The phenomenon of maras (gangs) has become prevalent and pervasive in Guatemala. As one example, during a Kaqchikel Maya language and culture course I co-directed in 2013, one native speaker drew an image of the devil with M-18 written…
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English + Español Back in the 1930s, the famed tango composer Carlos Gardel warned us in a lovely musical arrabal that “twenty years is nothing….” But in the area of mineral and mining, the tune is somewhat different. For more than twenty years, until
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The southwest highlands of Bolivia have offered residents one primary livelihood: salt mining. In recent years, however, a lesser known yet highly abundant element there has become the core of national economic, political and even cultural debates: lithium. Bolivia’s leadership is well aware of the growing importance and desirability of this light silver-white metal. …
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English + EspañolIt’s worth a Potosí—an idiom that uses the name of Bolivia’s famous colonial silver mining town as a way of saying “it’s worth a fortune”—is closely identified with the country’s past and its economic history. We Bolivians have always depended on some natural resource or other. The first was silver from the highlands of Potosí, then tin and now natural gas. …
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f the eighties was the decade of economic reforms, and the nineties that of political and social reforms, the 21st century will be that of environmental concerns. Environmental integrity…
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