• Apocalypse? Poverty a bigger concern for modern Mayans

    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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  • Villagers mourn family; Guatemala quake toll at 52

    Moises Castillo / AP

    A man helps carry a coffin during the funeral procession for 10 members of the Vasquez family in San Cristobal Cucho, Guatemala, Nov. 9, 2012. The family died when a magnitude 7.4 earthquake struck on Wednesday, collapsing their home and burying them, including a 4-year-old child, in the rubble.

    Associated Press reports — The 10 members of the Vasquez family were found together under the rubble of the rock quarry that had been their livelihood, some in a desperate final embrace, others clinging to the faintest of dying pulses.

    As Guatemala tried to recover Thursday from a 7.4-magnitude quake, the country mourned a disaster that killed at least 52 people; left thousands of others without homes, electricity or water; and emotionally devastated one small town by wiping out almost an entire family seeing the first signs of success in a tireless effort to claw itself out of poverty.

    Neighbors filed past 10 wooden caskets lined up in two rows in the Vasquez living room, remembering a family reduced to a single survivor, the eldest son about to graduate with an accounting degree. Full story…

    Moises Castillo / AP

    People carry the coffins with the remains of 10 members of the Vasquez family in San Cristobal Cucho, Guatemala, Nov. 9.

    Jorge Dan Lopez / Reuters

    A woman reacts as she looks into the coffin of one of the 10 members of the Vasquez Gomez family, who died during the earthquake that struck on Wednesday, in the cemetery of San Cristobal Cucho, Guatemala, Nov. 9. Rescue workers on Thursday carted out dead bodies found under rubble in the aftermath of Guatemala's most powerful earthquake in decades, while others cleared wrecked cars and collapsed buildings as they searched for survivors.

    Moises Castillo / AP

    Berta Miguelina Miranda holds flowers during the funeral procession for the Vasquez family in San Cristobal Cucho, Guatemala, Nov. 9.

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  • Desperate search continues for quake survivors in Guatemala

    Saul Martinez / EPA

    Members of a rescue team help a relative of a missing person as authorities continue the search for victims & survivors of an earthquake in San Marcos, Guatemala, on Nov. 8, 2012.

    By NBC News wire services:

    Crews worked through the night in San Marcos, Guatemala, searching rubble for survivors and more dead following the magnitude 7.4 quake that struck Wednesday near Guatemala's border with Mexico.

    Local Red Cross chief Carlos Enrique Alvarado told Reuters 75 homes were destroyed in San Marcos alone and authorities said damage to the prison forced them to transfer 101 inmates to another jail. Officials told The Associated Press that most of 100 missing were from San Marcos. Full Story

    Johan Ordonez / AFP - Getty Images

    Firefighters use heavy equipment to search for people feared buried at a sand mine in San Marcos, Guatemala, on Nov. 8.

    Jorge Dan Lopez / Reuters

    A woman looks at one of the coffins of the ten members of the Vazquez Gomez family killed in the earthquake in San Cristobal Cucho, about 155 miles south of Guatemala City on Nov. 8, 2012.

    Saul Martinez / EPA

    A man walks past debris on Nov. 8, the day after earthquake in San Marcos, Guatemala.

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    PhotoBlog: Wrecked buildings, crushed cars and rescues in Guatemala

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  • Deadly quake rocks Guatemala, is felt in Mexico City

    Moises Castillo / AP

    A police officer stands in the archway of a building damaged by a magnitude 7.4 earthquake in San Marcos, Guatemala, Nov. 7, 2012. The mountain village, some 80 miles from the epicenter, suffered much of the damage with some 30 homes collapsing in its center.

    NBC News staff and wire reports — A deadly earthquake off the Pacific coast of Guatemala on Wednesday collapsed buildings, spurred landslides and shook cities as far away as San Salvador and Mexico City.

    Guatemala President Otto Perez Molina said he had been informed 39 people were dead. Perez told an afternoon news conference that the dead are in the northwestern state of San Marcos near the Mexican border, where the majority of the damage occurred. Full story…

    AFP - Getty Images

    A car remains under the ruins of a collapsed house in San Marcos, Guatemala, Nov. 7.

