Soraya Chemaly

Feminist, Writer, Satirist... not always in that order

Rape, invisible and ubiquitous, is perceived as sexual and inevitable, and we tend to think of children and women as collaterally damaged during war. In truth, all over the world, girls and women are fully, bodily engaged in conflict.

Julia Cashen

UCLA senior

U.S. college students, Chris Temple and Zach Ingrasci, take us on a journey into the realities of poverty as they live on a dollar a day in Guatemala in their documentary Into Poverty: Living on One Dollar.

Katherine Marshall

Senior Fellow, Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs at Georgetown University

The potential coalition of leaders from different world regions and different religious traditions could do wonders for the extractive industry cause. They offer a special promise.

Craig Juntunen

Founder and president, Both Ends Burning

Today, courage and strength have replaced love and desire as the most important characteristics for people who take on the international adoption process. The expected 18- to 24-month adoption process has turned into a maddening and unnecessary four or five year ordeal.

Mette Lampcov

Danish photographer living in Los Angeles.

Dan Kovalik

Human and labor rights lawyer

A 2011 report confirmed that the members of the U.S. medical team knew they were violating the rights of Guatemalans when they engaged in the systematic and deadly experimentation upon thousands without their knowledge.

Lisa Haugaard

Executive Director, Latin America Working Group

Defenders say the most important action the state can take is investigate and prosecute the attacks against them. Yet most murders of defenders, and nearly all death threats, remain in impunity.

Kevin A. Sabet, Ph.D.

Co-founder, Project SAM (Smart Approaches to Marijuana) and Asst. Professor, University of Florida

These countries are pleading with the international community for cooperation and real solutions. Not only is legalization a nonstarter for them, it is insulting to them that we think their problems could be solved by such a policy.

Ethan Nadelmann

Executive Director, Drug Policy Alliance

After decades of being brutalized by the U.S. government's failed prohibitionist drug policies, Latin American leaders, including not just distinguished former presidents but also current presidents, are saying "enough is enough."

Dora Alonzo Quijivix

Fellow, Adolescent Girls’ Advocacy and Leadership Initiative (AGALI)

In order to protect the rights of girls and young women, we must find new ways of holding our government accountable to the wellbeing of children and adolescents in Guatemala.

Michelle Chen

In These Times and CultureStrike

The term "banana republic" has become a cliche to describe economic imperialism throughout history, but the legacy of colonialism persists in Latin America today.

Paul Seils

Vice President, The International Center for Transitional Justice

It is an impossible to compare the tragedies inflicted on the populations of Latin America in the name of so-called national security doctrines, but Guatemala's war took more civilian lives than any other in Latin America, almost all at the hands of the army and their proxies.

Hannah Collins

Teen Impact Contest Finalist

I led a group of 14 students to the Asociación Bendición de Dios School in Guatemala to deliver computers. Five-year-old José was so excited he was to learn games and be able to search on the Internet.

Keith Ferrazzi

CEO and Author of 'Who's Got Your Back'

I am feeling more committed than ever to weaving volunteerism and service into corporate America's culture. As in all real relationships, the benefits are mutual -- we receive as much or more than we give.

Black Tomato

Cutting edge travel experts

From Bhutan to Iceland to Belize, there are incredibly things to be done in 2012. Here is a tasting menu of the journeys this new year has to offer.

Joe Kutchera

Social Marketing Advisor; Author, Latino Link

With Duolingo, he hopes to solve two enormous problems for the developing world: bring down the incredibly high-price of computer language learning to nothing and improve the quality and quantity of online content in languages other than English.