Friends, Colleagues, and Writers Around the World
Thank you to our backers for helping us reach our funding goal. We are so grateful to each and every one of you. We still have three weeks to go! Every extra dollar will allow us to expand the project to a larger audience and educate and inspire a larger audience about Guatemala and the book’s extraordinary lives and awesome stories.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/guatemala/the-guatemala-reader
Please continue to share the link to the Guatemala Reader Kickstarter platform, which explains the objectives and the different formats of the books—hardcover and paperback—along with the “rewards,” such as a new bookmark and customized photos of Guatemala, which I took.
Best of all, I received encouragement from so many.
You have no idea how rewarding it is to see others supporting your work: John Timm, fellow author, and team member.
Thank you for sharing this with me, Mark. I will pass it along and expect to be a backer myself—the CEO of Plant with Purpose.
And I so appreciate the fellow writers who took the time to read and review my work.
Felicitaciones Mark por la publicacion de “The Guatemala Reader,” lecturas sobre Guatemala. Good luck! Victor Montejo, Maya anthropologist, and author, who is one of the “Extraordinary Lives” I profile.
…Since the 1970s when he arrived in Guatemala as a Peace Corps volunteer, Walker has studied and explored the country while passionately advocating for its indigenous peoples. Blending storytelling with analysis, The Guatemala Reader is brimming with wisdom, insight, and compassion. Mark D. Walker is the ideal guide for those who are looking for a deeper understanding of the issues confronting Guatemala and Central America: Stephen Benz, travel writer and Kickstarter backer.
Culture Watch
According to the Tico Times, the new Guatemalan President, Bernardo Alvarado, got off to a very “lukewarm” start.
There was time for them to organize a much greater offensive on the issue of fighting corruption, said Manfredo Marroquín from the local branch of Transparency. He adds that they could have come in more vital to document the looting of the last four years because never before was there such a high vote against the corrupt system.
The article said, “Arévalo also dismissed the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources for “misuse of state resources,” after it came to light that her daughter allegedly used an official vehicle for personal activities. Despite this, political analysts and business and indigenous leaders point out that his government is “decent,” something not minor in a country that ranks 154 out of 180 countries in the corruption ranking of the NGO Transparency International.
According to a CNN report, General Lucas was brought to trial for genocide 40 years after the bloody civil war in Guatemala. This follows the prosecution of General and former President Rios Montt, who was found guilty and sentenced to 80 years in prison, which was the first time a national court found a former head of state guilty of genocide.
Up to 150 witnesses, including 30 survivors of sexual violence and forensic experts, will testify in the case against General Lucas.
Calendar
- May 15: End of The Guatemala Reader Kickstarter Campaign
- June 1: Full version of the Million Mile Walker Dispatch
- June 15: A three-week trip to Guatemala with my wife, son, daughter-in-law, and two granddaughters. Let the next generation begin!
Your interest and support for this project means a lot. You can find my 80 book reviews and 28 articles, plus several videos and photos, on my website: http://millionmilewalker.com. “Follow” me on Twitter—at https://twitter.com/millionmile and Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/millionmilewalker/ for the latest international affairs and literature. And, as always, if you’ve read “Different Latitudes: My Life in the Peace Corps and Beyond” and “My Saddest Pleasures: 50 Years on the Road,” rate them on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and GoodReads.
Shalom!
Mark D. Walker