Unofficial translation by the Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala (NISGUA). You can find the original statement in Spanish further below. ENOUGH IMPUNITY THE PEOPLE OF GUATEMALA DESERVE JUSTICE On February 25, National Day for the Dignification of the Victims of the Internal Armed Conflict, survivors, relatives [...]
[Español a continuación] In Guatemala, even in the darkest and most painful moments, life is sustained collectively. Solidarity, mutual support, and the simple act of showing up for one another provide the strength to continue. Sharing, accompanying, and moving forward together is not only a response to adversity—it is [...]
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 WE DEMAND THE FULFILLMENT OF THE HUMAN RIGHT TO JUSTICE FOR THE VICTIMS OF GENOCIDE AND CRIMINALIZATION Today, DECEMBER 10, 2025, on INTERNATIONAL HUMAN [...]
[Español a continuación] In this month of October, Maya Peoples celebrate Waqxaqib’ B’atz’, the New Year of the sacred Chol Q’ij calendar — a time to renew our collective commitment to life, community, and dignity. Each new cycle invites us to reflect on what has been learned, honor those [...]
This October marks two years since the 2023 Indigenous National Strike in Guatemala, a historic mobilization that brought together thousands of people across the country in defense of democracy, dignity, and the rights of Indigenous Peoples. For 106 days, Indigenous Authorities and community leaders from different peoples coordinated peaceful [...]
Internacionalista Taz (they/elle) wrote this reflection in August 2025. Late July, it is hot in Santa Anita las Canoas, the small Maya Kaqchikel community in Chimaltenango, a department in the central highlands of Guatemala. The dirt glows orange. Leaves of the coffee trees shift and shimmer. Don Aguilar(1) sits [...]
This photo storytelling highlights a visit to organized communities in the Kaqchikel region within the Association for Justice and Reconciliation (AJR) at the end of July 2025. Through these images, Internacionalista Tas shares their experience, reflecting on their reactions and insights from this inspiring encounter. Memorial to victims [...]
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 [...]
Internacionalista Nick (he/él) wrote this letter in the months of June and July 2025. From Guatemala City to Nebaj, the largest city in the Ixil region of Guatemala, it's a seven-hour drive, up and down mountains on steep roads chiseled into the hillside. NISGUA arrived at around four PM [...]
Unofficial translation by the Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala (NISGUA). You can find the original speech in Spanish further below. On June 21 and 22, the Day of Ixil Dignity celebration took place in Santa María de Nebaj (El Quiché). The event commemorates the [...]
Unofficial translation by the Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala (NISGUA). You can find the original statement in Spanish further below. // Puedes encontrar el comunicado original en español más abajo. The Association for Justice and Reconciliation (AJR)and the Human Rights Office of the Archbishop of Guatemala [...]
Unofficial translation by the Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala (NISGUA). You can find the original statement in Spanish further below. // Puedes encontrar el comunicado original en español más abajo. The Indigenous authorities of the Maya and Xinka peoples are gathered in Ixil territory on 21 [...]
Unofficial translation by the Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala (NISGUA). You can find the original statement in Spanish further below. // Puedes encontrar el comunicado original en español más abajo. WE KEEP SEARCHING FOR THEM, UNTIL WE FIND THEM On the occasion of JUNE 21st, NATIONAL [...]
You can find the original statement in Spanish further below. // Puedes encontrar el comunicado original en español más abajo. WE DEMAND JUSTICE FOR ACHI WOMEN Today, May 30, 2025, after four months of hearings, the second trial of the Achi Women’s Case comes to an end, against the [...]
Ethan was in Guatemala as an Internacionalista with NISGUA during 2024–2025. They wrote this final letter in January 2025, reflecting on their experience and the people and movements that left a deep impression on them. On November 28th, 2024, the First Court of Appeals (whose members all have connections [...]
Unofficial translation by the Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala (NISGUA). You can find the original statement in Spanish further below. // Puedes encontrar el comunicado original en español más abajo. Coordinating Committee of Ixil Organizations With the energy of our grandmothers and grandfathers of the ka’va’l [...]
(Español más abajo) On February 25, 2025, a march took place in Guatemala to commemorate National Victims' Dignity Day of the Internal Armed Conflict. The mobilization, which gathered over 500 people, began at the Supreme Court of Justice and ended at Constitution Plaza. Participants, mostly family members and survivors, [...]
(Spanish below) On February 6, 2025, an appeal hearing of the 2018 sentence of the Molina Theissen case was held. This sentence sentenced Benedicto Lucas García, Manuel Callejas y Callejas, and Hugo Zaldaña Rojas to 58 years in prison for crimes against humanity, forced disappearance and aggravated sexual violence, [...]
Includes: The Association for Justice and Reconciliation (AJR) denounces the dismissal of the tribunal in the Maya Ixil genocide case against Manuel Benedicto Lucas García. They point to this derailment of the case as blatant impunity and will continue to fight for justice. Organizers from the Departmental Assembly of [...]
(Spanish below) On November, 28 The First Chamber of Appeals accepted an injuction filed by the defense of Manuel Benedicto Lucas García to disqualify the High Risk Crimes Court A, claiming that the Tribunal is unfit to continue the oral and public proceedings. This decision has derailed the trial [...]
On a press conference on November 21, 2024, representatives from AJR ( Association for Justice and Reconciliation) and ODHAG (Human Rights Office of the Archbishop of Guatemala) demanded that the First Court of Appeals reject the defense's dishonest attempt to throw out the genocide case and instead, act according [...]
November 7th The defense of the accused, the General Manuel Benedicto Lucas García, sought to delay the trial by soliciting an expert witness from the National Institute of Forensic Sciences (INACIF) to confirm that 5.56 caliber ammunition was used exclusively by the Guatemalan military during the Internal Armed Conflict. [...]
[Español a continuación] As the Maya Ixil Genocide case against ex-general Manuel Benedicto Lucas García comes to a close, the Association for Justice and Reconciliation -AJR- and The Human Rights Office of the Archbishop of Guatemala -ODHAG- declare to the public, national and international audience: WE ARE APPROACHING A [...]
[Español abajo] Published October 31st, 2024 by CALDH (Center for Legal Action in Human Rights for its initials in Spanish) THERE WAS GENOCIDE IN GUATEMALA Two Courts of Justice have ruled that there was genocide in Guatemala. The commitment of this crime against humanity could not have occurred without [...]
November marks the close of the Maya Ixil genocide case against Manuel Benedicto Lucas García, Chief of the General Staff of the Guatemalan Army between 1981 and 1982. We invite you to show your solidarity with members of the Association for Justice and Reconciliation (AJR) who brought the case [...]
Wednesday, September 18th, hearing 72 On this day the expert in forensic anthropology Donaldo Arnulfo Castillo Valdez was presented. He ratified 3 expert reports which he conducted when he worked with the Center of Forensic Analysis and Applied Sciences (CAFCA, for its Spanish acronym) and which correspond to the [...]
Monday, September 9, hearing 69 The expert witness Claudia Eugenia Rivera Fernandez appeared and ratified 4 expert reports. The first is related to the exhumation carried out in Acul, Nebaj, Quiché on April 20, 1998. In this exhumation, 23 people were recovered who, according to testimonies, were killed by [...]
September 2, 2024, Hearing 68 On Monday, September 2, the expert Guillermo Vázquez appeared at the Court via zoom call from the Guatemalan consulate in Mexico. His first expert report corresponds to the one carried out in the Xecax canton, where 34 skeletons were recovered, of which 31 were [...]
This week 9 witnesses of massacres and one witness of sexual violence testified in Santa Maria Nebaj against Lucas Garcia for the massacres and crimes committed in 1982. Outside the courthouse in Nebaj, a banner commemorating the tenth anniversary of the 2013 genocide sentence is seen, which was placed [...]
Monday, August 12, Hearing 63 The presiding judge informed those present in the courtroom that on Saturday, August 10, Lucas Garcia's defense filed a written recusal against the Tribunal. According to the defense lawyers, the tribunal allowed expert witness Bertoni to go beyond the limits of his testimony by [...]
Monday, August 5, 2024, hearing 59 The anthropologist Rodolfo Leyva was present to ratify several social anthropology expert reports in which testimonies were collected from survivors in order to identify their relatives. The expert explained that the interviews with the survivors are filed in the FAFG and are included [...]
Tuesday, July 30th, Hearing 56 “We lived with the fear that at any moment they could kill us, too.” Survivor of the Ixil genocide In today’s hearing, the Public Prosecutor’s Office presented two pieces of documentary evidence along with the audio recording of a witness’s advance testimony. The first [...]
COMUNICADO DE PRENSA 15 de agosto de 2024 PARA PUBLICACIÓN INMEDIATA Contacto: Michelle Liang, Acompañante Internacional, NISGUA internacionalista@nisgua.org | +502 4873 4422 Ciudad de Guatemala, Guatemala - El lunes 12 de agosto de 2024, las abogados defensoras del ex general Manuel Benedicto Lucas García, acusado de genocidio, desaparición forzada y [...]
August 15, 2024 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Media Contact: Michelle Liang, International Accompanier, NISGUA internacionalista@nisgua.org | +502 4873 4422 Guatemala City, Guatemala - On Monday August 12, 2024, the defense lawyers of ex-general Manuel Benedícto Lucas García, accused of genocide, forced disappearance and crimes against humanity of the Maya Ixil people, [...]
On Saturday, August 10, the defense of former general Benedicto Lucas García filed a legal action to recuse the court, since according to the lawyers the court allowed the Public Prosecutor's Office to overreach their interrogation of an expert witness on the topic of victim identification. Therefore, several human [...]
Monday, July 22, Hearing 52 This day the hearing continued with the testimony of the witness María Marcos. The witness pointed out that when the soldiers burned her house in Pexla, she was with three of her daughters, a baby, an 11 year old, and a 14 year old. [...]
Photo by NISGUA. Defense witnesses testify in the Ixil Genocide Trial. Tuesday, July 16. Weekly Update for July 15-18 Monday, July 15, hearing 47 On Monday the 15th, the lawyers of Manuel Benedicto Lucas García presented 2 witnesses on behalf of the defendant. At the request of the [...]
Foto de NISGUA. Testigos de la defensa declaran en el Juicio por Genocidio Ixil. Martes, 16 de julio. Lunes 15 de julio, audiencia 47 El lunes 15, las abogadas de Manuel Benedicto Lucas García presentaron a 2 testigos en favor del acusado. A petición de la defensa se [...]
Members of the CRLN delegation and members of NISGUA leaving a visit to a witness in the genocide case against Lucas García, in the Ixil region. Credits: Juan V. Miembros de la delegación de CRLN y miembros de NISGUA saliendo de la visita a un testigo del caso por [...]
Photo by NISGUA. Jennifer Harbury sits before the court on July 16th, 2024. On July 16th, Jennifer Harbury, the widow of Efraín Bámaca Velásquez (also known as Comandante Everardo), was to declare for the first time in front of a Guatemalan court, more than three decades after her [...]
