We want to launch the GUAtemalan School of Astrophysics (GUASA), to be held in a rural area of Guatemala every two years. The school aims to bring together local Central American/Caribbean undergraduate students of physics/mathematics/engeneering, with experts from prestigious astronomical institutions from around the world. During each of its editions, we expect to cover a wide range of modern topics of astrophysics in order to motivate the students to pursue major degrees in astronomy elsewhere. We hope that this school will contribute to create a critical mass of professional astronomers/astrophysicists in the region along with the conditions needed for research, thus leading to the creation of strong astrophysics departments in the Universities of the region. In the future, after a few editions of GUASA, we hope to be able to include lecturers from the local academic community. As a complementary activity of every edition of GUASA, we also want to organize outreach activities for the general public, such as public lectures followed by observations using small telescopes. These activities we hope, will encourage children and teenagers to get closer to science and to continue their studies aiming for superior education.
