Photo by NISGUA. Jennifer Harbury sits before the court on July 16th, 2024. On July 16th, Jennifer Harbury, the widow of Efraín Bámaca Velásquez (also known as Comandante Everardo), was to declare for the first time in front of a Guatemalan court, more than three decades after her [...]
The photograph reads “Peritajes Genocidio Ixil. The expert in forensic anthropology, Danny Aroldo Guzmán, concluded today before the First Court of Criminal Sentence that is conducting the trial against former general Manuel Benedicto Lucas García, that 44th day of hearings, Guatemala July 8, 2024." Picture by FGER Monday, [...]
Tuesday July 2nd, Hearing 41 Expert witness Alejandro Valencia Villa was presented himself by videoconference to ratify his 2015 expert report, based on International Humanitarian Criminal Law. The expert witness has previously worked in Guatemala, in the cases of the Diario Militar, Molina Theissen and the Chichupac Massacre. One [...]
Tuesday June 25th, hearing 39 At the beginning of the hearing, the plaintiffs' attorney, Jovita Tzul, requested that the judges, due to the fact that the defense of Manuel Benedicto Lucas García was granted an injunction which left out the testimony of expert witness Benjamín Carleoni, analyze and rule [...]
Youth in Copal AA march towards the river with signs denouncing contamination of the earth and water. Photo by NISGUA internacionalistas. Jóvenes de Copal AA marchan hacia el río con carteles que denuncian la contaminación de la tierra y el agua. Fotografía por internacionalistas de NISGUA (Español [...]
Tuesday June 18th, Hearing 37 “I saw with my own eyes and felt with my own body all the pain that the army caused” Tiburcio Utuy (✝) On the 37th day of hearings, the Public Prosecutor's Office presented four previews of evidence from survivors, whose testimonies were [...]
Monday June 10th, 2024, Hearing 34 "Repression also reached the civilian population that the army considered sympathetic or collaborator to the guerrilla." Kate Doyle On Monday, attorney Peralta, defense of Benedicto Lucas Garcia, began her interrogation of expert witness Kate Doyle. The expert explained the legal steps involved in [...]
Monday May 27th, 2024 Dr. Elizabeth Oglesby, a United States researcher, presented her findings confirming forced displacement suffered by the Ixil people. Oglesby recounted her initial work in Guatemala during the 1980s in the Ixil region, which was interrupted by the murder of Myrna Mack, the head of the [...]
Monday May 20th, 2024. The first forensic anthropology expert Raúl Humberto Archila García, who worked at the FAFG (Guatemalan Forensic Anthropology Foundation) until 2013, was present to affirm 3 expert reports on various individual and collective graves. The second expert of the day, the historian Angel Romeo Valdez Estrada, [...]
Monday, May 13th, 2024 “Today the hearing was suspended due to a problem in the judicial branch network, which was defined as “unusual”. This made it difficult to connect the courtroom with the Military Medical Center, where the defendant, the retired general Manual Benedicto Lucas García, is being held. [...]
Hearings accompanied by AJR Rabinal region Monday May 6th, 2024 Diego Avilés Toma, Cajixay, San Juan Cotzal Witness Diego Avilés recounted that his village was burned by elements of the Guatemalan army on January 8, 1982. The witness heard shouts that the army was coming and he hid [...]
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 arrived in the community carrying weapons at around 5pm and told them that there was [...]
(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 politics of forced disappearances; Claim the memory and struggle of our relatives, who were repressed [...]
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 in Guatemala and beyond, will resonate throughout time. John was much more than an activist; [...]
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 the Ancestral Ixil Indigenous, Maya Achi women, who are also survivors of sexual violence in [...]
The Ixil Genocide trial against Benedicto Lucas García continued this week, April 15-19. During the hearings, members of the Association for Justice and Reconciliation (AJR) were present, as well as members of of the Ancestral Ixil Indigenous Authorities of Nebaj, and representatives from civil society and the international community. [...]
(ESPAÑOL ABAJO) Guatemala, April 22nd, 2024. The members of the National Platform of Organizations of Victims of the Internal Armed Conflict condemn the inhumane and despicable acts committed by the army against the Maya Ixil people during the dictatorship of Romeo Lucas Garcia (1978-1982). In particular, we repudiate the [...]
This week, the hearings were accompanied by members of the Association for Justice and Reconciliation (AJR) of the Kaqchikel region, Ancestral Indigenous Authorities of the Ixil region of Nebaj and various national and international civil society organizations. Monday, April 8th, 2024 On the third day of hearings [...]
On April 5th, 2024, the oral and public debate against former military officer: Benedicto Lucas García, accused in the Ixil Genocide case and driven by the Association for Justice and Reconciliation (AJR), was resumed by the High-Risk "A" Court. The Public Ministry stated in its opening arguments that it [...]
[ESPAÑOL ABAJO] People connected to the Denver Justice & Peace Committee in solidarity with the Ixil People. The process brings to mind critical and harsh situations from Guatemala's history. We honor the struggle and resistance of the Association for Justice and Reconciliation (AJR) as survivors, victims, relatives of victims, [...]
Welcome to the March Solidarity Update! This month, we participated in a series of critical activities and topics that are setting the stage for the field of justice and human rights. We highlight the transitional justice case of the Alaska Summit Massacre, a milestone that represents an important step [...]
On March 25, 2024, the first hearing of the Oral and Public Debate was held against former General Benedicto Lucas García, for the crimes of genocide, sexual violence and crimes against humanity, committed during the dictatorship of his brother Romeo Lucas García (1978-1982). Ancestral Indigenous Authorities of the Ixil [...]
[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 complaint was filed in 2001, on March 25 and 26, 2024, the Criminal Sentencing, Drug [...]
