On June 30, 2015 the Municipality of Palin, Escuintla, Guatemala inaugurated a new street in the city named after respected Maya Poqomam political leader and indigenous rights activitist, Marcelino Moscut. Moscut was a well-known community leader who fought for various issues effecting Indigenous communities and was a passionate advocate for the Community Radio Movement. He passed away exactly a year ago on June 30, 2014 and his hometown of Palin honored this day by naming one of their main streets after him.

On June 9th and 10th, 2015, Asociación Sobrevivencia Cultural (ASC), Cultural Survival’s sister organization in Guatemala, conducted a two-day exchange among seven community radios from El Salvador and Guatemala. As part of a generous grant from the Swift Foundation, ASC selected four community radios in Guatemala to travel to El Salvador and visit, as well as learn about the work of, three community stations in El Salvador.

By Erika Mayer
On May 26, 2015, the Passamaquoddy and Penobscot Tribal delegates—Matthew Dana II and Wayne Mitchell, respectively—withdrew from the Maine legislature. Their reasons for doing so were a long list of grievances against the state of Maine involving fishing rights and, by extension, rights to Tribal sovereignty. These violations of Penobscot and Passamaquoddy rights undermined what should have been an equal, not subordinate, relationship with the state.

On June 11 and 12, 2015, Asociacion Waqib’ Kej hosted the Third Annual Indigenous Youth Gathering in Chimaltenango, Guatemala. These events target Indigenous youth to discuss the current political situation of Guatemala and the role Indigenous youth have and will continue to play. A fourth gathering is scheduled to be held in the western region of the country next month.

On Tuesday, May 26, 2015, Cultural Survival delivered a radio console and microphone to Radio Snuq Jolom Konob in Santa Eulalia, Huehuetenango, Guatemala. A generous grant from the Swift Foundation allowed Cultural Survival to donate this equipment to the station. Radio Snuq Jolom Konob was shut down on January 19, 2015, by the mayor of Santa Eulalia and his supporters for publicizing protests against hydroelectric companies operating in the region.

Since a report was released on April 16, 2015 by the International Center Against Impunity in Guatemala revealing a disturbing political scandal involving high ranking political figures, Guatemala has been politically unstable. From the resignation of the vice president to the continued protests demanding the resignation of President Otto Perez Molina, Guatemala approaches one of its hardest election years. Not since the 1950’s have the various ethnic and social populations of Guatemala united for a common cause. Preliminary elections are set to be held on September 6, 2015.

The past few weeks have been extremely important for the political future of Guatemala. On April 16, 2015, the Guatemalan Public Ministry, with the help of the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala, unraveled one of the most shocking political scandals in the history of the country. The scandal is a multimillion-dollar scheme in which various individuals paid bribes to avoid customs duties on imports.

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