Guatemala-Path To Justice

 

Path To Justice

GUATEMALA

A Guatemalan court found five former paramilitary members guilty of raping and sexually abusing Indigenous women during the decades-long civil war in the Central American country, a ruling that could encourage many of the survivors to seek justice, Al Jazeera reported Tuesday.

The court found that the five defendants – who were former members of the so-called “Civil Self-Defense Patrols” – had subjected 36 Indigenous Maya Achi women to slavery, sexual violence and rape in the early 1980s. The events occurred in the villages around the municipality of Rabinal in Baja Verapaz department, about 109 miles from the capital, Guatemala City.

The defendants were each sentenced to 30 years in jail. The plaintiffs, who had spent years demanding justice for crimes committed during the conflict, welcomed the verdict.

The decision came 11 years after the women first organized to seek justice: The court initially did not accept the case and released the accused individuals in 2019 after the judge ruled that they “did not believe” the testimonies. The case nevertheless moved forward after an appeal.

The trial is connected to the Guatemalan civil conflict that pitted government and paramilitary troops against leftist fighters from 1960 to 1996. More than 200,000 people died and more than a million were displaced before a peace deal between the government and leftist forces ended the fighting in 1996.

Monday’s verdict marks the second time that former military or paramilitary members have been tried for sexual violence against women during the conflict. Meanwhile, former security forces and paramilitaries have also faced various charges, including crimes against humanity.

Though the ruling offers hope to survivors seeking justice, some lawmakers have proposed an amnesty bill to absolve all former soldiers and paramilitary members accused or convicted of crimes committed during the conflict.

Following the civil conflict, a United Nations-backed truth commission found that the Guatemalan military was responsible for 93 percent of all human rights violations during the war. More than 80 percent of the victims were Indigenous Mayans, according to the commission.

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Peru-The Covid Orphans

 

The Covid Orphans

PERU

More than 204,000 people have died from the coronavirus in Peru, the highest rate per capita on Earth. Tragically, many of those lost were parents. More tragically, the virus in the South American country often claimed both parents or all caregivers in a family. As a result, nearly 100,000 Peruvian children are now orphans. The British medical journal the Lancet called the development a “hidden pandemic.”

The Peruvian government has passed a bill to provide a monthly stipend of $50 for each child left without a guardian, reported i24 News, an Israeli broadcaster. That sum only helps so much, however. With a gross per capita income of around $6,000, Peru is a poor country. Poor school attendance, mental health issues and other problems are now growing among the young people who are its future.

“Even before you take into account that more than 1,000 children have died from Covid-19 in Peru, they have been extremely affected by depression and anxiety,” Roxana Pingo, Covid response program coordinator for Save the Children Peru, told the Guardian.

Gabriela Zarate lives with her husband, their four children and her deceased sister’s four children in a small house outside the Peruvian capital of Lima, the BBC reported. She was already struggling to feed her family. Under lockdowns, she and her husband couldn’t work as drivers or street vendors. They violated curfew to earn cash, but then her husband contracted Covid-19. Eventually, they flew a white flag outside their house, a sign that they needed help, and neighbors gave them some food.

As National Public Radio explained, inadequate health care infrastructure, a dependence on imports of medicine and supplies to combat the pandemic, informal jobs that make lockdowns difficult for millions and endemic poverty are some of the reasons why the pandemic has hit the country so hard.

There are reasons to be optimistic that the virus may soon lose steam, however. Around 80 percent of Peruvians ages 12 and older have received jabs, Agence France-Presse reported.

Amid the crisis, leftist President Pedro Castillo, who won office last year on a pledge to use the country’s mining wealth to lift its citizens out of poverty, has sought to calm international investors to prop up the economy, Bloomberg noted. As Reuters explained, Castillo faced charges related to alleged collusion and influence peddling for public works contracts. But, denying the charges, he avoided impeachment, further bringing stability to the country.

Castillo has said the state has an obligation to Peru’s orphans. Even with all the money and power in the world, however, he could not give them what their hearts most desire.

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Peru- A Mind-Bending Brew

 

Mind-Bending Brew

An ancient civilization in the Peruvian Andes liked their beer with some mind-bending properties, New Scientist magazine reported.

Archaeologists recently studied a site that belonged to the Wari society that ruled what is now Peru between around 550 CE and 1000 CE. Researchers described the people as “the first example of an expansionary state in the Andes” but noted that there is no written record about them – only artifacts and structures.

At the Quilcapampa site, a research team came across two pits, each filled with two different seeds. One of the pits had seeds of the Schinus molle, a fruit also known as the Peruvian pepper. The other pit was packed with seeds of the vilca tree, which contain hallucinogenic substances that cause “a sensation of flying.”

In their paper, the team wrote that the pepper was used to make a fermented alcoholic drink known as chicha. But the presence of the vilca seeds suggests that the Wari combined the beer-like chicha with the hallucinogen.

The authors believe the combination created “a very mild and controlled hallucinogenic effect” and that the drink was used during feasts and celebrations.

They also theorized that the drink could have served in the Wari expansion throughout the Andes, as society leaders would use the mind-bending brew to bond with the local populace.

“Being able to provide that experience would create heightened social status among Wari leaders,” said lead author Matthew Biwer.