Guatemala Photo of the Day: Tear Gas from Lote 8

This is Emilio.

Of all the people I met in Guatemala, this man sticks with me the most.

Here, he is holding a canister of tear gas that was used against the women and children of Lote 8 during the evictions. He cried when he told us of how, at the age of 52, he has never been able to stop the struggle (‘la lucha’). There was the conflict, and the mining, and the evictions, and the rapes. Add on to that the assassination of community leader and companero Adolfo Ich, and it is more than most people will suffer in a lifetime.