Unofficial translation by the Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala (NISGUA). You can find the original statement in Spanish further below.
PRESS RELEASE
The Association for Justice and Reconciliation – AJR – and the Office of Human Rights of the Archdiocese of Guatemala – ODHAG-,
In light of the passing of the retired general Manuel Antonio Callejas Callejas we declare:
Peace for his family, memory and justice for the people of Guatemala.
We received the news of the passing of General Callejas with indignation, without him having faced the court in the most recent Trial for Genocide, Crimes against human duties and Forced disappearence, against the Ixil people that we pushed for last year.
In his tenure at the Headquarters of the Section of Military Intelligence of the State Major General of the Army (EMGE, Spanish acronym), known as G-2 under the leadership of generals Mendoza Palomo and Benedicto Lucas García, Callejas was responsible for serious violations of human rights against entire communities throughout the country, including forced disappearances, acts of torture, sexual violence, extrajudicial executions, massacres, forced displacement, and genocide, inflicting mourning and pain on more than 45,000 families, who continue to not know the whereabouts of their loved ones, detained-dissapeared under his orders.
It was under his orders, as we proved in court, according to the military document presented before the Sentencing Tribunal of the Major Risk Group “A,” denominated Appraisal of Intelligence of EMGE, in which the civilian population, as well as the religious, labor union, and student sectors—and entire Indigenous communities—were labeled as the internal enemy and targeted for elimination.
Because of this, the survivors managed to win a condemnatory sentence for his responsibility in the detention and forced disappearance of the child Marco Antonio Molina Thiessen, took him to trial for the forced disappearance and extrajudicial executions of of more than 500 people in the Military Zone 21 of Cobán, Alta Verapaz, and prosecuted him for his responsibility in serious massacres that took the lives of of a minimum of 1,700 Ixil women, men, and children, committed between 1978 and 1982 in the municipalities of Santa María Nebaj, San Juan Cotzal, and San Gaspar Chajul.
Today, even though he died sheltered by a corrupt legal system, we remember that we were able to take him to court, handcuffed like a GENOCIDE PERPRETATOR. For this reason, as families of the victims of genocide, we demand that the justice system prioritize the cases of transitional justice with the goal of arriving at the truth, justice, and reparation instead of repetition.
We are grateful for the displays of international solidarity, so that the state of Guatemala makes good on its promise to investigate and sanction the perpetrators.
Guatemala. July 24, 2025.
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