This is Luis
For the past 10 years, Luis fought poverty and injustice in rural Guatemala
Because of this work, on August 29th 2019,
Luis was brutally Assassinated
Luis worked with our mission since our founding.For many years, he led our team in Guatemala.
Luis was very poor himself, but he dedicated his life to helping others in need. He spent most of his free time trudging down muddy paths through the jungle, visiting village after village, trying to find some way to get them the help the desperately needed.
All of this hard work paid off. Thanks to Luis’s help, we opened over 15 schools, brought running water to villages, provided solar power to villages, gave scholarships for kids to go to school, repaired churches, sponsored retreats, and gave away thousands of dollars in humanitarian aid.
All of this work won Luis well deserved praise and admiration from impoverished villagers. He became a leader and hero to many.
Each success he had motivated him to do even more for his fellow villagers. So, Luis entered the race for mayor of his municipality – promising to fight corruption and to use the municipality’s funding to develop impoverished villages.
He was a long shot a first – just a poor villager with no funding. But his reputation as a fighter for the poor and all of his success getting projects done won over the people.
This past June, he won the election – in a landslide.
Immediately after winning the election, Luis got to work. Using his newfound fame and power as mayor-elect, he was lining up projects and aid for villages across the municipality.
Things were looking up for the long suffering villagers. They had never had a champion as mayor before.
Unfortunately, the powers behind the scenes – the corrupt politicians and mafias that control much of Guatemala and Central America – had other ideas.
These corrupt powers make millions stealing and laundering the funding from government. They weren’t about to let Luis spend all of that on the poor and downtrodden.
So they did what they often do when someone gets in their way – they had him murdered.
On August 29th, Luis went to the store in his boat with his youngest sister Olga – who had been a school teacher for Hope for the Rio Dulce. On the way home they were assassinated in the middle of the river by hitmen that were waiting for them.
Their case has not been resolved. It probably never will be. In Guatemala, the police often work with the mafias.
It was a tragic end to a beautiful life. Luis’s death devastated his family and the thousands of people that were counting onhis help as mayor.
But Luis was not alone.
There are other good people and people of faith fighting for justice in Guatemala. Hope for the Rio Dulce has a large team of other volunteers ready to carry on the work that Luis started.
Luis’s death has motivated them to fight even harder for the justice they deserve
But they can’t do it alone. They need your help!
This year, Hope for the Rio Dulce is operating 4 schools, a dormitory for high school girls, installing a village wide water system, providing humanitarian aid, and cosponsoring the distribution of over a thousand water filters (funded by the Georgetown Rotary Club).
We are also working to build a new elementary school for a village in need.
Most importantly, we need your help to continue to support the work of people like Luis – people of faith that sacrifice their time and treasure to go out and fight for a better life for their people. To educate and lead by example.
Life can be unfair and cruel – especially in places like Guatemala. But, step by step, people like Luis are building a better world. You can help them!
