Álvaro Rodríguez Sánchez

This beautifully integrated, multi-threaded narrative seamlessly interweaves six stories set in radically different locations across Central America, ranging from the tropical forests of Guatemala to the skyscrapers of Panama City. When a solar storm leaves the region without power, myriad dramas unfold over the course of five days during which all conveniences of modernity are stripped away. In Costa Rica, a pastor and his daughter worry for the future of their church, while in El Salvador, a grandmother and grandson make an arduous journey into the city. A husband and wife reconnect in Honduras, as a young couple nurses a mysterious stranger back to health in Guatemala. Meanwhile, in Nicaragua, a young woman prepares for her quinceañera and in Panama, a housekeeper grows exasperated with her demanding employer.

Guatemala, in the 80s. The worst days of the Civil war. Andrés is 9 years old. He lives with Pedro González, one of the men who massacred all the women and children in his village. Andrés has survived, but he's scared. Pedro's wife, María, is also scared, scared to go out, scared to lose Andrés, whom she considers as "her new son" - even Pedro is scared, scared of himself and what the Army bounds him to do. Andrés would like to run away but he also wants to stay in his new family - until his sister appears.

When I turned 33 years-old, my mother told me that my father, during the Salvadorian Civil War, had been captured and tortured for 33 days by the National Police. Two years later I had the courage to ask him and other men and women about those days. These people do not ask for revenge, all that they ask is for the truth to be known.

The story of the Maya People through four stories which allude to important moments in the in its history over the course of the last half millennium. The central protagonist in all these stories is a young woman named Maya who witnesses the invasion of her homeland and must run away to survive. Then living a nomadic existence as a refugee across the centuries she experiences the sufferings of her people resulting from the loss of her ancestral lands and increasingly her cultural traditions.

Tomas' 3-year-old daughter was kidnapped by soldiers during the war in Guatemala, and 20 years later, he learns that she is living only 150 miles away.

In Guatemala, violence is contagious. The neighbors of Villas de La Esperanza, in fear of an eventual invasion of those infected by violence, arm themselves and patrol nights, risking their lives for the safety of their families. But battling violence with violence only spreads the contagion, and the neighbors will realise that the greatest danger is not what lurks outside their secure gated community. The real danger lies within. In Guatemala violence is contagious, and we are all infected.