This is the first in a series of informational texts published by NISGUA, translated from materials produced by FAMDEGUA (Families of the Detained Disappeared of Guatemala) and Verdad y Justicia, about the forced disappearance of Luz Leticia Hernández Agustín.

In November 1982, at the height of one of the bloodiest periods of Guatemala’s Internal Armed Conflict, Luz Leticia Hernández Agustín was detained and forcibly disappeared. She was 25 years old. More than four decades later, her family is still searching for her — and finally, a trial has begun.

We share this story because the struggle for truth and justice in Guatemala is inseparable from the responsibility of the United States government, which funded and supported the military apparatus that carried out these crimes.

The events occurred during the bloodiest years of the Internal Armed Conflict (CAI) that devastated Guatemala between 1960 y 1996. Luz Leticia was a militant of the urban organized group called “Nuestro Movimiento” (Our Movement) which emerged from the Organization of the People in Arms (ORPA).

9/25/1982

State security forces illegally detained the militant of “Nuestro Movimiento,” lleana del Rosario Solares Castillo. According to records from the Historical Archive of the National Police (AHPN), she was never seen before a competent judge.

10/13/1982

From the so-called organized group “Nuestro Movimiento,” the decision was made to hold Mario Ríos, the nephew of the de facto president Efraín Ríos Montt, in order to exchange his freedom for that of Ileana. The detention took place on October 13, 1982 and lasted until November 21st of the same year.

11/21&22/1982

According to the Public Prosecutor’s Office, between the 21st and 22nd of November, a special intelligence operation was carried out in which Juan Francisco Cifuentes Cano, commander of the Special Operations Reaction Battalion (BROE) of the National Police (PN), between 1982 and 1984, also known as the Fifth Corps. This operation culminated in the release of the nephew of the de facto president, and the capture of Luz Leticia and her partner Ana Maria López Rodríguez.

According to reports of the truth, torture, sexual violence, and humiliation against detainees were recurrent practices implemented by state intelligence apparatuses. Nothing was ever heard about Luz Leticia’s whereabouts again; she was 25 years old when she was detained.

The Hernández Agustín family began a search that has has never ceased. Throughout 40 years they have demanded before different state authorities to clarify the facts, prosecute those responsible for her disappearance materially and intellectually, and find the whereabouts of Luz Leticia.

In 2001, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) concluded that the State of Guatemala had violated the right to life, humane treatment, personal liberty, a fair trial, and judicial protection of  Luz Leticia, Ana María, and lleana.

In 2007, the State of Guatemala offered them a friendly settlement agreement that they rejected because, as they say, “we do all of this to bring to light the truth that our sister lived.”

Juan Francisco Cifuentes Cano was arrested on May 21, 2021 for the Diario Militar (Military Diary) case.

In January 2023, he is linked to the process for crimes against the duties of humanity for the forced disappearance of  Luz Leticia Hernández Agustín and Ana María López. Since then, Cano’s defense filed numerous appeals to stop the process and avoid reaching oral and public debate.

May 2026, Beginning of oral and public debate in the Eighth Court of Criminal Sentencing, Drug  Activity, and Crimes against the Environment of Guatemala. Accused: Juan  Francisco Cifuentes Cano, who served as head of the Special Operations Command at the time of the events.