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, through the Oslo Accords (1994), the parties agreed to the creation of the Commission for [...]
[ESPAÑOL ABAJO] 11 years after the first massacre in times of peace, against the Maya K’iche’ people of Totonicapán, which took place on October 4th, 2012, the Board of Directors of the 48 Cantons, widows, victims, survivors and the people of Totonicapán demand justice and a conviction [...]
![[ENG] A painting with a white background and gold border with two black and white photographs of victims of the Internal Armed Conflict in Guatemala. Behind the painting is a cross painted in black with white letters that read: "1982," both supported by metal chairs, on one side there are yellow flowers.](https://nisgua.org/wp-content/uploads/14-2-320x202.jpeg)
On February 25th of each year, Guatemala commemorates the "National Day of Dignification for the Victims of the Internal Armed Conflict (IAC)." Survivors and family members marched on Sunday the 25th from the Human Rights Plaza at the Palace of Justice to the National Palace of Culture, in zone [...]
Coordination of Ixil Organizations and Organizations of Victims of the Internal Armed Conflict (IAC) Indigenous people in Guatemala, among them the Maya Ixil people, have experienced moments of pain, sadness, and resistance in their history, one of the most recent being the Internal Armed Conflict between 1960 and [...]
![[ENG] The image is a photograph taken at night of the national palace of Guatemala, which is illuminated with artificial lights and you can see the shadows of people looking towards the building. [ESP] La imagen es una fotografía tomada de noche del palacio nacional de Guatemala, que se encuentra iluminado con luces artificiales y se alcanzan a ver las sombras de personas que están mirando hacia el edificio.](https://nisgua.org/wp-content/uploads/signal-2024-02-14-142806-320x202.jpeg)
After 106 days of resistance of Indigenous people in the national strike against corruption and in defense of democracy in Guatemala, our partners continue the fight for truth, memory, and justice. In this solidarity update we share with you: a series of interviews with Guatemalan Indigenous leaders during the [...]
![[ESP] En un espacio abierto con el cielo azul de fondo, una manta blanca con el rostro de una persona socializada como hombre en blanco y negro, debajo letras en color negro ilegible, la manta es sostenida por una persona por detrás. [ENG] In an open space with blue sky in the background, a white blanket with the face of a person socialized as a man in black and white, underneath letters in illegible black, the blanket is held by a person from behind.](https://nisgua.org/wp-content/uploads/1-7-320x202.jpeg)
February 13,2024 commemorates the 42nd anniversary of the forced disappearance of Emil Bustamante, a university social leader. His families, friends and organized collectives gathered to march to the Matamoros military headquarters, where he was last seen alive in 1982. "This terrible ignominy was not 42 February (years) ago, it [...]
(Spanish below) On January 31, Judge Jorge Douglas Ochoa of the Criminal Sentencing Court of the Department of Chiquimula sentenced a commissioner and two agents of the National Civil Police (PNC) for the crime of abuse of authority in the detention of journalist Norma Sancir, who was covering a [...]
The Human Rights Office of the Archbishop of Guatemala (ODHAG) denounces that during the early morning hours of February 14, the offices of Culture and Peace, the programs of historical memory, childhood, conflict transformation and community organization were broken into by unknown persons. They report the theft of laptop [...]
![[ESP] En un fondo blanco, en la la parte de arriba y abajo al borde de la página ondas color morada, lila, azul, celeste que se mezclan entre si. En la esquina superior izquierda el logo de una paloma en pleno vuelo y a los pies de ella las letras CALDH de color azul. En letras negras el pronunciamiento. [ENG] On a white background, at the top and bottom edge of the page purple, lilac, blue, light blue waves that are mixed together. In the upper left corner the logo of a dove in full flight and at its feet the letters CALDH in blue. In black letters the statement.](https://nisgua.org/wp-content/uploads/GFMtuZtWEAAoXTQ-320x202.jpeg)
Judge Jorge Douglas Ochoa of the Criminal Sentencing Court of the Department of Chiquimula sentenced a commissioner and two agents of the National Civil Police (PNC) for the crime of abuse of authority in the detention of journalist Norma Sancir, who was covering a demonstration of the Chortís communities [...]
We welcome you all to the new year, a year of continuing the struggle and resistance of the people in Guatemala, Palestine, and the whole world. The voices that clamor for the people’s liberation do not cease. We join in solidarity to amplify those voices from where we find [...]
THANK YOU TO THE PEOPLE OF GUATEMALA FOR THESE 105 DAYS OF RESISTANCE We have completed 105 days of dignified and historic resistance in defense of democracy, with which we have demonstrated that the power of the people should not be underestimated. When all was thought lost, our organization [...]
On January 4, the oral and public debate for the Ixil Lucas García genocide case was scheduled to begin. A day before, a hearing was held to conclude on the mental health of Manuel Callejas y Callejas. The court resolved the cessation of criminal prosecution in an ordinary trial [...]
On November 7 a court acquited 3 former kaibiles accused in the Dos Erres massacre case despite that in 3 previous trials several military officers were convicted and the facts were proven. During this trial Gilberto Jordán, José Mardoqueo Ortiz & Alfonso Bulux Vicente were accused of killing more [...]
"Let us walk hand in hand with the People" Since the last update we shared, the Indefinite National Strike initiated on October 2nd, led by the Ancestral Authorities of different Indigenous peoples throughout the country, and maintained by various sectors of the Guatemalan population, continues. The demand is firm: [...]
We, the Indigenous people, through our Ancestral Authorities, gathered in a permanent Assembly, together with organizations of Indigenous peoples, civil society, peasants, women, trade unions, students, working-class neighborhoods, settlement dwellers, united market workers, youth, urban organizations, academics and citizens who accompany us. We have met, we have dialogued, and [...]
