Unfolding threats
Despite the dramatic public uprising in 2014 that compelled the Guatemalan Congress to repeal the “Monsanto Law 1.0,” another bill passed committee approval in 2025 that would sanction any plant patent violations with 1-4 years in prison. It could be voted on the floor at any moment.
Meanwhile, President Bernardo Arévalo signed a Ministerial Accord 53-2026 that would simplify paperwork and greenlight the approval of genetically modified crops via a technical biosafety committee managed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAGA, by its Spanish acronym) with no representation of small farmers or Indigenous peoples, but with a seat reserved for corporate seed sellers.
In response, the Indigenous Peoples’ Law Firm (Bufete para Pueblos Indígenas) filed a motion in May 2026 with the Constitutional Court to halt the accord. I accompanied them with an expert affidavit.
Some recent media about this unfolding threat:
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- Telesur
- Prensa Comunitaria
- Editorial cartoonist, el Filochofo
- Influencers Alex Petzey with Rosa Sosof – first video and more extended analysis
- Press conference outside court and statement
- REDSAG press release
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Although GM corn is still not approved to be planted in Guatemala, REDSAG announced in spring 2026 that they have detected transgenic contamination of native maizes in Petén (which supplies much of the urban maize supply) and Chiquimula (eastern department on the Honduran border with an endemic teosinte, the wild ancestor of maize).
For more information see: