Guatemala

Guatemala, the most populous country in Central America, is a textbook example of a country firmly in stage 2 of the demographic transition model. A country steeped in rich culture, Guatemala still has a sizeable population of Mayans, the ethnic group that populated the geographical region pre-colonization. This minority is often the victim of marginalization, much like the Native Americans of the United States. This, combined with the pressures of a rapidly increasing population, create many complicated issues for the country to deal with as its next generation comes of age.

Guatemala is located in Central America and it is bordered by Mexico towards the North and West. The population of Guatemala is very diverse, over 15 million people consist mainly of Mestizos, Amerindians, and Europeans. Approximately 182 live births average per day. (49.201 An hour) Guatemala means “land of forests”. The culture of Guatemala reflects strongly upon Mayan and Spanish influences and continues to be defined as a contrast between villagers and high landers. Much of the customs in Guatemala are widely

Guatemala is a small country in central America, bordered by Honduras, Belize, El Salvador, and Mexico. Guatemala is best known for their indigenous Mayan culture and excavated ruins of the Mayan empire, nature, and their world class coffee. If you visit Guatemala, you’ll see that it is unique in many ways.

United States’ system has its foundation on an agreement between the people and the government to ensure that individual liberties continue to prosper under a free society. The Declaration of Independence lists three important rights that the Founding Fathers considered natural and unalienable. They are the right to life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. Government exists to protect these rights. On other hand, the purpose of Guatemala’s government, according to the Guatemala’s Constitution, is to promote the common welfare, the consolidation of the regime of legality, security, equality, justice, liberty and peace. Both countries have its foundation on democracy; nevertheless, there are specific characteristics that mark a difference between them.

In 1964, Guatemala was being run by a military junta, violence was a part of every day life, the economy was in shambles, and jobs were scare (Cuevas, 2011). It was in this setting that a young man, my future father-in-law, took a chance at a better life for he and his family. Enticed by rumors of prosperity in the United States, Alex and his brother Rene saved their money to journey to Chicago, leaving their families behind in a search for hope that was borne of desperation. Alex left his wife Ruth with 20 Guatemalan Quetzal, the equivalent of $20 dollars, and their three children, Vivien, 5, Ingrid, 3, and Marvin, a newborn baby. What experience lay in store for he and his family? How would they fare in an unknown country, without

The Guatemalan Culture (also known as Chapines) has many improvements to be made, but they are still more stable than other cultures. There are many cultural aspects to the Guatemalan way of life. The culture comes from Mayan and Spanish influences. Guatemala is a beautiful city that borders mexico to the south in Central America. Almost half of their population lives in Urban areas and they speak two different languages. People first started living in this area around nine hundred A.D. The average american would not understand the way of life in Guatemala.

The United States was in favor of democracy in Latin America; however, the reforms made by these “democracies” had to stay within the limits imposed by the US. Therefore, Arbenz became a communist threat after legalizing the communist party and moving to nationalize the plantation of the United Fruit Company . By nationalizing the United Fruit Company, the US and the land owners in Guatemala were going to lose money; therefore, they shared common ground, and were against it. They did not agree with the empowerment of the indigenous people of Mayan descent, and were always discriminated upon. The dictators from neighboring countries were afraid that the reforms being made in Guatemala were going to influence their “respective oligarchies” (Rabe, Stephen G.) and helped organize a possible coup with the United States (Miller, Talea). The CIA desperately searched for any ties between the USSR and Arbenz, but could not find anything. The CIA in Guatemala reported a list with names of communists that they wanted to eliminate when an anti-communist coup was taken place (Document 2), and the killings

The Republic of Guatemala is a small country bordered by Mexico, Honduras, El Salvador, and Belize. It is a country of mountains, volcanoes, and beaches. Guatemala is 42,042 square miles in area, and is only slightly larger than the United States state of Tennessee. One third of its 16,641,813 population lives in cool highland villages. Guatemala is an active region, located near the Cocos and Caribbean oceanic tectonic plates, and has frequent earthquakes and volcanic activity. There are around thirty different volcanoes in Guatemala, and six have been active or erupted recently.

Surrounded by the Central American countries of Mexico, Belize, Honduras and El Salvador , lies the beautiful and captivating country of Guatemala. But looking inside the country filled with breathtaking views, is a whole new world marked with such diversity in its culture. Guatemala’s diverse culture is demonstrated through its people, traditions and etiquettes, arts and landmarks, and foods and holidays.

Guatemala has the biggest population in Central America with over 13 million people. This country is full of history, tradition, geography, and different meals. The main backstory of Guatemala is that the land used to belong to the Mayan until the Spanish took over. The Mayans still live in Guatemala, in fact, the population in Guatemala is almost half of the total Guatemalan population. Guatemalan tradition consists of many of the same traditions that the Mayans have.

Guatemala is the heart of the Mayan world. It is alive, magical, and ancestral. Its history proceeds from four thousand years ago when the Mayan civilization emerged and whose legacy is still evident in the traditions and culture of its habitants. Guatemala possesses an extraordinary cultural and natural richness and a privileged geographic location. The distances one most travel from place to place are so short that one can visit different regions during the same trip.

Guatemala is a large Latin American country with only a population of 12,701,000. This country is sometimes misjudged because many people see it as a tourist destination, but sadly it is a very dangerous place to be. The capital of this beautiful Caribbean state, Guatemala City has a high crime rate. Many times the crimes committed are shootings and drug trafficking, but the crimes can be more than that. Most crimes are encouraged by the cartels that the government cannot control. (Guatemala Facts 1)

“Mangos, mangos, 3 Quetzales !!”. This is the first thing I heard and saw on my trip to Guatemala this past summer. I saw a 9 year old barefoot boy struggling to walk through the busy streets of Guatemala carrying a woven basket that contained ripe and bright orange mangos inside of it. I turned around to my dad and said, “Dad look!! Oh my gosh!! Shouldn’t he be in school?”. My dad always told me about Guatemala and the continuous struggles that he and others faced on a daily basis when he lived there. For the first time I actually saw what my dad talked to about with my very own eyes. What I was seeing was crystal clear and not what I hoped to be a dream.

Guatemala is totally centralized by transportation, communications, business, politics, and the most important urban activity takes place in the capital of Guatemala City. In which numbers are around of two million inhabitants within the city limits and more than five million in the metropolitan, constituting over a third of the country's population.

The capital of the country Honduras is Tegucigalpa. It is located in the Southern part of the country. Three other important cities in Honduras are San Pedro Sula, Danlí, and Roatan. I chose San Pedro Sula as an important city because it is the second largest city in Honduras. Also, it is located in Northern Honduras. I chose Danlí as an important city because is the smallest city, and has the smalled population. Danlí is located in Southern Honduras. The last place I chose is Roatan, I chose it because it is the biggest of Honduras’ bay islands. It is located North of Honduras.