Guatemala's new president, Bernardo Arévalo, took office in January with a promise of battling corruption. This week, he introduced his anti-corruption team that's going to lead the charge. But it is not an easy road ahead. The expectations are high and there are many challenges.
Activist Patricia Samayoa survived civil war and death squads, but was shot while running an errand in Guatemala last week. Her death is another symbol of the violence that has become commonplace and sent thousands of people abroad seeking refuge.
With gang and organized crime violence common in parts of Central America, more and more people trying to enter the US say they are fleeing out of fear. Last year, 36,000 people gave fear as the reason — more than double the prior year — and those from El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala helped lead that rise.
Kate Doyle of the Guatemala Documentation Project talks with host Marco Werman about the trail of former Guatemalan President Gen. Rios Montt. It's the first and only genocide trial against a former head of state ever held in a domestic court.
Guatemala's former de facto president Jose Efrain Rios Montt is on trial for charges of war crimes and genocide committed under his brutal rule in the 1980s. After avoiding prosecution for nearly 30 years, Rios Montt faces a list of charges that shines a spotlight on the country's unpleasant past.
Ríos Montt, the former leader of Guatemala, is on trial for committing some of the worst crimes against his own people, but Guatemalans aren't paying attention.
People in Guatemala, the Maya heartland, are not buying the doomsday tale, though some so hope to cash in on it.
Otto Perez Molina, a man who commanded troops during that reign of terror, is poised to be country's next president.
After they've been deported, immigrants struggle to readjust to their home country.