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Adoption
Process |
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International Adoption is a very complicated and at
the same time is a very rewarding process. Thousands and thousands
families adopt every year from overseas. Orphans Adoption is proud
to be part of this exciting process and making some ground braking
changes in the way it’s done. Our agency solely focuses on the
family and its needs rather then simply on the paperwork alone like
many other agencies do. We stay close to our families through the
whole process of international adoption from start to very end.
From your fist phone call or email to Orphans Adoption you will be
working with a live person and will be able to talk on the phone
with a live person whenever you needed in order to resolve any
obstacles or confusions (we are not supporting automated phone
services, and if you call us during business hours there always be
a live person answering your phone on the other side with the
greeting from Orphans Adoption).
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Adoption
Stories |
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History of Guatemala
From the 3rd century BC to the 11th century AD, the lowlands area of the Petén and Izabal regions of Guatemala were several indigenous states on the central highlands. Alta Verapaz is known for the fact that, after failing to conquer it by the sword the Spanish entered by the Church, with missionaries who defended the Indians from the cruel treatments of the Spanish army. Many Pre-Columbian Mayan books were lost due to the policy of the Spaniards during the colonial period of burning them. However, several survive, including: The "Popol Vuh", "Anales de los Kakchiqueles", and "Chilam Balam", books that were discovered and preserved by Spanish missionary friars. The name "Goathemala" was given by the Spanish conquistadores to this land, which derives from indigenous words that mean "Land of many trees".
During the Spanish colonial period, Guatemala was a Captaincy General (Capitanía General de Goathemala) of Spain. It extended from the Soconusco region - located in what is now the southern part of Mexico (states of Chiapas, Tabasco, Quintana Roo, and Yucatan) - to Costa Rica. From a political point of view, this region was not as rich in mineral resources (gold and silver) as Mexico and Peru were. Therefore, it did not have the same importance as those two Viceroyalties had. Its main products were sugarcane, cocoa, and añil (dye obtained from indigo plant to dye textiles).
Tired of being forced to trade exclusively with Spain, the Guatemalan elite declared independence of Spain in September 15, 1821. At that time, the Guatemalan Republic included the Soconusco region, as well as what are now the countries of El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica. Such a big country had a mere 1.5 million habitants, mostly concentrated in the urban centers of the young Republic.
However, in 1822, the province of El Salvador convinced the other Guatemalan provinces to join the Mexican Empire, an idea created by Agustin Iturbide. This Empire was short-lived, however, and a year later Guatemala separated itself from Mexico after Iturbide was forced to abdicate and his empire collapsed. As a result of this annexation, Guatemala lost the Soconusco region, which is now part of Mexico. After this, the Guatemalan provinces formed the United Provinces of Central America, also referred to as the Central American Federation (Federacion de Estados Centroamericanos). The Capital City remained Guatemala City, which to this day continues to be the biggest and most modern urban center in the entire Central American region.
A politically unstable period followed, aggravated by the collapse of the world market for añil (indigo), main export product from the region to Europe. This resulted in each province separating itself from the Federation, beginning with the province of Costa Rica. This confederation fell apart in 1838 to 1840, and Guatemala became an independent nation.
Guatemala has long claimed all or part of the territory of neighboring Belize, formerly part of the Spanish colony. However, Great Britain occupied this territory, and Belize remains English-speaking to this day. While Guatemala recognized Belize's independence in 1991, the territorial dispute between them has not yet been finalized. Negotiations are currently underway under the auspices of the Organization of American States to conclude the dispute.
Guatemalan history has been marked by the scenario of the Cold War between the USA and the USSR. The Central Intelligence Agency, supported by a small group of Guatemalan citizens, orchestrated the overthrow of the democratic socialist freely-elected Guatemalan government in 1954. This was known as Operation PBSUCCESS and led to over thirty years of unrest in the nation during which over 100,000 Guatemalans were killed (mostly indigenous Mayan Indians), more than 450 Mayan villages were destroyed, and over one million people became refugees. This is alleged to be one of the worst ethnic cleansings in modern times. Contributing reasons include US support of every successive, non-democratic government in Guatemala. From the 1950s until the 1990s, the U.S. directly supported Guatemala's army by supplying it with combatant training, weaponry, and money. The U.S. sent the Green Berets to Guatemala to transform its Army into a "modern counter-insurgency force," making their army the most powerful and sophisticated in Central America.
Further involvement of the CIA in Guatemala included the training of 5,000 anti-Castro Cubans for what would become the failed Bay of Pigs Invasion.
1996 marked the end of a bloody 36-year war with the guerrilla Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity (URNG). The signing of the peace treaty was orchestrated by the government of democratically elected President Alvaro Arzu. Since then, the country has enjoyed successive democractic elections, most recently in 2003. However, corruption is still rampant throughout all levels of government. A huge cache of National Police files discovered in December of 2005 revealed methods of public security officials to quell unrest of citizens during the civil war.
Militarily, the Guatemalan army defeated the URNG. However, due to the brutal methods of the military, the country had become a pariah state internationally. In 1992, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Rigoberta Menchu, an indigenous human rights activist, for her efforts to bring international attention to the government sponsored genocide against the indigenous population.
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