(Spanish below) On November, 28 The First Chamber of Appeals accepted an injuction filed by the defense of Manuel Benedicto Lucas García to disqualify the High Risk Crimes Court A, claiming that the Tribunal is unfit to continue the oral and public proceedings. This decision has derailed the 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 [...]
International and national organizations warned about a new attempt by the Constitutional Court (CC) to maintain impunity for the crimes committed in the Molina Theissen Case. The CC’s decision orders that a new resolution be issued, which may favor house arrest for the former military officials, Francisco Luis Gordillo [...]
After judge Gálvez who was overseeing the trial for Guatemala's Military Diary Case was forced into exile under trumped up charges, yesterday, February 2, at the hearing of a former Colonel and former police officer accused in the Military Diary case, a new judge granted both house arrest. The [...]
WE EXPRESS: We, the indigenous authorities, the ancestral cocodes authorities, women’s committees from the different indigenous communities of Ixcan, Cobán and Uspantan that compose the Association of Communities for Development and the Defense of Land and Natural Resources – ACODET- assembled today in the Q’eqchi Xalala indigenous community [...]
On November 10, the Guatemala Supreme Court elected Roberto Molina Barreto to the Constitutional Court (CC), replacing Judge Bonerge Mejía, who died of COVID-19 in September. In 2013, when Molina Barreto was also serving on the CC, he voted to overturn Ríos Montt's genocide conviction. Years later, in December [...]
WHAT IS HAPPENING IN GUATEMALA? For centuries, the elite of Guatemala have consolidated their power by violently robbing resources from the Indigenous majority. In recent history, the oligarchy has maintained its control through militarized violence, mass corruption, systemic impunity, and strategic alliances with the U.S. government and multinational corporations. [...]
Guatemala civil society called a protest on August 15 to denounce the financial mismanagement of the Guatemalan government during the pandemic. Photo credit: Antonio Ramirez/IG: @suculentapro Along with people worldwide who are appalled by state corruption and mishandling of the pandemic, Guatemalans are taking to the [...]
Read this statement that our partners from the Departmental Assembly of Peoples of Huehuetenango (ADH) have written demanding "the world bank to stop investing money in projects that only destroy humanity and our Cosmos." The Departmental Assembly of Peoples of Huehuetenango, ADH, informs the national [...]
Lawyers of the victims and survivors of the CREOMPAZ case at the hearing on May 18. Photo credit: Dr. Ramón Cadena May 2020 Solidarity Update We are in regular contact with our partners in Guatemala, where people are struggling to follow social-distancing measures and [...]
[Español abajo] On February 25th, NISGUA accompanied survivor organizations as they gathered to remember what they survived and those they lost on the National Day of Dignification for Victims of the Internal Armed Conflict. We gathered this footage as a tribute to the wisdom and lessons that [...]
Picture of Esteban Celada during a hearing on the Creompaz case. Photo credit: Verdad y Justicia April 2020 Solidarity Update As we all face the multidimensional implications of the current pandemic, we want to share with you the analyses of our Guatemalan partners. Read [...]
As Guatemala held its general elections on June 16, the justice system made an important arrest. They captured retired general Luis Enrique Mendoza in Baja Verapaz, as he went to cast his ballot. Mendoza had been on the run for nearly eight years. Mendoza served as Chief of Operations [...]
In the past several weeks, communities and organizations in Huehuetenango have noted an increase in U.S. and Guatemalan military presence in their territories. This unexplained and unapproved military presence has caused great consternation in a region that was a target of the military’s “scorched earth” policies during the internal [...]
In 1999, the UN-sponsored Commission for Historical Clarification presented its report, Guatemala: Memory of Silence, which documented the crimes the Guatemalan state had committed against its own people during the Internal Armed Conflict. Each year, communities around Guatemala remember what they survived and those they lost on the National [...]
News recap: Organizations demand justice in wake of assassinations and ongoing violence in Ixquisis, TAKE ACTION to stand with communities working to protect community consultations, NISGUA Speaking Tour shares lessons from successful organizing in Chixoy-Copón Rivers Watershed, KCA sues Guatemalan State in international court, survivors of sexual violence in Military Zone [...]
For a downloadable version of this media advisory, click here. For nearly a year and a half, Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales has repeatedly defied the rule of law by attacking the UN-backed International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG). On January 7, Morales announced that his administration would [...]
En este boletín el equipo de ACOGUATE subraya varios desarrollos en casos jurídicos de alto perfil, incluyendo el caso por genocidio, el caso de Las Dos Erres y el caso de la Mina San Rafael. También explica unos puntos en la coyuntura de Quiché y Ixquisis. ¡Haz clic en [...]
Featured photo credit: La Hora GT For weeks, Guatemala has made international headlines after President Jimmy Morales announced his government will not renew the mandate for the UN-backed International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG), an independent anti-corruption body that has had significant impact in the country since [...]
En este boletín el equipo de ACOGUATE hace un análisis histórico del caso Las Dos Erres y da actualizaciones sobre un caso por violencia sexual, el estatus de defensorxs criminalizadxs en Huehuetenango y la lucha del pueblo Ch’orti’ de Morola. ¡Haz clic en la foto abajo para leer más! [...]
En este boletín el equipo de ACOGUATE da actualizaciones sobre las luchas de la resistencia pacífica en Ixquisis, FAMDEGUA y CONAVIGUA. También cuenta sobre la visita de la relatora especial de las Naciones Unidas sobre los Derechos de los Pueblos Indígenas en Guatemala. ¡Haz clic en la foto abajo [...]
