News recap: Join NISGUA- as staff or as an accompanier!; Survivors Respond as Guatemalan Congress Threatens Amnesty; Sign On in Solidarity with Cross-Border Indigenous Organizing for Self-Determination; Plurinational Government, Omaha Nation Hold Summit in Q’anjob’al territory, Huehuetenango; International Mayan League Holds Vigil Demanding Justice for Youth Killed by U.S. Immigration System; International Organizations [...]
In 1999, the UN-sponsored Commission for Historical Clarification presented its report, Guatemala: Memory of Silence, which documented the crimes the Guatemalan state had committed against its own people during the Internal Armed Conflict. Each year, communities around Guatemala remember what they survived and those they lost on the National [...]
Guatemalan partner organizations, including CALDH and HIJ@S, published an open letter denouncing Guatemalan congressional attempts to pass amnesty legislation. The proposed legislation could overturn decades of work for justice, allowing those responsible for crimes against humanity to walk free. The letter rejects these latest attempts to legislate impunity, at the expense [...]
News recap: NISGUA is hiring!; Civil society reacts as political crisis escalates to a technical coup; Stand with Indigenous and campesino communities' right to self-determination; Pan American buys Tahoe Resources, inheriting Escobal Mine's legacy of human rights abuses; Court delays justice, but Maya Achí sexual violence survivors continue in struggle; Become an international accompanier [...]
News recap: Organizations demand justice in wake of assassinations and ongoing violence in Ixquisis, TAKE ACTION to stand with communities working to protect community consultations, NISGUA Speaking Tour shares lessons from successful organizing in Chixoy-Copón Rivers Watershed, KCA sues Guatemalan State in international court, survivors of sexual violence in Military Zone [...]
For a downloadable version of this media advisory, click here. For nearly a year and a half, Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales has repeatedly defied the rule of law by attacking the UN-backed International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG). On January 7, Morales announced that his administration would [...]
Jimmy Morales holds a press conference to announce unilateral cancellation of CICIG agreement. Photo credit: Moises Castillo/Associated Press The Jimmy Morales administration has brought Guatemala to a technical coup, as it ramps up its attack against the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG), in [...]
For nearly a year and a half, the Jimmy Morales administration has repeatedly defied the rule of law in its attacks on the UN-backed International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG).The situation reached another climax when CICIG researcher, Yilen Osorio, was detained and denied entry to the country at the [...]
A survivor of sexual violence waits outside the courtroom for the Military Zone 21 case. Photo Credit: CALDH This article is about Indigenous women seeking justice for systematic sexual violence that was used as a tool of war against them. It contains several explicit descriptions of [...]
Jakelin Ameí Rosmery Caal Maquin died on December 6 of septic shock, fever, and dehydration while in US Border Patrol custody. Artist credit: Ruben Guadalupe Marquez Like many of you, we have spent this week reeling with pain from the murder of seven-year-old Jakelin Ameí Rosmery [...]
On International Human Rights Day, we recognize that the language of human rights has not always served to advance social justice. In many cases, it has functioned as a smoke screen for imperial institutions to validate or obscure their violence. The U.S. government used the rhetoric of human rights [...]
News recap: NISGUA celebrates a successful fall speaking tour; Communities celebrate another year of resistance; Take action to stand with Indigenous Peoples to demand respect for Indigenous self-determination in Guatemala; ACODET releases statement in the face of attacks against water defenders; 2018: a year of horizontal exchange - a [...]
Solidarity Update news recap: NISGUA’s Fall Speaking Tour Kicks Off in November; AJR President, Edwin Canil, speaks on the fight for justice for genocide in "Learning From Survivors" talk; NISGUA welcomes a new GAP cohort; Former accompanier and NISGUA fellow Claire Bransky holds "500 Years Screening: Life in Resistance from Guatemala [...]
Following the recent ruling in the Ixil genocide case late last month, NISGUA invited its base to reflect on the significance of the decision for members of the Association for Justice and Reconciliation (AJR) with the organization's president, Edwin Canil. Edwin spoke about survivors' long struggle to break [...]
News recap: Court affirms that the state enacted genocide, but finds Rodríguez Sánchez not guilty in a split decision; Constitutional Court upholds temporary suspension of Escoal mine and calls on the State to consult impacted Xinka communities. This and more in this month's solidarity update. [...]
We will use this genocide verdict to leave a good tree planted, with strong roots -- the fruits of which will be enjoyed by our children. - Edwin Canil, President of the Association for Justice and Reconciliation, survivor and plaintiff organization On September 26, in a split, 2-1 decision, [...]
Today, the trial against former Head of Military Intelligence José Mauricio Rodríguez Sánchez is expected to reach a verdict. As a key player under Efraín Ríos Montt’s 1982-1983 dictatorship in Guatemala, Rodríguez Sánchez stands accused of genocide and crimes against humanity against the Ixil people. Over the past year, [...]
Next week, a verdict is expected in the retrial of José Mauricio Rodríguez Sánchez, former head of military intelligence under General José Efraín Ríos Montt’s 1982-1983 dictatorship in Guatemala. Rodríguez Sánchez faces charges of genocide and crimes against humanity for the particular role he played in classifying the entire [...]
This morning, survivors of the internal armed conflict held a press conference to denounce remilitarization under President Jimmy Morales' government and call for the renewal of the mandate for the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG). Since Jimmy Morales, surrounded by soldiers, held a press conference on August [...]
Featured photo credit: La Hora GT For weeks, Guatemala has made international headlines after President Jimmy Morales announced his government will not renew the mandate for the UN-backed International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG), an independent anti-corruption body that has had significant impact in the country since [...]
