Donate now to support Guatemalan human rights defenders!

Hi friends and family,

It's been more than 18 years since I first joined the Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala as a human rights accompanier. Never could I have imagined the ways that NISGUA, its people and its Guatemalan partners, would continue to shape me all these years later. NISGUA oriented me to internationalism, to the interconnectedness of liberatory struggles across peoples and generations. It taught me that my freedom is inextricably bound up in the freedom of others—from Guatemala to Gaza to Goma—and how to leverage one's privilege to keep others safe from harm.

In a small effort to repay NISGUA for my early political formation, I am hoping to raise $2500 over the next ten days in support of the annual May Match Campaign. From May 15 to 31, every dollar donated will be matched up to $40,000. Can you contribute $50, $500, orany amount that is meaningful to you today? NISGUA’s work is done on a shoestring budget by a small, courageous team of staff and volunteers. The May Match Campaign accounts for almost half of NISGUA’s entire annual operating budget. There are few organizations that have so much impact with so few resources.

Some recent impacts:

• NISGUA team members provided physical accompaniment to our long-term partners in a renewed effort by Maya Ixil survivors to achieve a sentence for genocide against General Benedicto Lucas Garcia. Lucas Garcia was one of the chief architects of the U.S-backed Guatemalan military's scorched earth assault on Indigenous communities during the 1980s. The searing testimony of survivors of massacres and sexual violence cries out for a reckoning across decades of impunity.
• NISGUA facilitated a three-day, in-person gathering of our community partners across Guatemala in which they discussed history, politics, and shared organizing strategies. Partners also received a stipend to fund collaborative projects such as mobilizations to Guatemala City to participate in national demonstrations and publishing collections of stories by the elders of their Indigenous communities.

I am so deeply humbled by how my community shows up over the many years I have been raising funds for NISGUA’s work. I cannot express how grateful I am for your continued support. By making a gift today, you'll ensure NISGUA can continue our long term relationships with Guatemalan partners and inch us all closer to collective liberation. All donations made by May 31st will be DOUBLED!

Thank you, thank you, thank you, for all you do to make the world a better place.

Love,

Jillian