IGF Guatemala 2019 (3rd Guatemala Internet Governance Forum) — In-Depth Report: Minutes Digest & 3-Line Summary

The 3-Line Summary

On 5 November 2019, the 3rd IGF Guatemala drew 357 registered participants to INTECAP headquarters in Guatemala City under the slogan 'For a free, secure and trustworthy Internet' — its largest attendance yet.
Six parallel tracks covered public policies, MANRS routing security, net neutrality, national infrastructure, cybersecurity and the digital gap; headline recommendations were criminalising computer crimes and producing more digital content in indigenous languages.
The agenda was deliberately aligned with that year's regional LACIGF in Argentina, and the indigenous-language content debate spotlights a dimension of the digital divide — language — that connectivity statistics alone miss.

Welcome — this is the Japan IGF Support Organization. This in-depth report on IGF Guatemala 2019 (3rd Guatemala Internet Governance Forum) draws on official outputs, session records and on-site reporting. In a hurry? The three lines above and the diagrams carry the gist.

Conference at a Glance (from official records)

Item	Detail
Official name	IGF Guatemala 2019 (3rd Guatemala Internet Governance Forum)
Dates	5 November 2019
Venue	INTECAP (Technical Institute for Training and Productivity) headquarters, Civic Center, Guatemala City
Theme	Regional governance themes
Participants	357 (The III Forum's conclusions report states 357 people registered and attended; the 2022 retrospective adds 'more than 300 people and around 2,000 connected to the streaming')
Host	A multistakeholder organizing committee (ISOC Guatemala Chapter, UNESCO, DEMOS Institute, SIT, FONDETEL and others; Fred Clark coordinating for his second year)

(See the source list at the end of this article.)

Discussion Digest — from the Session Records

Key exchanges extracted from session records and transcripts.

1. Cybercrime Law — Writing Computer Crimes into the Criminal Code

Sessions: The Cybersecurity Forum — again the best-attended track; panellists included Congressman Rodrigo Valladares, promoter of bill 5601 (filed 6 August 2019) on cybercrime prevention and protection

Panellists showed that the Criminal Code (Decree 17-73 of 1973) cannot punish computer crimes against privacy, and recommended amending it to give Guatemalans 'legal certainty' [1][2]
The Budapest Convention was presented as the framework for standardising offences and obliging evidence cooperation among signatories, closing off criminals' safe havens [1][2]
A dedicated computer-crimes investigation office within the Public Ministry, staffed to acquire, manage and analyse digital evidence, was recommended [1][2]

2. Net Neutrality — It Survived Even Threats from Electoral Officials

Sessions: The Network Neutrality Forum, incorporating freedom of expression

The forum affirmed that digital free expression exists in Guatemala — internet service has not been blocked or censored as in other countries [1]
Despite threats by members of the Electoral Court during the general election held earlier that year, network neutrality held, participants reported [1]
Tim Wu's original neutrality concept was read to the audience; neutrality was framed as favouring small and mid-size ISPs and as a key factor in the internet's global development [1]

3. The Digital Gap and Indigenous Languages — 'Not Enough Digital Content'

Sessions: The Digital Gap Forum, approached from an education perspective

In multilingual Guatemala the forum concluded explicitly that 'there is not enough digital content in indigenous languages' and recommended promoting its production [1]
Technology had narrowed the gap, panellists noted, yet users' lack of education was straining interpersonal relationships [1]
Insufficient support for learning-by-doing communities was flagged as a further gap [1]

4. MANRS and Infrastructure — Routing Security and LoRa for Remote Areas

Sessions: The MANRS Forum and the National Infrastructure Forum

ISOC's global MANRS routing-security norms were presented as free to join, with four concrete actions implementable even by non-ISP operators [1]
The infrastructure track prioritised fibre optics while exploring LoRa technology to bring message transmission to communities without internet access [1]
Panellists explained 5G's gains over 4G in latency, speed and connection density, and recommended a legal framework to support network development in unconnected communities [1]

Three-Minute Short Talk — Your Questions Answered

Q. What was this meeting?

A. Guatemala's 3rd national IGF, held 5 November 2019 at INTECAP headquarters in the capital with 357 registered participants — its largest yet, running six thematic tracks in parallel.

Q. What was the main outcome?

A. A concrete path toward cybercrime legislation: the forum showed the 1973 Criminal Code cannot prosecute privacy-violating computer crimes, and recommended amending it, aligning with the Budapest Convention, and creating a digital-evidence investigation office in the Public Ministry.

Q. Why should I care?

A. The finding that indigenous-language digital content is scarce shows a digital divide that connectivity statistics miss. Language policy for online content matters in any multilingual society.

What Is Guatemala IGF? (for first-time readers)

Guatemala IGF is a National or Regional IGF Initiative (NRI), aligning local internet governance discussion with global IGF principles.

Why It Matters to You

What was discussed here becomes the baseline for national digital policy, platform rules and AI regulation worldwide within a few years. The principles confirmed at the 2019 meeting are the foundation of the "next rules" for the phones, social platforms and AI services you use every day.