VOA – ENGLISH

Authorities in Guatemala say another indigenous rights activist has been killed in the Central American nation. Human rights prosecutor Jordan Rodas said Sunday that Juana Ramirez Santiago was shot to death Friday. She is the 21st human rights activist to be slain this year in Guatemala.

Rodas is calling for a full investigation into the killing and for greater government protection for activists. The 54-year-old Ramirez was also a midwife. She was a member of the Ixiles Womens Network, which provides psychological counseling, social help and birthing assistance to women in rural areas of Guatemala.

For more on the cause Ramirez died for, there was a great overview of the struggles of these women written in April of 2016 by Sara Barker titled “Indigenous Ixil Women Take a Stand Against Gender-Based Violence in Guatemala”.

#ComunicadoPDH | El @PDHgt @JordanRodas condena el asesinato de Juana Ramírez Santiago, comadrona e integrante de la Junta Directiva de la Red de Mujeres Ixiles, se solidariza con sus familiares y compañeras, y exige a las autoridades investigar los hechos pic.twitter.com/6wqPJAadEE

— PDH Guatemala (@PDHgt) September 22, 2018