Irma A. Velásquez Nimatuj

The Resistances & Challenges of the Contemporary Maya

Justice Beyond the Final Verdict: The Sepur Zarco Case

Thursday, October 22, 3pm US CT
Online via Zoom

Un enfoque indígena a la actual ‘crisis’ de inmigración

Friday, October 23, 3pm US CT
Online via Zoom

This event was presented in collaboration with Centro Hispano, the Chican@ and Latin@ Studies Program, the Latin American, Caribbean and Iberian Studies Program, and the School for Workers at UW–Madison.

A black and white image of a woman looking to her right into the distance. She has dark hair and wears a straw hat with a small brim. Both hat and brim are trimmed with dark fabric. She wears hoop earrings and has a nose ring. She wears a patterned blouse in light and dark shades, and a knit cardigan sweater featuring checkered bands and cross shapes.

IRMA ALICIA VELÁSQUEZ NIMATUJ is a Maya-K’iche’ social anthropologist and journalist. She has been at the forefront of struggles for respect for indigenous cultures. She was Executive Director of the Mecanismo de Apoyo a Pueblos Indígenas Oxlajuj Tzikin (Support Mechanism for Indigenous Peoples) (2005-2013). In 2002 she played a key role in the historical process of setting legal precedent through a court case that made racial discrimination illegal in Guatemala. She is the author of “La Justicia Nunca Estuvo de Nuestro lado”: Peritaje Cultural Sobre Conflicto y Violencia Sexual en el Caso Sepur Zarco, Guatemala (2019), “Lunas y Calendarios”: Poesía Guatemalteca (2018),  Pueblos Indígenas, Estado y Lucha por Tierra en Guatemala (2008) and La pequeña burguesía indígena comercial de Guatemala Desigualdades de clase, raza y género (2003).

Due to COVID-19, all Havens Wright Center events were hosted online via Zoom.