Guatemala – January 2024

Guatemala January 2024

These are photographs that I took in the center of Guatemala City in January 2024. The first seven were taken outside the Public Ministry or Department of Justice, where people were protesting and had camped out for three months when the corrupt attorney general and other government members tried to prevent president-elect, Bernardo Arévalo, from taking office. Arévalo is a progressive, anti-corruption candidate who won the second round of presidential elections on August 20, 2023. The other photographs were taken on January 14, 2024, in and around the Central Park the day that Bernardo Arévalo was supposed to take office. The last-minute effort by corrupt members of congress to prevent this delayed the ceremony until after 1.00 a.m. the following day. People came from all over Guatemala to celebrate President Arévalo’s swearing-in, having won the 2023 elections on a progressive, anti-corruption platform. His election victory and the current moment have the potential to transform the country, in an echo of the historic “decade of spring” (1944-1954) when Arévalo’s father had helped lead the country, introducing participatory democracy and social reforms.

My new Guatemala book will soon be published and will include some or most of these photographs and many other color photographs that I have taken there since 1993. I will donate half or more of the proceeds from sales to one or two NGOs in Guatemala that work for justice, human rights and historical memory, in solidarity!