WALKING TOWARD JUSTICE Today Guatemalan society is witness to a historic event. For the first time in our country, a judge has ordered the opening of a trial for the crime of genocide and crimes against humanity. Judge Miguel Ángel Gálvez ordered the opening of the public oral debate [...]
2012 was a very active year for ACOGUATE and the cases in which we accompany witnesses and plaintiffs in search for justice. Human rights defenders working for truth are amongst the most threatened groups, according to the Human Rights Defenders' Protection Unit of Guatemala (UDEFEGUA)[i]. Here are some of [...]
The deceased, all wounded by firearm, according to Dr. Jorge Destarac, regional head of the National Forensic Science Institute, were eight in total: Rafael Batz (Pasajoc), Santos Nicolás Menchú (Pasajoc), Jesús Baltazar Caxaj Puac (Chipuac), Francisco Ordoñez (Chipuac), José Eusebio Puac Ordoñez (Chipuac), Arturo Félix Sapón Yax (Panquix), Domingo [...]
At least six protesters were killed and dozens wounded this afternoon in repression of a protest organized by the representatives of 48 indigenous K'iche communities of Totonicapan, Guatemala. According to Guatemala Indymedia Center and social movement organizations, the protesters were shot by Guatemalan military personnel. The autonomous indigenous government of the 48 cantones (communities) of Totonicapan [...]
This struggle is everyone's struggle and the struggle of those that have not yet been born. --Board member for the Association for Justice and Reconciliation (AJR) The genocide cases have moved forward against former General and de facto President Efraín Ríos Montt and two officials under his command, retired [...]
Student Édgar Sáenz Calito was disappeared in June 1981. Photo: http://www.hijosguate.blogspot.com/ Pedro García Arredondo, former chief of the now defunct National Police's infamous Comando Seis was convicted for the forced disappearance of student Édgar Sáenz Calito in June 1981. He was sentenced to 70 years in prison. Investigations by [...]
Español abajo The organized women of the community of Ágel of San Miguel Ixtahuacán, Department of San Marcos, and the Tz'ununija' Women's Indigenous Movement, on the day Wajxaq'ib' Ajmaq [declare]: Within the framework of the promotion, defense and exercise of the individual and collective rights of [...]
Español abajo COMMUNIQUE The Tz'ununija' Indigenous Women's Movement, on the day Waqxaqi' Aq'ab'al, informs civil society organizations, indigenous and women's organizations and the national and international public opinion, the following: Within the framework of the promotion and defense of the individual and collective rights of women and indigenous peoples, [...]
The information below was translated from a press statement by CALDH (in Spanish below) Read Amnesty International's statementOn March 20, the First Tribunal for High Risk Cases in Guatemala sentenced 5 members of the Guatemalan military to 7,710 years in prison for the massacre of 256 people in the Plan [...]
Versión en español On Thursday, January 26, 2012, in a preliminary hearing, General José Efraín Ríos Montt was linked to the ongoing legal process for genocide and crimes against humanity by the first justice for high risk cases, Carol Patricia Flores. Ríos Montt refused to make a statement. Despite [...]
Versión en español An initial court hearing for former General Efraín Ríos Montt, accused of genocide, took place after ten years of work by the Association for Justice and Reconciliation (AJR). The day after the hearing, ACOGUATE interviewed members of the AJR, accompanied by ACOGUATE since 2001.What do you all [...]
Poster for Tu Corazon Florece (Your Heart Flourishes) festival On Friday, February 10, 2012, a verdict was issued in the case of Lisandro Guarcax and 32 other victims. The accused were found guilty of charges of murder and kidnapping and given sentences ranging from 100-376 years. In the case of [...]
Thursday, January 26, 7:00 am, hundreds of community activists and human rights defenders gather outside Guatemala City’s national court to witness former dictator Efraín Rios Montt testify on the gross military atrocities and human rights violations that occurred during his de-facto presidency from 1982 to 1983. In solidarity, thousands more [...]
