Medarda Castro

Guatemala

Guatemala’s brutal civil war was particularly devastating to the country’s Mayan population, with massacres in more than 600 villages. Medarda Castro, a Mayan from the province of Sololá, is the founder of Naleb, a non-governmental organization promoting constitutional reform, economic development, and cultural unity among the Mayan people. She is cofounder of the Political Association of Mayan Women (MOLOJ), and a consultant to the Organization of American States in Guatemala. Ms. Castro works closely with the Office of the Mayan Women’s Rights Defense, created in 1999 as part of the peace accords, and she has been active on behalf of indigenous people through the Mesoamerican Institute for Permaculture. She has also directed a scholarship program for Mayan youth in the city of San Lucas Tolimán.

Ms. Castro’s peace-building activities include:

• calling on the Guatemalan congress to implement the peace accords and abandon policies that marginalize indigenous people;
• working with the Organization of American States in Guatemala, successfully lobbying the Permanent Forum of Political Parties to publicly support implementation of the peace accords;
• organizing roundtable sessions for female representatives of political parties and civil society organizations to create a common political agenda to present to the political parties forum;
• participating in a forum in which government officials, academics, civil society leaders, and Mayan representatives drafted a proposal for fiscal reform;
• managing a political education project for indigenous women in national and regional government leadership;
• promoting discussions with academics, community leaders, and government officials to develop strategies for implementing the peace accords, particularly portions that concern the rights of indigenous people; and
• supporting programs that bring political, constitutional, and educational reform in Mayan organizations, governmental agencies, and universities.

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