Meet Dan Clark, General Secretary & Founder, 1981
Dan Clark, author of A Privileged Life: Memoirs of an Activist, served as the first General Secretary of Peace Brigades International and organizer of the Central America Project.
Guatemala
Meet Winnie Romeril, Guatemala, 1989-1990
Winnie Romeril joined PBI while looking for a way to return to Latin America without a U.S. government job, and the experiences she had altered the course of her life. The democratic structure of PBI greatly enhanced what she gained from training, activism, and speaking tours. Her reflections remind volunteers the value of sharing the work of the human rights defenders they accompanied.
Meet Meredith Larson, Guatemala, 1989
Meredith Larson joined PBI in Guatemala in August-December of 1989 after attending Liam Mahony’s speaking tour. Her experience allowed her to form connections with Guatemalan human rights defenders she cultivates to this day.
PBI-Guatemala accompanies Indigenous Community of San Francisco Quezaltepeque in opposition to mining operations
The Indigenous Community of San Francisco Quezaltepeque has posted on Facebook:
“Today, August 9, we celebrate the international day of indigenous peoples from our Mayan Ch’orti’ territory in the sacred place 11 aj y cruz de la ermita, in the indigenous community of Quezaltepeque.
Maya K’iche’ defender Lucía Ixchíu on extractivism in Guatemala; notes the support of PBI in Berlin and Hamburg
Photo of Lucía Ixchíu from Latin America Bureau by Eliana Lafone.
Lucía Ixchíu describes herself as: “K’iche, tree of the Forest, anti-patriarchal, cultural manager, journalist and Indigenous storyteller, architect (Mayan in exile).”
PBI-Guatemala accompanied Council of Communities of Retalhuleu (CCR) highlights need for water legislation
Photo: The CCR observes water being taken from a river for a water-intensive sugar plantation; May 3, 2023.
PBI-Guatemala accompanies the Maya Ch’orti’ Indigenous Council of Olopa in court, hearing postponed to February 2025
Photo by Prensa Comunitaria.
On July 18, PBI-Guatemala posted: “Today members of the Maya Ch’orti’ Indigenous Council of Olopa face a hearing in a process of criminalizing their right to defend their territory Ch’orti’.”