Guatemala Prepares For Indigenous Summit
Guatemala is getting ready Thursday to welcome nearly 2,000 delegates for the Third Summit of Indigenous Peoples and Nationalities, to be run on March 26 with a Maya ceremony at the sacred site of Iximche.

The summit expects that figures like Bolivia s President Evo Morales, Nobel Peace Prizewinners Adolfo Perez Esquivel and Rigoberta Menchu, and writer Eduardo Galeano attend this forum, members of the organizing committee told Prensa Latina.

The five-day summit is due to tackle issues of territory and natural resources, autonomy and free determination, indigenous justice, integral development and women s participation in policy.

Also on the list are structural problems due to the implementation of the Free Trade Agreement with United States, and the impact of neoliberal globalization and militarization in communities.

The indigenous people meeting is expected to conclude on March 30 with a mass march in the capital, starting from the four cardinal points of the city and ending in front of the Central Park.