News recap: Motions filed against former Constitutional Court judges for breach of duty in overturning the genocide verdict; Ríos Montt to stand trial for genocide for his role in the Dos Erres massacre; Accompanier perspective: "As You Come Home: Immigration, Reunion, and the Continuity of Power"; Thousands respond to action [...]
News recap: National and international human rights defenders threatened as transitional justice advances; Communities celebrate the release of political prisoners from Huehuetenango; SEC complaint says Tahoe Resources failed to disclose widespread opposition to Escobal silver mine. This and more in this month's Solidarity Update.
On June 7, Judge Claudette Domínguez of Guatemala’s High-Risk Crimes Court “A” ordered eight former military officers to stand trial for crimes against humanity in one of the largest cases of forced disappearance in Latin America’s history. The legal case is built on eyewitness and expert testimonies, documentary evidence, [...]
Legal battles over Efraín Ríos Montt's health have taken center stage over the past three months in the decades-long search for justice for genocide in Guatemala. On August 25, the three-judge tribunal ruled that Ríos Montt is mentally unfit to stand trial due to chronic and irreversible dementia. The [...]
"We know that genocide took place. The whole world knows it, but the truth has been denied." Juventino Caal, member of the Association for Justice and Reconciliation (AJR) Yesterday, a new trial against Jose Efraín Ríos Montt and José Mauricio Rodriguez Sánchez opened in Guatemalan courts and once again [...]
"We are thousands of Guatemalan victims of grave human rights violations committed during the internal armed conflict. The only thing we ask for is justice." - Communique from survivors in response to congressional resolution to deny genocide Genocide survivors gather in front of the Congress of the Republic. On [...]
The pact to maintain impunity consolidates with the nomination for Attorney General The Human Rights Convergence states: The director of the Public Prosecutor’s Office is a key and decisive position to guarantee that justice is done and that it is swift. With Doctor Claudia Paz y Paz Bailey at [...]
“We are here in the United States asking for your solidarity. Borders divide us, but justice is a fundamental pillar of democracy” -Anselmo Roldán to the international community From November 7-11, NISGUA visited six Midwestern cities with Association for Justice and Reconciliation (AJR) president Anselmo Roldán. The Midwest leg [...]
The Guatemala Education and Action Project (GEAP) hosted NISGUA and the Association for Justice and Reconciliation (AJR) on our third tour stop in Los Angeles. GEAP's events included a press conference, community event and a number of college speaking opportunities for AJR president Anselmo Roldán. Anselmo receives [...]
On October 30, NISGUA began our tour with Association for Justice and Reconciliation president, Anselmo Roldán Aguilar. After a day of meeting with key state and congressional representatives, Anselmo gave his first presentation at the Unitarian Unitarian Church of Arlington. The event, hosted by Partners for Arlington and Guatemala, [...]
Guatemalan newspaper Prensa Libre splashed "CC brings José Efraín Ríos Montt closer to amnesty" across its front page headlines, with the corresponding article publishing excerpts of a leaked ruling issued by the Constitutional Court. Plaintiffs and lawyers still have not received notification of the decision at the time of [...]
While we await the next steps of the genocide trial, we are honored to provide an accessible archive of the daily coverage we provided from day 1 of the trial. Please read and share this historic collection. Genocide on Trial, Day 1: Ixil witnesses speak Genocide on Trial, Day [...]
Guatemalan civil society reacted to the May 20 annulment of the genocide trial verdict through public actions, marches and vigils overwhelmingly rejecting the decision. On May 24, an impromptu march that some activists reported to be the largest in recent history organized in the name of memory in Guatemala. [...]
Live transmission of event in NYC with the AJR. Tramission will begin at approximately 7:15pm EST, May 30, and last for one hour. Transmisión en vivo de la actividad en la ciudad de Nueva York con la AJR. Transmisión de 1 hora, 30 de mayo, empezando a las 7:15pm [...]
The Association for Justice and Reconciliation addressed the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in New York City today. We are honored to provide the exclusive English translation of the declaration. Read the Spanish version here. Association for Justice and Reconciliation Declaration to the United Nations Permanent Forum [...]
The Guatemalan Constitutional Court emitted a resolution late Monday evening to annul the genocide trial verdict and revert proceedings back to April 19. Judge Barrios of the First Court for High Risk Crimes "A" has 24 hours after being notified of the resolution this morning to comply with the [...]
On May 10, Efraín Ríos Montt was found guilty of the crimes of genocide and crimes against humanity, in an historic ruling that sentenced him to 80 years in prison. As ordered during the verdict, yesterday Judge Yassmín Barrios heard the reparations requests of the Association for Justice and [...]
Today in Guatemala, Judge Yazmin Barrios found former dictator Efraín Ríos Montt guilty of genocide and crimes against humanity. The court ratified all the elements of genocide described by witness and expert testimony, concluding that Ríos Montt had both command authority and "full knowledge of what was happening [...]
NISGUA continues live coverage of the trial in Guatemala of Efraín Ríos Montt and José Mauricio Rodríguez Sánchez for genocide and crimes against humanity. Read our previous summaries: Day 1, 2, 3, 4/5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11-14, 12, 13/14, 15/16, 17/18, 19, 20-1, 20-2, 21, Constitutional Court decisions, trial [...]