Fears of hunger overwhelm Guatemalan village as El Niรฑo approaches
While drought expands through Cunen as the spectre of El Niรฑo climate instability approaches, one fear has seized this indigenous Guatemalan village โ death from hunger. The rains still havenโt come here, where local farmers fear the lack of water could ruin the subsistence crops on which they depend to survive. โIf there isnโt rain, (the crops) wonโt come โฆ If there isnโt anything, weโre going to die of hunger,โ 38-year-old Cecilia Pasa Sarat, who has planted a small amount of corn, told AFP in Xetzac, a village in Cunen. Indigenous woman Lucia Rojop, 43, shows corn cobs at her house in the Xetzac community of Cunen, Quiche department, Guatemala, on May 27, 2026. โAFP Cunen is a hard-to-reach mountainous region where the majority of the approximately 47,000 residents are poor and rely on water from wells that are now going dry. This village in the Indigenous Maya department of Quiche lays in the heart of the Dry Corridor, an arid mountainous stretch running through Honduras, El Salvador and Nicaragua thatโs become vulnerable to extreme climatic events. Quiche was one of Guatemalaโs most hard-hit regions during the El Niรฑo related food crisis in 2023. Some worry the crisis could return due to a lack of government support. Indigenous woman Cecilia Pasa, 38, works on her drought-affected corn plantation in the Xetzac community of Cunen, Quiche department, Guatemala, on May 27, 2026. โAFP The phenomenon now fueling local residentsโ hunger fears occurs every two to six years as part of a natural climatic cycle that affects the surface temperatures on the Pacific Ocean. Itโs expected to start between June and August, creating planetary ripple effects lasting months. Aerial view of a corn plantation in the Xetzac community of Cunen, Quiche department, Guatemala, on May 27, 2026. โAFP Prolonged damage Weeks of drought have dessicated the dusty streets of Xetzac, where the creeks that usually irrigate the townโs patchwork of corn, potato, broccoli and bean fields are evaporating under the brutal sun. Taking refuge in the tree shade where the resin scent of pines drifts down the hillside, Elvira Pasa said the eventual loss of the village harvests would only end in โhungerโ. โWe farm. We donโt sell it. We just eat it,โ the 27-year-old community leader and mother of two boys aged two and seven, told AFP. โWhatever we plant is what we eat. What will happen if it doesnโt rain?โ 43-year-old Lucia Rojop queried. Indigenous woman Lucia Rojop, 43, shows drought-affected broad beans at her house in the Xetzac community of Cunen, Quiche department, Guatemala, on May 27, 2026. โAFP Her fears are well-founded. Around 2.5 million Guatemalans face potential food insecurity due to the drought and the high probability of a powerful El Niรฑo weather cycle. The Guatemalan government says it has 1.1 million rations ready to distribute in the face of an emergency. According to experts, the chance that El Niรฑo could spiral into a more dangerous event depends on numerous atmospheric factors. Governments across the dry countries of Central America have raised alert levels over the El Niรฑo phenomenon. But El Niรฑo isnโt the only reason the situation is worsening. In Guatemala alone, the Dry Corridor has expanded from 40 to 160 municipalities since 2004, meaning almost half of the country has been subjected to drought fueled by climate change, according to the government. Cecilia Pasa walked through a puny corn farm, a clear testimony of the drought. โThe plants canโt take it anymore. The ground is drier. Itโs not humid anymore like it used to be,โ she said. Indigenous woman Cecilia Pasa, 38, loads firewood at her house in the Xetzac community of Cunen, Quiche department, Guatemala, on May 27, 2026. โAFP It means that only half of her neighbors planted corn this year. Everyone else, including Catarina Sica, didnโt even bother. โThere isnโt rain, and the time has passed for us to plant,โ Sica said, showing the black, white and yellow seeds still on the cob of corn. Indigenous woman Catarina Sica, 39, shows potato seeds she has been unable to plant due to a lack of rain at her house in the Xetzac community of Cunen, Quiche department, Guatemala, on May 27, 2026. โAFP Migratory impact For years, the brutal challenges of working the fields in Cunen were eased with remittances migrants sent home from the United States. Yet US President Donald Trumpโs mass deportations have taken away that support. Around 24,000 Guatemalans have been deported this year, many from Quiche. The deportations have paralysed the construction of homes โ the great dream of many migrants โ as well as the jobs that go with it. Families now deal with the crisis by raising pigs, sheep, chickens and turkeys for sale. A donkey stands outside a house in the Xetzac community of Cunen, Quiche department, Guatemala, on May 27, 2026. โAFP Sicaโs husband returned two years ago after saving enough money to build a concrete house. Now he works occasionally in agriculture, though the $10 daily wage he earns means the family diet is limited to beans, herbs and potatoes, like most locals. โWeโre seeing what to do, but it all depends on God,โ Sica said with resignation.