
William Gularte / Reuters
Kekchi Aborigines from Coban protest a day before the Oxlajuj Baktun celebration at the Tikal Mayan ruins in Peten, Guatemala on Dec. 20, 2012.
Indigenous activists protested outside Guatemala's ancient ruins of Tikal on Thursday as members of the country's poverty-stricken Mayan communities sought to draw international attention to their plight ahead of festivities to mark the end of the Mayan calendar, Reuters reports.
According to the Friends of the Maya Foundation, the present-day Mayan population is around six million, with significant communities in El Salvador, Mexico, Guatemala, Belize and Honduras.

Luis Soto / AFP - Getty Images
Indigenous people take part in celebrations marking the end of the Mayan age at Iximche archaeological site in Tecpan municipality, Guatemala, on Dec. 20, 2012. Ceremonies are being held to celebrate the end of the Mayan cycle known as Bak'tun 13 and the start of the new Maya Era on December 21.
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Poverty is just another form of violence against indigenous people.
Poverty is just another way for the "special people" from the "chosen races" to rule the world. The good, high-paying jobs are controlled by the "elite" and they control who is hired. Without money, you necessarily become their slave. They determine what is "right" and "wrong," what "intelligence" is, and what is "acceptable behavior" for humans.
I guess the response is to move north.
Can sombody explain what the Mayan Calander has to do with this idiot article?
Nathanialhaw
- a desparate.dumwad
Aw shoot, did I sleep through another apocolypse again?
The Mayans are a proud, hard working people. I am glad to see that they are taking control of their lands and educating people of their culture.
glad to see maybe one more homo sapians noting that no where are the native people who formed civilation are protected from the rich or corporations formed by the rich from exterminating them . Welcome to the dying culture on the dying planet from allowing the rich. Untill you get rid of the rich no one wxcept the rich will be allowed to survive. Only life, not money has real value.
So there are no rich "Mayans"? ha ha...take a toke, get a life.
HUH? We are all still alive...hahahahahaha..to many freaking wacko's in the world..send them all to Iran ( match up is perfect there).
I am glad that the Mayan people were invited to participate in THEIR OWN end of cycle ceremonies.
Too bad they won't be the ones making the money from all that hype. If every person on the planet that believed today would be the end of the world gave a dollar to the Mayans, or even a penny, those people would be rolling in money.
happy mayans were wrong day !
nothing to cash in on here .. who cares about their poverty we have enough here to worry about