Guatemala Indigenous Law Seminar
The international seminar "Experiences and Progress of Indigenous Law" is taking place in Guatemala, with the participation of national and foreign experts interested in a controversial legal method.

"The reinstatement of a native legal system in a world where the West rules is a big challenge," declared Tania Adams, director of the Center for Mesoamerican Research (CIRMA), the event s organizer.

Adams told Prensa Latina the objective is to create a space for dialogue in a country where over half of the population belongs to some kind of ethnic group.

The CIRMA director noted it is important to discuss and understand the native law, because many people have tried to invalidate it in recent years.

The system has regulated the life of communities for centuries, bringing harmony, and avoiding crime, but some try to attribute it colonial practices, such as physical punishments like whipping.

That view has been used to discredit the indigenous law, when it has been demonstrated that community justice has many good qualities.

"That is permeated by historic racism against the indigenous peoples, as it has happened in Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, and other countries," Bolivian anthropologist Ramiro Molina told Prensa Latina.

Over 20 speakers and experts from Mexico, Peru, Colombia, Bolivia, Norway, and the host country will be discussing the subject for three days.