Report on Citizenship Law: Guatemala north of the country in 1920, headed by one of the most active indigenous leaders in the region: “We are the ones who must demand from the August national congress the rights that belong to us (...) During its ninety years of independence, the AUTHORITIES have refused to recognise the citizenship and freedom of the Indian (...) It is the duty of the authorities of the republic to ensure that its inhabitants enjoy their rights, which are: freedom, equality and security of the person, honour and property”15. Access to citizenship on behalf of women and enslaved people also faced serious problems. Since the 1820s, women were not considered citizens in the same way as their male parents, siblings or children. Like the rest of Latin America, women were not part of the Assemblies, ministries or any other high position within state institutions. Almost always political representation was held by the head of the family. Although much remains to be investigated regarding the Guatemalan case, it is known that a serious attempt to grant women full access to citizenship occurred in 1921, with the attempt to reform the constitution at a time when the country was still suffering the legacies of a long dictatorship (1898-1920), the crisis left by earthquakes and epidemics (1917-1919) and was at the outset of an important social upheaval in which the first worker organisations participated that were not co-opted by the government in power. However, this proposal did not succeed. This constitutional reform, which did not mature given the political changes of the moment, did not include feminine suffrage because when voted it was surpassed by a single vote. It was with the 1944 constitution that female suffrage was achieved16. 2.3. Immigration The members of the National Constituent Assembly in 1823, and the legislative bodies that followed, established guidelines to promote immigration, especially the type seen as most appropriate for the promotion of agriculture and the occupation of territories scantly controlled in the vicinity of Lake Izabal and the Caribbean coast. This was compounded by the danger that the scant control exerted over the whole north represented, given the fear of losing the district of Flores, today Petén, to Belizean or Yucatecan hands. This was reflected in the issuance of the decree on immigration of January 22nd, 1824. The latter guaranteed several privileges for foreigners who decided to move to Guatemala and Central America. Foreigners who already lived in the country or who had arrived recently, had the right to request on behalf of local authorities (municipalities) the status of neighbour. This was done by registering in the respective registers and “from the date of this entry you will be considered a neighbour, and the time indicated by the constitution of these states will begin, to enjoy citizenship rights within them, enjoying of course, all others inherent to naturalisation and without prejudice of being able to attain the special citizenship card by the means detailed in the fundamental law”17. The right guaranteed by this law empowered the new neighbours to obtain land. With these rights, legislators 15 Greg Grandin Panzós la ultima masacre colonial: Latinoamérica en la Guerra Fría. Guatemala: AVANCSO. 2007, p. 45. 16 Jorge Mario García Laguardia. Constituciones Iberoamericanas: Guatemala, México: IIJ-UNAM, 2006. http://biblio.juridicas.unam.mx/libros/5/2210/4.pdf http://biblio.juridicas.unam.mx/libros/libro.htm?l=2210 Consultado, 10 de enero de 2014. 17 Manuel Pineda de Montt, Recopilación de las leyes de Guatemala, T. I, Guatemala: Imprenta La Paz, Guatemala, 1868, pp. 815-816. 6 RSCAS/GLOBALCIT-CR 2020/2 - © 2020 Author