    Moises Castillo / AP

    Firefighters transport a wounded resident into a public hospital after he was injured in a magnitude 7.4 earthquake in San Marcos, Guatemala, Nov. 7. Many are missing after the strongest earthquake to hit Guatemala since a deadly 1976 quake that killed 23,000.

    Moises Castillo / AP

    A shoe lies atop a pile of sand at a sand mine, where people are feared buried, after a magnitude 7.4 earthquake struck in San Marcos, Guatemala, Nov. 7.

    See more images related to Guatemala on PhotoBlog

    A magnitude 7.4 earthquake in Guatemala has killed at least 48 people and left dozens of others missing. NBCNews.com's Alex Witt reports.

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  • Young survivors tell tale of mass murder in Guatemala

    Saul Martinez / EPA

    Carlos Daniel Gonzalez, 6, shows authorities the way he hid from unknown gunmen that killed his parents and other relatives in the municipality of Villa Canales on Oct. 9.

    Saul Martinez / EPA

    Carlos Daniel Gonzalez holds his sister Izabel as they are accompanied by authorities after unknown gunmen killed their parents and other relatives in Villa Canales, Guatemala, on Oct. 9.

    Saul Martinez / EPA

    Two ducks pass by the crime scene where unknown gunmen killed seven members of a family, including two minors, in the municipality of Villa Canales, Guatemala on Oct. 9.

    Saul Martinez / EPA

    Carlos Daniel Gonzalez, 6, shows authorities the way unknown gunmen killed their parents and other relatives in the municipality of Villa Canales, Guatemala, on Oct. 9.

    Seven family members, including two children, were killed by an unknown gunmen in the town of Villa Canales, Guatemala, 14 miles from Guatemala City on Tuesday. More information from EFE via FoxNews Latino

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  • Guatemalans grieve deaths of six after protests

    Moises Castillo / AP

    Pallbearers carry the coffin of a victim who died in clashes with security forces, through the town square of Totonicapan, Guatemala, Oct. 5, 2012.

    Associated Press reports — Thousands of grieving indigenous Guatemalans shouted in anger Friday, some of them hurling themselves at the coffins of six local people slain when gunfire erupted during a protest over electrical power prices and educational reform in a poor rural area west of the capital.

    The Guatemala government said protesters were blockading a highway near the town of Totonicapan, about 90 miles west of Guatemala City, when unidentified people opened fire from the back of a truck with civilian license plates, killing six people and wounding 34. Local activists accused soldiers and police of opening fire on the protesters.

    The six victims were buried Friday afternoon in Totonicapan, where thousands gathered to watch their coffins pass through the town’s central square. Hundreds shouted “Justice! Justice!” while dozens of mourners from the Cakchiquel hurled themselves toward the coffins in grief.

    Thursday’s protest was fueled by anger at President Otto Perez Molina, who has proposed constitutional reforms that he says will modernize Guatemala’s economic and regulatory systems.

    See more images of Guatemala on PhotoBlog

    Moises Castillo / AP

    Relatives mourn in front of the casket holding Francisco Ordonez during a mass funeral service in Totonicapan, Guatemala, Oct. 5, 2012. Ordonez is one of at least six people slain when gunfire erupted Thursday during a protest over electrical power prices and educational reform in a poor rural area west of the capital.

    Saul Martínez / EPA

    A man photographs a burned truck after the clashes where six peasants were killed on Thursday, when soldiers and police suppressed a peaceful demonstration in Totonicapan, Guatemala, Oct. 5.

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  • A different outlook of death in Guatemala City

    Ersilia Carranza, left, Nubia Pineda, center, and Luchy Rodriguez dance next to the tomb of their friend Jorge, who died nine days before, at the General Cemetery in Guatemala City, Sept. 7, 2012. "Here in Guatemala we're screwed, but we laugh at everything, even death", said Byron Flores to The Associated Press.

    Rodrigo Abd  / AP — In Guatemala, which has one of the highest mortality rates in the world and where violence is rampant, burial grounds have transformed into social spaces where relatives and friends of the deceased drink and dance as photographers are hired to take pictures and musicians play during funerals. Meanwhile, workers exhume bodies from plots that are behind on their payments, street peddlers set up shop and children play hide-and-seek.

