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Ashley Perez

Shahrazad Encinias

CAS 113B

23 February 2024

War’s Shadow on Guatemala’s Mayan Children

Brinton Lykes, M. “Terror, Silencing and Children: International, Multidisciplinary

Collaboration with Guatemalan Maya Communities.” Social Science & Medicine (1982),

vol. 38, no. 4, 1994, pp. 543–52, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/02779

5369490250X?via%3Dihub.

This article discusses the challenges that the Mayan children faced during the war

in Guatemala. The author seeks to tell the indigenous children the truth of what

happened to them and their parents during the war. This source is credible because

it comes from the perspective of a group of mental health workers. The goal of

this source is to let the world know what happened to the Mayan children and for

them to stop living in silence about what happened. This article was informative

and I felt that this was written for a mature and well-informed audience. The

intended audience for this article would also be mental health workers.

Miller, Kenneth E. “The Effects of State Terrorism and Exile on Indigenous Guatemalan Refugee

Children: A Mental Health Assessment and an Analysis of Children’s Narratives.” Child

Development, vol. 67, no. 1, 1996, pp. 89–106. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/1131

688?origin=crossref&seq=1.

This article is about 58 Guatemalan Mayan children who are living in 2 refugee

camps in Chiapas, Mexico. Miller discusses in his article how the children
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recognize why they are living in different areas than other people and why they

aren’t in their original homeland. The goal of this article is to inform the readers

about the exile of indigenous Guatemalan refugee children. This is important

because it sheds light on the indigenous children’s experiences and it supports the

understanding of their needs. The article also brings up the human rights

indigenous children were stripped away from by the Guatemalan army and the

government. The targeted audience for this article would be professionals in the

field of human rights, psychology, or social work. This would also contribute to

those who are interested in how war can impact the mental health of a child.

Nolan, Rachel. “Guatemala’s Baby Brokers: How Thousands of Children Were Stolen for

Adoption.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 4 Jan. 2024, www.theguardian.

com/news/2024/jan/04/guatemalas-baby-brokers-how-tens-of-thousands-of-children-wer

e-stolen-for-adoption#:~:text=A%20report%20in%202000%20found,Most%20were%20I

ndigenous%20Maya.

This article talks about indigenous children being stolen from their families and

adopted. The 3 countries where most indigenous children were adopted were the

United States, Canada, and Europe. The goal of this source is to explain to people

the kidnapping of Indigenous children and how the government played a huge

part in this. It also explains a little about human trafficking happening. This

source is credible because of Nolan's strong evidence and argument. The author

gives us evidence of this happening by discussing the situation of a Mayan family

looking for their daughter who was kidnapped. I would say the audience of this
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article would be adoption industries and people who are looking more into where

the indigenous kids were being kidnapped from.

Nolan, Rachel. “Guatemalan Child Refugees, Then and Now (Disponible En Español).” NACLA,

13 Nov. 2020, https://nacla.org/news/2021/04/23/guatemalan-child-refugees-then-and

-now-disponible-en-espa%C3%B1ol.

In this article, we get to see where the Guatemalan indigenous children are taking

refuge after the war in Guatemala. Nolan discusses how some indigenous children

were forced to be domestic workers or were put up for adoption abroad. The

evidence is credible because we get small interviews with an indigenous child

who told his story of what happened to him during the war and where people fled.

The goal of this source is to explain to people where indigenous children took

refuge and how the government did nothing to help the indigenous community.

The article also brings up the percentage of asylum seekers in the United States

being Mayan families and children. The audience for this article are those who are

looking more into migration and people who want to know more about the

disappearance of indigenous children in Guatemala.

Rodriguez, Felix. “Children in Crisis: Maya Identity in Guatemalan Children’s Drawings.”

Studies in Art Education, vol. 59, no. 4, 2018, pp. 311–27, https://doi.org/10.1080/00393

541.2018.1509262.

In this article, Rodriguez made sure to express the purpose of the aftermath of the

systemic violence that happened during the Guatemalan War by using the

drawings of Mayan Tz’utujil children. The drawings that the Mayan children did

were used as a coping mechanism to ease their suffering from the armed conflict
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in Guatemala. The goal of this source is to bring awareness of what was

happening to indigenous children and their towns during the war in Guatemala

and to speak their truth. It also brings up the issue of human rights Guatemalan

Indigenous children faced. Rodriguez puts his attention mostly on explaining

what the drawings the children drew depicted. The intended audience for this

article is most likely people who want to know more about the violence that

indigenous children had to endure during the war and artists.

Vega, Cristina. “Background.” Children Who Survived: An Examination of the Effects of and

Responses to Armed Conflict in Guatemala and El Salvador. LAP LAMBERT. Academic

Publishing, 2012. pp. 3-21.

In this chapter of the book, Vega goes into detail about what was going on in

Guatemala during the war and how indigenous children were treated. The author

discusses the victims and how the government provided no aid to them. The goal

of this source is to bring awareness of the physical and mental harm done to the

indigenous children in Guatemala and the struggles the children faced. Vega also

talks about how the killing of the Mayan community affects their culture since the

army of Guatemala was trying to get rid of it. The audience for this article would

be people who are interested in history and human rights. It can slo be about

people who want to know more about the effects of how war impacts children.

“‘The Lost Children of Guatemala’ (Full Version).” YouTube, Noticias Telemundo, 13 Aug.

2020, https://youtu.be/aUnQW3E-yYs?si=aPd0uCEVctoLJ1a0.

This video is about the Indigenous children who are now grown up and looking to

reunite with their families. It is said in the video that the children were taken from
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their mothers when they were born and until now, the parents have the chance to

look for their children and the people who abducted them. This source is credible

because we get interviews of the parents talking about losing their children and

how they’re feeling. The goal of this video is to bring awareness to the world of

where the children of Guatemala disappeared and what has happened to them.

Francisco Cuevas a reporter at Telemundo Network, investigated the business of

child adoption and proved that adoption in Guatemala is easier than making an

offer. The children were mostly in countries like the United States, Canada, and

Europe. The audience for this video is parents and people who want to know more

about what happened to the indigenous children during the War in Guatemala.

This video was posted in early August 2020 which is still present-day news.