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Guatemala

Guatemala is the most-populous country in Central America. Its capital and largest city is Guatemala City.

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All Content on this topic

Nicaragua supporters protest outside of the Organization of the American States asking to free political prisioners and stop the government's human rights violations against critics, during a rally in Washington, Wednesday, June 23, 2021

US secures release of 135 political prisoners in Nicaragua

Thirteen of those released are members of the Texas-based religious NGO Mountain Gateway.
PoliticsSeptember 5, 2024
View of a tree that fell during heavy rains and blocked part of a road in Sonsonate, El Salvador

Central America: Torrential rains kill several people

Heavy rains have prompted flooding and landslides in countries like El Salvador and Guatemala, killing several people.
ClimateJune 18, 2024
A Chinese yuan bill is seen on the map of South America

Latin American anger grows over China's economic clout

Amid China's growing influence, Beijing has strong-armed countries such as Guatemala and outraged retailers in Brazil.
BusinessJune 5, 2024
Confetti rains down on participants after outgoing Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei delivers his annual report at the National Palace in Guatemala City.

US bars ex-Guatemala president from entry

The US has designated former Guatemalan president Alejandro Giammattei as ineligible to enter the country.
PoliticsJanuary 18, 2024
DW Dokumentationen | Bitcoineros

Bitcoin in Latin America - A digital gold rush begins

European conquistadors once came to Latin America to rob the indigenous population of its gold.
Digital WorldJanuary 16, 202442:35 min
Bernardo Arevalo

Guatemala: Arevalo calls bid to annul victory 'perverse'

President-elect Bernardo Arevalo says a move by prosecutors to invalidate his election victory is an "attempted coup."
PoliticsDecember 9, 2023
DW Business (Sendungslogo Composite)

DW Business

Questions over source of Hamas funding - Guatemalans eye brighter future at home
BusinessOctober 17, 202312:35 min
The Supreme Electoral Tribunal's President, Irma Palencia (C), speaks during a press conference with magistrates Gabriel Aguilera (L) and Mynor Franco at the headquarters of the Constitutional Court in Guatemala City on September 29, 2023

Prosecutors seize election documents from Guatemala court

One judge refused to handover election votes, while another was shoved and fell to the ground during the fracas.
PoliticsSeptember 30, 2023
The Naranjo River moves through the "Dios es fiel," or "God is Loyal" shanty on the outskirts of Guatemala City, Monday, Sept. 25, 2023, the day after homes were swept away overnight after heavy rain.

Guatemala: Heavy rains, landslide sweep rickety homes away

Rescuers are scrambling to find 15 missing people, while the local fire department said it had located six dead bodies.
CatastropheSeptember 25, 2023
Guatemalan President-elect Bernardo Arevalo in Guatemala City

Guatemala: President-elect Arevalo pauses transition

Arevalo made the move as officials from the top prosecutor's office raided electoral facilities and opened ballot boxes.
Law and JusticeSeptember 13, 2023
Bernardo Arevalo during an interview from his home in Guatemala city.

Bernardo Arevalo: Guatemala electoral body upholds victory

There were reports of Bernardo Arevalo's party being disqualified, but the electoral tribual reaffirmed his victory.
PoliticsAugust 29, 2023
Guatemalan anti-graft presidential candidate Bernardo Arevalo reacts following his victory

Guatemala: Progressive Bernardo Arevalo wins landslide

The political outsider appears to have won resoundingly as the focus shifts to whether he will be allowed to take power.
PoliticsAugust 21, 2023
Agents from the Attorney General's Office, arrive at the Seed Movement political party in Guatemala City

Guatemala: Police raid presidential candidate's offices

Bernado Arevalo's Semilla party offices were raided on Friday, one month before a run-off election.
PoliticsJuly 22, 2023
Pacific coast of Nicaragua

Earthquake rocks Central America

The quake, initially measured at 6.5 magnitude, struck Nicaragua, Guatemala and other countries on the Pacific coast.
CatastropheJuly 19, 2023
Guatemalan presidential candidate Sandra Torres

Guatemala election: Torres pauses campaign amid uncertainty

Presidential candidate Sandra Torres suspended her campaign in solidarity with her opponent targeted by the government.
PoliticsJuly 13, 2023
Guatemala Supreme Electoral Tribunal judges at press conference

Guatemala election uncertainty continues as party suspended

Guatemala's electoral tribunal has ratified the results of the first round of presidential elections.
PoliticsJuly 13, 2023
Polling station in first round of Guatemalan presidential election

Guatemala election: Court orders probe after surprise result

Multiple political parties filed complaints after center-left candidate Bernardo Arevalo performed better than expected.
PoliticsJuly 2, 2023
A poster and flowers at the site where the incident took place in 2022.

