Filiberto Nolasco

Global Citizens Network Program Manager Filiberto Nolasco is a PhD candidate in contemporary Guatemalan history. He has travelled extensively throughout Latin America to visit family in Mexico but also for research. His first international experience was in Australia when he was 17 and propelled his interest in intercultural learning. During his time at Pitzer College he participated in a study abroad in Venezuela out of a curiosity over the Chavez administration. He then participated in human rights delegations to Chiapas, Mexico where his interest and commitment to indigenous communities began.

Upon graduating from Pitzer College he spent a year abroad on a Watson Fellowship studying post conflict civil society in Guatemala, South Africa and Northern Ireland. It was in his six months in Guatemala that he encountered a group illegally squatting land in protest of the disappearance of their political leader. Sixteen members of the 2,000 strong Nueva Linda community were massacred by government security forces. In trying to understand the dynamics that led to the massacre Filiberto created a documentary film and dedicates his PhD work to understanding conflict in Guatemala.