Adam Ventures

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Last week we had a three-day All Volunteer Conference (AVC). An AVC is generally where Peace Corps Volunteers (PCVs) are required to attend so that information can be easily and equally disseminated. In Peace Corps Guatemala (PCPeace Corps/G), our AVCs are annual, usually preceding our Fourth of July celebration so as to kill two birds with one stone. It is rare for AVCs to be called outside of early July so it should have been surprising. But it wasn’t. And here’s why:

• The US is currently waging a war against drugs. It won’t do to talk about how to help solve the War On Drugs, but the fact remains that the US is one of the biggest drug-consuming nations and the border shared with Mexico is a good corridor to pass the drugs through. So with the huge vacuum in the US, drugs can’t help but be transported through the Mexico and its neighbor to the south, Guatemala. Because of the long border that Guatemala shares with Mexico, it is a favored route for narcotrafficking. After all, it is easier to spot boats hidden among the waves than to spot people or vehicles in areas of dense jungle undergrowth.
• Guatemala is an underdeveloped country facing a high rate of unemployment and high incidence of corruption. With this comes feelings of powerlessness for the populace. If someone has a paying job and can put food on the table for their family they have a certain sense of satisfaction and power. But it’s hard to look for employment when there are so very few jobs and the few jobs that there are require a high school degree or prior experience. Guatemala’s population is undereducated (with a large agrarian population, young kids stop attending school at certain ages to help in the field) and young (with a median age of 19). As such, it’s hard to find a job and, therefore, power. One way of finding power is to join with a gang or drug cartel (which is basically a gang with a specific focus).

For these two reasons, the most prominent of the forces weakening the prospects for development, Guatemala is a dangerous country. Fortunately for us PCVs, much of the violence that happens in this country happens in the capital city, which is off-limits to us.

Statistics for the Northern Triangle. Notice how much lighter Guatemala is?

PCPeace Corps/G has been implementing and adjusting policies and procedures in these past months to reduce PCVs’s susceptibility to crime. The AVC that we just had was an effort to apprise us of the steps they are taking and the steps yet to be taken.

One of the goals is to get the PCPeace Corps/G population down to a more manageable size (so as to increase the PCVPeace Corps Volunteer, an active volunteer serving in country-to-PCPeace Corps Staff ratio). Toward this end:

1. We have been informed, prior to the AVC, that the two Trainee intakes (the term used when aspiring PCVs arrive in-country) scheduled for this year were canceled until PCPeace Corps/G reviews its current policies and procedures and deems them adequate to be able to take in more Trainees,
2. We have also been informed that the second and third intakes before me are being forced to close their service 4 months and 1 month ahead of time, respectively,
3. And in case any current PCVPeace Corps Volunteer, an active volunteer serving in country is feeling unsafe, they have also been offered the rare chance to “Early COSClose of Service, when you complete your service”, which grants all the benefits of having served a full term.

With these three efforts Peace Corps Washington (PCPeace Corps/WPeace Corps Washington, the headquarters) hopes to get PCPeace Corps/G’s Volunteer population down to a more manageable size.

It is also the case that PCPeace Corps/G is consolidating its geographic range to the Western Highlands. So now instead of Volunteers being spread throughout the country, we Volunteers can only serve in 5 of the departamentos. They closed off The Oriente (The East), the Verapaces, San Marcos, Huehuetenango, and the South Coast leaving only Quetzaltenango, Chimaltenango, El Quiché, Sololá, and Totonicapán for us to serve in.

Although I live on the South Coast, I do still live in Quetzaltenango so I do not have to move. I have spoken to my Safety and Security Coordinator and he sees no reason for me to move. For several of my friends and 50 PCVs in total, they have decide what they are going to do. Their options are to either take the Early COSClose of Service, when you complete your service and leave the country by March 24th, or pack up and move to a new location. Both of these options entail wrapping up any projects they may have currently active and saying goodbye to their host family, friends, and colleagues that they have known for the extent of their service. Neither option is easy to make since both involve uprooting your life and having to explain the reasons for your decision.

I know many people affected by this geographic consolidation and sadly many of them are choosing to take Early COSClose of Service, when you complete your service. They are making the best decision for themselves but the sad part is having to say goodbye. After having survived training together I thought that those remaining would continue to serve the full two years with me. It pains me to see them leave. I wish them the best of luck in life.

PCPeace Corps/G is not shutting down. All the same, the future is uncertain. Guatemala has just recently inaugurated a new president who has vowed to combat violence and delinquency. For the state of San Marcos, it is assumed that he is planning on declaring a State of Siege which would allow him to send the Guatemalan army there to keep the rule of law. I hope that the new president is effective in this venture but I worry that the current powers-that-be (drug cartels and gangs) may retaliate and end up increasing the level of violence in the short term. I also worry that as they are kicked out of certain departamentos they will go to the nearest neighbor, thereby spreading the violence.

In the meantime, I have full faith in our Security and Safety Coordinator who is doing a fantastic job at keeping us safe. I feel that the steps being taken are necessary and prudent so as to reduce the chances that any of us Volunteers have anything happen to us.

So Mom and Dad, please take from this entire post that I am aware of the nature of serving in PCPeace Corps/G. Please note that I am choosing to stay here knowing this. This means that I feel safe serving here. Please do not worry for me. I love you.