International Mayan League

The International Mayan League (Mayan League) is the only Maya refugee founded Indigenous Maya women and youth-led, grassroots organization in the entire United States working in solidarity with allies. The Mayan League is located on the ancestral lands of the Piscataway Nation (Washington, D.C.) and works at the local, regional, national, and international level serving predominantly Maya Peoples of the diaspora. Founded in 1991 by Maya refugees fleeing the war and genocide in Guatemala in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and our purpose is to unite Maya peoples and allies in the U.S. Over the decades and today, we educate on the root causes of forced migration, offer a platform to advance and protect the human rights of the Maya, and assist in the inclusion of Maya leaders and other Indigenous peoples in decision making spaces that affect our peoples, communities, lands and territories and our futures.

The Mayan League  is a leading Indigenous Rights organization with an unwavering commitment to centering Indigenous leadership within the broader context of social justice and human rights advocacy. Our distinctive focus on the intersection of Indigeneity, gender and language justice, and migration, sheds light on the overlooked challenges and barriers faced by Maya Peoples who, in addition to being forcibly displaced, are frequently invisibilized and marginalized in society at large. In the face of historical injustices and structural inequalities spanning over 500 years, our decolonial framework actively challenges the enduring impacts of colonization by recentering Indigenous peoples propelling us toward transformative change. Our initiatives extend to the development of Indigenous-led research, comprehensive data collection systems, and mapping initiatives, placing Indigenous leadership, histories, and realities at the forefront, firmly rooted in Maya Cosmovision, languages, and cultures.