"We're motivated to come here - come and listen, to see whether or not there will be justice in Guatemala." Today, the genocide retrial against former head of military intelligence José Mauricio Rodríguez Sánchez moved into powerful closing arguments, where plaintiffs synthesized key points in the [...]
News recap: Communities in Huehuetenango call out the Inter-American Development Bank for human rights and environmental violations in Ixquisis; Over 60 international organizations call for an investigation into the murder of environmental activist Estuardo Quevedo; Join NISGUA as an intern in our Bay Area office. This and more in [...]
News recap: Environmental activist Ángel Estuardo Quevedo killed in a wave of assassinations; Accompanier perspectives on violence at the U.S. border; New NISGUA report: Defending an ancestral decision-making process; Maya Achí women from Rabinal call for justice for sexual violence. This and more in this month's solidarity update. [...]
On Sunday, June 3, the Volcán de Fuego erupted and has had catastrophic effects. We have been in touch with our partners, none of whom have been directly affected by the eruption. We're saddened by the immense loss of life and displacement that this disaster has caused, and know [...]
News recap: VICTORY! Four former military officials found guilty in the historic Molina Theissen trial; Host a summertime community screening of 500 YEARS!; Accompanier perspectives on land, genocide, and gentrification in Guatemala and the U.S.; Security measures restored for the Reynoso Pacheco family. This and more in this month's solidarity update. [...]
Documentary photographer Roderico Y. Diaz talks about the exhibit, “Defending Truth and Memory: The Path Towards Justice in Guatemala,” at the University Museum at Kent Hall on Feb. 1. (Photo by Maggie Adams / Kokopelli) The photo exhibit "Defending Truth and Memory: [...]
Three Ixil survivors lift up the 2013 sentence in the last day of the retrial against Ríos Montt, following his death. Photo credit: CALDH On April 1, 2018, former Guatemalan dictator José Efraín Ríos Montt died of a heart attack at the age of 91. In his death, [...]
On April 1, 2018, former Guatemalan dictator Efraín Ríos Montt died from a heart attack at the age of 91. Having initially been convicted in 2013 of genocide and crimes against humanity against the Ixil people, he died under house arrest facing a retrial. Today, survivors organized with the [...]
On Sunday, April 1, 2018, former Guatemalan de facto dictator Efraín Ríos Montt died of a heart attack. At the time of his death, he was being retried for genocide and crimes against humanity, after initially being convicted in 2013. Read the following statement by the Center for Human [...]
News recap: Prayerful action on the Equinox at the Ohlone Shellmound and Village Sacred Site in California; Genocide retrial moves to Nebaj to hear testimonies from elderly and protected witnesses; Nearly 40 years later, former military officials stand trial for crimes against the Molina Theissen family; NISGUA's latest report celebrates community [...]
Nearly a year has passed since the March 2017 indictment of five former high-ranking officers in the Guatemalan military for crimes against humanity. They stand accused of having participated in the illegal detention, torture, and sexual assault of Emma Guadalupe Molina Theissen and the forced disappearance of her 14-year-old [...]
"Let's respect the word of the people." Original statement in Spanish below. The Ixil genocide case retrial was moved to Santa María Nebaj for this week, following plaintiffs’ request for the judges to hear testimony in the region against former de facto dictator José Efraín Ríos Montt and former [...]
The Ixil genocide case retrial was moved to Santa María Nebaj for this week, following plaintiffs' request for the judges to hear testimony in the region against former de facto dictator Ríos Montt and former head of military intelligence, José Mauricio Rodríguez Sánchez. Antonio Caba Caba, a survivor and [...]
Today, plaintiff organizations went to Guatemala’s Constitutional Court to ask that the Court include testimonies from 35 key witnesses in the Military Zone 21 case – the largest case of forced disappearance to date in Latin America’s history. The plaintiff organizations and public prosecutor claim that during the [...]
News recap: We're ready for 2018 with a new cohort of GAP volunteers; NISGUA Local: Building connections between global movements to defend life and territory; Members of the AJR denounce ongoing racism as they continue their search for justice for genocide; plaintiff organizations to take Military Zone 21 case [...]
Photo credit: Jose Rodriguez After a holiday recess, the Ixil genocide case retrial will be heard again today. As Ixil witnesses come forward to once more share their experience of genocide publicly, they are surrounded by the supportive presence of members of the AJR. However, the AJR members [...]
In the midst of the ongoing genocide retrial of José Efraín Ríos Montt and José Mauricio Rodriguez Sánchez, the Association for Justice and Reconciliation (AJR), the Center for Human Rights Legal Action (CALDH), and the Human Rights Law Firm (BDH) published a press release in the Guatemalan newspaper, El Periódico, to mark [...]
News recap: Needham Congregational Church celebrates 30 years of U.S.-Guatemala solidarity; As Ríos Montt and Rodríguez Sánchez are retried, witnesses and survivors reaffirm 2013 genocide sentence; NISGUA report highlights grassroots strategies to preserve historical memory in Guatemala; Nobel Women’s Initiative speaks out in support of community resistance to Tahoe [...]
Young Ixil university students stand in solidarity with genocide survivors outside of court.Photo credit: Ixil University students, Chemol txumb'al, FUNDEBASE, y AJR Friday, December 1, marked the seventh trial date since the case for genocide against Efraín Ríos Montt and José Mauricio Rodriguez Sánchez was reopened on [...]
Today, Survivors of massacres in the 80s from Chimaltenango traveled to participate in the trial against Rodríguez Sánchez for the Ixil genocide. The AJR (Association for Justice and Reconciliation) is made up of survivors from 5 regions in Guatemala and solidarity between communities has been their foundation since [...]