"The past is still present." -- Independent journalist, commenting on recent attacks against activistson the eve of the Ríos Montt trial On Sunday, March 17, the President of the Xinca Indigenous Parliament and three other Xinca leaders were abducted by a group of heavily armed men. While two of the [...]
In the early hours of the morning, a crowd had already begun to form in Guatemala City's Plaza of Human Rights, outside the Supreme Court, where the country's historic first trial for genocide was about to commence. Survivors of genocide and human rights advocates arranged a ceremonial carpet of [...]
For more than a decade, members of the Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala have had the honor to walk alongside survivors of genocide in their long struggle for justice. Tomorrow, we will accompany them in the next step on the path of memory, as they stand as [...]
Victoria Sanford is the director of the Lehman College Center for Human Rights and Peace Studies in New York. She is the author of Buried Secrets: Truth and Human Rights in Guatemala. In 2012, she testified as an expert witness in the Spanish Tribunal’s genocide case against Guatemalan generals [...]
FIRST TRIAL FOR GENOCIDE STILL SET TO BEGIN MARCH 19 APPEALS COURT'S RULING DOES NOT SUSPEND DEBATE Today, March 11th, we were notified of a constitutional injunction ("amparo") filed by the military officials José Efraín Ríos Montt and José Mauricio Rodríguez Sánchez, accused of genocide and crimes against humanity. [...]
Check out these recent interviews by current and former NISGUA staff in local media outlets! NISGUA's Guatemala Accompaniment Project (GAP) Director Bridget Brehen speaks about developments in the genocide case on KPFA's La Raza Chronicles: Former GAP Coordinator Phil Neff also spoke to KEXP's Mind Over Matters public affairs [...]
The following is reblogged from UNREDACTED, the National Security Archive Blog. We're posting Kate Doyle's article in full for her first-hand account of the most recent proceedings in the Guatemalan Genocide Trial. Follow the National Security Archive's work here. Rios Montt on trial. Credit: Jorge Dan Lopez/Reuters Guatemala City, [...]
WALKING TOWARD JUSTICE Today Guatemalan society is witness to a historic event. For the first time in our country, a judge has ordered the opening of a trial for the crime of genocide and crimes against humanity. Judge Miguel Ángel Gálvez ordered the opening of the public oral debate [...]
This struggle is everyone's struggle and the struggle of those that have not yet been born. --Board member for the Association for Justice and Reconciliation (AJR) The genocide cases have moved forward against former General and de facto President Efraín Ríos Montt and two officials under his command, retired [...]
Versión en español On Thursday, January 26, 2012, in a preliminary hearing, General José Efraín Ríos Montt was linked to the ongoing legal process for genocide and crimes against humanity by the first justice for high risk cases, Carol Patricia Flores. Ríos Montt refused to make a statement. Despite [...]
Versión en español An initial court hearing for former General Efraín Ríos Montt, accused of genocide, took place after ten years of work by the Association for Justice and Reconciliation (AJR). The day after the hearing, ACOGUATE interviewed members of the AJR, accompanied by ACOGUATE since 2001.What do you all [...]
Thursday, January 26, 7:00 am, hundreds of community activists and human rights defenders gather outside Guatemala City’s national court to witness former dictator Efraín Rios Montt testify on the gross military atrocities and human rights violations that occurred during his de-facto presidency from 1982 to 1983. In solidarity, thousands more [...]
A personal reflection by Phil Neff, Guatemala Accompaniment Project Coordinator for NISGUAA cold evening fog had fallen over the Plaza of Human Rights outside Guatemala City's Court Tower, where two hundred survivors of massacres perpetrated by the Guatemalan Army waited, exhausted and anxious, for Judge Patricia Flores to deliver the [...]
"Impunity is a perverse state that damages not only the victim, but society in general." - Judge Flores "We have to celebrate this historic event. Our struggle has become reality. It was worth it." - AJR activistLast night, Judge Carol Patricia Flores ruled that there was sufficient evidence to formally charge former [...]
Statement from CALDH and AJRThe Court has restored hope to Guatemalan society, which has waited nearly 30 years for the atrocities committed against the Mayan people to be recognized. In an historic and momentous act for thousands of victims, Judge Carol Patricia Flores linked General José Efraín Ríos Montt, who [...]
On January 14, former General Otto Pérez Molina assumed office as the next president of Guatemala, promising change. Pérez Molina has sworn that his administration will produce results within 6 months by implementing new iron-fist measures to curb soaring violence and organized crime. Pérez Molina's administration's first acts include removing [...]
Efraín Ríos Montt, the U.S.-supported dictator who ruled at the height of Guatemala's civil war, has been called to testify in the genocide case on January 26. As of January 14th, Ríos Montt stepped down from his position in the Guatemalan Congress and no longer can argue congressional immunity for [...]
Ten years have passed since genocide survivors filed cases against General Efraín Ríos Montt and members of his military high command. As a result of this investigation, in 2011, three former military officials—including a former president—have been arrested, andanother has been declared fugitive from justice. On October 12, 2011, arrest [...]
José Mauricio Rodríguez Sánchez, former Director of Military Intelligence under the de facto government of Efraín Rios Montt, has become the second person to be formally charged with genocide after he was arrested on October 12, 2011.Rodríguez Sánchez is accused as an intellectual author of military counter-insurgency campaigns between 1982 [...]
Julia Cortéz, legal representative of the Association for Justice and Reconciliation (AJR). The AJR and the Center for Legal Human Rights Action (CALDH) are the plaintiffs in the legal case against the retired general Héctor Mario López Fuentes, accused of genocide, crimes against humanity and forced disappearance.Graham HuntFirst suspended on [...]
Francisco Soto of the Center for Human Rights Legal Action (CALDH) and representatives of the Association for Justice and Reconciliation (AJR) inform of the suspension in a press conference.Graham HuntThe highly anticipated genocide trial for General López Fuentes, scheduled to open today, has been suspended.Please sign our online petition and [...]
[English below]Caminando hacia la justiciaLa sociedad guatemalteca hoy es testiga de un hecho histórico, por primera vez en nuestro país, el Ministerio Público presenta una acusación por el delito de genocidio contra un general retirado del ejército. Este paso hacia la justicia es de suma importancia para las miles de [...]
After the arrest and capture of retired general Héctor López Fuentes on Friday, proceedings yesterday officially indicted former Army Chief of Staff for the crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity and forced disappearance. Representatives of the Association for Justice and Reconciliation (AJR), an organization of survivors of genocide, joined their [...]
General López Fuentes waits for his hearing to begin. Graham HuntOn June 20, 2011, retired General Héctor Mario López Fuentes was indicted for genocide, crimes against humanity and forced disappearance. As Army Chief of Staff under the de facto regime of General Efraín Ríos Montt, López Fuentes is accused of [...]
FIRST ARREST FOR GENOCIDE IN GUATEMALAToday, June 17th, General Héctor Mario López Fuentes was captured in Guatemala City, twenty-nine years after having initiated the execution of Plan Victoria 82, developed by the Army Chief of Staff and Efraín Ríos Montt’s de facto government. He is accused of having perpetrated genocide [...]