This archive report was first published on 14 November 2019.
On November 14, 2019, thousands of Guatemalan indigenous people took to the streets to express their solidarity with Bolivia's Evo Morales, who had resigned as president just a day earlier.
Mauro Vay, head of Guatemala's Rural Development Committee, led the march, which began with a protest outside the US embassy in Guatemala City. The embassy was heavily guarded by police, but the protesters remained undeterred.
As they marched, the protesters carried banners and flags, including a long banner that read, 'Brother Evo, Guatemala is with you.' The whipala flags, an indigenous symbol, were also prominently displayed.
The protests in Bolivia had been marked by violence, with 10 people killed and over 400 injured. Morales, the country's first indigenous president, had resigned after losing the support of the security forces following weeks of protests over irregularities in the October 20 polls.
Guatemala's government had joined the US in recognizing conservative senator Jeanine Anez as interim president, a move that Vay described as a 'coup d'etat' aimed at all indigenous peoples in Latin America and the world.
Thelma Cabrera, a candidate in Guatemala's recent presidential election, echoed Vay's sentiments, calling the change of government in Bolivia a 'big outrage' against indigenous peoples.
