Rich in natural beauty and indigenous culture, Guatemala is still emerging from the shadow of a brutal 36-year civil war and suffers ongoing social injustice.
Indigenous Maya people make up half of Guatemala’s population, while many Guatemalans are of mixed Amerindian-Hispanic origin.
Almost 250,000 people – many of them non-combatant Mayan farmers – died or disappeared in Guatemala’s civil conflict, which was fuelled by deep social divides and the interests of powerful landowners. One million people were left homeless.
Today, massive inequality still pervades Guatemalan society. Levels of illiteracy, infant mortality and malnutrition are among the highest in Central America – especially in indigenous rural communities.
Corruption, poverty and poor criminal justice capacity make Guatemala extremely vulnerable to organised crime. Drugs are part of this sub-culture, as Guatemala is a key transit route from South to North America.
The penetration of organised crime and a disproportionate increase in violence, with little progress in the social and economic spheres, in a context of institutionally weak state, constitutes a situation of high political risk that could lead to less and less functional state.
According to projections, Central America is the most vulnerable of all the world's tropical regions to climate change. Natural disasters have a long history in this geologically active part of the world; Guatemala's location between the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean makes it a target for hurricanes and other climate phenomena.
Amid these issues, Guatemala’s evangelical churches are some of the fastest-growing in Latin America. Some statistics suggest 40 to 50 per cent of the population are evangelical Christians.
But they are having minimal social impact because most churches preach an individualistic gospel – preparing people to live in heaven, with little community interaction on earth.
A growing number of church leaders, however, are questioning this approach and pressing for change.