A personal reflection by Phil Neff, Guatemala Accompaniment Project Coordinator for NISGUAA cold evening fog had fallen over the Plaza of Human Rights outside Guatemala City's Court Tower, where two hundred survivors of massacres perpetrated by the Guatemalan Army waited, exhausted and anxious, for Judge Patricia Flores to deliver the [...]
"Impunity is a perverse state that damages not only the victim, but society in general." - Judge Flores "We have to celebrate this historic event. Our struggle has become reality. It was worth it." - AJR activistLast night, Judge Carol Patricia Flores ruled that there was sufficient evidence to formally charge former [...]
Statement from CALDH and AJRThe Court has restored hope to Guatemalan society, which has waited nearly 30 years for the atrocities committed against the Mayan people to be recognized. In an historic and momentous act for thousands of victims, Judge Carol Patricia Flores linked General José Efraín Ríos Montt, who [...]
On January 14, former General Otto Pérez Molina assumed office as the next president of Guatemala, promising change. Pérez Molina has sworn that his administration will produce results within 6 months by implementing new iron-fist measures to curb soaring violence and organized crime. Pérez Molina's administration's first acts include removing [...]
Efraín Ríos Montt, the U.S.-supported dictator who ruled at the height of Guatemala's civil war, has been called to testify in the genocide case on January 26. As of January 14th, Ríos Montt stepped down from his position in the Guatemalan Congress and no longer can argue congressional immunity for [...]
2011: The Most Violent Year for Human Rights DefendersThe Human Rights Defenders Protection Unit – Guatemala (Unidad de Protección a Defensoras y Defensores de Derechos Humanos – Guatemala; UDEFEGUA) reports that, according to our records, 2011 was the most violent year so far for human rights defenders. We counted a [...]
Ten years have passed since genocide survivors filed cases against General Efraín Ríos Montt and members of his military high command. As a result of this investigation, in 2011, three former military officials—including a former president—have been arrested, andanother has been declared fugitive from justice. On October 12, 2011, arrest [...]
On November 6, Guatemala's presidential elections ended in a close victory for retired General Otto Pérez Molina. Pérez Molina's Patriot Party has promised an iron fist approach to security in the face of rising crime and international drug trafficking. Carrying a majority in urban and Eastern departments, Pérez Molina won [...]
José Mauricio Rodríguez Sánchez, former Director of Military Intelligence under the de facto government of Efraín Rios Montt, has become the second person to be formally charged with genocide after he was arrested on October 12, 2011.Rodríguez Sánchez is accused as an intellectual author of military counter-insurgency campaigns between 1982 [...]
Julia Cortéz, legal representative of the Association for Justice and Reconciliation (AJR). The AJR and the Center for Legal Human Rights Action (CALDH) are the plaintiffs in the legal case against the retired general Héctor Mario López Fuentes, accused of genocide, crimes against humanity and forced disappearance.Graham HuntFirst suspended on [...]
(Photo credit: Kevin Hayes) Guatemala – First Tribunal Judge Carol Patricia Flores found Guatemalan ex-military Pedro Pimentel Rios' defense to be without merit yesterday, ruling that the accused can be tried for mass murder and crimes against humanity in the case of Las Dos Erres. Pimentel Rios' [...]
Graham HuntOn September 24, the Historical Archive of the National Police (AHPN) celebrated the second of a series of mural-painting festivals being carried out throughout 2011, with the participation of artists' groups including Pie de Lana, the Clavel Rojo Collective, and Fe y Esperanza, as well as employees and family [...]
Francisco Soto of the Center for Human Rights Legal Action (CALDH) and representatives of the Association for Justice and Reconciliation (AJR) inform of the suspension in a press conference.Graham HuntThe highly anticipated genocide trial for General López Fuentes, scheduled to open today, has been suspended.Please sign our online petition and [...]
