Military Zone 21 – CREOMPAZ
On January 6, 2016, 14 former military officers were arrested on charges of forced disappearance and crimes against humanity based on evidence uncovered at the CREOMPAZ military center in Cobán, Alta Verapaz. Now a United Nations peacekeeper training base, CREOMPAZ (Regional Training Command for Peacekeeping Operations) operated as a detention and clandestine execution center during Guatemala’s Internal Armed Conflict, when it was known as Military Zone 21. Between 2012 and 2015, the Forensic Anthropology Foundation of Guatemala (FAFG) carried out 14 exhumations at CREOMPAZ and found 558 human remains in fourteen graves, representing the largest known case of forced disappearance in Latin America.
Spanning crimes committed from 1981 – 1988, the Military Zone 21 (CREOMPAZ) case sets the record in Guatemala, not only for the number of disappeared victims, but also for the time span over which the crimes were committed. Among the high-ranking individuals indicted is Manuel Benedicto Lucas García, who served as former Army Chief of Staff during his brother’s 1978-1982 military dictatorship, and who is currently imprisoned for his role in crimes against humanity committed against the Molina Theissen family. The trial is an important step in the legal trajectory seeking justice for crimes against humanity and represents more than 30 years of hard work by survivor organizations.
In-depth NISGUA reports
The same people who carried out genocide in Nebaj were the same who carried out genocide in Plan de Sánchez and throughout Baja and Alta Verapaz. It’s important that the high- ranking military command are tried for these crimes.
Latest from our blog
More attempts made to suspend Las Lajitas license
On January 24, residents from the municipalities of Casillas and San Rafael las Flores filled the courtroom to hear arguments in a civil suit against the Ministry of Energy and Mines (MEM) that seeks [...]
Accompanier Perspectives: Ixil
While international accompaniment is at its core a response to the requests of Guatemalan communities and a tool for the protection of human rights, it is also a radical practice of showing up in solidarity and [...]
Júbilo de organizaciones internacionales ante avance que sienta precedente de demanda civil contra Tahoe Resources en Canadá por violencia en Guatemala
30 de enero de 2017 (Guatemala/Montreal/Ottawa/Reno/Tatamagouche/Toronto/Washington, DC) Organizaciones de la sociedad civil canadienses y estadounidenses reciben con entusiasmo la decisión del Tribunal de Apelaciones de Columbia Británica que Vancouver constituye el foro más adecuado [...]
International organizations celebrate precedent-setting step toward justice in civil suit against Tahoe Resources in Canada for violence in Guatemala
January 27, 2017 (Guatemala/ Montreal/Ottawa/Reno/Tatamagouche/Toronto/Washington, DC) Canadian and US civil society organizations wholeheartedly welcome a British Columbia Court of Appeals’ decision that Vancouver is the preferred forum for a civil suit to be heard [...]
Solidarity Update: January 2017
Photo: Francisco Simon, Prensa Comunitaria News recap: Former Kaibil, accused of participating in Dos Erres massacre, arrested in Maryland; Elderly protester killed in the Ixquisis region, Huehuetenango; Former Guatemalan Minister of Energy and Mines arrested in [...]
La elección de Donald Trump y nuestro compromiso al internacionalismo
Click here for the statement in English. Querida familia de NISGUA, Frente a la elección de Donald Trump a la presidencia de los Estados Unidos, nosotros, como muchos de ustedes, hemos sentido el choque, [...]