On Mexico’s southern border, Guatemala is a country of almost 15 million people with the largest Indigenous population in Central America. More than half come from Mayan groups such as the Q’eqchi’, Quiche, and Mam. Although Spanish is the predominant language, the government has officially recognized 23 indigenous languages.

 

A devastating 36-year civil war ended in 1996, but the political, economic, and cultural effects of the conflict are still felt today. More than 100,000 people, mostly Indigenous, were killed, and more than 1 million were displaced. Thousands of refugees left mountainous regions for southern Mexico or the remote Guatemalan jungle, where the increased population has accelerated deforestation and strained resources. In cities, violence has become a serious threat to women and girls, approximately 6000 of who have been killed since 2002.

 

Today Guatemala has been recuperating from the violent past. However, living conditions are precarious. The burdens of poverty in Guatemala fall most heavily on its rural, Indigenous population, where the infant mortality rate is 30% higher than among non-indigenous children, and the maternal mortality rate, already the one of the highest in Latin America, increases tenfold. Lack of potable water, lack of access to health care and malnutrition overwhelmingly contribute to these high rates.

 

Unlike other Latin American countries, Guatemala has not made significant progress toward the UN Millennium Development goal for 2015 to reduce hunger and extreme poverty by half.