Roman Gressier

@romangressier.com

808 Followers 316 Following

I’m a journalist in Guatemala City and the editor of El Faro English @elfaroenglish.bsky.social. https://romangressier.com

Former Constitutional Chamber magistrate Sidney Blanco (left) joins a September 2021 march in El Salvador against the purge of 30 percent of judges ordered by the Bukele-controlled Legislative Assembly. Photo: Víctor Peña/El Faro
Members of Comandos de Salvamento searched Arenal Monserrat for something that would identify Carlos Abarca: the brown shoes, white shirt or blue pants he was wearing when he disappeared. The rescuers moved rocks, removed trash and dug through the mud. They found no clues as to Carlos’ whereabouts.
Miners carry sacks with rocks to be crushed, in order to extract gold, in the "IRON" gold mine some 10 km from the town of Rosita in the North Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region in northeast Nicaragua. The United States imposed sanctions on Nicaragua's General Directorate of Mines on October 24, 2022, saying it finances the regime of President Daniel Ortega and his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo. Photo: Inti Ocon/AFP
Catarina Solís, 64 years old in 2019. Her parents, her two brothers, and her husband were disappeared in 1983 and have been missing ever since. Catarina says that the military raped her, beat her, and burned down her home. Today, she continues to demand justice, in the community of Sajbata, in Nebaj. Photo: Víctor Peña/El Faro
Residents of the village Cocop in Nebaj, Quiché, commence a communal meeting with prayer in the Ixil language. Men and women gather in this place nestled between dusty paths in the mountains. This is where one of the first massacres was registered: The Guatemalan Army murdered 77 people here on Apr. 16, 1981. Photo Víctor Peña/El Faro
Brenda’s daughter Jazmín lived only two years, mostly between hospitals in Chiquimula, Zacapa, and Guatemala City. “In the capital, they did all the tests and told me it was pneumonia. That was all. When I took her to intensive care, she was nine months old and weighed 16 pounds. When she came out, she was 16 months old and weighed 13 pounds. She lost weight in the hospital. Maybe because of all the blood they were taking,” says Brenda. She and her husband work as day laborers on farms near their home, where they make about Q80 a day (a little over $10). Photo: Víctor Peña/El Faro
Mauricio Benítez is originally from Santa Rosa de Lima, La Unión, in El Salvador. His sister called El Brit for them to take him to a rehabilitation center. Mauricio, 42, has trouble speaking. According to El Brit’s volunteer staff, this can be attributed to alcohol abuse. “Look, I was drinking uncontrollably, and I was selling away my belongings. Now I have to stay here until December. All I want is to see my mother,” he explained while smoking a cigarette. Photo Carlos Barrera/El Faro
A red-orange moon casts its reflection over Lake Atitlán in Sololá, Guatemala. April 2024. Photo by Roman Gressier.