Help Breakingthesilence PEI raise money

The PEI committee of the Guatemala-Maritimes Breaking the Silence Network (BTS) (and anyone else who would like to join us!) will be doing a 10k Walk on the Confederation Trail on Saturday, May 24th  to join in the fundraising efforts of other BTS volunteers who are doing the walk in Halifax. We will start at Colville, at the trail, at 10 a.m. and finish in Hunter River where we will have lunch together at the River Bakery and Cafe.

For more information call 902-652-2646.

The Guatemala-Maritimes Breaking the Silence Network is a voluntary network of people in the Maritimes who began to organize in 1988 to support the efforts of Guatemalans struggling for political, social, and economic justice. We have longstanding relationships with peasant organizations fighting  for land and women bravely fighting for compensation for rapes committed by the military during the internal conflict in the 80's. We undertake advocacy and lobbying; organize delegations;  and provide volunteer human rights accompaniers; promote fairly-traded coffee; and raise awareness within our own communities through speaking tours by Guatemalan leaders and other political campaigns.

While the newly elected President, tries to bring about minimal, long overdue, reforms and changes in Guatemala, they are blocked at every important step by the “traditional elites” (often referred to as the Pact of the Corrupt) that control the judicial and legislative branches of government, the military and police and mainstream media. Indigenous communities continue to be evicted from their ancestral lands to make way for extractive projects, journalists lives are threatened and often jailed and peaceful protesters are criminalized.

Learn more about the work that BTS network and what it does in Canada and in Guatemala here.