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GUATEMALA

CONTINGENT: Amigos del Quiche
                        Hamilton Stn, NY

Central America is the narrow land bridge that connects North and South America. Geographically the region takes in all the countries between Mexico on the north and Panama to the south. More than 30 million people live in the approximately 160,000 square miles that constitute the five countries of the region (Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua). Spanish is the official language of the five Central American countries. The Indian language survives particularly among Guatemalans of Maya origin. Many of these people use Quiche as their first language. The basic economic activity can be divided into three types: raising food crops, cultivating export crops, and grazing cattle.