Guatemala 2009

After our trip to Guatemala it is evident that Guatemala faces many challenges in its part to development. Arriving in Guatemala City was quite a shock to me because I had imagined it as a primitive country lacking in infrastructure and modernity. Yet as we were driving from the airport many western chain restaurants popped up such as McDonalds and KFC. And it wasn't that one there was one or two, I counted more than 15 as we drove down the main avenida. This scene accurately portrayed the powerful forces of Globalization and their disastrous repercussions on developing countries.

Having spent only a week in Guatemala, I came back somewhat discouraged with what I had learned and seen. Unable to contribute in any substantial way during our brief visit, I found myself continually wondering what I could do upon my return. That question, however, started to haunt me. It made me question the power of the individual and the real significance of raising awareness.

Now that I have presented at Globilization Gone Wild and been back in the mainstream long enough to see people's perceptions of the trip, the more I seem discouraged of how we can help. I told myself before we left that I would be happy with educating one person and changing their mind on what is occurring in Guatemala. However, seeing the same people return on multiple nights of GGW, it makes me wonder if we actually told anyone anything they didn't know.

We gave our Globalization Gone Wild talk regarding Goldcorp and its effects on the local community. The talk went well, and I believe we successfully voiced the harmful implications Goldcorp’s presence has on the local community.

Before going to Latin America, the group had discussions about the classical "machismo" influence that transcends almost every aspect of Latin American culture. While we were in Guatemala, however, a completely new view was presented to us: instead of women playing a secondary role in human rights activism and injustices in their own communities, they were the ones fighting both mentally and physically against the societal forces attempting to negatively alter their lives.

Four weeks ago, a group of Miami students left Oxford for Guatemala. Three weeks ago, that same group of students returned, but something was different. Each of us learned a great deal about ourselves and about the world, and were changed by the things we saw, people we talked to, and places to which we traveled. I can say that for myself, and probably a significant portion of this group of people I have had the great pleasure of getting to know, that March 7-15, 2009 was one very life-changing week.

Globalization Gone Wild will be held the week of April 6th!
Presentations are all at 7:30 pm in Laws 9.

The topics are:

Monday April 6
Guatemala 101: Bananas, Banks, and Bureaucracy

Tuesday April 7
Keeping Mayan Traditions Alive

Wednesday April 8
The Culture of Mines and Machetes: Dying for Gold

Thursday April 9
The Roots of Violence: Government, Gangs, and Narcos

Delegates are also offering individual classroom presentations (available in English and Spanish).
Please email Hollonla@muohio.edu if you are interested!

Jeanne Hey spoke with our class on February 26 addressing economic trends of Latin American development. Sardonically, unequal “free trade” has procreated Latin America’s dependency cycle to the present day.

Juan Carlos Albarrán visited our class on February 19th to speak about immigration. This is an issue that affects not only people in Latin America and the United States, but all over the world. Juan Carlos first divided us into groups and then gave us a recent article about a specific issue in Guatemala. My group received an article about controversial adoptions that were taking place in the countryside of Guatemala.

Throughout Latin American there exists a push for development that is sweeping across countries driven primarily by neoliberal ideas coming from the more norther and more capitalistic countries. This push which often comes too hard or in the wrong form can lead to divisions within the society. Dr. Thomas Klak mentioned two different countries with mirrored problems; in Oaxaca Mexico and Guatemala there exist social conflicts of land holdings between the government and the indigenous people.