US arrests 4 Mexicans over Texas migrant truck deaths

The four men were allegedly part of a "patchwork association" of smugglers.
MigrationJune 28, 2023
Sandra Torres displays her ballot paper

Guatemala: Presidential election frontrunners face runoff

Two of the leading presidential candidates accused the ruling party of buying votes as the polls closed.
PoliticsJune 26, 2023
Presidential candidate Carlos Pineda of the Prosperidad Ciudadana party holds a bullhorn after arriving to the Constitutional Court in Guatemala City, Saturday, May 20, 2023.

Guatemala court disqualifies top candidate ahead of vote

Guatemala's top court shot down Carlos Pineda's campaign, citing alleged violations of electoral law.
PoliticsMay 27, 2023
Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei giving a speech with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen next to him

Guatemala vows to be 'solid diplomatic ally' to Taiwan

The Central American country is one of just 13 that still recognizes Taiwan and not mainland China.
PoliticsApril 25, 2023
Taiwan's president Tsai Ing-wen in Guatemala

Taiwan: Guatemalan president's visit angers China

Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei began his visit to Taiwan, predictably drawing Beijing's wrath.
PoliticsApril 24, 2023
people sitting on the ground near a truck

Mexico finds truck with 103 unaccompanied migrant children

The migrant children found were found in an abandoned truck along with 212 unrelated adults in Mexico's Veracruz state.
MigrationMarch 7, 2023
Local reporter in an indegenous radio station in front of the camera

Speaking up: Indigenous journalism in Guatemala

Topics: Dangerous reporting: covering indigenous issues in Guatemala is difficult and comes with a high price -- Why care about neglected tropical diseases (NTDs)
Human RightsFebruary 1, 202329:59 min
Guatemalan former President Otto Perez Molina speaking to the press after his trial.

Guatemalan ex-president gets 16 years for corruption

Former President Otto Perez and his vice president Baldetti were both given 16 year sentences each.
Law and JusticeDecember 8, 2022
A protestor holds a portrait of Mahsa Amini as thousands showed their support for Iranian protesters standing up to their leadership over the death of Amini in police custody

Push for change

Protests in Iran have now entered a fourth week, indigenous women in Guatemala rise up against land grabbing.
Human RightsOctober 12, 202229:59 min
Sofia Tot Ac in front of a piece of land that's been contested

Dangerous battle against land grabbing

In Guatemala, Indigenous women have been rising up to protect their ancestral lands.
Human RightsOctober 12, 202219:28 min
A man carries an empty water tank through a flooded area after the impact of the tropical storm Julia

Central America hit by Tropical Storm Julia, dozens killed

The weakening storm drenched Guatemala and El Salvador with torrential rains, pummeling Nicaragua on its path.
Nature and EnvironmentOctober 11, 2022
Afghan men carrying sacks of food aid

Oxfam: Acute hunger has surged in climate hot spots

Poorer countries are the most affected in what is a "stark demonstration of global inequality," the charity reports.
Food SecuritySeptember 16, 2022
Jose Ruben Zamora Marroquin walks out of a judicial hearing in Guatemala city

Guatemala: Arrest of prominent journalist sparks outrage

The journalist's elPeriodico newspaper is famous for investigations that have revealed cases of government corruption.
Rule of LawJuly 31, 2022
Tortillas lying on a pan

Families in Guatemala facing Hunger

Hunger and poverty disproportionately affect indigenous communities in the country. Its the kids who suffer most.
Food SecurityJuly 6, 202229:59 min
A woman hold a small child next to a tent on sandy ground

Climate vulnerable nations demand compensation

Climate vulnerable countries want rich, high-emission nations to pay up. But what exactly could such funds do?
Nature and EnvironmentJune 10, 2022
Women identified as victims of human rights violations during Guatemala's civil war, embrace outside the Supreme Court in Guatemala City, Monday

Guatemala sentences paramilitaries for raping Mayan women

Five former militia members have been jailed for 30 years for the rapes of Indigenous women in the 1980s.
CrimeJanuary 25, 2022
Guatemalan security forces stop migrants who are part of a caravan from Honduras hoping to reach the United States after they crossed the border in Puerto Barrios, Guatemala

Hundreds of migrants heading to the US stopped in Guatemala

Guatemalan authorities have said they are working "humanely" to return people to their countries of origin.
MigrationJanuary 16, 2022
People mourn the killing of people in coffins brought to a demonstration demanding an end to violence in Santa Catarina Ixtahuacan, Monday, Dec. 20, 2021.

