On Oct. 11-16, the City of Providence will host the Providence Guatemala Summit. Dignitaries from Guatemala, led by Former Guatemala President and now Guatemala City  (the nation’s capital) Mayor Alvaro Arzu, will visit with Providence Mayor Jorge Elorza and other city and state dignitaries and sign a Sister City agreement between Providence and Guatemala City. The dignitaries will also help broker relationships between business counterparts from both nations.  Mayor Elorza’s parents emigrated to the U.S. from Guatemala.

This agreement will expand economic, cultural, and academic exchanges between Providence and Guatemala, as well as acknowledge the substantial Latino(a) community in Providence and, more broadly, in southern New England.  Note that Providence hosts the Guatemalan Consulate for New England.

Former President Arzu negotiated an agreement in 1996 to end a bloody 36-year civil war.

To mark the 20th anniversary of the signing of the peace pact, Mayor Arzu will speak on Oct. 12 at noon to 1 p.m. in the Joukowsky Forum at Brown University’s Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, on Thayer Street, Providence, in a conference titled “Reflections on the 20th Anniversary of the End of the Guatemalan Civil War, and Thoughts on Guatemala’s future.’’  See Watson_institute@brown.edu or call (401) 863-2809 for further information.