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
Ixil Genocide Update. April 29th and 30th, 2024.
Monday April 29 Hearing attended by Ancestral Indigenous Authorities of the Ixil Region First witness: Petrona López de Paz, Estrella Polar. The witness lived in Estrella Polar on March 23rd of 1982, when soldiers [...]
Twenty-five years since the publication of the Military Diary
(ESPAÑOL ABAJO) Twenty-five years since the publication of the military intelligence document known as the Dossier of Death (Dossier de la Muerte) or Military Diary, families, victims and survivors of State terror and the [...]
John Sutton, ¡presente!
John Sutton, ¡presente! John Sutton, defensor incansable de las luchas por la liberación de los pueblos, ha dejado un vacío imposible de llenar. Su legado, marcado por su compromiso inquebrantable con la conciencia y [...]
John Sutton Presente!
John Sutton, presente! John Sutton, tireless community leader for peoples' liberation struggles, has left a void that is impossible to fill. His legacy, marked by his unwavering commitment to awareness and action for justice [...]
Actualización caso Genocidio Ixil. Del 22 al 25 de abril de 2024.
Esta semana en la sala de audiencia hay colocados biombos que protegen la identidad de las mujeres víctimas de violencia sexual quienes brindaron su testimonio. Acompañaron en la sala de audiencias representantes de las [...]
Ixil Genocide Case update. April 22nd -25th, 2024.
This week, they placed screens in the courtoom that protect the identities of the women who were victims of sexual violence as they gave their testimony. With them in the courtroom were representatives of [...]