Resourceful and courageous, but nevertheless naive, Paul Desilets, a humanitarian worker, is sent on a mission to the Mayan people of Guatemala in the late 1970s. Soon enough, he is confronted with the ruthless military repression of the Mayan natives, followed by a haunting guerrilla war. Plunging into this tragedy with an open heart and a keen mind, he discovers his destiny lies at the edge where innocence becomes an experience, in the space between love and hatred, where humanity emerges from itself to meet its opposite.
It is a riveting and raw account of the events that changed Guatemala’s history forever, carrying the reader through a journey of an aid worker who witnessed the beginning of a conflict that would become one of the bloodiest in Central America. Blood for Freedom tells us the Mayan people’s perspective as they saw their homes raided and pillaged by government forces, taking their most prized possessions: their land.
I believe that all people should be given a chance to live freely and without fear. It doesn’t matter if we’re talking about someone locked up for years or living their whole life under oppression—everyone deserves a chance at freedom. And sometimes, that means using violence to take back what was stolen from us.
by J. P. Piché
Author, Blood for Freedom: On a Mission among the Mayas
J. P. Piché 