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
Asesinato de joven de 16 años – Continúa la violencia vinculada a mina canadiense; urgen al Fondo de Pensiones de Canadá desinvertir en Tahoe Resources
El 13 de abril del 2014 Topacio Reynoso, una joven guatemalteca de 16 años, fue asesinada cerca de su comunidad de Mataquescuintla, Guatemala, donde organizaba un grupo de jóvenes en contra de la minería. [...]
Sixteen-year old girl murdered in continued violence associated with Tahoe Resources’ mine, Canada Pension Plan urged to divest
(Ottawa/Toronto) A sixteen year old Guatemalan girl, Topacio Reynoso, was murdered on April 13, 2014 near her home town of Mataquescuintla, Guatemala where she was head of a youth movement against mining. Her father, [...]
Human Rights Convergence statement on the Attorney General nomination
The pact to maintain impunity consolidates with the nomination for Attorney General The Human Rights Convergence states: The director of the Public Prosecutor’s Office is a key and decisive position to guarantee that justice [...]
Worldwide action for the one-year anniversary of the genocide sentence
“We must raise awareness [so] that these kinds of events are never repeated, because the people of Guatemala want to live in peace, acknowledging our identity, our rich multicultural, multilingual [heritage] and the respect for [...]
Acción mundial por el primer aniversario de la sentencia por genocidio
"No queremos que hechos de esta naturaleza vuelvan a repetirse, creemos en realidad que para que exista paz en Guatemala debe existir previamente justicia." - Sentencia por genocidio Foto: CMI Guatemala Este próximo 10 [...]
Organizaciones internacionales exigen justicia ante ataque armado en contra de líderes comunitarios opuestos a la mina Escobal de Tahoe Resources
Merilyn Topacio Reynoso Pacheco, 1997 -2014 (Foto: Danilo Zuleta) Han pasado dos semanas desde el ataque mortal contra Alex y Topacio Reynoso, lideres comunitarios de Mataquescuintla, Jalapa, quienes estuvieron oponiéndose activamente a la mina [...]