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Guatemala in Free Fall: Una Plática con Luis Gutierrez y Jennifer Harbury
Saturday, July 8, 2023 @ 6:00 pm
Join us for “Guatemala in Free Fall,” a conversation with Guatemalan human rights activist Luis Gutiérrez and Jennifer Harbury, American lawyer, author and human rights activist, on Saturday, July 8, 2023, at 6 PM.
They will be talking about the historical and current political climate of Guatemala. Following a seminar-like discussion, Jennifer Harbury and Luis Gutierrez will share their stories, insights, and experiences of working for human rights and justice in Guatemala, as well as the impact that US policy and actions have on the lives of communities outside of this country.
The conversation will be primarily in Spanish, with English translation. It be followed by a Q&A session.
Doors open at 5:30 PM.
This is a free event, but you can reserve your admission at esperanza.eventbrite.com
Jennifer K. Harbury is an activist, author, and attorney who has spent much of the past twenty years working to monitor and promote human rights in Guatemala. Her husband, Efrain Bamaca Velasquez, was a Mayan resistance leader who was “disappeared” by the Guatemalan military in 1992; subjected to long-term, severe torture; then extrajudicially executed. Harbury’s efforts to save his life, which included three dangerous hunger strikes, resulted in startling disclosures about the close working relationship between the CIA and the Central American death squads. Since learning of her husband’s death, she has devoted much of her time to pressing for human rights reforms for both the United States and Guatemalan governments.
Luis Eduardo Gutierrez Marckwordt is a life-long Guatemalan human rights activist. His parents were both very involved in the reform efforts of President Jacobo Arbenz during the “Ten Years of Spring” (1944-1954). Luis grew up in the shadow of the 1954 CIA sponsored coup and its violent aftermath. His father was imprisoned, then assassinated; and many close family friends were tortured and killed, including the gifted poet Otto Rene Castillo. Luis followed swiftly in their footsteps, becoming an activist at an early age. He continues to this day to struggle for fundamental human rights and an end to official impunity for war crimes.
Call us at 210-228-0201 for more information.