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
Statement: Ixil Genocide Case Seeks Non-Repetition of cruel events
[ESPAÑOL ABAJO] The Association for Justice and Reconciliation –AJR- And the Office of Human Rights of the Archbishop of Guatemala -ODHAG-. To the national and international public opinion: After 23 years since the first [...]
Perspectivas de lxs acompañantes: Entonces y ahora -Genocidio respaldado por Estados Unidos e Israel
En este momento, el genocidio más documentado en la historia registrada está siendo perpetrado por Israel, con la plena complicidad militar y política de Estados Unidos, contra el pueblo palestino en Gaza. El viernes [...]
Accompanier Perspectives: Then and now -US and Israeli backed genocide
Right now the most well documented genocide in recorded history is being committed by Israel–with the full throated military and political complicity of the United States–against the Palestinian people in Gaza. On Friday, March [...]
Case status: Ixil Genocide, government period of the general Fernando Romeo Lucas Garcia (July 1st of 1978 to March 23rd of 1982).
Background. After 36 years, Guatemala put an end to the Internal Armed Conflict –IAC-, with the definitive ceasefire and the signing of the firm and lasting Peace Agreement on December 29th of 1996. Previously, [...]
Perspectivas de lxs acompañantes: Comprendiendo la diferencia y la lucha compartida a través de la solidaridad
Une Internacionalista escribió esta carta en agosto 2023. Hola a todes. ¡Bienvenides a mi carta a amigues y familiares después de 2 meses de estar en Guatemala! Esta carta es parte de [...]