The Maya of Guatemala
Since 1998, IMADR has been working with Youth Movement for Peace (Movimiento de Jovenes Para la Paz, MJP) based in Quetzaltenango to empower indigenous Mayan communities in Solola and San Marcos, rural communities is Guatemala, so they can actively participate in the peace process. This is carried out by increasing awareness of the Peace Agreements and peace process, enhancing the level of basic education available to allow more active participation in all spheres of life and decision-making, and developing youth leadership in the Mayan communities.
Since 2002, IMADR has supported the creation of a community radio for Mayan communities, after it was proposed by MJP and the youth in Bocacosta.
The home of Nobel Peace Prize winner Rigoberta Menchu, Guatemala saw an end to a 36-year old civil war in December 1996. During the civil war, indigenous peoples suffered the most from human rights violations and massacres. The Peace Agreements guarantee the protection of the rights of indigenous peoples, who in Guatemala comprise a a large proportion of the population, but it has not been easy to overcome the discrimination against indigenous peoples having lived through 500 years of oppression after the Spanish invasion of America. Today, many indigenous peoples are fighting poverty and discrimination to build a true democratic, peaceful Guatemalan society. But the execution of the Peace Agreements is slow, and instead activists seeking to reveal the truth of the massacres during the war and promote indigenous peoples' rights are being threatened and murdered for their actions.
