Edgar R. Ayala

Edgar is a Guatemala-born graphic artist and political activist who lives in Oakland, California. An immigrant from Guatemala, he settled in San Francisco in 1986. His first incursion as a graphic artist was when he joined the team at La Raza Graphics Center, in San Francisco’s iconic Mission District, in 1987.  La Raza Graphics was a community based social justice organization at the forefront of the Latino/Latina organizing efforts using graphic media in the SF Bay Area. 

For Edgar, "La Causa," "The Struggle," in the SF Mission District was no different to la lucha back home in Guatemala. He joined a artistically triving community of activists and artists from Central and South America struggling for social justice, locally and back in their countries of origin.

Linked to social justice causes in Guatemala and Central America, Edgar R. Ayala's graphic work led him in 1995 to be hired by Vesper Society, an organization that was sponsoring a series of "off-the-record" peace talks, aiming to re-boot the stalled Geneva Guatemalan UN-sponsored peace negotiations. Ahead of the 1996 signing of the historical Guatemalan Peace Accords.

In 1998 Edgar funded an independent graphic design studio that has since been producing graphics and outreach materials for non profit organizations and small businesses. 
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Affiliations:

• The Latino Advisory Council at the Oakland Museum of California, OMCA
• Member of the Founding Committee of NALACC, National Alliance of Latin American and Caribbean Communities, most recently know as Alianza Americas
• Board President of the East Bay Sanctuary Covenant, Berkeley, California, a faith based organization at the forefront of political asylum for immigrants in Northern California
• Board member and once President of the Central American Resource Center, CARECEN•SF, an immigrant rights services organization in San Francisco
• Member of the Host Committee of Network in Solidarity With The People of Guatemala (NISGUA), an focused on human and territorial rights in Guatemala
• Member of the Circle, a governing body at the Oakland Catholic Worker in Oakland, California, a house of hospitality for Latin American and other immigrants
• ​Founding member of the Guatemalan Coalition of Guatemalan Immigrants, CONGUATE