    Six years after a burial in the General Cemetery in Guatemala City relatives must pay around U.S. $24 to renew the burial plot for another four years, according to cemetery rules. If there is no payment, cemetery workers exhume the body and place the corpse in a mass grave. Over 2,000 bodies are exhumed annually after relatives fail to pay cemetery fees.

    EDITOR’S NOTE: These images were made available to NBC News on Sept. 27.

    Juana Lopez, 70, takes a nap as she waits for customers during funerals at the General Cemetery in Guatemala City, July 21.

    Musicians from the band Los Tacuazines leave the General Cemetery in Guatemala City, Aug. 23. The band charges U.S. $38 to play eight songs during funerals.

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  • Guatemalan transgender woman lives in 2 worlds

    Rodrigo Abd / AP

    Linda Elizabeth Tylor Martinez, 22, looks in the mirror as she tries on the paper crown that she will use to compete in the upcoming the Miss Night Queen beauty contest in the El Milagro neighborhood of Guatemala City, June 15, 2012. Born a man, Tylor is a transgender woman who moves between two distinct worlds: one male, one female.

    Romina Ruiz-Goiriena, Associated Press — Dressed as a man, the sixth-grade teacher leaves school and walks several blocks through a dangerous red-light district overrun with gangs and crack dealers.

    Arriving at a friend's home, a transformation begins. Off come wide-leg jeans, T-shirt and a baseball cap that hides long hair. After an extensive, two-hour makeup session, Linda Elizabeth Tylor Martinez emerges wearing a miniskirt and high heels.

    Linda Elizabeth Tylor Martinez, left, looks in a mirror as she gets ready at a friend's home before working as a sex worker in the "El Milagro" neighborhood, Guatemala City, July 14.

    Born a man, Tylor is a transgender woman who moves between two distinct lives: one male, one female.

    She considers herself lucky to have a teaching job. She says many transgender Guatemalans must make their livings solely as sex workers.

    Rodrigo Abd / AP

    Linda Elizabeth Tylor Martinez works with students during class at a public school in the El Milagro neighborhood of Guatemala City, July 4.

    But she disguises her sexual identity to protect that position, and she, too, works as a prostitute at night at a nearby bar.

    "In the beginning it was out of necessity because I was still getting my teacher's license," she said. "But now, it's also because it's the only place that I can really be a woman."

    She said she would never want her students to know she works as a prostitute. "I try to make sure they never find out."

    Rodrigo Abd / AP

    Linda Elizabeth Tylor Martinez flirts with a potential client at a bar in the "El Milagro" neighborhood of Guatemala City, July 14.

    Rodrigo Abd / AP

    Linda Elizabeth Tylor Martinez, left, takes the bus with her costume, which she will use to compete in the Miss Night Queen beauty contest, in Guatemala City, June 15.

    Rodrigo Abd / AP

    Linda Elizabeth Tylor Martinez wears a costume before competing in the Miss Night Queen beauty contest in Guatemala City, June 15.

    Fearing repercussions, she would not allow The Associated Press to use her teacher name or interview others at the school.

    Activists say transgender people are particularly at risk in violent Guatemala, where two transgender women were murdered in July. The U.S. State Department mentioned such violence in its 2011 report, saying Guatemalan police had failed to investigate two earlier killings of transgender people in the country.

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  • Guatemalan eruption sparks massive evacuation order

    EPA

    Volcano Fuego erupts, Sept. 13, 2012.

    Associated Press reports — Villagers and farmers living at the foot of a Guatemalan volcano say they were awoken by a massive roar when the long-simmering Volcan del Fuego exploded with a series of eruptions that darkened the skies and covered the surrounding sugar cane fields with ash. Full story…

    Reuters

    A car sits covered with volcanic ash in Santa Lucia Cotzumalguapa, south of Guatemala City, Sept. 14.

    Reuters

    A woman cleans a sidewalk covered with volcanic ash in Santa Lucia Cotzumalguapa, south of Guatemala City, Sept. 14.

    Daniele Volpe / EPA

    Residents from San Pedro Yepocapa, Guatemala, are evacuated on Sept. 13 due to the eruptive activity of the Volcano Fuego.

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