting 37 million consumers in Panama, Costa Rica, Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Guatemala. It is not clear if Belize, which buys much of its power from Mexico, will also be included. SIEPAC would cost about US$320 million without the interconnections with Mexico (US$ 40m), Belize (US$ 30m) and Panama (US$ 200m) and, back in 2003, was scheduled for completion in 2006. More recently, it has been estimated it would be completed in 2009. There is controversy about the benefits and indirect environmental impacts of the project."

On 15 January Prensa Libre reported that the BID was interested in seeing the SIEPAC development in Guatemala is completed shortly: