The CAMINOS project of the Denver Justice & Peace Committee will host the national gathering of the Guatemalan Accompaniment Project (GAP), a project of the Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala (NISGUA). GAP provides international accompaniment to Guatemalan communities and human rights workers who live under daily threat as a consequence of their valiant efforts to achieve social justice in post-war Guatemala. In recent years, accompaniment has also expanded to indigenous communities facing contemporary threats to their existence posed by multinational mining and hydroelectric megaprojects and the violent repression of Guatemalan security forces that protect the profits of international investment over the human rights of the Guatemalan people.
This year’s GAP gathering will be held in Colorado at the beautiful Estes Park YMCA from August 28-30. The gathering will unite some two dozen former GAP accompaniers from around the country, members of the GAP coordinating team staff, and solidarity activists from many of the eleven GAP sponsoring communities to which DJPC/CAMINOS belongs. Several CAMINOS members will attend the event.
The GAP gathering provides a space to strengthen and reenergize the network of communities involved in the project through reflection about our work in solidarity with movements for justice in Guatemala. The gathering reunites companer@s who worked together in Guatemala and allows activists from distinct regions of the country to build relationships. It also provides a forum where activists can brainstorm with GAP staff and share ideas about the current situation and future expansion of accompaniment.
The CAMINOS committee is proud and excited to co-organize this year’s gathering with the NISGUA/GAP staff. We hope that the gathering will prove to be fun as well as fruitful as we fuel ourselves to continue the work to support of justice, peace and real democracy in Guatemala.
