Charlas con Café:
“Ixil-Maya Youth, Development and Migration in Guatemala” 

with Baltazar de la Cruz Rodríguez, Maya-Ixil University, Guatemala and Giovanni Batz, visiting assistant Professor of Anthropology, New Mexico State University

Baltazar’s talk will examine the challenges Ixil Maya youth are confronting at the local level, and the reasons many are forced to migrate. He will explore the historical and structural inequalities that have displaced indigenous peoples from their ancestral territories, as well as impacts that megaprojects have caused on local communities. 

Baltazar de la Cruz Rodríguez (Ixil-Maya) is a member of the Alcaldia Indigena in Cotzal (ancestral authorities) and was at the forefront of a movement against the Palo Viejo dam built between 2008-2012. He is a co-founder of the Ixil University and Tichajil TV (an Ixil television program). Giovanni Batz is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of New Mexico, Las Cruces.