Guatemala Indigenous block road in protest of killing of 13

After 13 people were killed in a massacre over the weekend, grieving families blocked a major Guatemalan road.
ConflictsDecember 21, 2021
A Guatemalan soldier pictured with security personnel in the background

13 killed, including children, in Guatemala land dispute

A land dispute between two neighboring villages has claimed the lives of "children, men and women," said police.
ConflictsDecember 19, 2021
A display of several ancient Mayan sculptures

Guatemala and Mexico receive ancient Mayan artifacts

As Germany returns Mayan artifacts once held by private collectors, it raises questions of who their true owners are.
CultureNovember 5, 2021
Saxony-Anhalt State Premier Reiner Haseloff holds a Mayan figure in his gloved hand

Germany to return artifacts to Guatemala, Mexico

The historic objects were purchased at a Leipzig flea market and discovered last year in the state of Saxony-Anhalt.
Rule of LawNovember 1, 2021
A Haitian family lines up at a migrant shelter in Mexico as they try to get into the US

Guatemala: Police find 126 migrants in container

Most of the migrants were from Haiti and they had hoped to arrive in the US but now would be sent to Honduras.
MigrationOctober 10, 2021
A woman walks in San Martin Jilotepeque, Guatemala

Coronavirus digest: Guatemala imposes 'state of calamity'

Guatemala has imposed a curfew and restricted public gatherings amid a surge in infections. Follow DW for the latest.
HealthAugust 14, 2021
Mexiko US-Vizepräsidentin Harris trifft Präsident Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador

Kamala Harris declares Mexico, Guatemala trip 'a success'

Democratic and Republican lawmakers have slammed some of the US Vice President moves in her trip to tackle migration.
PoliticsJune 9, 2021
Kamala Harris and Alejandro Giammattei

US: Kamala Harris in Guatemala warns migrants 'do not come'

The US vice president is talking migration, corruption and investment with Guatemalan and Mexican leaders.
PoliticsJune 8, 2021
A medical worker preparing to administer a coronavirus vaccine

World in Progress: Struggling for survival

How textile workers are faring who can't socially distance and the role of clean cooking stoves for our health.
HealthMay 12, 202129:59 min
Corn tortillas sit on a blackened comal at the home of Elda Perez Recinos in the village of Shalagua, in Guatemala's eastern state of Chiquimula

World in Progress: Cooking stoves saving lives

Access to clean cooking stoves can help boost people's health. Andreas Boueke reports from Guatemala.
HealthMay 12, 202118:18 min
Crosses set up in protest at murders of women in Guatemala

In Guatemala, women fear for their lives

At least 160 women have been killed in the first four months of 2021 in Guatemala — more than one per day.
Human RightsMay 2, 2021
DW Podcast | Science Unscripted

COVID-19 FAQs: Germany, AstraZeneca & Guatemala

Germany's "new approach" to the pandemic, an answer to the "over 65" question and a COVID controversy in Guatemala.
ScienceMarch 4, 202111:23 min
On bicycles and with stuffed animals, dozens of girls protest against murder and kidnapping in downtown Guatemala City

World in Progress: Staying alive!

One student set up a help line to stop suicide in Japan and female judges in Guatemala risk their lives for justice.
HealthFebruary 17, 202129:59 min
Women and girls riding bicycles take part in a protest to demand justice for the murder of girls at Constitution Square in Guatemala City

World in Progress: Justice in Guatemala

They have come up against powerful opponents who tried to have them killed. But they refuse to be dominated by fear.
Human RightsFebruary 17, 202117:34 min
A Guatemalan soldier speaks with Honduran migrants hoping to reach the U.S., at the border in El Florido, Guatemala.

Guatemala cracks down on US-bound migrant caravan

The caravans are headed towards Mexico, where the government has already deployed security forces and riot police.
MigrationJanuary 17, 2021
Hondurans take part in a new caravan of migrants, set to head to the United States

First migrant caravans of 2021 leave Honduras

Thousands of migrants set off from Honduras' second-largest city on a mammoth walk to the US border.
SocietyJanuary 16, 2021