We are excited to announce the creation of the BTS Community Development and Human Rights Volunteer Program! Building on our previous experience with training and sending interns, human rights accompaniers, and volunteers to Guatemala, BTS is seeking to create a team of 6-8 people who will serve as short and longer-term volunteers with our Guatemalan [...]
– Aboriginal activists group, Queensland, 1970sIf you have come here to help me, you are wasting your time. But if you come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.
– Bishop Gerardi, April 24, 1998Peace is possible – a peace that is born from the truth that comes from each one of us and from all of us. It is a painful truth…it is a liberating and humanizing truth…It is a truth that challenges each one of us to recognize our individual and collective responsibility and to commit ourselves to action.
– Scott Zoltok, Intern at the New Hope Foundation (2012-2013)“Breaking the Silence means listening to those who’ve been silent for far too long, and once the silence is broken, it is amazing what you can hear.”
– Bertolt BrechtHay hombres que luchan un dia y son buenos. Hay otros que luchan un año y son mejores. Hay quienes luchan muchos años y son muy buenos. Pero hay los que luchan toda la vida: esos son los imprescindibles.
M4 Statement on Regulated Consultations
The Peoples that make up the M4 in resistance to the Capitalist and Extractive Model, towards social transformation DECLARE In Guatemala City’s historic center, on November 15, 16, and 17, we met to discuss and analyze the current processes to regulate the consultation of our peoples and to build collective strategies that unite our principles [...]
2018 BTS Staffing Fund Campaign
Giving now will save costs on mailing a letter in early December! Can’t give at this time? Please reply to this message and we will make a note not to send you a letter* Dear friends, We deeply appreciate the many different ways you have supported BTS. We once again ask you to provide financial [...]
Xinka Parliament denounces illegalities as court-ordered consultation process begins
On November 19, 2018, the Xinka Parliament held a press conference to denounce the malicious behaviour of the Ministry of Energy and Mines (MEM), the Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources (MARN), and Minera San Rafael at the outset of the court-ordered consultation process with the Xinka people. Guatemalan courts suspended the Escobal mine, [...]
Hundreds of Maritimers express solidarity with the Highlands Committee of Small Farmers in Guatemala
From November 4th – 11th, Marcelo Sabuc of the Highlands Committee of Small Farmers (CCDA) spoke throughout the Maritimes regarding threats against human rights defenders in Guatemala and the deteriorating political situation in the country. During the speaking tour, Marcelo visited 7 communities: Antigonish, Halifax, Wolfville, Sackville, Fredericton, Charlottetown and Tatamagouche. At each stop, community [...]
