In the farming communities of the Guatemalan jungle, the simple life was a good one, sustained by family, faith, community, and the pilots, like Michael Sullivan, who linked their isolated villages.

Then the repression began, the random, violent government purges, aided by the U.S. military and CIA—that wiped out crops and villages and forced men, women, and children into desperate lives of hiding in the dense jungle for sixteen long years.

When peace accords finally were signed, it was a story Michael Sullivan knew had to be told. Returning once again, he talked with the people he’d known long before—giving us the fascinating, painful, but most of all, deeply human tales of strength and survival in his recently released book, Not Our Day To Die - Testimony from the Guatemalan Jungle. 

Born and raised in northwestern Illinois, Michael Sullivan studied aeronautical engineering at the University of Colorado.  In 1972, he received his pilot’s license and traveled south to, meeting Father Bill Woods in Guatemala, flying for the land reform project that was reshaping the Ixcan region and joining his life with that of its people. 

Join Michael Sullivan and me on Tuesday, January 30, 10-11 A.M. CT US. We will be having a conversation about his life’s journey as a pilot for hire traveling the world, including his time with Jacques Cousteau, and his meeting with Father Bill Woods in Guatemala, and events that reshaped the Ixcan region.