[English below]Caminando hacia la justiciaLa sociedad guatemalteca hoy es testiga de un hecho histórico, por primera vez en nuestro país, el Ministerio Público presenta una acusación por el delito de genocidio contra un general retirado del ejército. Este paso hacia la justicia es de suma importancia para las miles de [...]
More than 28 years have passed since the massacre of more than 250 men, women, and children in the small farming community of Las Dos Erres, Petén. For 17 years, survivors and family members of victims have struggled to bring the perpetrators to justice, with the support of the [...]
Dear friends, On February 20, 2011, our friend Victor Leiva, artist and founding member of the collective Caja Ludica, was taken from us. Victor was shot to death while leaving his work in the Historical Center of Guatemala City, in circumstances which have not been clarified. We are requesting signatures [...]
Graham HuntOn June 21, 2011, in different activities carried out in Guatemala City, family members of victims, activists and others gathered in honor of the more than 45,000 forcibly disappeared in Guatemala's 36-year civil war, as well as to remember the countless others disappeared in conflicts around the world. [...]
After the arrest and capture of retired general Héctor López Fuentes on Friday, proceedings yesterday officially indicted former Army Chief of Staff for the crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity and forced disappearance. Representatives of the Association for Justice and Reconciliation (AJR), an organization of survivors of genocide, joined their [...]
General López Fuentes waits for his hearing to begin. Graham HuntOn June 20, 2011, retired General Héctor Mario López Fuentes was indicted for genocide, crimes against humanity and forced disappearance. As Army Chief of Staff under the de facto regime of General Efraín Ríos Montt, López Fuentes is accused of [...]
Walter Overdick gives his testimony. Graham HuntThe same morning, in the very same court room immediately prior to López Fuentes' indictment, another hearing was held regarding the 1978 Panzós massacre, recognized as the first massacre of Guatemala's darkest period of "scorched earth" counterinsurgency. Former mayor of Panzós Walter Overdick related [...]
FIRST ARREST FOR GENOCIDE IN GUATEMALAToday, June 17th, General Héctor Mario López Fuentes was captured in Guatemala City, twenty-nine years after having initiated the execution of Plan Victoria 82, developed by the Army Chief of Staff and Efraín Ríos Montt’s de facto government. He is accused of having perpetrated genocide [...]
Jennifer Harbury speaks to the press. Graham HuntJennifer Harbury da declaraciones a la prensa.On Tuesday, February 22, 2010, following the Guatemalan Constitutional Court's February 11 decision to suspend the reopening of investigations regarding the 1992 forced disappearance of her husband, guerrilla commander Efraín Bamaca, Jennifer Harbury released to the Guatemalan [...]
Graham HuntOn February 23, 1984, at approximately 5:45 PM, Oscar David Hernández Quiroa, electromechanic at the headquarters of the Volunteer Firefighters, was ambushed in central Guatemala City by twelve armed men traveling in three vehicles. Wounded by gunfire, he was forced into one of the vehicles and never seen again, [...]
In 2003, members of the community of Choatalúm dared to do the unthinkable: they publicly denounced then-mayor Felipe Cusanero Coj for his responsibility as military commissioner for the forced disappearances of six family members between 1982 and 1984. Forced disappearance, a kidnapping authorized by a State that refuses to [...]
Join us as we enter our 30th year of solidarity work in Guatemala! Human Rights Accompaniers Needed in Guatemala Next training: January 2011 in Bay Area, CAApplication Deadline: October 31st, 2010For more information: http://www.nisgua.org/get_involved/join_gap/
The following was written by Amanda Kistler, an international accompanier from 2008 - 2009 with NISGUA. She was based out of Guatemala City and accompanied the plaintiffs in the Choatalúm trial. This article originally appeared on NACLA. Original article can be found here. On August 31, a tribunal [...]
The following was written by Josh McLeod, an international accompanier with NISGUA who accompanied the plaintiffs in El Jute. This article originally appeared on UpsideDown World. Original article can be found here. "We are fighting so that our kids won't ever have to know the pain of what we lived [...]