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You are browsing the archives of 2009 September.

It’s a bit crazy to imagine that countries I was discovering two years ago in SE Asia are now swamped from a typhoon. The following excerpt is from the Radio Australia: The Philippines is bracing for two more typhoons which are expected to hit the flood-ravaged country over the next two days. Emergency teams have [...]

Aside from contributing to Revue Magazine, I’ve been contracting out photography work for various clients here in Central America. In August, I photographed a private event for Pepsi. The event was Pepsi’s official launch of its new logo and image in Honduras. I was even interviewed briefly for TV towards the end of the event, [...]

Another wonderful outcome of capitalist imperialism: (Reuters article by Sarah Grainger) A long-running land dispute between local residents and a foreign-owned nickel mine in Guatemala exploded in violence over the weekend, leaving one man dead and thirteen others injured, police said on Monday. The latest trouble broke out on Sunday when a fight broke out [...]

For more than a decade, the disappearance of thousands of residents during Guatemala’s civil war remained unsolved. Now, the world has answers. “A Human Rights Breakthrough in Guatemala” from Smithsonian.com: A chance discovery of police archives may reveal the fate of tens of thousands of people who disappeared in Guatemala’s civil war. By Julian Smith [...]

An opinion piece in the Seattle Times urges The University of Washington to retract its deal with Nike upon the news that the million dollar corp isn’t paying workers in Honduras. Ughhh… how appalling: The University of Washington should re-examine its relationship with Nike because of the company’s closure of factories in Honduras without paying [...]

Times.com reports that small-production Guatemalan coffee growers can’t make ends meet, even with higher Fair Trade prices. Living in La Antigua Guatemala, I can’t escape the enticing aroma of “cafe.” Here, most of the cafe is supplied by major local producers whose farms carpet the hills surrounding the Panchoy Valley. Producers like the R. Dalton [...]

The first time I heard the eerie bark of a howler monkey was during my outdoor getaway to the Refugio de Cuero y Salado in Honduras (see Murky Mangroves). The sound of these mammals is extremely deceiving. I heard the animal before I ever saw and I thought it must be giant, like a gorilla. [...]

Global Voices Online has highlighted the unsettling testimony, yet inspiring work of Maya Achí activist Jesús Tecú Osorio. Tecú is one of the few survivors of the Río Negro Massacre, considered “one of the most horrific massacres of Guatemala’s armed conflict” and his recount of what happened is disturbing and graphic: “The military and paramilitary [...]

I spent much of December 2007 and January 2008 in Cambodia. While I didn’t touch too much upon the disturbingly prevalent sex trade present there, this report from Change.org (below) does… as does the linked ABC report. It leaves one wondering, ‘What can be done?’ Makes my stomach churn… Warning: The the videos and commentary [...]

Guatemala is a strikingly beautiful country… stunning and magical. I cringe at how this latest quest to find oil and natural gas will affect this “Land of Green Light.” Read the report from Life in Guatemala: World Energy Research, a New Zealand-based energy research and investment company, is moving into energy exploration in Guatemala. WER [...]