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
195 organizaciones denuncian los últimos ataques contra miembros de la Resistencia Pacífica a la mina de Escobal
READ THIS PAGE IN ENGLISH VISITA EL SITIO WEB DE FUERA MINA ESCOBAL 21 de enero de 2021 DIRIGIDO A: María Consuelo Porras, Fiscal General, Ministerio Público de Guatemala Augusto [...]
195 international organizations denounce latest attacks against members of the Peaceful Resistance to Escobal mine
LEER ESTA PAGINA EN ESPANOL VISIT RESIST ESCOBAL'S WEBSITE January 21, 2021 TO: María Consuelo Porras, Attorney General, Office of the Public Prosecutor, Guatemala Augusto Jordán Rodas Hernández, Ombudsman, Office [...]
Statement: 24 Years After the signing of the Peace Agreements
"What is the institutional framework of peace in Guatemala? They are institutions that ensure that the State respects the Peace Accords and provides dignified reparation to the people who suffered crimes against humanity committed [...]
Statement: THE ACTS OF SEXUAL VIOLENCE IN THE CREOMPAZ CASE CANNOT REMAIN IN IMPUNITY
On December 9, 2020 a virtually public hearing was held in the Constitutional Court, to address an injunction presented by FAMDEGUA regarding the prosecution of the crimes of sexual violence and crimes against [...]
Implementación del Acuerdo de Cooperación de Asilo vulnera derechos de las personas migrantes
Escrito y originalmente publicado por nuestras camaradas del Comité en Solidaridad con el Pueblo de El Salvador (CISPES). Click here to read in English. En respuesta al anuncio desde el Departamento de seguridad nacional [...]
Implementation of Asylum Agreement Violates Human Rights of Migrants
Written and originally posted by our comrades at the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES). Haz clic aquí para leer en español. On December 18, International Day of the Migrant, [...]